Trains in 4-Wide

[SophyQ]

On 4/1/2021 at 6:45 PM, Hod Carrier said:

Well we're going to be diving into the vaults a bit for this thread, but it might be fun to revisit some old friends.

First up is the Dutch DD-VIRM (discussion here*). This was my first MOC as an AFOL and a good way to ease my way in to the hobby. This model has had a couple of minor alterations since first debuted, particularly around the cab and the shape of the roof, which I have not yet got around to photographing.

* Apologies that images of the design process are no longer visible in the original thread.

The second is the Dutch SLT (discussion here) which I found to be a more taxing build because of the shape of the front end and the snotting required to make the doors. However, those difficulties just made the result more satisfying.

With a couple of commuter trains under my belt I decided to build something a little faster in the shape of the TGV Thalys (discussion here). This is still 4 cars short of it's full length and is something that keeps coming back to my mind to update and complete.

As you can see, I did go a bit mental with this design and pulled together a line-up of virtual TGVs in various shapes and colours.

And then there was this whopper, a full-length model of the Ansaldo-Breda V250 Albatros in FYRA livery (discussion here) which got a special mention from the judges in the first OcTRAINber contest.

And then there was this wee beastie; a powered 4-wide TRAXX loco using PF elements (discussion here).

As yet still just a virtual design, but I did put together a design for some 4-wide scale track (discussion here) that could be used for display. It's perhaps a little heavy on parts usage, but it uses fairly common parts and the colours could be varied to suit taste and wallet.

I do sometimes think about going back and revisiting at least some of these builds and improving them and maybe building a few more. At the time I can remember finding it quite a natural scale to build in and, although it does limit the amount of detail you can include, such small builds can still be incredibly satisfying. Plus there's the advantage of being able to park any considerations or concerns about the practicality of the designs as they are almost always just going to be for display.

There are a few more photos on my Flickr page if anyone is keen to see more.

Really looking forward to seeing everyone else's 4-wide builds. 

Wow! Nice

[Vilhelm22]

On 1/9/2022 at 5:49 PM, XG BC said:

...aand here is the next batch of trains this time focusing on the brio trains the figures could ride:

 

 

hope you like these!

 

Very nice renditions of official Brio trains @XG BC!  I recognise all of these actually, as my significantly younger brother was collecting at the same time and he owned this set right here ^.  I used to build layouts for him from our extensive Brio collection, though I think I enjoyed it more as I'm still a train-loving kid at heart....

[XG BC]

5 hours ago, Vilhelm22 said:

Very nice renditions of official Brio trains @XG BC!  I recognise all of these actually, as my significantly younger brother was collecting at the same time and he owned this set right here ^.  I used to build layouts for him from our extensive Brio collection, though I think I enjoyed it more as I'm still a train-loving kid at heart....

thank you! i think we are all still kids at heart tbh.

[Toastie]

18 minutes ago, XG BC said:

i think we are all still kids at heart tbh.

I have heard that a lot - particularly when suggesting LEGO (or clone) sets/pieces for Christmas or birthday gifts to the family .

Also, when people visit my "home-office" (which rarely happens, as LEGO does not really appeal to many around here) they tell me that I have preserved my younger days, which is very nice ...

You know what? I am grown-up (well, I guess slowly decaying is much better suited ) - I deeply enjoy the 4-wide thread (and many other threads here on EB) as a grown-up person. There is no preservation of being a kid, I am no kid, I enjoy LEGO as a grown-up with the passion and emotions of a grown-up ...

All the best and thank you for all your wonderful contributions!

All the best,
Thorsten

 

[XG BC]

20 hours ago, Toastie said:

I have heard that a lot - particularly when suggesting LEGO (or clone) sets/pieces for Christmas or birthday gifts to the family .

Also, when people visit my "home-office" (which rarely happens, as LEGO does not really appeal to many around here) they tell me that I have preserved my younger days, which is very nice ...

You know what? I am grown-up (well, I guess slowly decaying is much better suited ) - I deeply enjoy the 4-wide thread (and many other threads here on EB) as a grown-up person. There is no preservation of being a kid, I am no kid, I enjoy LEGO as a grown-up with the passion and emotions of a grown-up ...

