[MOC] LEGO 15 Class Malayan Railway Narrow Gauge Shunter

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

Hey everyone, am back with my latest MOC of the Malayan Railway 15 Class Shunter. 

Built in 1948 by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry, the 15 Class has many characteristics of similar machines being designed and built in the UK such as BR08 shunter. The 15 Class shunter was Malayan Railway's (KTMB) first diesel locomotive used specifically for shunting freight and passenger coaches. 

The LEGO 15 Class shunter is 8-studs wide and runs on the TrixBrix 4-wide tracks to match the narrow gauge scale of the real life locomotive. The model is powered by 1x L motor and controlled by the standard Power Function IR. As for batteries, the model uses an adapter to connect the rectangular batteries to the IR because the standard LEGO PF battery box does not fit in there. The shunter runs on Big Ben Bricks Medium sized wheels. Coupling rods and front ladder are from TrainedBricks. The front section was especially tough to replicate as it is sloping ever so gently towards the front and the sides.

Also, this is one of my entries for the Brick Train Awards 2021 for the 'Best Other LEGO Locomotive'. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a video of the 15 Class shunting at 'shunter' speed. 

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by LEGOTrainBuilderSG

[zephyr1934]

That MOC has some neat curves to it and you did a great job capturing the prototype.

[M_slug357]

@LEGOTrainBuilderSG What influenced you to incorporate an L-motor into the design versus some of the older/smaller motors...?

[SteamSewnEmpire]

This is really cool. I'm not hyper wild about the non-Lego ladder just because it sticks out a ton against the yellow. But the locomotive is just awesome.

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:11 PM, zephyr1934 said:

That MOC has some neat curves to it and you did a great job capturing the prototype.

Thank you! Appreciate it. Yes, the actual 15 Class had a unique front that gently slopes both towards the front and the sides. Did my best to replicate this in the model. 

On 2/26/2021 at 2:25 PM, M_slug357 said:

@LEGOTrainBuilderSG What influenced you to incorporate an L-motor into the design versus some of the older/smaller motors...?

I wanted as much power as I could get. The XL is too wide to fit in there so the next best is the L motor. 

On 2/26/2021 at 3:56 PM, SteamSewnEmpire said:

This is really cool. I'm not hyper wild about the non-Lego ladder just because it sticks out a ton against the yellow. But the locomotive is just awesome.

Thank you! Appreciate it. The 3D printed ladder by TrainedBricks was the next best thing I could use to fit a ladder there. I was thinking of DIY-ing two antenna pieces and some clips to make a ladder but it was too flimsy and ugly. 

Also, I think the lighting really exacerbates the rough 3D printing texture of the ladder as it normally blends in with the front black 'grilles' under normal lighting. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by LEGOTrainBuilderSG

[Brickwolf]

Excellent Build of a difficult-to-build prototype!

Edited March 1, 2021 by Brickwolf

[SteamSewnEmpire]

Considering that this has a lot of the nuts and bolts of a steam locomotive, I'd really like to see your take on a narrow gauge steam engine. You always produce really first-rate stuff. 

Maybe something Malaysian again like this?:

Edited March 2, 2021 by SteamSewnEmpire

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

14 hours ago, Brickwolf said:

Excellent Build of a difficult-to-build prototype!

Thank you so much. Really satisfied with the model. Am only left with some sticker decals that I am trying to print. 

 

7 hours ago, SteamSewnEmpire said:

Considering that this has a lot of the nuts and bolts of a steam locomotive, I'd really like to see your take on a narrow gauge steam engine. You always produce really first-rate stuff. 

Maybe something Malaysian again like this?:

Funny thing is, I have been working on and off on that exact steam locomotive (56 Class) from the Malayan railway. 

Here's what I have on Studio so far:

 

[Feuer Zug]

Cute narrow gauge shunter. Capturing the angle on the full height nose must have been hard, good work on making it fit.

[SteamSewnEmpire]

7 hours ago, LEGOTrainBuilderSG said:

Thank you so much. Really satisfied with the model. Am only left with some sticker decals that I am trying to print. 

 

Funny thing is, I have been working on and off on that exact steam locomotive (56 Class) from the Malayan railway. 

Here's what I have on Studio so far:

 

Wow, that's superb! How did you do the stack?

[Paperinik77pk]

Very well built narrow gauge locomotive!!!   Very nice! 

Ciao!

Davide

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

On 3/3/2021 at 2:14 AM, SteamSewnEmpire said:

Wow, that's superb! How did you do the stack?

Thanks! But I think the steam engine will probably be a project towards the end of the year because I want to focus on converting all my previous MOCS to run on narrow gauge tracks. 

It is the cylinder cap of a technic shock absorber.

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32181c03&idColor=12#T=S&C=12&O={"color":12,"iconly":0}

You can apparently take it apart. 

 

15 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Very well built narrow gauge locomotive!!!   Very nice! 

Ciao!

Davide

Grazie mille!! :D

Haha my time in Italy has finally paid off. 

 

 

On 3/2/2021 at 11:48 PM, Feuer Zug said:

Cute narrow gauge shunter. Capturing the angle on the full height nose must have been hard, good work on making it fit.

Thanks a lot! Yes, it was tricky at first. Was in the works for sometime because I couldn't get the front right. But happy to finally replicate it in LEGO. 

 

[Man with a hat]

That's nicely done. Especially the subtle slope of the front.

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

14 hours ago, Man with a hat said:

That's nicely done. Especially the subtle slope of the front.

Hey man with a hat, thanks! Am glad to see people are enjoying these subtle details. 

[Asper]

Wonderful! All the PF stuff in one engine!

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

On 3/5/2021 at 1:54 PM, Asper said:

Wonderful! All the PF stuff in one engine!

Hey! Thank you so much. The PF wires are a nightmare because of how stiff they are. 

Hoping to make room to swap out the IR for PFx bricks and M-speaker. 

 

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

Hey everyone, here's a short update video of my LEGO 15 Class with the newly added red counterweights connected to the coupling rods. I think they look fantastic in motion. 

A month ago, I contacted Martin from Bricks-on-rails.de to enquire about the counterweight pieces on his store. After further discussion, Martin suggested that those in his store were too out of scale for this shunter. He then offered an alternative smaller counterweights (S-sized) that he had just designed and 3D-printed.  He was kind enough to arrange a shipment even though the items were not yet on his store. Great chap and would highly recommend his store (bricks-on-rails.de) for all your 3D-printed coupling rods and alternative pieces such as these counterweights. (FYI: Coupling rods in the video are from TrainedBricks)

Am absolutely pleased with the results.

 

 

[CMF-1138]

That looks really sharp with the counterweights! It looked great to start with, but the new counterweights take it to another level. And as others have said, nice job capturing the details and curves/slopes of the prototype.

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

22 hours ago, CMF-1138 said:

That looks really sharp with the counterweights! It looked great to start with, but the new counterweights take it to another level. And as others have said, nice job capturing the details and curves/slopes of the prototype.

Ahh, thank you for the kind words. Really pleased with how it looks. Now I just need to get decals to complete the loco.