Laura Beinbrech

[MOC] Laura's Narrow-Gauge Rolling Stock Roster

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Ever since I've finally managed to get a pile of the small train wheels, I've been building, or at least designing not only new narrow-gauge locomotives, but also narrow-gauge rolling stock, and I figured I'd just make a single thread for all of it (both completed & LDD images of planned builds), and update it whenever I get new designs finished or complete actual builds & post pics of them in the original post.

EDIT:  I have decided to just start new threads for additional narrow-gauge train stuff, and then link those topics in this thread, which will be linked in my signature, rather than bumping this thread every time I finish a new narrow-gauge MOC.   Therefore, from here on out, this is basically a library of all my narrow-gauge stuff, including locomotives, so enjoy!



So without further ado, first up is the Balin & Sons Mining Co Heisler locomotive & ore carts I made back in 2011 & posted about early 2012: 

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NG Loco by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

 

Next on the locomotive roster is the Balin & Sons Mining Co RR 8-ton Plymouth biofuel switcher:

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Plymouth 8-Ton Right-Side by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

 

Next up is an Inter-Modal/Flatcar (it's used as a flatcar when it's not hauling shipping containers).  I've included a pic of the Inter-Modal Car with one of my "standard" shipping containers & an updated version of the Heisler Locomotive I made almost 7 years ago to show how it compares with the more or less standard sized locomotives I use for my narrow-gauge stuff:

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Empty Intermodal Front Quarter View by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

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Here's a design for a narrow-gauge hopper car, which is a 6-wide modification of a 4-wide version I had designed in LDD 6 years ago, then just kinda shelved.  It's based on the narrow-gauge coal hoppers that are on the East Broad Top Railroad, although I could only make these 2-bay hoppers instead of 3-bay due to space constraints.  EDIT: Thanks to discovering that LEGO made 1x1 black letter & number tiles with white print, my 2-bay hopper is no longer inspired by the East Broad Top Railroad's 2-bay hoppers, but it now IS an East Broad Top RR 2-bay hopper, complete with EBT reporting mark & typical hopper car numbering scheme:

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EBT Narrow Gauge Hopper Side by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

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This is a narrow-gauge tank car I came up with last night (after pulling my hair out repeatedly trying to come up with something that looked reasonably decent & wasn't too flimsy).  While the ladder attachments on the current build are pretty flimsy, I'm planning to use BrickArms U-Clips to clip the 3rd rung up from the bottom to the railing in order to stabilize it.  Of course the nice thing about this here design is that the main tank body is made entirely from really common parts which are available in many different colors, so I could easily make a small train entirely of white, black, yellow, green, etc tank cars:

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Narrow Gauge Tank Car WIP by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

And Last for now (but not least) is a workable narrow-gauge train car I came up with earlier this week (and modified 2 times since then) in the Balin & Sons Mining Co RR livery (of course it is entirely possible to make this in different colors, but part of the reason I went with mostly black with red highlights is that black train doors are the easiest type to acquire on BrickLink, especially thanks to the new Grindlewald's Escape set having a matched pair in it).  The slightly elongated bogie is one I'll be using for all my narrow-gauge passenger stock & I'm planning on using a variation of it for when I try to model the East Broad Top RR's 55-ton GE Center-Cab Diesel that they got about 15 years ago from the Algoma Steel Works in Saul Ste Marie.  Also of an interesting side note is that for standard gauge trains, for the most part, I use the 26L train base plates for passenger cars/coaches, and the 24L train base plates for freight cars & medium diesel locomotives.  EDIT:  After messing around a bit, I found a way to make some workable 6-L narrow-gauge bogies that work with a standard 6x24 LEGO train car base plate & are held on by 2x2 turntable plates.  I already tested it & it can handle any standard LEGO narrow-gauge curved track configuration, so here's the improved version:

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Narrow Gauge Coach WIP v2 by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

Anyways, I hope you all like these narrow-gauge cars & are inspired by them.  Like I said at the beginning, I'll update this post whenever I come up with or build more narrow-gauge rolling stock.

Edited by Laura Beinbrech
Updated with pics of the finished hopper car

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Very nice cars.

Do you use any lubrication material on those small wheels? I had once a RoLA truck transporter car with 8 axles of these small wheels but it was extra hard to pull by locomotive...

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34 minutes ago, Ashi Valkoinen said:

Very nice cars.

Do you use any lubrication material on those small wheels? I had once a RoLA truck transporter car with 8 axles of these small wheels but it was extra hard to pull by locomotive...

Why, thank you!

