[MOC] The iron Sovereign

[Darkkostas25]

So Decapods, and now I`m not speaking about crustations. I`m a big fan of vehicles with lots, TONS, ABUNDANT amount of wheels, but like with spices and many really good things in real life, too much isn`t good (Yeah AA20 I`m talking bout you) 
So I was wondering, looking and researching about European and mostly British(I don`t know why, maybe coz Tomas and friends raised me, but this is a topic for another route) engines with a large number of driving wheels and European engines were kinda lacking (as I thought) in this subject, not like `MERICAs engine and some if were with more then 4 axels/8 wheels was not so intresting for that moment and thanks for train of thought i discovered BR 9F and i fall in love. 
And I decided to try to make it as much as I could. Here is the first version, and choose to use the dark green as it was the nation's racing colour for it
So Behold The Iron Sovereign V1.0 made in 2025





The Iron Sovereign from BrickLink Studio

And time flies by, and in my local RLuG is preparing for the Fancon(after the falls/outums event that prolongs till the new year) event that will be this summer with a LEGO stand, and I choose to make him. And then problems start to appear. Bricklink will be unavailable for my region... So, time goes by, and I adapt to Brickowl and start to make MODs for some sets and decide to bring to life some of my digital models. And when I upload his parts in BrickOwl, many parts and colours are unavailable or very hefty in price, and this model must be motorised. So needed changes: more affordable parts, colours and motorisation.

 

[rjr]

That is a massive locomotive! I have the same problem with dark green parts but I image this looks great in any other color! 

[Shiva]

Nice! Maybe build it for now, as if it was still waiting for repainting after a restoration? Or, partly painted but not 100% yet?

Real life example https://www.thnsw.com.au/post/locomotive-3801-moves-under-own-power

Edited May 15 by Shiva
IRL example added.

[Daiman]

Fantastic and yes building an engine like this is a big commitment on time and the pocket book.

you could see if any of the costly parts are available directly from TLG pick a brick for a better price. It takes some time to go through the process but ultimately may save making some changes to the model.

 

Good Luck!

[Darkkostas25]

So...
The Iron Sovereign 2.0 
Now with PU L-motor in mind for usage. Sadly, only one could be put in coz it`s way too compact for the inclusion of 2 motors with differential for better output, maybe can do version 2.1 with 2 motors without differential. More cheap, common parts(for my region) (except maybe golden crowbar)



The Iron Sovereign blue from BrickLink Studio [BrickLink]
So

34 minutes ago, Daiman said:

Fantastic and yes building an engine like this is a big commitment on time and the pocket book.

you could see if any of the costly parts are available directly from TLG pick a brick for a better price. It takes some time to go through the process but ultimately may save making some changes to the model.

 

Good Luck!

PAB and the LEGO shop at home are still not available. Yeah, they added Ukrainian language, but you still can`t buy directly from LEGO. So all the sets that I bought were way pricey, OE was 530 euros or $612
And I will miss BDP sets.

[Daiman]

I think I prefer the blue on this one anyway...

[L-Gauger]

4 hours ago, Darkkostas25 said:

So I was wondering, looking and researching about European and mostly British(I don`t know why, maybe coz Tomas and friends raised me, but this is a topic for another route) engines with a large number of driving wheels and European engines were kinda lacking (as I thought) in this subject, not like `MERICAs engine and some if were with more then 4 axels/8 wheels was not so intresting for that moment and thanks for train of thought i discovered BR 9F and i fall in love. 

Incredible design, and instantly recognizable as a 9F, phenominal work!

Fun fact: Murdoch from the Thomas & Friends show (the big orange guy) is a BR class 9F. 

And if it's lots of wheels you like, the Union Pacific wheel arrangement might be worth looking into, if memory serves it's a 2-12-2 - a class of them were built for the Union Pacific railroad in the U.S. and I'm pretty sure they hold the world record for largest number of axles on a non-articulated frame for a steam locomotive. 

[zephyr1934]

I like the look of the blue too. Very nice model you've build there. I think I like the front the best, the way you built the smoke deflectors book ending the smokebox.

 

Did you deliberately put the flanged wheels on axles 1 & 4? Most n-10-n lego steamers that I've seen have the flanged wheels on 2&4.

 

There is some precedence for gray too.

 

What you could use is a brick-pal. With the quality of your builds I bet there is someone out there that would trade you the specific bricks you need for a few of your digital designs.

 

You could also turn to the dark side.

[Darkkostas25]

9 hours ago, L-Gauger said:

Incredible design, and instantly recognizable as a 9F, phenominal work!

Fun fact: Murdoch from the Thomas & Friends show (the big orange guy) is a BR class 9F. 

