Thomas the Tank Engine - MOCs of locomotives and rolling stock

[The Brick Boss]

Ayyyy! Make Devious Diesel. 

[Murdoch17]

17 hours ago, The Brick Boss said:

Ayyyy! Make Devious Diesel. 

@The Brick Boss here you go!

"This is Diesel. I've been told I have to give him a trial run, so please help him learn our way of doing things." - The Fat Controller

The BR class 08 diesel switcher you see here is based off a @Chromeknight design from way back in 2011-ish. It features a sliding center axle to get the three wheels to clear curves and switches, and will be built at some point in British Railways black. The loco is supposed to represent The Evil Diesel as seen in Thomas and Friends TV show / The Railway Series books. (The less said about the travesty known as All Engines Go, the better!)

The rear of the locomotive. I hope he's learned his lesson since the last time has was on Sodor! (Spoiler: he hasn't)

EDIT: Forgot I had made these coaches for James!

These four coaches are for use with James the 2-6-0 mixed traffic engine. The four coaches seen above are slightly based off Thomas' carriages Annie and Clarabel, but in a different color (these in tan vs. their reddish brown) to keep those two special.

Thoughts?

Edited July 24, 2023 by Murdoch17

[The Brick Boss]

Whoa! 

[Murdoch17]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:11 AM, The Brick Boss said:

Whoa! 

... and the Evil Diesel is done IRL @The Brick Boss!

This is my quickest turnaround from digital to real world model I've EVER done. It only took four days to find all the parts and construct it entirely from parts at my house.

I even added some doors to the cab, giving it that old-school Lego feel and a play feature to boot.

Thoughts anyone?

Edited July 27, 2023 by Murdoch17

[The Brick Boss]

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

... and the Evil Diesel is done IRL @The Brick Boss!

This is my quickest turnaround from digital to real world model I've EVER done. It only took four days to find all the parts and construct it entirely from parts at my house.

I even added some doors to the cab, giving it that old-school Lego feel and a play feature to boot.

Thoughts anyone?

That looks better than the prototype. 

[Murdoch17]

On 7/27/2023 at 11:39 AM, The Brick Boss said:

That looks better than the prototype. 

Thanks, but I didn't design it originally. @Chromeknight did in 2009 or so. I just modified the hell out of it.

As seen from left to right, with characters behind the front row listed on the same line:
- Diesel + Diesel 10
- James + four passenger coaches
- Murdoch
- Lady + her coaches
- Percy + mail cars
- Thomas + Annie and Clarabel
- Gordon

Only Gordon is not built in real life yet and I'm not sure I'll ever build him, to be honest. I also need to take pictures of James and his coaches once the last order arrives.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Murdoch17

[The Brick Boss]

3 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

Thanks, but I didn't design it originally. @Chromeknight did in 2009 or so. I just modified the hell out of it.

As seen from left to right, with characters behind the front row listed on the same line:
- Diesel + Diesel 10
- James + four passenger coaches
- Murdoch
- Lady + her coaches
- Percy + mail cars
- Thomas + Annie and Clarabel
- Gordon

Only Gordon is not built in real life yet and I'm not sure I'll ever build him, to be honest. I also need to take pictures of James and his coaches once the last order arrives.

Why didn't you put Gordon with his coaches?

[Murdoch17]

3 hours ago, The Brick Boss said:

Why didn't you put Gordon with his coaches?

Gordon is in disgrace, as he fell into a ditch trying to block the turntable. Sir Topham Hatt sent him to the sheds to think about how he can be really useful once more.

...In reality, the picture was big enough as it was, so adding the coaches to Gordon instead would have made it enormous because he's longer than James. Also, the coaches are stored with James in a box, so I naturally put them with the engine they are stored with. Side note: Gordon will not be built as I already have his almost-identical cousin The Flying Scotsman constructed, and I don't want two of the same thing. Sorry if this causes confusion and delay for anyone! 

Hope this answers your question @The Brick Boss!

[The Brick Boss]

On 7/29/2023 at 9:24 PM, Murdoch17 said:

Gordon is in disgrace, as he fell into a ditch trying to block the turntable. Sir Topham Hatt sent him to the sheds to think about how he can be really useful once more.

...In reality, the picture was big enough as it was, so adding the coaches to Gordon instead would have made it enormous because he's longer than James. Also, the coaches are stored with James in a box, so I naturally put them with the engine they are stored with. Side note: Gordon will not be built as I already have his almost-identical cousin The Flying Scotsman constructed, and I don't want two of the same thing. Sorry if this causes confusion and delay for anyone! 

Hope this answers your question @The Brick Boss!

Thanks! That answers my question a lot actually because I was wondering why one of the express carriages wasn't at least there. 

[Murdoch17]

James and his train have (finally) been added to the first post!

The only things missing from this scene are a pair of leather bootlaces...

Thoughts?

[Murdoch17]

"Once, an engine attached to it's train,
was afraid of a few drops of rain - 
It went through a tunnel,
and squeaked through it's funnel,
and never came out again."

 

(I'll let you all guess who is next on the list to build...)

[The Brick Boss]

3 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

"Once, an engine attached to it's train,
was afraid of a few drops of rain - 
It went through a tunnel,
and squeaked through it's funnel,
and never came out again."

 

(I'll let you all guess who is next on the list to build...)

HENRY!!!!!!

[Murdoch17]

Just now, The Brick Boss said:

HENRY!!!!!!