All the best and thank you for all your wonderful contributions!

All the best,
Thorsten

 

thanks for the compliments! what i was suggesting is that everyone (not just here everywhere) has a little kid in them. for some shows in the love for cars for some shows in some sport they do or heck even model trains and for us it is lego.

Thats my take on it.

Wish you all the best aswell!

Simon

[XG BC]

Here is some scenery:

first is the typical mountain mine entrance with the bba b360 loco (can be seen along with all her siblings further up this thread)

next is a wagon loading station.

and finally a wagon carrying freshly burned bricks

[XG BC]

another model:

this one is a factory that makes bricks complete with its own "feldbahn" system. these where common back in the day but now they are sadly pretty much extinct. brick factories dismanteled the rails and got rid of the rolling stock. now everything is transported by forklifts and lorrys.

[Paperinik77pk]

6 hours ago, XG BC said:

another model:

this one is a factory that makes bricks complete with its own "feldbahn" system. these where common back in the day but now they are sadly pretty much extinct. brick factories dismanteled the rails and got rid of the rolling stock. now everything is transported by forklifts and lorrys.

Great one!!! 

On 1/27/2022 at 8:07 PM, XG BC said:

 what i was suggesting is that everyone (not just here everywhere) has a little kid in them. for some shows in the love for cars for some shows in some sport they do or heck even model trains and for us it is lego.

I add my daily philosophy, taken directly from fried potatoes package...the important thing is not letting the curiosity of the inner "kid" to disappear! It is the spring for knowledge (about everything, from ants to spaceships), and for becoming a better human every day. Without it - there's only boredom and emptyness. 

[XG BC]

4 minutes ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Great one!!! 

I add my daily philosophy, taken directly from fried potatoes package...the important thing is not letting the curiosity of the inner "kid" to disappear! It is the spring for knowledge (about everything, from ants to spaceships), and for becoming a better human every day. Without it - there's only boredom and emptyness. 

yes true true. without that child like curiosity everything would become rather boring and robotic i guess.

[Feuer Zug]

23 hours ago, XG BC said:

another model:

this one is a factory that makes bricks complete with its own "feldbahn" system. these where common back in the day but now they are sadly pretty much extinct. brick factories dismanteled the rails and got rid of the rolling stock. now everything is transported by forklifts and lorrys.

Lovely little scene from the past. Sadly, yes, lorries have supplanted rails for operations like this. I do like the transfer table you included to switch between tracks.

[XG BC]

5 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Lovely little scene from the past. Sadly, yes, lorries have supplanted rails for operations like this. I do like the transfer table you included to switch between tracks.

thank you! yes it is kinda sad but thats just the way things move now

[XG BC]

here is another one! this time a steam loco

[Murdoch17]

20 hours ago, XG BC said:

SNIP

here is another one! this time a steam loco

That loco makes me think of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad from Disneyland. Great work!

[XG BC]

5 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

That loco makes me think of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad from Disneyland. Great work!

thank you! it is more supposed to fit into an industrial setting but yea disneyland fits too.

[Paperinik77pk]

On 3/12/2022 at 5:36 PM, XG BC said:

here is another one! this time a steam loco

Aaah what a little, nice puffing machine!!! I like it a lot!!! 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Paperinik77pk
removed re-posted pictures

[XG BC]

1 hour ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Aaah what a little, nice puffing machine!!! I like it a lot!!! 

thank you!

[idlemarvel]

I thought I would have a try at a 4-wide loco.  The loco I chose to model was one of my favourite Rhaetian Bahn locos, a Ge 2/4. 

(from Wikipedia)

The scale I chose was based on the track gauge; 4-wide track is 22.5mm gauge which when compared to standard gauge 1435mm gives a scale of 1:64, otherwise known as S scale.  

The dimensions of a Ge 2/4 are:
length 8.70m = 136mm @ 1:64 or approximately 17 studs
width  2.65m =  41mm @ 1:64 or approximately 5 studs
height 4.05m =  63mm @ 1:64 or approximately 7 bricks

Here is the model, basically sticking to those dimensions.  It was made mostly with parts from a Crocodile.

