Minitrix N T16827 Class 218 Diesel Minitrix German Railroad

In the early part of the twentieth century, most freight moved in relatively slow drag freight trains, and speed was secondary to just getting the goods delivered. The introduction of super-power steam technology in the 1920s, however, enabled builders to create freight locomotives that combined speed and power. Perhaps the zenith of the fast freight engine was the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, first conceived by the Union Pacific Railroad and American Locomotive Works in the mid-1930s. The Northern Pacific liked what it saw taking shape at Alco and ordered its own, even bigger Challengers. One reason the NP engines were larger was the railroads use of large fireboxes to burn low-quality Rosebud coal mined online in Montana coal that at least one fireman described as damned close to dirt. The first dozen Z-6 Challengers arrived in 1936, just months after the UP received its own first Challengers. Like 4-6-6-4s on the UP and the Western Maryland, the articulated Z-6s replaced older, slower rigid-frame engines doubleheaded Mikados in the Northern Pacifics case. The Z-6s spent most of their careers hauling reefer trains and fast freights on Northern Pacific divisions in Washington State and Montanas Big Sky country, with occasional passenger stints leading the crack North Coast Limited. Sixty-nine inch drivers allowed a Z-6 to maintain 60 mph on the plateaus between the Northwests mountain ranges.
The Northern Pacific was pleased enough with its new articulateds to order nine more Z-6s in 1937. The same year, an additional six engines were ordered for the Spokane, Portland & Seattle, a jointly-owned subsidiary of the NP and the Great Northern. The SP&S engines were oil burners, but virtually identical to the NP Z-6s in every other way. Two of the SP&S engines were later sold to the Great Northern for use in Washington and Oregon. For a time in the late steam era, the thundering Z-6 was indeed the Northwests own articulated.

Features:
Intricately Detailed, Die-Cast Boiler and Chassis
Intricately Detailed, Die-Cast Tender Body
Authentic Paint Scheme
Die-Cast Locomotive Trucks
Handpainted Engineer and Fireman Figures
Metal Handrails, Whiste and Bell
Metal Wheels and Axles
Remote Controlled Proto-Coupler
O Scale Kadee-Compatible Coupler Mounting Pads
Prototypical Rule 17 Lighting
Constant Voltage LED Headlight
Operating LED Firebox Glow
Operating LED Marker Lights
Operating LED Numberboard Lights
Lighted LED Cab Interior
Operating Tender LED Back-up Light
Powerful 7-Pole Precision Flywheel-Equipped Motor
Synchronized Puffing ProtoSmoke System
Steaming Quillable Whistle
Locomotive Speed Control In Scale MPH Increments
Wireless Drawbar
1:48 Scale Dimensions
Onboard DCC/DCS Decoder
Proto-Scale 3-2 3-Rail/2-Rail Conversion Capable
Proto-Sound 3.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring Quillable Whistle With Freight Yard Proto-Effects
Unit Measures: 30 3/4″ x 2 1/2″ x 4″
Operates On O-72 Curves