You got it @The Brick Boss! I ordered him today after designing him yesterday. He's got the same basis as James, (set 76423, Hogwarts Express from this summer) except with working pistons, bigger boiler, enlarged cab, and taller tender. I reinstated the four wheel bogie at the front of the loco, but with the bigger wheels like James has. I had to change some things from that picture to order phase, but it's not too different... cosmetic stuff really.

I hope you (and everyone else!) like him when he's done.... and something keeps ringing in my mind telling me he will not be the last engine I build. 

[Murdoch17]

First post updated with Henry, as seen below:

To create Henry from Thomas and Friends TV show / The Railway Series books, I took set 76423 (Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade Station) and modified it quite a bit. I revised the boiler design, added two plates to the cab height, devised working pistons, up-sized the front bogies' wheels, and changed around the tender a tiny amount.

The rear of the tender, with a slight window into the cab details.

NOTE: The 1980s wheels for the tender are missing, as are the four Big Ben Bricks XS wheels for the front bogie. Also missing are the printed 1x1 tiles saying "3" to be placed on the tender walls. Also, Henry was ordered two days ago, and should be finished IRL soon.

[The Brick Boss]

I see you're still working on the design. It looks good so far. My only critique is to bring the boiler up some. Everything else is just fine! 

[Murdoch17]

31 minutes ago, The Brick Boss said:

I see you're still working on the design. It looks good so far. My only critique is to bring the boiler up some. Everything else is just fine! 

Thank you! The boiler is as it is for several reasons: Any higher to match the firebox and it throws the (currently centered) smokebox door out of wack. Lower the firebox and it throws the cab out of scale. The real engines (LMS "Black Five" type) have tapered boilers that would solve this, but I can't do that here without stickers / cheating / a lot of modification. I have already ordered him, so that isn't feasible... not to mention I Don't generally make my builds that complex. Once again, thanks for your suggestions!

Oh, and side note: Toby (and Henrietta!) may be coming at some point in the future. I've also got Trevor the traction engine on a flatcar already built in real life too... I just need to eventually take photos.

[Murdoch17]

Henry has finally arrived in the first post in the real world! (He would have been done sooner, but I got sent two wrong parts that had to be rectified.)

To create Henry in his latter form from the Thomas and Friends TV show / The Railway Series books, I took set 76423 (Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade Station) and modified it quite a bit. I revised the boiler design, added two plates to the cab height, devised working pistons, up-sized the front bogies' wheels, and changed around the tender a tiny amount.

Here we see Henry with his driver (on left) and fireman. (on right)

The rear of the tender.

Inside of Henry's cab.

Thoughts?

[Murdoch17]

Presenting the three big engines of The Railway Series books!

From left to right:
- Henry the green engine (4-6-0)
- Gordon the express engine (4-6-2)
- James the mixed-traffic engine (2-6-0)

All three of these engines' models are based on the same Harry Potter set 76423 - Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade Station. However James is a bit oversized in length due to his too-big pony truck up front. (I can't seem to fix it, so thus it will stay the way it is.) Gordon is still a WIP, and Henry has had his cab roof and firebox top lowered a plate IRL to be more in line with the others. (I hope it looks better now @The Brick Boss!)

Thoughts anyone?

Edited August 29, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Another day, another engine! This one replaces the older digital version of Gordon, as this one is easier to build and less parts.

Once again, I took set 76423 (Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade Station) and modified it quite a bit, this time stretching it out into a 4-6-2, specifically Gordon from the Thomas and Friends TV show / The Railway Series books. In fact, I changed so much, that there isn't much of the original set left!

The rear of the loco. As usual, three old 12v-era wheels on the tender, and six XS size wheels from Big Ben Bricks are missing from the model because LDD doesn't have the parts.

I should have Gordon built next month, as it's about $20 for everything left to order from Bricklink, and another 15 for BBB wheels.

Thoughts?

Edited August 31, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

All the parts found so far for Gordon, with only 41 parts to order from Bricklink until he is completed. (The Big Ben Brick wheels were ordered yesterday)

[Murdoch17]

Ok, so a quick update on Gordon (and to a lesser extent, Henry) is in order:

Basically, I got distracted by another model or two, and now Gordon's tender is going through a slight redesign as some arch parts weren't available in quantity anymore. Also of note, I had to redo Gordons and Henry's side rods. I had used 1x6 thin Technic liftarms for a portion of the pistons, but actually 1x7's work much better as they aren't getting stuck not nearly as much as the 1x6's. Sadly, I only had enough 1x7 liftarms in black to finish Henry's side rods.

Hopefully Gordon will be finished next month.

[Murdoch17]

Real world pictures of Gordon and his train have been added to the first post!

These train cars are to be pulled by a certain blue 4-6-2 LNER A1, otherwise known as Gordon from the Railway Series books and the Thomas and Friends TV show.  The 2020-vintage five passenger cars (four regular coaches, and one guard's coach) are inspired by the 2019 Hogwarts Express cars. I based the colors of the coaches on a inverted set 10194 (Emerald Night) coach color scheme. I always thought the colors looked better like this, and it avoids the problems of the tan 1 x 4 x 3 train windows used in the original set. (which are very expensive!!)

Thoughts?

Edited September 30, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Edward has been added to the first post, and it's about time too... he's the one that started it all!

This inside-connected 4-4-0 was designed by taking parts of set 7597 (Western Train Chase) and combining them with a tender originally designed for certain other English loco. The resulting amalgamation is supposed to be Edward from The Railway Series books / Thomas and Friends TV show.

Engines 1 thru 6 are built in real life, with 7 and 8 designed digitally... though I don't think I'll build them. (too many engines, not enough rolling stock!)

Edited April 13 by Murdoch17