MOC: The Day-Glo Special

[Pepa Quin]

Well, it's been built for months now but I've finally gotten around to posting pictures!

The Day-Glo Special is my first full and 'real' train. I've built other "trains" before this, but none to this scope. The train is based on the old Daylight Special line which was in use in America in the early/middle 20th century. I named my own model the 'Day-Glow' Special, for what I hope are obvious reasons. :)

This all started last September when my club did a display at a model train show. My friend, Eurobricks member Eilif, found a vendor selling cheap old/broken model train cars. His idea was to get one of these cheap models and use it as inspiration to build a Lego model. Thinking that was a great idea, I went to that vendor as well and came away with these: .

Based on those, and with some help in determining the type of engine and tender that goes with it, I've built this train:

The train, when on the track, is around 110 inches long. Each car is separated by about a one-brick width gap, and when going around corners no part of the train swings out or in more then 3 studs past the track. Overall this is a 6-wide train, although that line gets fudged a bit in the engine. ;) For more details, click each of the pictures, or just view the full set on Flickr.

Thanks!

-Matt

Edited February 27, 2010 by TheBrickster

[Matt Dawson]

Nice! an internal cylindered 4-8-4...

Wouldn't it be an idea to electrically link the train motors?

[Captain Zuloo]

Wow, fantastic MOC! I'm currently going through the photos on Flickr, and I was really pleased to see that you have uploaded some videos, I really wanted to see the clearance around corners. And didn't you do a great job with that! Although these cars are like twice as long, it handles curves just as well as the Metroliner. And your colours are also brilliant.

Fantastic train, well done.

[lightningtiger]

Very nice..........very bright............I like it !

Beautiful engine and rolling stock there 'Pepa Quin' !

You caught the trim perfectly of an early 1920's steam train, great work !

I now must beg my freind to post his 620 Steam Ranger - jet black and streamlined !

Anyway 'Pepa Quin' awesome MOC and I'm a conformist! !

[Ashi Valkoinen]

Fantastic MOC with great colors. One of the best parts are the boogies, they are well-detailed, I love them.

!Although these cars are like twice as long, it handles curves just as well as the Metroliner.

Perhaps this is the solution for 8-wdie train cars. :D

[Davey]

Great work Matt! I love the color scheme and the shrouds on the sides of the engine capture that streamline look really well. I think what I like most though is the way that you and Eilif went about gathering your prototype information. Purchasing old broken model railroad cars is a brilliant idea!!! I will certainly be 'stealing' this technique and will be watching for cheap broken models when I head to the various train shows.

Great work here and look for this to show up on Classic-Town.net soon. :thumbup:

-Davey

[Matt Dawson]

Congrats! You've been frontpaged!

[WesternOutlaw]

First, welcome to Train Tech PQ. Secondly, what a beautiful and majestic train! I love the sleak and streamlined design, and the color scheme is most unique. In fact, I don't believe that I've seen this combination of yellow and dark green used before. The extra attention to details used on the dome car and the rear of the observation car add to the overall quality of this train. The length also adds realism to the design.

Thank you for sharing this most impressive creation! Now I'm going to check out those FlickR pictures again. Front-paged!

[pdxbricks]

Excellent creation! I particularly like the scale of the cars compared to the loco, they look like real passenger cars, unlike the one that comes with EN. Good job!

[Loganwan]

Really nicely done. I really liked looking at your Flickr page. You have such good explanations on there about what you did and what you tried. Thanks for sharing.

[CommanderFox]

Really nice trains Pepa Quin!

The colours are nice and positive, and the shape of the coaches and loco are smooth and sleek.

The little greebles on them are nice aswell.

Great job with all of them!

CommanderFox

[SavaTheAggie]

Well done. I've been following it on Flickr for some time, and as I said there I'm very envious of your matching steam engine and cars. I really need to get working on my own, perhaps this will serve as sufficient inspiration. Great work.

--Tony

[Brickadier General]

I'm loving the technique you used for the dome on the observation car. I never thought about fitting "robo-arms" in click hinges, but it works quite nicely.

But the train in its entirety is quite wonderful too.

[Pepa Quin]

Thanks for all your great comments, guys. I would have posted before but I've been preparing for a show this weekend! (Oak Lawn Library in Illinois, just south of Chicago, if anyone in the area is interested in seeing an awesome Lego Train show!)

