[MOC] Blue Mountain & Reading #425

[SavaTheAggie]

FULL GALLERY

Blue Mountain and Reading locomotive #425, Pacific class (4-6-2).

This is the second version of this locomotive that I've built, a near complete rebuild from the ground up. The only remaining piece from the original model is the front section of the boiler.

She's powered by two PF motors in the tender, and is fully track compatible with a fully functional 4 wheeled pony truck. The only custom items are the BBB XL drivers that have been painted blue to match the prototype, and the wire inside the flex tubing to hold its shape.

For the curious, here's a photo of my original version:

--Tony

[ecmo47]

Fantastic! That model went from "that's nice" to "Wow!" The double motors on the tender look pretty natural unlike the first version.

[THERIZE]

Wonderful! That tender looks stunning!

[Sven J]

Wow - this is really cool!

[Man with a hat]

You never seize to amaze us with your creations. Very well done again.

[Lego Dino 500]

This is wonderfully designed, it has all the proper proportions and shaping the Emerald Night should have had. It would look really good puling a Christmas train around the living room.

[Feuer Zug]

That's one fine looking locomotive. The color scheme really makes it pop, while it's chock full of details. I'd never thought about wire inside the flexitubes, nice touch.

[zephyr1934]

Excellent work and a big improvement over an already great build.

[dr_spock]

Excellent improvements. What gauge wire was used inside the flex tubing?

[SavaTheAggie]

Thanks all, I appreciate the comments.

I don't recall the gauge of wire I used, I'll have to check when I get home.

In the meantime, if anyone's interested, I've created this YouTube video of the new and improved #425 at Brickworld this year.

--Tony

[zephyr1934]

Excellent improvements. What gauge wire was used inside the flex tubing?

Apologies for wandering off topic, I've found that the lego flex tubing hole varies in size, presumably either due to the use of different 3rd party suppliers or simply reducing the volume of material. I found this out by snipping the ball off of the end of a whip antenna and stuffing the rest inside a flex tube, fits great in some, will not fit in others. The outer radius seems consistent thus far, just the inside radius varies, similar to the inside dimensions on 2x bricks. In any event, you might want to take a piece of flex tubing to your hardware store when buying the wire. Alternatively, you could just buy black 3mm wire and skip the flex tubing as others have done (in this case just bring a clip with you to the hardware store to test the fit).

[Dan-147]

Alternatively, you could just buy black 3mm wire and skip the flex tubing as others have done (in this case just bring a clip with you to the hardware store to test the fit).

In North America, you're looking at 14 gauge solid electrical wire. But like zephyr1934 said, bring a clip as there is quite a bit of variation from one manufacturer to another and even from one batch to another from the same manufacturer. White and red are also easy to get. Other colors are more of a problem.

Back on topic, great redesign once again Tony. Even the first version was first class. It just gets better and better.

Dan-147

Edited October 19, 2015 by Dan-147

[Paddyb98]

Nicely Done! Was the blue color prototype some kind of railroading pun on the name of Blue Mountain and Reading RR?

[SavaTheAggie]

Probably a little of both. But specifically, yes, very very true to the prototype:

https://en.wikipedia...rn_Railroad_425

She wasn't always blue, though. The blue is a more recent thing, and even more recently they've moved her headlight to the middle of her nose and the bell where the light was. Personally I'm not a fan, so I'm leaving her as a "point in time" type of MOC. Back in the 90's, this is how she looked.

--Tony