It's actually 4 studs plus 2 x tiles wide (38mm) which is a bit narrower than it should be.

It doesn't look too bad with a minifig.

It runs fine on R24 curves due to the ball and socket joints for the pony trucks. 

I am too old to ever say never, but I think it would be virtually impossible to motorise this with Lego components, even if you put the hub/battery in a trailing car.

The pantograph is a bit of a cheat.  The light-blue-grey bars which form the frame of the pantograph are normally 3L but that looked way out of scale, so these are 2L which does not exist as a Lego part.  I found that the pin used to hold track pieces when shipped in sets is basically a 4L bar with a cap at the end.  I took a razor saw to four of these, cut off the cap then cut the remaining 4L bar in half to make 8 x 2L bars.  

As a "by the way" I found a way to ballast the Lego R24 curves.

I really need some 1 x 2 red-brown tiles! 

Finally I made a coach for the loco from a 40518 set (the 4-wide Intercity train) by using the pieces from the driving car to double the height of the coach. To make it run on curves you would need to mount the bogies on 2 x 2 turntables.

It was an interesting exercise to make a 4 wide model, and I think I have captured the essence of the prototype.  It is a challenge to provide any level of detail.  If you think about it, the "granularity" of Lego, about 3mm (width of plate) translates at 1:64 scale to about 190mm or 7 1/2 inches! However I do like the look and feel of rolling stock this size, and if I could find a way to motorise it I would be happy to work in this scale.

Having said that, it would be a whole lot easier in 6-wide.  If you built it the same way, 6 wide plus 2 tiles or 54mm that would give you a scale of about 1:48 which in turn would be a length of about 22 studs.  With that length you could get a more realistic number of side panels, and operating coupling rods rather than dummies.  It would be a doddle to motorise using the standard Lego train motor.

[XG BC]

have you looked at cirquit cubes yet? their motor and bluetooth hub should fit. but lego components would be a bit tougher unless you used a 9v micro motor and hid a battery in a car

Edited April 3, 2022 by XG BC
removed the unneccessary quote

[Toastie]

2 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

It was made mostly with parts from a Crocodile.

You traded the Crocodile for this?

1:40 - but watch to the very end!!!

(fix the cigarette lighter ...)

Wow. Incredible. Wonderful. Your Ge 2/4 in 4 wide is a blast. A marvel.

Congratulations - and thank you very much for sharing!!!

All the best,
Thorsten

[XG BC]

my turn with small electric locos:

this is the ÖBB br1099 used on the mariazeller bahn narrow gauge railway. it is one of the oldest locomotives still in use with it beeing over 100 years old though it has now been replaced by more a modern train called the himmelstreppe or heavens stairway.

this is the original body from the factory:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NÖLB_E#/media/Datei:NoeLB_E1_1911.jpg

later it was rebuilt into a more modern body while keeping the same undercarridge and electrical systems:

after that it was repainted several times:

after the öbb sold the railway to a different organisation some of the locos where repainted for the tourist train "ötscherbär"

another livery:

 

[idlemarvel]

Very nice. I love the red and cream livery version. I think that is the current livery on the Mariazellerbahn?

[Paperinik77pk]

Very nice 4- wide locomotives I see here from @idlemarvel and @XG BC   !!!  Motorization is not impossible in 4-wide, but small motors are needed and here the CircuitCubes motors are really useful. They can work with 3,7v batteries, but a bit of soldering and cable management may be required  

[XG BC]

12 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

Very nice. I love the red and cream livery version. I think that is the current livery on the Mariazellerbahn?

there are different ones in use today. the ref and cream one was used by the öbb before the takeover and i think one is still painted this way for historical purposes. the brown one and the gold brown one are in use today in the "ötscherbär" tourist train.

[idlemarvel]

On 4/1/2022 at 9:39 PM, XG BC said:

have you looked at cirquit cubes yet? their motor and bluetooth hub should fit. but lego components would be a bit tougher unless you used a 9v micro motor and hid a battery in a car

Thanks, I've ordered a Circuit Cubes set and I will have a go at motorising this model in the next few weeks.

[XG BC]

will be curious to see how you go about it!