4-8-2 Mountain Class Steam Locomotive

[legoman666]

Hi folks, my latest creation. Complete with steam rods from Zephyr and wheels from Big Ben's Bricks.

My inspiration. I took a few liberties but I tried to keep the proportions correct. I even printed out a copy and made a scale.

The tender contains 2 PF train motors, a AAA battery pack and the IR receiver. Plenty of power, but the locomotive will derail in turns if it gets going too fast.

I painted the rims.

I might make a few changes, but nothing major. It already ran for a weekend at the Kentucky Brick Expo. Ran very well except that I had to add some weight to the front set of 4 wheels. There's $2.00 in change taped to it to make it less bouncy :)

[v6TransAM]

U guys need to quit making posts I have to hide from my four yr old

Nice looking Mountain there, nice clean lines.

[garethjellis]

I agree, great build!

[harnbak]

Love this one, especially the round shape all the way from the boiler to the tender!

Excellent, makes me think of the old trains in my grandparents basement.

[legoman666]

Thanks guys! A short video. Sorry for the blurriness, new camera. No idea what I'm doing :)

[SavaTheAggie]

This is a great, smooth build. I especially like the white rims on those wheels and the shape of the tender.

My only complaint is the height of the pistons being so much higher than the drivers, the prototype photo shows them level with the axles. Their alternate color against the black accentuates it. Did you raise it up because of other locomotives you've seen, or to make the pilot clear the pistons in curves?

--Tony

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Great wheels, beautiful tender shape and awesome work!

Thanks for sharing that nice video!

[legoman666]

This is a great, smooth build. I especially like the white rims on those wheels and the shape of the tender.

My only complaint is the height of the pistons being so much higher than the drivers, the prototype photo shows them level with the axles. Their alternate color against the black accentuates it. Did you raise it up because of other locomotives you've seen, or to make the pilot clear the pistons in curves?

--Tony

Honestly the only reason they're gray instead of black is because I didn't have the exact pieces I needed in black and I didn't feel like making a BL order just for a few Technic pieces.

As for the height of the pistons, unfortunately the front set of 4 wheels need it for clearance. I'll take another photo to show exactly.

Edited May 6, 2014 by legoman666

[Redimus]

My only complaint would be the complete lack of running board running along the side of the boiler (especially as you've gone to the trouble of modeling handrails), but I'd be lying if I said I had any idea how you could achieve that. Otherwise really nice build!

[legoman666]

My only complaint would be the complete lack of running board running along the side of the boiler (especially as you've gone to the trouble of modeling handrails), but I'd be lying if I said I had any idea how you could achieve that. Otherwise really nice build!

Thanks! To be honest, the running board never occurred to me :P I might be able to get something 1 stud wide on there but I think it'd look too wide. And making it 1/2 stud wide would be difficult or impossible. The thing I couldn't figure out how to do like the photo was the shield thingie on the leading side of the tender. Thin, rounded objects are not the easiest to do with Lego... But then, I really only used that photo to get the proportions correct. I did take several liberties by the end, most notably being the shield on the tender and the bits that stick up from the boiler. Also, no valve gear :(

[Redimus]

Heh, I think that just makes the engine look a little bit more old fashioned (as do most of the other differences) and in the case of steam engines, there's no problem with looking a little old fashioned.

[zephyr1934]

It's a great looking engine. I would agree with Tony that the cylinders would look better in black. Ideally lower but I doubt it is feasible to do so, so a necessary compromise (if only someone was making wide radius curves... oh, wait, ME is in a different thread). To my eye the tubing looks more like the running boards than a hand rail, then the crack between the two curved slopes captures the visual line that the hand rail would make. So I think it already works. As for the fuel bunker on the Vanderbilt tender, I like using wedges mixed with tiles, e.g., here. Great work, keep on steaming!

[SavaTheAggie]

Lowering the pistons around a four wheeled pony truck is not impossible, but it is a bit of a holy grail among us steam builders. Few attempt it and fewer succeed, but I would encourage you to not simply abandon the idea completely.

I've built several locomotives with varying styles of four wheeled pony trucks that successfully interact with inline pistons. None of my locomotives are ever finished, I'm frequently revisiting them to make improvements.

--Tony

[greenmtvince]

Here's my go at the two axle pony trucks for my Central Vermont class U-1-a Mountain. The cylinders are a plate less in length and and half a stud farther back than I'd like, but everything clears everything else in the tight radius curves. The truck frame is unfinished but the bricks indicate the max clearances allowed. The final version probably won't look all that different. Maybe this will help you out. You probably have more wiggle room since your prototype doesn't have the external frame.

Edit, the bottom of the frame looks low in the photos but it clears the tops of the rails by at least half a plate.

Edited May 7, 2014 by greenmtvince

[legoman666]

Gentlemen, you've given me some good ideas. I'll see what I can cook up.

[zephyr1934]

PS, I forgot to mention, the white "tires" on the train wheels look sharp. You have a steady painting hand.

[Man with a hat]

Very nice. It is really looking good.

The only thing is that it seems that the roof of the drivers cab is a bit high. But apart from that it is a great job.

[bmacro]

Great job! I like it! I like the painted rims.! Good idea!