COMING SOON: passenger trains (10-wide, MLCAD)

[Diamondback]

As the title notes, I've been working for several years on designing many of the great American passenger-trains of the '30s-'50s in ten-wide (1 stud=1'; more-detailed minifig-scale). Hopefully I'll have some pics next week, as soon as I can find info about interior colors...

To put it mildly, each single car for these trains would have as many pieces as the UCS Star Destroyer and end up a little over 2' long assembled.

Currently in progress: (most of these targets were selected because Model Railroader magazine did special features on them, so I have the plans and elevations I need for all except the UP)

1951 Santa Fe Super Chief: due respect to James Mathis and LEGO, I aim to show them how this one's done! Mine may not have full handrails, but they will have interior lights...

1938 & '48 New York Central 20th Century Limited: old family business, plus '38 used most of the "standard" prewar sleeper types from the Pullman catalog.

1938 & '49 Pennsylvania RR Broadway Limited: '38 sleepers mostly same as NYC '38 Century, plus you can't really do one of these archrivals justice without the other.

1941 NYC Empire State Express: the last streamliner to enter service before WWII killed non-war production.

1947 Great Northern Empire Builder: First complete postwar US passenger-train reequipped.

1948 CB&Q/D&RGW/WP California Zephyr: Two words. Dome cars. Lots of 'em.

Union Pacific prewar City of Los Angeles/City of San Francisco: usually equipped near-identically, so what I can't reuse from the '38 NYC/PRR gigs I can leverage from one to the other.

Not passenger related but still rail: "Double Diesels"--EMD DD35/DD35A/DDA40X, ALCo C855A/B, and GE U50/U50C, same scale. The DD40, probably the biggest of these, will be ~100 studs long...

Anybody have particular requests for me to start queuing up on this? Note: As I can't get most of the bulk-parts I need through LEGO Factory or Pick-a-Brick (nor could I afford it even if they offered every different piece they make in every color), and am not now nor expected to become a Master Builder, this project is confined to CAD renderings--but I would be glad to post the completed files for perusal and critiquing once they're done.

[zeki]

10 wide sounds amazing although i'm interested in 8 wide version. Looking forward to see your models.

[Bartram]

10-wide sounds great. Can't wait to see the finished products.

[Captain Zuloo]

Hey, just a word of advice, don't post until you have at least some WIP shots as people will see it now and they won't return when images are added because in their memory there are no pictures in this post. Does that make sense? Anyway, I look foward to seeing you MOCs.

Just a tip!

[djo]

great job.

can't wait to see the pictures to comment more.

[user]

10-wide sounds great. Can't wait to see the finished products.

AGREED!

[Diamondback]

Guys, I'm working on getting screencaps of some partials to post on Photobucket now--another catch is, I can't do much more than complete one side and mark off the interior walls until I have better "paint" references. (I'm using red as a "placeholder" for walls and green for floor.)

Also still struggling a little with designing the underframes, particularly coming up with mechanisms to allow coupler-swing (if I could just get the old M:Tron magnet holders in a black or rusty-brown shade they'd be perfect for North American-type couplers) and truck (excuse me, in Europe they're called "bogies") rotation so as to allow a reasonable radius of curve for these monsters. (Of course, lateral-motion devices on them will be a must so the truck can move sideways under the car...)

Further problem: enough power to move 13 to 17 of these "at speed"--my J3s for the 20th Century and the Empire State, I figure I can get 3 motors under, a tripleheader of GM E-series diesels or ALCo PA's is good for six and a Santa Fe or Great Northern-style quadruple-F-unit would take eight. Just so y'all know, I'm probably gonna ask you guys for ideas on interior details, but I should note the restrooms are rather cramped and sometimes not even minifig-rated...

Okay, some work-in-progress teasers. I tried to keep the pics big enough to see detail, but small enough to accommodate dial-up or small-screen users.

LEGO 6-wide Super Chief F7A Phase 1 versus mine:

And, using the standard prewar Pullman plan 4068-series 17- or 18-roomette sleeper, an illustration of how New York Central paint schemes evolved (disregard the "17" tag, these are actually 18-roomettes--I had a brainfart and forgot to design in the open section repalcing one roomette on the early cars)

1938 version, Plan 4068-E (should be a 17-roomette as noted above)

First streamlined 20th Century as-delivered--very high-maintenance, as Opex Blue was a paint meant for cars and not trains. (It looked great when new, but didn't wear well at all--soon overpainted with silver.)

