North Pole Limited - 1800's Christmas train with wood-burning 4-6-0 steam locomotive and four cars - real world MOC

[Murdoch17]

 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...' 

When I was a child / young teen I longed for 2006 set 10173 - Holiday Train, but never received it. So, 19 years later, I took the train and turned it up to 11 with revised styling, a more cohesive color scheme throughout, and a new Western-style 4-6-0 steam loco inspired by a stretched version of the one in 2010 Toy Story set 7597 - Western Train Chase. This train is supposed to be a late-1800's precursor to the 1930s-made Polar Express, (which I also own a LEGO model of from years back) and I'm it calling the North Pole Limited. It has been built for quite a few months - I am uploading it now as we're nearly at the halfway point of the year and it's only 6 more months until Christmas!

This 4-6-0 steam engine is a stretched and heavily modified version of the 4-4-0 from previously-mentioned Toy Story set. The working pistons, tender, and some other details are my own ideas.

The rear of the wood-burning locomotive.

The passenger coach - like most of the train cars - is heavily inspired by 2006 set 10173 - Holiday Train.

The Christmas tree car.

The present gondola, full of gifts for the good girls and boys of the world. I wonder if any of those packages rattle...

The front of the caboose, which is inspired by 2001 My Own Train set 10014 - Caboose.

Back of the caboose.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus in minifig form.

That's all for this project. Thoughts?

[Feuer Zug]

Good looking Christmas train. The white scheme is nice, but might blend with the snow. The red and green highlights work well on it.

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Good looking Christmas train. The white scheme is nice, but might blend with the snow. The red and green highlights work well on it.

Thanks @Feuer Zug!

[JopieK]

Nice one @Murdoch17, you are already preparing for December aren't you?!

[Murdoch17]

3 hours ago, JopieK said:

Nice one @Murdoch17, you are already preparing for December aren't you?!

Thanks @JopieK, this one has actually been made since January. The reason for posting it now is I'm beating the holiday overload. If you do a holiday MOC in December, it is "eh" but if you do it in June, it gets more attention! 

Edited June 5, 2025 by Murdoch17

[JopieK]

Haha now I get it! So lot's of strategy behind it! 

The 10173 is also a nightmare story for me b.t.w. we saw it in Billund back in the day, but let it go without buying it (huge mistake obviously).

[Shiva]

Looks nice.

I do wish that LEGO had 4033 / 6556 , in the green you use.

Oh great, I forgot to post this +2 days ago. No wonder I did not find my post.

[Murdoch17]

On 6/6/2025 at 7:07 AM, JopieK said:

Haha now I get it! So lot's of strategy behind it! 

The 10173 is also a nightmare story for me b.t.w. we saw it in Billund back in the day, but let it go without buying it (huge mistake obviously).

Oh no! I hope you were able to get the set later somehow @JopieK...

16 hours ago, Shiva said:

Looks nice.

I do wish that LEGO had 4033 / 6556 , in the green you use.

Oh great, I forgot to post this +2 days ago. No wonder I did not find my post.

Thanks @Shiva, and yes - more windows in green would be great!

[MikeTheBuilder]

Oh wow that looks amazing. I'd love to have something like this going round the Christmas tree!

[Murdoch17]

6 hours ago, MikeTheBuilder said:

Oh wow that looks amazing. I'd love to have something like this going round the Christmas tree!

Thanks @MikeTheBuilder for the compliments!