Southern Pacific J1 #1111

[High_Admiral]

Hello all! So, I've been lurking about the Train Tech forum for a little bit and I finally decided to introduce myself with a MOC! This is the Southern Pacific J Series Class 1 Experimental locomotive. A steamer of my own design. 

Designed to be a fast freight locomotive as well as a long distance passenger engine, the J1 has 16 massive driving wheels capable of putting every pound of tractive effort generated by the 350 psi boiler to the rails. Streamlined to fit the passenger trains of the era, the J1 proved to be a smooth runner. oddly, this engine was one of the few in the US to be fitted with the Caprotti poppet valve gear, and the only one to be fitted with the British Caprotti variant. Now enough with the "in- universe" info, on with the model!

The J1 tops out at just under 3370 bricks, which is honestly quite alot of blue and black. Her drive train and parts of her running gear use techniques found in Jason Steinhurst's excellent Big Boy version 2. She features a suspension system based on, and probably not as good as, the one built into the previously mentioned Big Boy model, as well as the progessive gain link system for the pilot trucks, also from the Big Boy model. 

The J features a somewhat detailed interior with posable throttle and reverser levers. The cab is one of my favorite areas of this build because the backhead and the forward facing cab windows both slope. 

Jumping forward from the cab, we go to the four turbo-generators sticking out from the skyline casing. 

Now, this area was the most difficult part of the build, having to try to squeeze those bricks into what was originally a brick tall space, but I managed to give me an extra plate of wiggle room to make it all fit. For those who are wondering, those are the barbell weights from the minifigures line. Figured that they might make a decent looking generator. 

Moving forward, once again, we reach the number boards, which have two places that they can be attached, alongside the stacks(current position) or farther back near the middle of the boiler(transparent version). This was actually not intended to happen, but I needed to hide the PF IR receiver sticking out of the boiler, and given how the Espee irl moved the GS class number boards to mid-casing later in their service lives, it made sense to include this feature at the same time. Also, seen is the Hancock 3-chime steam whistle that I modeled. Technically, she should have two whistles, the Hancock and a SP 6-chime, but I decided to only mount the Hancock for the model. 

Moving back to the cab again, we can see just how close the tender really is to the loco. While I don't know if this gap will work irl, I'm pretty sure it won't, but it sure looks good! And yes, I see y'all eyeing those 5 axle trucks under the tender, and yes, they really do have 5 axles.

So here we are in a somewhat secured facility with a copy of the rear truck from the J1 tender. Pretty basic looking right? Well, actually it really is.

With the valence removed, you can see that there are indeed 5 axles and ten wheels under there! 

Now that we can see the basic frame from the top, we can see that the middle three axles float through that two wide frame, allowing the truck to have what I like to describe as the ALCO Lateral Motion Device. As y'all can probably guess, in curves and switches, the axles move from the center line to cope with the curves. Using the data from probably an hour or so of testing, I can say that this works pretty well.

 

So that's pretty much it. Credit to Jason Steinhurst, Tony Sava, Cale Leiphart, and several others who without their innovations in their creations, I wouldn't have been able to make this one possible. So here's to all you Lego Train Greats out there who have constantly kept me and who knows how many others inspired and striving to build even better models! Until Next time!

[Henry 991]

Thanks, interesting and seems like a very good piece of work!

Would you mind sending a picture of the suspension?

[ProvenceTristram]

And I thought my engines would have problems with curves.

What piece are you using for the very last (smallest) circle on the nose cone?

Edited December 13, 2018 by ProvenceTristram

[ColletArrow]

That's one way of making an entrance! This is an impressive beast with plenty of details, although I'm not sure about the studs along the running plates. I too would love to see some more pictures of the mechanics, it sounds interesting.

[High_Admiral]

11 hours ago, ProvenceTristram said:

And I thought my engines would have problems with curves.

What piece are you using for the very last (smallest) circle on the nose cone?

Part 6942, its a 5x5 Scala dish.

