PF Load and Haul Loco 4563

[woofmcmoose]

Firstly in case you missed me in the 'introduce yourself' forum; Hello!

I'm fairly new to lego trains having had HO scale stuff as a kid I wasn't allowed a Lego train set too. However, I received the 7939 cargo train for Christmas from my girlfriend and soon after got a bit ebay happy and bought a 2nd hand load and haul (though no 9v track or controller).

So out came my spares box and after a fair bit of fiddling I came up with this PF conversion which I think makes a neat little shunter without straying too far from the original look:

Although I noted the existence of the red battery cover on the first PF cargo train i decided against bricklinking one in favor of some SNOT work using old school hinge plates. This did however end up making her almost 6 wide at the body:

As you can see I tried to offset this extra width by adding door runners to extend the footplate on either side. And despite the small gap I'm very happy with the look of the nose.

My biggest criteria in design was that I still wanted a driver, though unfortunately he shares his cab with a mess of cable:

But he can still see where he's going!

And given the loco has only driving wheels and relatively light weight, it's the fastest thing on my tracks by a long way.

Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions most welcome.

[Ashi Valkoinen]

Nice part usage here. I like the idea building the battery box around and not buying a thing which fits in color, too. Your solution will be acceptible for other MOCs not being red or DBG.

However you solved the color problem, you created a new one, with the almost 6W body maybe you can try to build the cab part in seven wide. To make the windows on the other end in 7W will enable you to use more SNOT technique on this loco.

[Doom2099]

I really like the work you did on the sides. They look great, and being able to do it in a variety of colors is a big plus!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Excellent design!

Very clever building solution!

[Lazarus]

I would of put the battery pack in the box wagon in the set myself.

I have this set and it is one of my most basic sets but my first set, so i still love running it even with all my new flash trains.

[Jorrith]

I've recently also got this set, but thought putting PF in it would be impossible... You did an incredible job!

My 4563 came with track and controller, so the easiest thing to me seemed to add a few points and make a 9V loop inside my PF layout.