[MOC] North American narrow gauge 2-8-0

[ProvenceTristram]

This is loosely inspired by the famous Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (N de M) 2-8-0s, though it has a longer boiler, and lacks an outside frame running gear set up. Also, please ignore the wheels - they are stand-ins for the Big Ben mediums.

Proto (sorta):

Model:

 

[ProvenceTristram]

Here it is with a significantly shortened boiler, to better represent the prototype (I didn't convert it to oil-burning, though, because I'd like to fill the tender up with cordwood). I sure wish there was a way to do outside frames in this scale, but I can't see how. 

Edited October 27, 2018 by ProvenceTristram

[ProvenceTristram]

And pulling a suitable train:

[sed6]

Love the complete train. Well done! The lighting on this whole train pic is so much better. Black is so hard to see detail without good lighting. I'd like to see more pics of the log cars. 

Edited October 27, 2018 by sed6

[ProvenceTristram]

Here's a diorama:

And some car pics, as requested:

The rolling stock is several years old, and there are elements of them that I would likely redo if they were ever built. 

[zephyr1934]

Another great narrow gauge build!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

The whole train totally rock me!

[Feuer Zug]

Good looking locomotive and consist you've created.

[Laura Beinbrech]

That's a really nice narrow-gauge 2-8-0 & train you got there (and I see you went with a different solution for narrow-gauge train couplings than I did).  I love the cow skull "hood ornament" you added to your train.

I do have a few questions, though:  Is that cab on the tender supposed to be some kind of Brakeman's Caboose or a shelter for the Fireman?  Also is the cupola in your caboose actually functional or just for show?  I've been wanting to make a caboose for my Balin & Sons Mining Co RR, but have never been able to make a caboose that had a cupola that actually worked & didn't look over-sized for the 16-20 stud length I usually use for my narrow gauge rolling stock (seriously thinking about making a cupola-less brake van-style "caboose" at this point)

[ProvenceTristram]

1 hour ago, Laura Takayama said:

That's a really nice narrow-gauge 2-8-0 & train you got there (and I see you went with a different solution for narrow-gauge train couplings than I did).  I love the cow skull "hood ornament" you added to your train.

I do have a few questions, though:  Is that cab on the tender supposed to be some kind of Brakeman's Caboose or a shelter for the Fireman?  Also is the cupola in your caboose actually functional or just for show?  I've been wanting to make a caboose for my Balin & Sons Mining Co RR, but have never been able to make a caboose that had a cupola that actually worked & didn't look over-sized for the 16-20 stud length I usually use for my narrow gauge rolling stock (seriously thinking about making a cupola-less brake van-style "caboose" at this point)

The cab is called a doghouse - it was a fairly common feature on later-stage American steam locomotive tenders, and was a place for the brakeman to shelter. 

Doghouses were pretty varied - some were even buried in the bodies of the tenders themselves:

As for the cupola, it is semi-functional - it has a ladder up to the floor, but no place to sit. I feel confident that I could design a fully-functional one, however, and may at some point soon.

Edited October 30, 2018 by ProvenceTristram

[Roadmonkeytj]

Looks great....  Would love to see it come together! 

[ProvenceTristram]

7 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

Looks great....  Would love to see it come together! 

Sadly, it's probably not going to happen. Apparently, Big Ben's medium wheels cannot be made to fit flush with one another like the larger ones. As a result, there's no way to do the drivers. 

I'm going to be looking into doing a narrow gauge 4-4-2 over the next few days along similar lines, though, and that should actually just use all stock lego parts.

[Roadmonkeytj]

Im not understanding flush?  He makes medium blind and flanges that work with each other. 

[Laura Beinbrech]

I think what ProvenceTristram means is that if you look at RL steam locomotive (and LEGO MOCs of steam locomotives), in most cases the driver wheels are spaced close enough that the flanges of the flanged drivers overlap with the blind drivers a bit, and apparently, due to the spacing of technic axle holes in various technic bricks, it's not possible to space the medium drives in such a way, if I understand his statement correctly...

[ProvenceTristram]

4 hours ago, Laura Takayama said:

I think what ProvenceTristram means is that if you look at RL steam locomotive (and LEGO MOCs of steam locomotives), in most cases the driver wheels are spaced close enough that the flanges of the flanged drivers overlap with the blind drivers a bit, and apparently, due to the spacing of technic axle holes in various technic bricks, it's not possible to space the medium drives in such a way, if I understand his statement correctly...

This is correct. The medium drivers cannot be spaced close enough to fit on the loco.

[zephyr1934]

On 10/30/2018 at 1:10 PM, ProvenceTristram said:

Sadly, it's probably not going to happen. Apparently, Big Ben's medium wheels cannot be made to fit flush with one another like the larger ones. As a result, there's no way to do the drivers. 

I'm going to be looking into doing a narrow gauge 4-4-2 over the next few days along similar lines, though, and that should actually just use all stock lego parts.

Couldn't you do half stud spacing? I think BBB medium overlap with half stud spacing. So a normal technic brick, then a 1x1 technic brick or a 1x2 with two holes for the 1/2 stud offset, then repeat. You do not even need unusual spacing between the holes, you could use a technic beam and only pin the #1 and #3 drivers (or #2 and #4), just make sure they are the flanged drivers in either case.