MOC: Texas & Pacific #610

[SavaTheAggie]

Gallery

The Texas & Pacific #610 is the sole surviving example of the earliest form of the super-power steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works from 1925 to 1949. The super-power locomotives were the first to combine a high-capacity boiler with a modern valve gear and a four-wheel trailing truck. The performance of these locomotives was unprecedented, and they were the prototype for the modern American steam locomotive through the end of the steam age for rail.

Number 610 was the first of the T & P's second order of 2-10-4s delivered June 1927. The I-A1's differed from the first order slightly in that they were built with American multiple-valve throttles that allowed room for their stacks to be capped with decorative flanges, a favorite detail on the T & P. The boiler pressure was also raised from 250 to 255 psig, which increased tractive effort to 84,600 pounds, plus 13,300 pounds for the booster.

By 1953, all but two T & P steam locomotives were scrapped -- the 610 and 638 went on exhibit. It was proudly displayed on the Will Rogers Colliseum Grounds near Casa Manana. Slowly, however, the city lost interest in the old engine, and in 1969 it was stored at the Fort Worth Army Quartermaster Depot. T & P 610 sat at the Quartermaster Depot for six years - until plans started being drawn up for a reenactment of the American Freedom Train to help celebrate our nations Bicentennial. The AFT's decision to use the engine during the Texas leg of the tour furnished the impetus for restoring 610.

After pulling the American Freedom Train, the locomotive was leased by the Southern Railway in 1977 for use in its steam excursion program. It was used by the Southern for four years until being returned to Texas in 1981. In 1987 it was donated to the Texas State Railroad historical park where it resides today. While in serviceable condition, the TSRR keeps the #610 as a museum piece, rolling it out of the shop on weekends for public view.

My model of #610 has been built in its American Freedom Train livery, rather than the Texas & Pacific livery she wears today. She is powered by two Power Functions train motors in the tender and is fully track compatible including switches and S curves. From the limited testing I have performed I predict she will be a regular performer at events.

--Tony

[mpec82]

Impressive.

Texas&Pacific colors are black/white/red? If yes, i prefer it with the American Freedom colors.

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME just simply AWESOME !

Excellent work on this beauty 'SavaTheAggie' !

I'm a conformist! !

[AussieJimbo]

That's a fabulous locomotive Sava.

What a fantastic creation and to have it fully track compatible is amazing. How do you do it?

_{(You've proabably shown in the gallery so treat that as semi-rhetorical.)}

_{Ah now I see, 2nd and 5th wheels flanged, nice.}

Thanks for the introductory text too.

A masterful job. Well done mate.

:classic:

Edited January 31, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[marsupilami]

Really impressive Tony, looks like you did it again! Your creations are always a pleasure to look at, amazing details. I'm planning on building a steam engine some time this year, but I'll start with a small switcher (as advised in RB) to gain some experience :)

Edited January 31, 2011 by marsupilami

[L@go]

Fab, just fab. All those incredible details, all those pieces in places I'd never have thought of putting them, used in ways I'd never have thought of using them. That's what makes a good creation fantastic :)

[Cinderbike]

Nice work on the tender. Took me a second to realize those stripes were bricks and not a decal!

[SavaTheAggie]

Impressive.

Texas&Pacific colors are black/white/red? If yes, i prefer it with the American Freedom colors.

Yeah, the #610 is currently all black with (I think) a white pinstripe and a red roof on the cab. Actually if you visit her you can see the red, white and blue paint on her tender peeking through the cracks in the black paint.

AWESOME just simply AWESOME !

Excellent work on this beauty 'SavaTheAggie' !

I'm a conformist! !

Thanks much!

That's a fabulous locomotive Sava.

What a fantastic creation and to have it fully track compatible is amazing. How do you do it?

_{(You've proabably shown in the gallery so treat that as semi-rhetorical.)}

_{Ah now I see, 2nd and 5th wheels flanged, nice.}

Thanks for the introductory text too.

A masterful job. Well done mate.

:classic:

Thanks much! I was a little worried about how I'd articulate her for multiple reasons, but everything seemed to just click together, so to speak.

Really impressive Tony, looks like you did it again! Your creations are always a pleasure to look at, amazing details. I'm planning on building a steam engine some time this year, but I'll start with a small switcher (as advised in RB) to gain some experience :)

Thanks much! You know, I do sell steam engine instructions in my Bricklink shop...

Fab, just fab. All those incredible details, all those pieces in places I'd never have thought of putting them, used in ways I'd never have thought of using them. That's what makes a good creation fantastic :)

Thanks much! I've actually spent relatively little time on this one compared to others, I can only say that it's because of all the others I've built that I was able to come up with this one so quickly.

Nice work on the tender. Took me a second to realize those stripes were bricks and not a decal!

Thanks! To be fair, the stripes are not entirely bricks. The red and blue stripes are bricks, SNOT'd cheese slopes, but the white pinstripes above, below and between them are thin strips of white sticker paper to continue the horizontal white brick-built pinstripe.

--Tony

[Gioppa]

Ok Sava,it is amazing like ever, ,i have only one question,where you find that pipe,that on on the side of the engine,very long.

i need for my Emerald moc,because the normal pipe on emerald are short for my use.

Can you help me?it is original from LEGO or...

I hope sometimes you come in Italy for run it on our Italian Layout.

Great work!!

[Rustie86]

Too cool, Sava. I've always liked the look of those T&P Texas-types. It's even better to see it painted for the AFT considering its role in the event didn't seem to be very well-known.

