Southwest Lumber Mills 2-6-6-2t

[Daedalus304]

Hello all! I'm back again with another new steam engine to share with you.

Some of you may remember my earlier Mallet locomotive I posted here long ago. For those who haven't, check it out here. My new engine is strikingly similar to this old model - and for good reason too.

As it turns out, #12 was originally built as a Tank engine for Hammond Lumer company and ran as a tank engine for a majority of its working life. Along the way, it was sold and traded railroads a couple times before eventually winding up at the Southwest Lumber Mills. At that point, it was still a tank engine, but it pulled around a large tank car holding extra water. This tank car was eventually replaced with a tender, and not too long after that the tanks and fuel bunker were removed.

But for a short span of it's life, it apparently ran with the full tank set and a water tender; and it is at that point that I have rendered the engine now.

I ad two big reasons for wanting to build this - the first and foremost was that I've grown very fond of this engine and really, really wanted to model in its tank engine days. Building it as a tank engine gave me the room I needed to hide away an L motor and a PF receiver, but a battery box required a tender or a permanent car. When I discovered that the engine briefly ran as a Tank+Tender, my problem was solved. The tender contains a battery box and the IR receiver, and thanks to the extra room in the engine I was able to fit in an extra L Motor.

Two L-Motors, geared down and powering Medium Drivers, provide a LOT of power. Some may say excessive. This is great for me, as in my future model railway I'm wanting to have a logging branch line that requires a somewhat steep grade. This engine has both the power and the agility to make it through steep hills, tight turns, and tight turns on steep hills. One of the L-Motors is mounted sideways in the boiler, providing critical structural support. The 3-wide nature of it worked perfectly for the cheese wedge boiler, and the large tanks hide it well. The other motor was a simpler affair, though figure out how to rout the drive shaft through the firebox turned out a little difficult as that 3-stud long section carries a good amount of the engine's overall stiffness, so care had to be taken to avoid the engine having any bend that would cause friction on the drive line.

The boiler's got enough clearance over the front engine that it can handle steep grade changes. In practice, I will of course ease into the grade a little more gracefully, but however it happens #12 will take it. I've so far tested it on a grade of 1 brick per track section, which it can take with cars on speed setting 1. I have yet to test anything steeper, but with the power this engine's demonstrated I'm sure it will handle more without complaint.

The power did highlight a problem though. BBB drivers, for all their great qualities, are very short on traction. This engine had more power than it could use. There was, for many reasons, no way I was considering lathing grooves into the drivers, so instead I purchased some stuff called Bullfrog Snot. The Snot creates great grippy tires and was relatively simple to use, though application had a bit of a learning curve. 3 of the 4 flanged powered drivers now have these Bullfrog Snot tires, and #12's power is put to good use. The tires are great, it never slips and they don't muck up the track.

You can see a few more pictures of this engine on my Flickr page. I'm hoping to get a couple videos up within the next day or two, and when I get the chance I still need to get a photo of both models together.

It's been really fun modelling the same engine at two periods in its life, and a part of me is very tempted to go try and build a third version of this engine from when it was green and silver. But... well, I'll save that sort of madness for the future.

UPDATE EDIT: Here are a few videos of it running now!

2 #12s by Chris Stone, on Flickr

2-6-6-2t running demonstration by Chris Stone, on Flickr

2-6-6-2t Grade test by Chris Stone, on Flickr

Edited May 19, 2015 by Daedalus304

[marook]

Looking awesome! Gonna be fun to see it drive up that forest... ;-)

[zephyr1934]

Wow, I don't know whether to say, "what a beauty" or "what fantastic engineering"... well, okay, both... but which first? This locomotive really captures the feel of the logging railroads and all of the detailing just carries it over the top. Definitely keep us posted on the bullfrog snot and performance on steep grades (not easy to do with any lego steam engine, much less an articulated one). In any event, great work!

[Man with a hat]

Wow, that's an incredible piece of engineering. Great job.

And what do you consider steep? One brick per track section is already quite a lot to take for most PF-trains. I would love to see it go up steeper inclines.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Fantastic engine with so much beautiful details!

...and the inside picture? Oh men this is amazing and the medium wheels with those black piston rods are the icing on the cake!

Great steam engine ...I've to learn again from lego builders!

[ecmo47]

Wow!!! It looks so authentic! And the fact that you have it powered with not just one but TWO motors in the engine (vice the tender) is a testimate to your engineering skills. Any chance that you have LDD instructions that could be obtained? I would love to use that as a start of a Uintah #50/Sumpter Valley #250.

[Daedalus304]

Sorry for my super late update, everyone, but I've added some short running videos to the first post.

