Modifying official Lego 6-wide trains to 7 or 8 wide

[Rjskow]

After spending several years working on building an L-Guage layout, I am wanting to rebuild some of the Lego train sets (such as 10219) to be 7 or 8 studs wide.  Does anyone have some sage advice or know of some examples?  Thanks.

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

I don't have any sage advice but when I upscale from 6 to 8-studs wide, I make sure that everything else (features such as height, length, grill details and so on) are also upscaled. 

Looking forward to seeing your 10219 in 8-wide. 

Also, there is an old thread on 8-wide Maersk Train: 

Everything just looks better in 8-studs wide. 

All the best.

Edited March 31, 2021 by LEGOTrainBuilderSG

[Daedalus304]

I did an 8-wide mod to the Emerald Night a long time ago, as well as an 8-wide mod to the Lone Ranger "Constitution" engine.

The complexity of the project depends on what you're really after with going to 8-wide. The steam engines are generally easy enough to mod unless you're changing the drivers, trucks/bogies, or pistons. Their proportions don't look too poor widened out, either, at least not worse than the default builds.

Engines such as the Maersk engine or the Horizon Express I would say are not easy "mod to 8 wide" models. Horizon Express because the entire nose area uses prefab 6-wide parts, and to rework that you may as well do the rest from scratch as well for a better overall result. The nose is the hardest part, so if you can customize an 8-wide version of that it's easy street to do the rest.

The Maersk engine, if simply fattened out to 8-wide, would look quite pudgy IMO. If you are okay with that it should be an easy enough mod. If you are wanting something more realistically detailed and proportioned you would want to also extend it to make it longer, and the engine hoods would need a good number of other mods to get all the details and proportions lined up. The build posted above by Ralph_S can really in no way be considered a mod of 10219 and is a scratch built model of the same real-life engine. 

There are a lot of good LEGO models out there of EMD hood units like the Maersk locomotive that you could use for inspiration to build your own. In addition to that, BMR should at some point be releasing instructions for an 8-wide EMD SD40-2, which is the exact type of locomotive that wore the Maersk paint scheme in the real world, if you would rather go that route instead of designing it yourself.

I don't know if or how much that helps. It's hard to say for sure without knowing exactly what you're after - but there are a lot of people here who would be happy to help with advice and input along the way.

[zephyr1934]

I would agree that simply up-sizing existing models would not fully capture the strengths of 8 wide unless you did a complete rebuild. If you are a big fan of the look of a given set definitely go for it. If you are just thinking you would like 8 wide trains for the detail, given the amount of work to do it well you might be better off just heading into MOCs of your favorite real trains.

[legotownlinz]

I'd also like to upgrade my trains to 7-wide so that they have a similar scale as MOCs. I've already made several coaches longer, but not changed the widths yet.

[CMF-1138]

I recently remade the carriages for my Emerald Night in 7-wide, which was doable, but definitely required a fair amount of redesign work. I would imagine that upscaling to 8-wide would be even more of an undertaking. The cover to Holger Matthes' "The LEGO Trains Book" (which is a wonderful reference, by the way) provides a nice illustration of the proportional increase in scale when going from 6- to 7- to 8-wide.

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by CMF-1138

[Rjskow]

Thank you all for your insights.  My primary reason for modifying to 7 or 8 wide is my dislike of the 6 wide scale compared to other moc vehicles (semi trucks, vans, cars, etc)...... A topic which has already been thoroughly discussed in a separate thread.  I hadn't given much thought about the fact that the lengths would also have to increase to preserve the proper proportions.  Since much of my layout has already be designed, and some of the railway related structures have been built, I may just have to accept 6-wide for now.  The layout just doesn't have the space to increase the track lengths and distance between switching points that would be required if i were to upscale.  Perhaps I just need to buy a bigger house for my Lego hobby.  Now how do I explain that to my wife?

Thanks again!

[CMF-1138]

I don't think you should be discouraged from trying it out, or at least experimenting with it. No one says you have to proportionally upscale everything -- you get to make your own rules. If you are space-limited, then maybe 8-wide isn't the best choice. But if you want 8-wide for the increased detail, maybe it is viable if you selectively shorten your rolling stock. Or try 7-wide. Or stick with 6-wide and lengthen your rolling stock so it is more prototypical. Remember that most LEGO trains are not full-on "scale models" to start with! 

I do suggest making a quick mock-up with whatever bricks you have on hand to get a sense of scale and to see how different size rolling stock looks and works with your layout. And by "quick mock-up," I really mean just slapping some plates together and adding some bogies to make a flatbed of sorts. I have remodeled my passenger carriages twice so far -- first in a longer 6-wide and then in 7-wide -- and both times I made significant changes after building the quick mock-ups. My carriages are far shorter than what would be "to scale" for most prototypes. But they are longer than the original LEGO ones and they suit my purposes. 

[zephyr1934]

20 hours ago, Rjskow said:

Thank you all for your insights.  My primary reason for modifying to 7 or 8 wide is my dislike of the 6 wide scale compared to other moc vehicles (semi trucks, vans, cars, etc)...... A topic which has already been thoroughly discussed in a separate thread.  I hadn't given much thought about the fact that the lengths would also have to increase to preserve the proper proportions.  Since much of my layout has already be designed, and some of the railway related structures have been built, I may just have to accept 6-wide for now.

To be proportionate with the 6 and 8 wide road vehicles, the width of the rails and perhaps the Lego minifig, 10 or 12 wide might be an even better target, but 8 wide is enough of a jump

 

20 hours ago, Rjskow said:

Perhaps I just need to buy a bigger house for my Lego hobby.  Now how do I explain that to my wife? 

Mention it in passing right after you tell her you bought her a horse.

 

4 hours ago, CMF-1138 said:

I don't think you should be discouraged from trying it out, or at least experimenting with it. No one says you have to proportionally upscale everything -- you get to make your own rules.

Exactly this and the rest of that post. Sketch something out (a quick mocup or digital build) and see if you like it.

[Tube Map Central]

Anyone tried anything specific for 60197? Annoyingly, the nose cone and roof sections would have to be discarded, but it might make for an interesting looking conventional MU. Once you start building in 8-studs, 6-studs just doesn't look right.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Tube Map Central
Typo was too entertaining