No, they were not. 3985 for sure, and I think 844 were both coal fired in the beginning. I did some more searching and found info that stated 3985 was converted to #5 oil fire in (I think) 1983. If you follow some of UP Steam's updates they will talk about the planned conversion of Big Boy 4014 to oil, based on the 3985 Challenger conversion. Again, I'm fairly certain that 844 was also coal fired originally. These things were from the mid-late 40's during war time when coal would have been the obvious fuel of choice, not oil. 844 is also notable in that it is the only remaining steam engine running on a mainline railroad in the United States that has never been retired from active service! All of these engines had massive tenders and fed coal to the fire box by an archimedes screw. They were never manually fired. I think I read where it required something like a ton per minute to feed the Big Boy... and they developed over 6000 hp... designed to pull a fully loaded train over the divide (Sherman Hill), unassisted. That is an achievement today that requires I think 3-5 diesel electric engines.
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