I'm planning some eventual Bessemer & Lake Erie locomotives, and I may have to get my mitts on your instructions to do their 2-10-4.

[SavaTheAggie]

Ok Sava,it is amazing like ever, ,i have only one question,where you find that pipe,that on on the side of the engine,very long.

i need for my Emerald moc,because the normal pipe on emerald are short for my use.

Can you help me?it is original from LEGO or...

I hope sometimes you come in Italy for run it on our Italian Layout.

Great work!!

Thanks much! I got the hose off Bricklink, so I don't know what specific set it comes in. If you're looking for one you'll need to look in the Hose, Rigid 3mm category.

I'd love to run my trains on a new layout, not sure when I'll find myself across the pond but I'm looking forward to when I do.

Too cool, Sava. I've always liked the look of those T&P Texas-types. It's even better to see it painted for the AFT considering its role in the event didn't seem to be very well-known.

I'm planning some eventual Bessemer & Lake Erie locomotives, and I may have to get my mitts on your instructions to do their 2-10-4.

Thanks much! I don't know if I'll ever release instructions for this one. The hoses are pretty hard to render in LDraw with all those bends and kinks, and the construction of the boiler becomes very difficult to where I don't know if it'd translate into instructions well. While building it I began to question if it'd ever work.

--Tony

[Legotrainmaster]

Gallery

The Texas & Pacific #610 is the sole surviving example of the earliest form of the super-power steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works from 1925 to 1949. The super-power locomotives were the first to combine a high-capacity boiler with a modern valve gear and a four-wheel trailing truck. The performance of these locomotives was unprecedented, and they were the prototype for the modern American steam locomotive through the end of the steam age for rail.

Number 610 was the first of the T & P's second order of 2-10-4s delivered June 1927. The I-A1's differed from the first order slightly in that they were built with American multiple-valve throttles that allowed room for their stacks to be capped with decorative flanges, a favorite detail on the T & P. The boiler pressure was also raised from 250 to 255 psig, which increased tractive effort to 84,600 pounds, plus 13,300 pounds for the booster.

By 1953, all but two T & P steam locomotives were scrapped -- the 610 and 638 went on exhibit. It was proudly displayed on the Will Rogers Colliseum Grounds near Casa Manana. Slowly, however, the city lost interest in the old engine, and in 1969 it was stored at the Fort Worth Army Quartermaster Depot. T & P 610 sat at the Quartermaster Depot for six years - until plans started being drawn up for a reenactment of the American Freedom Train to help celebrate our nations Bicentennial. The AFT's decision to use the engine during the Texas leg of the tour furnished the impetus for restoring 610.

After pulling the American Freedom Train, the locomotive was leased by the Southern Railway in 1977 for use in its steam excursion program. It was used by the Southern for four years until being returned to Texas in 1981. In 1987 it was donated to the Texas State Railroad historical park where it resides today. While in serviceable condition, the TSRR keeps the #610 as a museum piece, rolling it out of the shop on weekends for public view.

My model of #610 has been built in its American Freedom Train livery, rather than the Texas & Pacific livery she wears today. She is powered by two Power Functions train motors in the tender and is fully track compatible including switches and S curves. From the limited testing I have performed I predict she will be a regular performer at events.

--Tony

Good afternoon! First post here on Eurobrick so hope im doing everything correct!! First off i want to say your engine looks amazing very nice work. Im just starting to get my feet wet in the lego train world and had a question for you. Im working on a larger steam engine like yours and was wondering what was all need to use two power function motors? i was thinking it would be a nice idea to add more power to the engine and didnt now if any thing special was need to run two motors. Thanks for taking the time to read this and once again amazing job on the engine. Danny

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Hi Sava, this is absolutely amazing!

I can count 10 large size wheels with piston rod, I really love steam engines!

Super!

[SavaTheAggie]

Good afternoon! First post here on Eurobrick so hope im doing everything correct!! First off i want to say your engine looks amazing very nice work. Im just starting to get my feet wet in the LEGO train world and had a question for you. Im working on a larger steam engine like yours and was wondering what was all need to use two power function motors? i was thinking it would be a nice idea to add more power to the engine and didnt now if any thing special was need to run two motors. Thanks for taking the time to read this and once again amazing job on the engine. Danny

I'm not an established and accepted Eurobricks member, but you're doing fine as far as I can tell. Thanks for the compliment.

I started off building a big engine first, and I have to say that it isn't getting your feet wet so much as diving in feet first. Building a small steam engine helps you ease into the hobby, building a large one can be (but not always) quite frustrating. Not all locomotives need two motors, but larger ones benefit from it. I don't think you'd need more than two motors unless you're planning on powering the drivers directly, and you see the need for that extra power. None of the ones I've built so far have more than two.

The only thing you'll need, as far as Power Functions are concerned, for two motors is the obligatory battery box, and if you want to use it the IR receiver. As matter of preference, I use the Power Functions polarity switch (as I did on this MOC), so I could point the wires on the Power Functions train motors towards the middle of the tender. I wanted the floor of the tender to be strongest around the edges, so it was necessary to put the holes for the wires in the middle of the floor. This causes the motors to naturally turn in an opposite direction to each other, so using the polarity switch fixes that.

Hi Sava, this is absolutely amazing!

I can count 10 large size wheels with piston rod, I really love steam engines!

Super!

Thanks! Yup, she's a bit 2-10-4, and she still runs around the track like a champ. I'm pleased to say the TexLUGgers were impressed by her at our recent get together.

--Tony