Dear All,
it has been a very long time since my last “productive” post on EB – I have been lurking ever since from time to time - but no contributions from my side. It is time to share some of the stuff that has slowly accumulated over the recent years. These are some locomotive and rolling stock ideas/MODs/MOCs. Below is a short summary of what and why; the instructions were meant to go on the RailBricks repository but that seems to be no longer an option. Instead, I am using my cloud space at work; a click on the link below the images should get you to a corresponding folder with the MLCad/LDraw file(s) and the LPub instruction PDF(s). Note that there are 300DPI as well as low-res versions of the PDF files; the latter are much more bandwidth friendly. Also note that there may be numerous errors/faults – I am using these files as references and aid for my rather limited building capabilities.
Generally, I am building in a rather weird way, I guess. Most of the parts I am using, particularly for rolling stock, are spare parts from LEGO sets I got as present or simply purchased for other parts. Rarely the sets I am buying survive as a whole. It may also be an excuse to regularly visit the local TrU or LEGO stores nearby … for some reason it is still very exciting to me to browse through their shelves – that is also the reason for not ordering sets or parts online that often. There are exceptions of course. BrickLink is more of a last (and beautiful) resort. I have simply more fun figuring out ways of using individual pieces that initially appeared to be useless even for a longer time. Also, I hardly use scaled schematics for building – it is just my personal look and feel that should be “right”. So all my models may well appear as inaccurate or unrealistic in some way or the other – but they are just that: LEGO MOCs and MODs … and I am sure, that many building ideas have already been shown – either here on EB, in the various BrickShelf galleries, or somewhere else. I have not checked thoroughly though – just let me know and I’ll add the references.
There are currently no photographs of the real trains. I am planning on taking these along with some impressions of my expanded “home office layout” – hopefully sooner than in a couple of years from now.
This a rather long post, I am sorry. But I simply did not want to open several threads on rather minor things.
Locomotives/Trains
1) GP38 “BNSF” (#10133) MOD
LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s)
I personally believe that the BNSF GP38 is one of the most inspiring train models TLC ever made. It appears as if many builders have modded, extended, and (re)designed their models based – at least partly – on the layout of this engine. I have also merged some of the beautiful design elements from the SD40-2 “Maersk” train (set #10219; these are the cab lights, front section, truck elements with new discrete brick/plate pilot design) along with a new frame comprised of discrete plates, re-bricked the fuel tanks, and added front PF lights. The concept of powering the locomotive is either pure “9V” or “PF”. A PF version requires a controller of some sort; either custom approaches (e.g., Arduino) or plain vanilla PF controllers/batteries located in separate cars etc. When running on its own with onboard battery and controller, the color scheme suffers severely on the 4-wide body section of the locomotive, which could be covered by custom stickers of course. The modified SD40-2 “Maersk” train introduced further below may also serve for “controlling” purpose. On my layout an SD40-2/GP38 pair is hauling rather heavy loads: The SD40-2 as PF controller with onboard battery and two motors and the GP38 with just one additional motor hooked up to the SD40-2. The V2 version of the PF receiver is handling 3 motors rather flawlessly when fed with the rechargeable LEGO LiPo battery. The required building steps are included in the SD40-2 instruction section, see below.
2) SD40-2 “Maersk” (#10219) MOD
LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s)
The major SD40-2 changes are the discrete plate frame (this way it became possible to add the neat white stripes the original locomotive features), changes to the trucks (they are one stud shorter and have a discrete brick/plate pilot), changes to the main body behind the cab, which is now only 4 studs wide, and to the fuel tanks. The engine is PF controlled, runs on the LEGO LiPo rechargeable battery, which is in turn charged through power-pickup from the 9V rails using a modified 9V train motor, cf. this EuroBricks topic, PF V2 receiver, and second PF train motor, along with PF head lights. The additional second PF receiver output wired to the rear section may be optionally used to operate a third motor; the GP38 shown above is an example. The color scheme of the 4 studs wide section behind the cab is suffering from the dark/light grey sections of the PF elements; however, I pretty much like the “used look” that results from that though. I never really like the original LEGO design of the body, where the receiver etc. is covered by large plates – to me, it appeared simply too wide for an overall 6 studs wide model. Note: There is an additional PDF which shows the required modifications to pair the SD40-2 with the GP38 shown above
3) Cargo Train (#4512) MOD
1 (engine), 2 (battery car), 3 (box car), 4 (box car type2), whole set
LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s)
The “major” changes to this very classic 9V train are the addition of a PF “battery car” in the same color scheme of the original locomotive and box car, and some undercarriage changes to the latter. There is also a second version of the box car. I really do like the old-dark grey/green color scheme of this train. Fortunately, my father has given me his Sopwith Camel (set #3451) as “brick supply”; this way also the second box car version became reality in the grey/green color scheme. The front section of the locomotive is raised by one plate and the front handrail changed.