I never thought about fitting "robo-arms" in click hinges, but it works quite nicely.

Actually, those robot arms are fitting on to this piece. I actually considered using click hinges just as you're talking about, because I have much more of them, but I didn't like all the texture that they added to the dome.

First, welcome to Train Tech PQ.

Thanks! Actually I've been here before, but I post so little I'm easy to forget. I'll try to work on that. ;)

Obviously this train is just a continuation of that single car I started with. I actually like the windows I used there, but they were just not cost effective to do for the entire train. :(

I will certainly be 'stealing' this technique and will be watching for cheap broken models when I head to the various train shows.

No problem - in fact I'll hold you to that and see what you can come up with in time for Brickworld. ;)

Nice! an internal cylindered 4-8-4...

Wouldn't it be an idea to electrically link the train motors?

I have no idea what either of those sentences mean. :) I must confess, I am not in any way a 'train guy'. I built this model because I got inspired - I liked the design and the thrill of a brand new challenge. Start asking me about, say, what I based the engine off of and I'll say 'Um... that orange and red one.' I build what I see, but I don't necessarily understand what it is I'm looking at.

Ok, so I've actually learned a few things in the process of building this - like that this train has an oil tender instead of a coal tender, and that there are such things as oil tenders. ;) For the most part, though, this train is done unless I discover some glaring mistake. I might also add some some decorations on it, like a name on the side and/or numbers. We'll see.

Thanks again everyone! As I said, I have a show this weekend, so I will try to get some good video of this train in action!

-Matt

Edited February 27, 2010 by Pepa Quin

[j3tang]

this looks absolutely amazing!

this is what TLG needs to do .. something like this on an individual car basis like what they did with Santa Fe, but i realize that's a whole discussion on its own rehashed over and over again ...

I like how each of the trains are so much longer than the cars in the train sets TLG usually releases, it looks more realistic to me this way.

you should consider releasing instructions for this train set. I'm sure there will be a ton of supporters of this here!

Edited February 27, 2010 by j3tang

[Commander_Rob]

Wonderful train, I absolutely love the design and colour scheme. However I feel that some kind of lettering on the engine, and/or the cars (e.g. a train company logo) might make it even better, but that's just me.

The idea of using old model trains for inspiration is brilliant, in case it's not possible to get any, catalogs of model train companies might help.

So now, "Let the Day-Glo Special shine a light on me!"

[ZueriHB]

Really nice train you did there. I also must confess that I like the color scheme.

As some may already know, I'm not a steam-fan. But those streamlined engines are a sight to behold. And yours is at the forefront looking good and brilliant.

Fantastic MOC with great colors. One of the best parts are the boogies, they are well-detailed, I love them.

Same here, same here.

[Scorpio]

I was able to see this train in person this weekend and I was very impressed. I really wish I could have seen it running, maybe next time.

[Pepa Quin]

I was able to see this train in person this weekend and I was very impressed. I really wish I could have seen it running, maybe next time.

Wish granted!

I took some video this weekend; here is an edited compilation:

Did you talk to me or any of the other club members while you were there? It was pretty busy, I hope you had a good time!

you should consider releasing instructions for this train set. I'm sure there will be a ton of supporters of this here!

Wish granted! Well, kinda. ;)

Here's a cross-section of the boiler, which is one of the more complex builds in this train. The rest of the train build is really fairly simple, or can be deduced by looking through the pictures.

-Matt

Edited March 2, 2010 by Pepa Quin

[Scorpio]

Did you talk to me or any of the other club members while you were there? It was pretty busy, I hope you had a good time!

I talked mostly with Stash. I had a few questions about creating an elevated train (you can see the thread "Making Curved Track Look Better") and he told me to come out to the show since I live in Naperville. I guess I was at the show at the wrong time to see your train running. I did see the longer version of the 7897 Passenger Train as well as the Star Wars train on Sunday but I couldn't tell you what I saw on Saturday. Stash did point out you as well as the other guys in your club that had Eurobrick names. I had a great time. I was very impressed with everything. As I told Stash, I have just come out of my dark ages so hopefully I'll be running into you guys more often.

[yugistew]

good god! is anyone else blown away by the design of the trucks?!

those look good enough to roll on their own

probably the best design i have seen