As for lubrication, I do not, but then again, I only have, at most, 2 axles per bogie, and they seem to spin about as freely as the standard  LEGO train wheelsets.  Of course, I also haven't really given much thought to motorization, due to how big PF/PU motors are (and the need to use said bulky motors due to lack of any kind of PF/PU motorized train bogie for narrow-gauge track).  I am considering trying to build a replica of one of East Broad Top RR's 2-8-2 "Mikado" narrow-gauge steam locomotives, which I do want to try motorizing with a small PF motor & Big Ben Bricks M locomotive wheels, so I guess I'll find out how smoothly these wheels work then... 

Edited by Laura Takayama

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I love Narrow-Gauge, so cute and difficult to get right.
You are on the right track - sorry couldn't resist :laugh:

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Nice.  I used those small wheels in my MOC of a Stadler GTW2/6.  Some lube might be good to prevent ABS dust if you plan to run all day at an event.

 

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What kind of lube would you recommend?  Silicone-based?

@Dragunov2 No, not N-scale, narrow-gauge (smalspoor/Voie étroite, depending on which part of Belgium you're in).  Basically, standard LEGO train track, the rails are 6-studs apart (4 studs between the rails), but I'm building trains for the smaller track that is 4 studs apart (2 studs between the rails) to stand in for 3-foot (913mm) gauge that was commonly used for mining & logging railroads in back-woods areas, as well as industrial railroads traveling between different parts of large manufacturing complexes (like the Algoma Steel plant in Saul Ste Marie, Michigan).  Hope that clears things up a bit.

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JLaura...  I love these nL gauge models lol!  I think if you used the small drivers (that most use for leading and trailing trucks)  with an Axel and a bushing with a rubber band a lever arm connected to a gear set on a M motor you may be able to hide it all.   I would use a 9v battery.   And instead of remote just make it a on off switch. Simply stop the train with your hand and turn off. 

Edited by Roadmonkeytj

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3 minutes ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

JLaura...  I love these nL gauge models lol!  I think if you used the small drivers (that most use for leading and trailing trucks)  with an Axel and a bushing with a rubber band a lever arm connected to a gear set on a M motor you may be able to hide it all.   I would use a 9v battery.   And instead of remote just make it a on off switch. Simply stop the train with your hand and turn off. 

I'm thinking about using something along those lines when I tackle modeling the East Broad Top Railroad's 55-ton GE center-cab diesel unit (#M-7).  Although I do have quite a few other train projects (including a few standard-gauge ones) that are currently ahead of it in the ol' project queue.  I also want to possibly see about working on making a motorized version of one of the EBT's 2-8-2 Mikado locomotives, either #12 "Millie" or #15, using BBB's medium drivers (2 flanged & 2 blind, just like on the originals) & an M motor, with the Powered-up battery box/receiver inside the (fairly sizeable) tender.

This is a nice video of #15 to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

You can thank ProvenceTristram and that rough version of the Mexican 2-8-0 narrow-gauge locomotive he posted earlier this week for getting me to thinking that doing one of the EBT "Mikes" might be more feasible in the short run than trying to build the diesel first. :wink: 

...And I will admit that, since I'm finally getting a decent amount of rolling stock built up, it'll soon be time to work on expanding my narrow-gauge locomotive roster as well.  I currently have the opposite problem with my standard-gauge trains:  I have 3 more or less completed locomotives & only 3 more or less completed cars of any type (4, if you count the caboose I'm probably going to be tearing down & re-building as 8-wide when I get the time & parts), lol.

My first motorized train project in over 20 years (I had the 4.5v battery train, 7722 when I was a kid), will be standard-gauge, however, and should be completed by the end of November if I have the time & money, that is:  I AM buying the new City Cargo Train set sometime in November, come heck or high water... I'm determined to not keep putting off buying the train until it gets retired & I can't get it anymore, like I did with the previous 2 LEGO City cargo trains, the Emerald Night & the Maersk Train.

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Slight update to this topic & the first post:  I recently discovered that LEGO made black 1x1 tiles with white lettering, so I ordered some sets that would allow me to turn my 2-bay hopper car into an East Broad Top RR 2-bay hopper car (instead of it just being based on one):

45852512262_85b0589656_z.jpgEBT Hopper in a train by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

I also came up with an improved design for the Balin & Sons passenger coach that uses a standard 6x24 LEGO train baseplate, but with custom narrow-gauge bogies that are connected using 2x2 turntable plates:

45852510032_516e61a742_z.jpgNarrow Gauge Coach WIP v2 by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

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