Looking awesome! Gonna be fun to see it drive up that forest... ;-)

Yeah I'm looking forward to it! For now I have been making temporary ramps to play with, but it's not quite the same as having the scenery decked out.

Wow, I don't know whether to say, "what a beauty" or "what fantastic engineering"... well, okay, both... but which first? This locomotive really captures the feel of the logging railroads and all of the detailing just carries it over the top. Definitely keep us posted on the bullfrog snot and performance on steep grades (not easy to do with any lego steam engine, much less an articulated one). In any event, great work!

Thanks much! Probably like most crazy engineering, it started as a crazy realization that led to a crazy idea that ended up working better than it had any right to. My original plan had been to use the smaller M-motors until I remembered the pin holes on the L motor, which is also 3 wide. It solved so many problems it was too good not to try it out.

As for the bullfrog snot, it's still working very well. Traction is good and the wheels just flat out won't slip without a lot of force on them. I was having a bit of a tough time on the ME models R72, where the wheels would slip a little, but my guess is that's because the drivers were probably on the flanges and not the wheel. Oddly enough, the 88 and 56 are just fine. It doesn't have any problems at all on official LEGO track, but the flanges have better clearance there.

Wow, that's an incredible piece of engineering. Great job.

And what do you consider steep? One brick per track section is already quite a lot to take for most PF-trains. I would love to see it go up steeper inclines.

Well I suppose 1-brick-per is steep, and I'm not liable to go steeper than that on my layout, but 2-per is an intriguing milestone to me.

Fantastic engine with so much beautiful details!

...and the inside picture? Oh men this is amazing and the medium wheels with those black piston rods are the icing on the cake!

Great steam engine ...I've to learn again from lego builders!

Thanks much! I can't take credit for the rods, though I can take pride in them. Zephyr's got some good stuff. I'm glad the picture of the inside was interesting to see! I always love seeing how people tackle the challenges that come with powering drivers; and given how I could hardly believe that these L-motor shenanigans worked I figured I'd share a photo! Those L-motors are really versatile, and I don't think I could have pulled this off with a different kind just because of the structural support the front motor is providing.

Wow!!! It looks so authentic! And the fact that you have it powered with not just one but TWO motors in the engine (vice the tender) is a testimate to your engineering skills. Any chance that you have LDD instructions that could be obtained? I would love to use that as a start of a Uintah #50/Sumpter Valley #250.

Ah, I don't have a good LDD file of it right now, but I could probably put a simple one together for you. I may someday try to make proper instructions for the whole model, but for now it shouldn't be too hard to put enough together on the file to give you the basics if you'd like. Well, other than that LDD doesn't have the L motors in it and I don't know how to show how I threaded the wires through the boiler top.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Daedalus304

[mtrkustoms]

Wow, very nice MOC Daedalus304 very nice steamer and very clever solutions in the pistons and rods to able the movement in all degrees. Congrats

[ecmo47]

I would love to have anything that you could put together but I dont want to have you go to any extra work. I just hate to waste time to figure something out that someone has already perfected and your running gear looks and works great. Are you going to make some log cars to go with it?

[THERIZE]

Lovely! Although it is rickety. But that is not a problem as logging trains ARE rickety.

[Daedalus304]

Wow, very nice MOC Daedalus304 very nice steamer and very clever solutions in the pistons and rods to able the movement in all degrees. Congrats

Thanks. My original model of #12 had a lot of good side to side movement, but I had to redo a ton of the chassis to get it flexible up and down and I had to work around the gearing in the wheels, too. Truth be told, that was probably one of the hardest parts to figure out.

I would love to have anything that you could put together but I dont want to have you go to any extra work. I just hate to waste time to figure something out that someone has already perfected and your running gear looks and works great. Are you going to make some log cars to go with it?

I threw something together real quick, I'll send you a PM with it. As for the log cars, yes, I am hoping to make a whole bunch of them. In my mind, 20 sounds nice but I know that's impractical from both a money and space perspective. Perhaps I'll settle for five!

Lovely! Although it is rickety. But that is not a problem as logging trains ARE rickety.

Ah yes... The rickety is my fault, actually. I sort of mucked up a bit when applying the Bullfrog Snot traction tires and didn't get as smooth of a tire as I should have. I could have easily taken it off and redone the process, but the rickety-ness of it grew on me a lot as it seemed very fitting for a logging line loco, so ultimately I decided to keep it. It's kind of fun having that level of "imperfect" detail on there. I've been noticing lately that all my engines seem to have a different 'gait' if you will, some chug side to side rather strongly and then this one is a bit bumpy but very reliable. It's some fun personality to watch!