GP-38 from Jacob H. McKee

[BillytheKid]

In the early 2000 I bought a book 'Getting started with lego trains' from Jacob H. McKee. I was inspired of the detailed building instructions and guess what, I build them all. After set 10133 BNSF train came out in 2004, in mine opnion the design of the set was not so good as from Jacob H. McKee. Even the stockcars of that book are way better than the set of lego 10170.

He even challenge you to build the train in different colors. I build one in white and named it the DB7777. Why not try out locomotives from other countries to see how they works .Too bad white yellowed in time and needed to be repainted and red will be a better choice. But the DB7777 stays on the locomotive and white printed tiles 'GP-38'. There are 3 different locomotives with stronger engine in time.
The red DB7777 has 2 12v motors for more pulling power (can be overheated when pulling too much and melt inner part) and frontroof - & taillight.
The colors of set 10133 was still interesting, but still didn't like the design of lego. So why not build the design of Jacob H. McKee in those colors. Afterall, that was a very expensive choise ........ (even 2d hand 7750 is less value than mine GP-38 BNSF) Those colors of certain bricks. And it has a double 9v motors (for more pullingpower) and working front- and taillight, all connected to eachother with  a lot of wires hidden inside the locomotive .
And the stickers, lucky brickstickershop does make excellent repro's for retired legosets, even better than original .

Enought talk and picture's please .

I add a picture of 10133 too, so you can see the differance of the desgin of Jacob H. McKee and lego.

I wonder what you think and share your thoughts .

 

 

 

 

[Murdoch17]

Nice MOCs @BillytheKid!

I wish that book was more widely available. I read a library copy once as a child, and nowadays I want to use the instructions... chances are I'll never hold it in my hands again as it's pretty rare.

EDIT: I just checked Amazon to see what they had for sale. $300 is a lot of money for one book, so yeah - not happening!

Edited January 18, 2025 by Murdoch17

[XG BC]

@Murdoch17 its available for free on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/gettingstartedwi0000mcke

[Murdoch17]

33 minutes ago, XG BC said:

@Murdoch17 its available for free on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/gettingstartedwi0000mcke

Thanks @XG BC, you are totally awesome!

[idlemarvel]

20 hours ago, XG BC said:

@Murdoch17 its available for free on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/gettingstartedwi0000mcke

Thanks for this link @XG BC however this view seems to only show a "limited preview" where only about 1 in 10 pages can be seen. I tried logging in with my google account to "borrow" the book but it made no difference. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

However I then did a search for the book and went to:

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8989090W/Getting_Started_with_LEGO_Trains 

...and logged  in again with my google account and I was able to "borrow" and read the whole book.

Go to page 19 for the GB-38 loco build.

Edited January 19, 2025 by idlemarvel

[Phil B]

On 1/18/2025 at 11:03 AM, Murdoch17 said:

Nice MOCs @BillytheKid!

I wish that book was more widely available. I read a library copy once as a child, and nowadays I want to use the instructions... chances are I'll never hold it in my hands again as it's pretty rare.

EDIT: I just checked Amazon to see what they had for sale. $300 is a lot of money for one book, so yeah - not happening!

Wow! I bought this book second hand at the end of 2018, from Amazon, for $28 shipped. It has appreciated more in value than any of my LEGO sets :)