Sharknose diesel units + 4-8-4 steam engine with Meramec River Runner passenger train

[Murdoch17]

The whole Merrimac River Runner passenger train, headed up by Baldwin RF-16 "shark-nose" A +B diesels number 3701 with assistance provided by 4-8-4 "Northern" steam engine number 2980. 

The name of this train is a play off the Missouri River Runner, a real train that Amtrak runs from Kansas City to St. Louis. The Meramec River is a body of water that runs next to the real world 12-inch gauge Wabash Frisco & Pacific, so I switched the name to the Meramec River Runner. Never mind the fact the Missouri Pacific used to run on the roadbed the WFP now uses up from the 1850's until about the 1940's, when it was rerouted to it's current alignment and abandoned the old one to the eventual WFP use from the late '50's to today.

These Baldwin diesel RF-16-like locos were inspired by set 10020, (Santa Fe Super Chief) for most of the basic body work and and fellow Eurobricks user @Legownz for the knife-like Sharknose front end. (Thank you for that ingenious design!) The cab and booster units feature no interior details because I have no need for such items on my layout.. that and retrofitting all my trains with inside details would be quite costly.

The rear of each of the locos feature doorways to the next engine compartment, and / or the passenger train itself.

This 7-wide steam loco began life as a 2-8-4 Berkshire type built by @Plastic_Goth and purchased from Rebrickable a seen here. I upped the wheel count by another leading axle, making it into a 4-8-4 Northern-type from the original 2-8-4 Berkshire. The pistons are entirely my own work, as is the complete tender.

The coal tender will have the letters WFP on the side, standing for Wabash Frisco & Pacific, while the cab will feature the number 2980 on both sides. This is a scrambled homage to real world WFP 4-8-2 engine 928, which is so strong, it's pulled every piece of rolling stock the railroad owns -at one time- with ease!

The inside of the cab features two gauges and the firebox door. This is all the interior the whole train features.

Combination baggage and passenger car

three identical passenger coaches for the train

The observation car of the Meramec River Runner. (This car is to become fully enclosed soon, with a wraparound rear window provided by two of this piece.)

Any thoughts, comments, or complaints?

EDIT 5/11/21: Added 4-8-4 steam loco to this post. Real life pictures coming soon.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Sorry for the double post, but I had to let you all know that all the rest of the parts (all $8 of them) have been ordered to turn what was originally a EMD F unit into a Baldwin Sharknose.

Basically, I found whatever parts I could and subtracted them from the LDD model (below).  This left me with about 15 different types of bricks, down from around sixty. I had to make some substitutions, but it will look pretty much the same.

Here is what the original shape looked like before I found any parts.

 

Hopefully, it should be here in a week or two, and then there will be updated real world pictures to share!

[Murdoch17]

First post updated with new pictures all around!

Sorry for the delay in getting these posted, I had to shorten the front A-unit by four studs because it wouldn't fit in my storage box anymore with the longer front end. Thus I had to order a shorter 24 stud train baseplate to get it to fit, the results of which you can see when comparing the two diesel units. (the B unit is noticeably longer)

[Laura Beinbrech]

Nicely done!  I've always liked how the old Baldwin shark-nosed diesels looked ever since I first saw pics of them in this big book about the Pennsylvania RR my parents got me for Christmas in like 1989 or so (too bad the RF-16, while good, solid & reliable, ended up being too little too late to save Baldwin Locomotive Works from going under).  I might have to see about taking a crack at designing my own version of it sometime (although I think I might base mine off the stubbier shark-nose design used on the RP-210 for one of my dieselpunk train designs for my post-apocalyptic setting).

[Murdoch17]

On 5/19/2020 at 9:37 AM, Laura Beinbrech said:

Nicely done!  I've always liked how the old Baldwin shark-nosed diesels looked ever since I first saw pics of them in this big book about the Pennsylvania RR my parents got me for Christmas in like 1989 or so (too bad the RF-16, while good, solid & reliable, ended up being too little too late to save Baldwin Locomotive Works from going under).  I might have to see about taking a crack at designing my own version of it sometime (although I think I might base mine off the stubbier shark-nose design used on the RP-210 for one of my dieselpunk train designs for my post-apocalyptic setting).

Sorry for the 12-month late reply @Laura Beinbrech, but thank you for your interest in this project! I would love to see the post-apoc RF-120 you come up with, if you do so.

I just added the accompanying 7-wide steam loco to the first post. Real life pictures coming soon, maybe by early next month.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Murdoch17