4) High Speed Passenger Train (#7897) MOD
1 (engine), 2 (coach A), 3 (coach B), whole set
LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s)
Ages ago the “real,-“ department store close by not necessarily well known for their LEGO set inventory had the RC high speed “ICE” like train set on sale … I got two for very little money. Well, the one-piece front cab of this train (part #55768) has been discussed “controversially” – carefully phrased – but nevertheless, as far as I am concerned, with some modding a more or less decent passenger train resulted from merging the two sets. Everything has become a little “longer”, particularly the coaches. Also, the coaches have discrete plate frames and their trucks are rather heavily modified – based on the design of James Mathis’ Santa Fe cars (sets #10022/#10025). The four additional white 6x8x4 cylinders with flattened upper half (part #45411) required for a train consisting of two engines and three coaches came from two City tank truck sets (set #60016) – I could not get hold of the white cylinders with flattened lower half (part #45410) so the third car has a modified lower section. [Note: Unfortunately the “RC train base” (part #55455c01) is not available as official LDraw part – and I guess it never will be. I simply assembled that part from bricks and plates for the instruction and treated it as part in LPub … no idea how to do it differently. Also the “ugly” front nose is not even an unofficial LDraw part, I found the LDraw.dat file at digital-bricks.
Rolling Stock
1) 4 Axle Tank Car MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
The tank design is close to that of the #10016 tank car set; there are some additions to the top section. The frame is made rather conveniently mainly from Technic pieces.
2) 2 Axle Tank Car MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
This is a plain vanilla 2-axle tank car – I guess there were many similar designs posted in this forum.
3) TankTainer Car MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
This one is a result purchasing the #3368 Space Center set – I was looking for the #64448 support/fence part (or whatever it is called) in red for a bridge structure – and these were left overs – as were the (sloped) tank half shells … looks a little weird but this way the car is more or less 6 wide and the tanktainer is easily removable. The frame is again mostly comprised of Technic pieces
4) Flatbed Car MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
The flatbed car is entirely made-up … it started with the four #91176 support parts from the 2011 Red Cargo Train #3677 set – did not know what to do with them … the cargo is – hmmm – cylinders? Had too many of the round 2x2 bricks and round bright green 1x1 plates …
5) Spine Car (with girders) MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
I guess the 5 “Toy Story 3” sets I purchased one after another for €20 each at TrU. No idea why that was, they had them for more than a year somewhat hidden in the “bulk-brick” section and each time I was there I could not resist … lots of bley plates for another bridge and for a rather big train station … but also tons of the 2x2x10 girders …
6) Gondola Car MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
As already mentioned, for the high speed passenger car MOD shown above I needed extra white 6x8x4 cylinders. At that time, the original ICE-type high speed train set was gone for long; the City tank truck set #60016 featured two of these cylinders each though; white with flattened upper half and green with flattened lower half. The white ones were perfect for the passenger cars, the greens were “left overs”. Which brought me to the gondola car – again entirely made up and again with a Technic element frame.
7) Tipper Car MOC
LDraw file and PDF instruction
This car is the result of eight yellow tipper end sloped pieces (part #3436) from the #4565 Freight & Crane Railway set (which was my first train set after my Dark Ages). For long, I did not know what to do with those. Then I saw tipper cars on BrickShelf, looked them up on the internet and this is the result. I guess they are rather “European” if not “German” … small and compact. The yellow color is not appropriate at all, but that’s how it is.
This is it for the moment. Thanks for reading!
Regards,
Thorsten
