(MOC) BNSF ES44AC locomotive with .lxf

[sed6]

My first Lego locomotive MOC. Modeled after a BNSF ES44AC locomotive. 6 studs wide, 50 studs long and powered by two Lego Power Functions train motors. The three axle bogies have enough articulation to negotiate the standard Legos curves. It's made up of about 1200 bricks, took about 50 hours to design in Lego Digital Designer, 8 hours to assemble and cost a little over $200 to build, complete with electronics, from parts purchased off Bricklink.

I've included the .lxf file below and welcome anyone to build, copy, modify or just examine my building techniques. I took great care to create many different groups to make the digital version easy to disassemble an examine.

I've also included a link to a YouTube video of  it running. It negotiates the standard Lego curves with no problems. I hope you like!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the .lxf file...

https://bricksafe.com/pages/sed6/bnsf-es44ac-locomotive

Thanks for looking!

Edited March 23, 2018 by sed6
Added a pic of the underside

[legobanker]

Wow!

An awesome build in 6 studs wide!  Excellent work :-)  The wheel sets move well, and it handles the curves quite well.  I'd be game to build it, but I have other projects on the back burner as it is now. I'll revisit this soon.  Again...congrats on am awesome build. The baby needs to make an appearance at a Brick show...or on LEGO Ideas...hint hint.

[legonerd54321]

Edit: I might of skimmed, haha! It's a beautiful build! I love it.

Edited March 19, 2018 by legonerd54321

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful engine ...the locomotive from set 60052 pales in comparison to your MOC! 

Amazing work!

[harnbak]

Impressive 6-stud loc, excellent work

[Bmr4life]

Thanks for this.  I'm going through trying to upload it to bricklink but for some reason several pieces aren't in their database.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Bmr4life

[supertruper1988]

Here is a guide I made for getting Bricklink parts lists from LDD files:

 

[sed6]

52 minutes ago, Bmr4life said:

Thanks for this.  I'm going through trying to upload it to bricklink but for some reason several pieces aren't in their database.

You are welcome. In a big build like this it's hard to get the file over to Bricklink. You best bet is to move it over one group at a time. Create a LDD file and name it something like "ES44AC for BL". The highlight one group and then ctrl-alt-g to create a template. Then open your new "ES44AC for BL"  file in LDD and paste the template into that file. Save the file and then upload it it to BL. Then once you try to verify the parts in BL you'll get a very brief popup that says "part # xxxxx can't be found". Pop back over to your new LDD file and search for that part and delete it and save the file (make a note of the part number and quantity). Then pop over to BL, search for the part and manually add it to your wish list. Then try uploading to BL again and repeat as necessary. It will take some time and effort but EVERY part in that loco is a standard part. The problem lies with the LDD to BL conversion, not my parts choice. For example you will find that BL cannot find a standard 2x3 tile. It's a very common part, used in all sorts of sets and builds, but BL can't find it. There's only a dozen or two parts in that loco that BL can't find and breaking it down by groups makes it much easier. You can do It! 

I wish to heck BL would enable their 'share wanted list' feature that's been "coming soon" forever! It would make things so much easier on everyone. 

[Paperinik77pk]

Really a good start! It's very good and...has a great "massive" look! 

Nice video too!!! Keep up the good work! 

[sed6]

On 3/21/2018 at 7:56 AM, Paperinik77pk said:

Really a good start! It's very good and...has a great "massive" look! 

Nice video too!!! Keep up the good work! 

Thanks! I just realized I didn't include a pic of the underside so I added one in my first post. 

[Bmr4life]

Thank you for that. I'll try it soon.

[zephyr1934]

That looks really good.

[Marsman83]

Wow what a nice build, so great of you that you are willing to share the ldx file!

I will review it and learn from it. Hopefully I will be able to build something myself!

[sed6]

Thank you, glad you like. It's a fun build, enjoy yourself. 

[Laura Beinbrech]

I'm glad this topic got bumped up:  That's a really good job modelling one of the big ol' powerhouse freight haulers used by BNSF (and other Class I railroads).  I like your rather elegant solution for how to convert the RC train motors into 3-wheeled bogies, but still have it able to negotiate the smallest radius curves LEGO track has.  But still, at 50 studs long, that thing is an absolute beast!  My biggest locomotive, the GG-2a (basically a hypothetical modernized GG-1 in Norfolk-Southern colors) is only 38 studs long....

[DGoSec]

@sed6 loved the design and modified it into a red/black scheme, much like Candian Pacific's coloring.  I had wanted to go red with, had a lot of the bricks already.

I will say, it was a bit of a tricky build but that also might of just been the way LDD put the instructions together;  fun non the less.  It really is a monster of a design.  I'll try to get a photo next to my GP40s and or my steam engine.

[Paperinik77pk]

Realy really nice build! Those side "windows" are inspiring... .

It's a big beast!!!

[sed6]

On 11/1/2019 at 2:20 PM, DGoSec said:

@sed6 loved the design and modified it into a red/black scheme, much like Candian Pacific's coloring.  I had wanted to go red with, had a lot of the bricks already.

I will say, it was a bit of a tricky build but that also might of just been the way LDD put the instructions together;  fun non the less.  It really is a monster of a design.  I'll try to get a photo next to my GP40s and or my steam engine.

Wow! I'm flattered that you recolored and built my design. It does look good in red! I agree the LDD instructions are bonkers, but after you crash it off the table and rebuild it a few times it's pretty easy :)  You should ask OKBrickworks or one of the members here to print you up some decals for it to complete the look. I sure hope you get lots of good use from it. 

[DGoSec]

Thanks. I’ll eventually get to stickers.  I’m in the process of rebuilding the train setup, had to take old tracks down for painting of a room, now I have 2- 30x60” tables instead of a floor...which is small, and doesn’t allow a good layout for running two trains.  

I did swap some parts to try to strengthen the build, the ‘base plate’ of the train i felt could use some more strength.  That’ll be a WIP and I’ll also have to see how she handles inclines, fingers crossed w/dual pf motors. It was a tricky fit for wiring.

thanks again for the file!