10 hours ago, ColletArrow said:

That's one way of making an entrance! This is an impressive beast with plenty of details, although I'm not sure about the studs along the running plates. I too would love to see some more pictures of the mechanics, it sounds interesting.

Thank you! Pics of the suspension will be coming later when I have time to rip a driver set out of the loco.

[Roadmonkeytj]

Nicely done indeed...  Seeing Jason's big boy in person was impressive...  But I can say I was just as wooed by his American with well hidden pf components..  I would enjoy seeing yours pulling the 25 car trains as well! 

[High_Admiral]

So, here's how this works.

The system attaches up above the two XL motors, which float inside the engine. Four shock absorbers attach the cradle to the attachment point. This allows the motors and wheelset to move one plate up or down when in the resting position.

Here we can see the cradle itself without the mount and the shocks in the way. The XL motors drive the 20 tooth bevels which turn another 20 tooth which goes down to drive a 12 tooth on the third driver axle via another 12 tooth. I'm not sure if this all helps, but hopefully it sheds a little bit of light under the hood. 

[Roadmonkeytj]

I'm curious what made you choose to use the floating cradle with shock absorbers? 

[High_Admiral]

It honestly just made sense in my mind to do it that way.

[Giottist]

Hello High_Admiral, I know your designs from MOCpages.com, welcome here! Discussion and image size on MOCpages.com are somewhat awkward so I am happy to get information here. Thank you a lot for joining Eurobricks.

I have to confess your desings are inspiration for me.  Please keep in mind there is a difference between a digital design and running trains in reality. It was a long development process and a matter of countless runs on my test track until even the longest locomitives stopped derailing.  

[High_Admiral]

15 hours ago, Giottist said:

Hello High_Admiral, I know your designs from MOCpages.com, welcome here! Discussion and image size on MOCpages.com are somewhat awkward so I am happy to get information here. Thank you a lot for joining Eurobricks.

I have to confess your desings are inspiration for me.  Please keep in mind there is a difference between a digital design and running trains in reality. It was a long development process and a matter of countless runs on my test track until even the longest locomitives stopped derailing.  

Thanks for the welcome. I’m glad I could inspire someone. I totally understand the whole testing process, I spent days working with mock ups of the J’s tender trucks and the progressive link system on the pilot trucks getting them running smoothly before even attempting to update the model and get her to where I have her now. I’m still not sure if she’ll run well even at this stage, but that’s what real life bricks are for! Hopefully, I can get around to building her(and aquiring some XL BoxPoc and rods) soon. 

[High_Admiral]

Well, after a few frustrating days of rebuilding half of the power train in this and removing piping everywhere(because either I haven't figured out how to flextube in Studio or it doesn't do that anyways), she loks good, even with the suspension raising the body up a plate from where it should be.

[High_Admiral]

Well, here I am, back again with this topic, nearly 1.75 years later. Been a bit busy, no physical model yet, but I do have some news regarding the engine's design.
 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/522666293732704258/742761549130629260/J156.png

I've been learning Blender for a few different projects, so I decided to model the engine. As you can probably see, the design has changed a bit since the last time I posted. I hope to get back around to bricking this version of the engine up in Studio before long, just so I have a more up to date parts list and estimated price. Anyways, TLDR: Decided to play Necromancer and revive one of my threads, modeled the engine in Blender, hope to finally get around to a final design and physical model sometime soon. Thank you, and remember your children on the way out.

 

[Sérgio]

On 1/30/2019 at 6:18 AM, High_Admiral said:

Well, after a few frustrating days of rebuilding half of the power train in this and removing piping everywhere(because either I haven't figured out how to flextube in Studio or it doesn't do that anyways), she loks good, even with the suspension raising the body up a plate from where it should be.

You start with some huge stuff!

The Stud.io doesn't recognize the flex tubes (Hoses 3mm) exported on Lxf files, just delete the tubes and put some from stud.io and then you can bend'em.