Quickchange Tandem Steam Engine Mod

[SavaTheAggie]

I've strived for 'realism' when it comes to my steam engine MOCs, but it has come at a price. One such trade off is that because I refused to take the 'easy way' and have the whole front part of my locomotives attached to the pony truck, I could never run my steam engines in tandem. With the cow catcher and front of the locomotive fixed to the body, as they are in most all american steam designs, LEGO track geometry prevents the used of couplers on the front of the locomotives. The train would derail otherwise.

On top of that, most of my steam engines can only accept one 9v motor, which really limits how much they can pull, and I'm really not fond of backing up a steam engine with a diesel (blasphemy!).

So I came up with this little quickchange mod that allows my #300 TSRR locomotive to run as a secondary engine to any of my other locomotives (I could do the same for my #500 as well). There's no rocket science involved, but I'm just really proud of the fact that it not only works, but its a non-permanent, easily swapped out solution, so at shows I can decide what to do on the fly. That's assuming I remember to pack the alternate parts. :-P

Anywhere, here are some pics:

And here's a stupid little "action" shot just for fun:

--Tony

[Asuka]

Very smart and clever indeed. *y*

Power up on! Hmm.... sounds familiar, somehow.... 8-| X-D

[Siegfried]

Smart comprimise. To be honest though it took a mental effort to look at the "quickchange mod" as I was too entranced by that yellow train! Your trains are beautiful! *wub* What is that yellow train? Do you have any other pictures of it?

[SavaTheAggie]

All my train pics, including pictures of the yellow locomotive "The Tequila Sunrise", can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/savatheaggie/...57600864043419/

I only have three 'finished' pics of the Tequila Sunrise, though (many pics of it during construction), as I wait to save up money to buy the parts to build four matching passenger wagons (as well as print decals for the locomotive). When that time comes, I shall take many pictures of both the cars and the locomotive.

--Tony

[Siegfried]

All my train pics, including pictures of the yellow locomotive "The Tequila Sunrise", can be found here:

My apologies. I looked at your Flickr account and it seemed to me that there wasn't much there. I was wrong. :-$ Thanks very much. I love all of your trains.