Durango & Silverton K-36

[Captain Redbeard]

Howdy!

This is an update of a post I made earlier this year of a Durango & Silverton K-36 narrow gauge locomotive.  I recently decided to submit this MOC to the Lego Ideas website as an effort to get Lego to produce more quality train sets.  I shared my project with the good people at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and I have been blessed to receive their full support and endorsement of my efforts.  I consider the D&SNGR to be the finest railroad experience in the country, if not the world.  If you haven't had the good fortune to ride with them, do yourself a favor and make plans to go as soon as possible.  You will not be disappointed.  Check out their Facebook page for information about the railroad and a look at their endorsement of this MOC.

 https://www.facebook.com/DSNGRR/

If you are passionate about Lego trains, as I am, please visit the Lego Ideas website and show your support for this MOC.  Help me convince Lego to make this dream a reality and immortalize the great D&SNGR with the world's greatest toy!

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/161449

Back to the MOC.  Let's start with the engine.  I am not a fan of Lego Digital Designer, so all of my MOCs are built through a trial and error evolutionary process.

This is the first picture I stopped to take of the locomotive.  By this point, I had nailed down the frame, wheels, and the driving mechanism.  I opted for including all the power functions elements in the locomotive rather than the tender.

Working on hiding the power functions.

Taking shape

Experimenting with the stack and the headlight.

Finalizing front end.

On to the cab.

Getting close.

Power functions access from the top.

The motor makes a nice firebox.

A glimpse of how the wheels are powered.

Done!

Now for a look at the evolution of the passenger car.

Finally settling on the SNOT technique for duplicating the look of wood panels and windows with depth.

Placing a horizontal stripe in the middle of vertically striped plates was a fun challenge. I eventually found a way to suspend the upper non window portions from the ceiling.  I really enjoyed building this car.

All done!

I didn't really take any pictures of the caboose process.  I essentially used the same techniques from the passenger car.  The inside is pretty ugly though, as I only had so many pieces available in this color of red. 

Now for a few shots of the train all together!

How about a little scenery?

From the good folks at the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad!

I took the train to Brickfair in Birmingham, Alabama, and it won staff favorite!  Kids loved the bear in the cave. 

Brickfair is a blast.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Lego or anyone with kids. 

Edited January 18, 2017 by Captain Redbeard
Brickfair update

[PrisonBrick]

Awesome! Beautiful! This is a Train! Not winter train... I love it! Supported!

[storms26]

It looks great, but there is one thing that Lego is a bit on the line about: size.

The K-36 is a narrow gauge locomotive, but would of course be fantastic to have a little bit sized up to normal L gauge, but your model features so much detail, yet it is massive (which is not always a bad thing). Most normal Lego sets come with trains that range from 6-wide to 8-wide total width, so them putting out a set that is so different than their own would be a new idea.

I'm definitely a fan of this, but the Ideas team hasn't passed a single train related set so far, and it's not looking too bright for this next selection for train fans. 

[Captain Redbeard]

50 minutes ago, storms26 said:

It looks great, but there is one thing that Lego is a bit on the line about: size.

The K-36 is a narrow gauge locomotive, but would of course be fantastic to have a little bit sized up to normal L gauge, but your model features so much detail, yet it is massive (which is not always a bad thing). Most normal Lego sets come with trains that range from 6-wide to 8-wide total width, so them putting out a set that is so different than their own would be a new idea.

I'm definitely a fan of this, but the Ideas team hasn't passed a single train related set so far, and it's not looking too bright for this next selection for train fans. 

Sadly, I believe you might be right, but why not try?  I am a firm believer that Lego trains should be 8 wide.  While this set may not conform to Lego's 6 wide standard, there is precedent for change.  Lego cars and trucks used to all be 4 wide.  Now, they are churning out 6 wide or larger vehicles all the time.  Just look at the Lego Ideas Back to the Future and Ghostbusters.

[Feuer Zug]

Excellent rendition of the K-36 class. Well done.

[MAB]

Nice MOC, but it has no chance through ideas, and the title is very misleading. This is not an upcoming LEGO train set.

[Younge]

Upcoming Lego Train Set? Hardly!

[Captain Redbeard]

18 minutes ago, MAB said:

Nice MOC, but it has no chance through ideas, and the title is very misleading. This is not an upcoming LEGO train set.

Sorry about the title.  I have changed it.  No chance though?  You may be right, but this effort is also about illustrating there is a demand for more Lego trains, especially steam trains. 

[ecmo47]

Haven't we seen this before? I think you took it to a Lego show last summer and some pictures were featured on a show review. You did a great job capturing a difficult subject!  Any photo's of it running? This is an engine that would be greatly improved with some 4d printed counterweights and those custom side-rods that one guy makes. Also, those cars could really use some of the Cale's custom designed trucks so they are not so bulky. Here is a link to an old thread that has a nice caboose that could be modified a bit to turn it into a fair representation of old number 0579. Oh, and great job on the diorama! shows off the train in a very typically Colorado environment.

 

[Captain Redbeard]

2 hours ago, ecmo47 said:

Haven't we seen this before? I think you took it to a Lego show last summer and some pictures were featured on a show review. You did a great job capturing a difficult subject!  Any photo's of it running? This is an engine that would be greatly improved with some 4d printed counterweights and those custom side-rods that one guy makes. Also, those cars could really use some of the Cale's custom designed trucks so they are not so bulky. Here is a link to an old thread that has a nice caboose that could be modified a bit to turn it into a fair representation of old number 0579. Oh, and great job on the diorama! shows off the train in a very typically Colorado environment.

 

You are correct.  I did post pictures of this from Brickfair over a year ago.   I was told I needed to post pictures of just the train without any distracting scenery.  It just took me a few months to get around to it.  Better late than never, right?

[MAB]

On 20/12/2016 at 1:33 PM, Captain Redbeard said:

Sorry about the title.  I have changed it.  No chance though?  You may be right, but this effort is also about illustrating there is a demand for more Lego trains, especially steam trains. 

With the exact title, I think none whatsoever. I had never heard of it.

Even if it was a generic name given to it, I cannot see them doing something so big and finding enough buyers. Unfortunately MOCs like this will always remain awesome MOCs.

[Ex cinno]

Very nice train set. I supported it.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Great design ...amazing train and beautiful locomotive!

I really like the yellow passenger wagon!

[Captain Redbeard]

I have been getting complaints about my images being a tad large, so I compressed them a bit.  I hope this helps. 

[Captain Redbeard]

Excited to receive the staff favorite award at Brickfair!

[Swamerican]

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/161449/comments#comment-7cef6573-8c71-4278-ad4a-81d902d6702b

Support this idea for these two LEGO users: CptRdBrd and OrientExpress26

They NEED to collaborate to build a MOC of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad!!!

[zephyr1934]

Excellent work! Impressive how you were able to hide all of that PF in an excellent looking MOC. I would agree that the best MOC's make horrible sets (and that no matter how good they are, trains are a difficult item for IDEAS). Great job capturing the essence of a K-36. About the only quibble that I have about the locomotive is that I would try to replace the yellow, red, and tan parts on the running gear with gray if possible. The coach is fantastic, and that looks like you have a wide open interior to place figs in if you wanted to (a bonus for a set). The caboose is the weakest of the three pieces. The running boards on the roof are too tall, the 1x tile on the side of the copula doesn't seem right, and the panels on the roof of the copula are strange. I think the train would look better with the coach and a combine car to make it a strictly passenger train.  The diorama just pushes the whole work over the top, incredible work and really does a good job setting the scene. I am not surprised that the MOC is a prize winner.