And if it's lots of wheels you like, the Union Pacific wheel arrangement might be worth looking into, if memory serves it's a 2-12-2 - a class of them were built for the Union Pacific railroad in the U.S. and I'm pretty sure they hold the world record for largest number of axles on a non-articulated frame for a steam locomotive. 

Thanks, I`ll try to make a virtual model and hope to order more wheels from local 3D printing shops, coz most of them I`ll buy from my region (blind wheels to be specific is now missing :D) and also some more decent-sized big train wheels for passifics coz lego`s fine for some 4-5 axeled and some small 1-3 axel engines. And maybe side rods (with standard parts in 8w, they can be way too wide)

Oh no Murdoch (orange, 9f), a combination of my favourite colour and engine, why T_T I want it now in orange

1 hour ago, zephyr1934 said:

I like the look of the blue too. Very nice model you've build there. I think I like the front the best, the way you built the smoke deflectors book ending the smokebox.

 

Did you deliberately put the flanged wheels on axles 1 & 4? Most n-10-n lego steamers that I've seen have the flanged wheels on 2&4.

 

There is some precedence for gray too.

 

What you could use is a brick-pal. With the quality of your builds I bet there is someone out there that would trade you the specific bricks you need for a few of your digital designs.

 

You could also turn to the dark side.

Oh, I even start thinking of combining my China/bootlegs and official parts in builds. Not like usual here, Lego's coach here is a knockoff of one or the other, but I may need to be less purist.
Where I was forced to buy some third-party Crocodile coz it was way too quick to sell out 
About 1-4. Firstly, it was 1-5, like in some Chinese brand of 2-10-2 and by this video, but remember lots of posts with: better for tight curves, a 2-4 configuration, but I'm afraid this configuration wouldn`t work properly with my front Boogie 

 

[zephyr1934]

11 hours ago, Darkkostas25 said:

About 1-4. Firstly, it was 1-5, like in some Chinese brand of 2-10-2 and by this video, but remember lots of posts with: better for tight curves, a 2-4 configuration, but I'm afraid this configuration wouldn`t work properly with my front Boogie 

Cool!

[sergiomonai]

Very nice model, if you love lokos with many wheels I suggest you the book "Lokomotiv-Athleten" of Dr.techn. Adolph Giesl-Gieslingen, honorary prof. of the "Technische Universitat" of Wien. Is only in German but is full of nice photos and diagrams:

 

Edited Monday at 08:10 AM by sergiomonai

[Darkkostas25]

[Darkkostas25]

10 hours ago, sergiomonai said:

Very nice model, if you love lokos with many wheels I suggest you the book "Lokomotiv-Athleten" of Dr.techn. Adolph Giesl-Gieslingen, honorary prof. of the "Technische Universitat" of Wien. Is only in German but is full of nice photos and diagrams:

 

Interesting book, try to look for it

[Toastie]

@JopieK

topic marked as "featured" but not showing? Queue issue?

Best
Thorsten

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, Toastie said:

@JopieK

topic marked as "featured" but not showing? Queue issue?

Best
Thorsten

It's on the main page sidebar under featured topics as the first one listed. Frontpaging is different, if that's where you're looking.

[Toastie]

7 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

Frontpaging is different, if that's where you're looking.

Ahh! Thank you - did not know that (after so many years here ... ^^)

Have a nice day
Thorsten

[JopieK]

Well it should frontpage a featured topic automatically. 

@Darkkostas25 some of your images seem to be missing b.t.w!

[Murdoch17]

6 hours ago, JopieK said:

Well it should frontpage a featured topic automatically. 

@Darkkostas25 some of your images seem to be missing b.t.w!

All the pictures are showing up for me...

[Darkkostas25]

8 hours ago, JopieK said:

Well it should frontpage a featured topic automatically. 

@Darkkostas25 some of your images seem to be missing b.t.w!

Strange... Almost all, except the last one, from Brickling, some old ones, yes, missing coz I can't figure out what happened with my Imgur account.

[Darkkostas25]

On 5/20/2026 at 10:04 AM, JopieK said:

Well it should frontpage a featured topic automatically. 

@Darkkostas25 some of your images seem to be missing b.t.w!

Strange... Almost all, except the last one, from Brickling, some old ones, yes, missing coz I can't figure out what happened with my Imgur account.

So it`s time to real thing





And already have a teething with standard LEGO curves, mostly with S bends, maybe will change flanged wheels arrangement from 1-4 to 1-5 for a smaller gap with tender 

[Murdoch17]

Looks very nice @Darkkostas25!

[zephyr1934]

Congratulations! She looks great in real brick. I particularly like how the nose came together with the smoke deflectors, smoke box, and steam pipes to the cylinders.

 

[Shiva]

Nice to see the real build :)