1939 version, Plans 4068-H (1939) and -J (1940; both are 18-roomette versions)

The first major change: blue edge-stripes on the windowband have been replaced with white (standing in for silver)--and I couldn't show this at this scale, but the two silver stripes at the middle of the windows changed to 3/4" pinstripes from original 2".

1945 version, limited-application paintjob (not all prewar cars were repainted before the '48 scheme was adopted)

Final version of NYC's Henry Dreyfuss-designed paintjobs, sometimes called "Reverse Dreyfuss" by NYC students for its swapping of the light and dark grays.

1948 "final" version, after these cars were bumped from "premiere" varnish to second-string trains:

This scheme was worn by all NYC streamlined cars except the stainless-steel ones and a few rebuilt coaches until the end in 1968.

[Johnny 5]

Wow these look amazing so far, lots of fantastic detail, can't wait to see more.

[Diamondback]

I also should note, most of the interior on that sleeper is "cutaway" until I have the data to finish, and those two minifigs are only in there as "measuring tools"--assuming the LDraw community cooperates on new minifig parts, these trains are definitely going to be populated by more "period" figures.

The F7, I'm even designing a more detailed GM 567 prime-mover for, but here again, the catch is developing a light but strong floor and frame to support the required coupler-swing and truck lateral-motion.

I'm also planning jumper-cables between cars (disguised as "brake lines") to distribute power for the lights, and if I could figure out a pickup-from-rails mechanism to tie that in with the locomotives so I can keep things running across the entire train.

[legotrainfan]

The bigger such creations, the more details possible. I'm eager to see the final result. That's definitely going to be a very heavey train you are creating! Keep us up-to-date about your process!

[djo]

wow, very big train that you must put 3 motors on it.

can't wait to see it running. keep the good work.

[Diamondback]

Bear in mind, djo, I'm designing these to run at correct 13- to 17-car length--even three motors seems underpowered to my thinking, as each car is around 85 to 87 studs long. I don't expect to ever complete one physically or even have the space to lay it out or run it, but I'm trying to design it such that I could given the parts and LEGO making track with broad enough curves.

Going's gonna be slow, between business (a salaryman may work from sun to sun, but a freelancer's work is never done!) and other things--this is about the third major redesign of my "standard passenger-car core", now with curved roofs. (The original designs used _x2 and 2x4 slope-bricks, looking like something out of a polygonized videogame; unfortunately, parts haven't changed enough to totally eliminate this on dome- and observation-cars, nor on my Amtrak Superliners and other cars with roof windows.

J3a 4-6-4, as streamlined for NYC '41 Empire State:

Note: when I use lime-green on one of these projects, it's a placeholder for either a custom-painted part or one that hasn't made it from LEGO to LDraw yet--in this case, the intended drivers are clear 6x6 dishes custom-printed with the design of a Scullin disc wheel. They're also "blind"--no flange between the rails, so the drivers are mainly along for the ride, letting the trailing-truck and the two under the tender (not rendered) do all the work. The "bullet nose" is also a custom-printed part, clear with silver-gray top and black bottom to allow for a working headlight.

Boattail-observation partial end:

Super Chief F7ABBA set and head-end cars:

Union Pacific prewar E6A and Santa Fe F7A:

Since the F-series were actually derived from the E's, I figured that reversing the process would give me a head-start on the design. You could say the F's were essentially designed as E's grown so big by the change from V12's to V16 engines that they had to mount each block in a separate carbody; in fact, the original F wasn't designed for cab and booster to ever be separated, but Santa Fe insisted on the redesign, produced as the model FS, which evolved into the FT, direct ancestor of the F3's and F7's so immortalized in Santa Fe Warbonnets, Southern Ry. "Tuxedos" and NYC Lightning Stripes. (Paranthetically, the descendant also evolved the ancestor--an F3/F7 "short" nose mated to an E6 carbody yielded the E7/8/9 models, the latter two being GM's most powerful single "Covered Wagon" units at 2250 and 2400 horsepower respectively. (Sorry, one of my other hats is as a railroad historian, you're probably gonna see a lot of "history" every time I post a design. Have I outed myself as "GEEK" yet?lol) And if you've ever wondered how those wonderful compound-curve noses were made? Lots of Bondo or other body-putty...