Yesterday (27-06-2019) I received a webmail from Maerklin with an article

"Big boy good boy" - Märklin published this article and a video about the restored Big Boy 4014 announcing to report in the future sporatic about the 4014.

https://www.maerklin.de/en/lp/2019/bigboy/

Unfortunately no word, if a new model of this Big Boy 4014 will be available by Maerklin soon. So I still will be patient and wait for a remake of the Big Boy by Maerklin in H0.

No thanks. As a owner of 7 Big Boys I'd rather have a Big Boy with another road number.
I think it's too expensive to continue with alot of American models. Märklin still have the Challenger 39912 from last summer in stock!!

First, I do have zero, naught, nil Big Boy and at the moment no one is available at Maerklin.

Second, compare the Challenger with the Big Boy is a joke . The Challenger probabely was built for the short distances in Sweden . Class 3900.

But the Big Boy was the King of the Rocky Mountains. Class 4000!

Third, nobody forces you to buy an 8th Big Boy.

P.S.: scroll down to the comparison of a Big Boy with a Challenger - see the differences!

https://www.grimm-weinhe...ber-42-zentimeter-u.html

I've seen alot of Big Boys on 2nd hand market for about 2/3rd of the original prices.

I would disagree, looking at my Challenger 3706 next to Big Boy 4012. They are not spectacularly different in length (~45 vs ~42 cm) and height (Challenger very slightly higher because of the larger-diameter drive wheels), even with the different numbers of drive wheels; I do prefer the Big Boy as I find its proportions make it look sleeker than the Challenger.

Jeroen

That is true. When sitting side by side you can see just how similar these two giant locos are, with the greater boiler length and two extra drive axles being the primary difference. But the Big Boy has such perfect proportions that it wins out by a small amount IMO.

When Märklin announced the Challenger I thought that I didn't need one because I have a Big Boy (2001 #4013) and they seemed too similar. But of course I broke down and bought an oil fired Challenger and I love it too. My biggest problem with collecting any more of the UP giants is the lack of a clear commitment by Märklin to making American models at this time. My last two US models were 5 year old passenger trains which were still sitting new on dealer's shelves.

What I really need to do is to jump in and update the decoder and speaker in my old 37990 to make it as nicely featured as the Challenger is.

I definitely agree on the light comparison. The lights in even my ancient Big Boy are quite nice with a warm color and they look like lights from that era should. They don't look like the circus is coming to town but they do look perfectly authentic.

My opinion on the Challenger is that they were going for flash and features and it actually is quite a good value compared to the last several new steamers from Märklin. But the lights are ridiculously bright and they are completely out of visual scale for the models. That is something that you can control a bit in software although more drastic measures might be required. It does make for a nice show the way it is but the more subtle and correct Big Boy lighting scheme puts it to shame, even with fewer bells and whistles.

They make for a beautiful pair of UP freight haulers though, which is quite appropriate for both locos and they dominate any layout on which they run.

But I no longer dream of some of the classic NA passenger trains that they could have made. They have never made any coaches except for the Budds that they were already producing 20 years ago. That leaves them out of play for ever making some of the best trains that ran in NA. But I don't think that their market appreciates NA trains enough to develop more.

The Big Boy was an exception - The size and complexity of the prototype made it famous and so it does for the Märklin's Big Boys in the MRR world. But most of us are really buying Märklin for their superb European trains, with an logical emphasis on German trains. That is certainly the case for me and I think that NA modals were just a brief but glorious encounter for them, and not a long term relationship.

And listen to David - his collection and MRR wisdom combine to make him pretty definitive on NA and other top end Märklin models in my experience. I like the same items that David collects but buy a somewhat smaller percentage of them. So he has the owner's experience and understanding to make very informed comparisons and has been a real resource when I was deciding on some models that I had no background on.

Of course I could easily say that about many other people here who have helped me drill down to the cause and remedy for many of my problems and buying decisions. There are too many people to name individually, but just let me say that for me this forum has been invaluable as I moved to where basically am I my own dealer and doing everything myself, except for factory level repairs. There is a lot of satisfaction in making such a complex system work in perfect harmony, with mechanical, electrical, and software interacting perfectly . I don't always get there but I do at times and it is always magical - a subset of the world that I have imagined and brought to life.

Buying from distant online dealers is working quite well for me by the way and I have a much better and deeper understanding of Märklin's products as a result, whether I really wanted it or not. It's been a fun ride and I don't regret a minute of it!

And do you believe it?