The 2-8-8-0 was known amongst railroads as the “Consolidation Mallets” as they were considered an extension amongst the common 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. The locomotive type was originally experimented with the Santa Fe but the railroad never received more than one locomotive because of balance issues and a low tractive effort rating on the railroads steepest grades. 

The Great Northern and Union Pacific revised the designs and proceeded to order several of these locomotives. The Union Pacific crews developed the nickname for the locomotives “Bullmoose” because they had the ability to pull the heaviest of freight trains over the railroad’s Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming. 

The Union Pacific eventually rostered 70 of these Mallets either built by its own shops or manufactured by the American Locomotive Company (Alco). They first went into service in 1918. As time went on, the Bullmoose locomotives received several upgrades and rebuilds before ultimately being replaced by the 9000 series, Big Boys, and Challengers. 

In our first production run of the Bullmoose, we are offering the locomotive in two versions. We are building three prototypical road numbers in their “Pre-1944” appearance, and three prototypical road numbers in their “Post-1944” appearance. We are also building 1 locomotive in the Two Tone Gray Fantasy Scheme. Each model will be available with our Paragon4 Sound/DC/DCC electronics and smoke. In addition to the Paragon4 models, we are also building these models in our Stealth Series. Stealth Series models are no sound models and are DCC-Ready.