7597 Western Train Chase steam locomotive fixes and tender addition - with free LDD file

[Murdoch17]

Ever since buying my first copy of Toy Story 3 LEGO set 7597 in May / June 2010, I've wanted to make the steam engine in the set look more realistic. The lack of tender bothered me greatly, and so did a few other things I talk about below. I created my first steam loco MOC I could call my own from it's framework, but that failed hard to even make turns at all when built in real life. (I suspect R120 wouldn't even work with that model.) So, it was scrapped in 2012 after sitting around for two years despite my best attempts to get it working. The Lone Ranger sets came out the following year, and I forgot about the odd 7597 engine as years went by and my skills increased. Then, in July / August of this year, a decade after I bought the original copy, I saw set 7597 sitting complete in a window of my local LEGO resale store. It was purchased, and I started working on a design soon thereafter. Of course, the person who purchased it for me (It cost a bit) wouldn't let me get at it physically until November, but nonetheless, here is that design all polished up and ready to roll into your collection via the free LDD file you can find at the end of this post.

The locomotive as it is in LDD upon opening the file, which you will find at the bottom of this post. Almost all the needed parts for this MOD are grouped in the file. Everything else should already be on the stock loco model from the set, though it will need to be mostly taken apart to allow you to rebuild it with my changes.

if you are building the MOD from set 7597, there are only two printed 1 x 4 green bricks on the tender that should be printed like so.

However, if you are building the loco from scratch, use four of the above parts, (two on tender, two on the loco) and one of these 2 x 2 red printed bricks for the number on the headlight.

99.8% of the parts needed for the conversion from the set are shown above. The printed parts are unprinted as shown, and the red wheels are shown, but not available from BrickLink. You will need need one of these custom wheel parts packs in red color (plus 4x part 2878 for holding said custom wheels) for the tender wheels from BrickTracks to complete the tender.

Among my changes, I lowered the loco cab floor of my copy of 7597 (Western Train Chase) loco by a brick or so to compensate for the roof being a brick fewer height-wise and to better match the floor of the tender. This still allows for the taller 2010 Toy Story figures to still fit inside the loco cab, and also making for a smoother transition from train cars to steam engine. This change also made the left-to-right swiveling driving wheel section impossible to keep, (I didn't like it anyway!) and by extension the front bogie had to change too. Thus, the connection to the leading wheels from the driving wheels was changed to a 10194-syle design to allow for you to push the train on the track without derailing.

I also never liked the awkward original piston design in 7597, so I changed it to have a more stable, non-floppy connection to the engine via a double Technic pin connector. Actual working cylinders connected to the new side rods will never be a thing on this engine due to the way the pistons are attached to the new moving front bogie instead of the boiler, but I can mimic the effect pretty well with the design I have here.

You can find the LDD file here at my Bricksafe page for it.

I haven't quite finished taking pictures of my version of the model, but this photo of it and it's sister loco (dark blue steamer NOT Included in file!) will do for now. Please note, the model shown has color changed side-rods and "pistons" due to parts I had on hand from my collection. It isn't quite like the LDD file because the parts in said file are cheaper when colored like they are. (Thought I'd save you guys a couple dollars / yen / rubles / euros, etc.) Plus, it makes my different than everybody else's!

Thoughts?

Edited November 21, 2021 by Murdoch17

[Ropefish]

Oh man i really like your work, they really feel like they could be /actual/ Lego sets but are still a bit more detailed. Really doing a fantastic job hitting that fine line! The only thing i could suggest is fixing the piston casings to the body then adding a toggle joint on a thin lift arm but those can sometimes be pricey.

[Jack Sassy]

These look really good along with your MOCs and that Silver Mine MOD. I especially like that tender on the red one. Good job! 

[Paperinik77pk]

Great work, the two locomotives give the real feel of simplicity yet robustness they had! I really really like these two and the whole diorama!!!

[Murdoch17]

Thank you to whoever front-paged this topic! It's much appreciated!

9 hours ago, Ropefish said:

Oh man i really like your work, they really feel like they could be /actual/ Lego sets but are still a bit more detailed. Really doing a fantastic job hitting that fine line! The only thing i could suggest is fixing the piston casings to the body then adding a toggle joint on a thin lift arm but those can sometimes be pricey.

Building like Lego does is something I strive to do with most of my models, so thank you for noticing @Ropefish! Makes me feel like I've "hit the mark".

3 hours ago, Jack Sassy said:

These look really good along with your MOCs and that Silver Mine MOD. I especially like that tender on the red one. Good job! 

Thanks @Jack Sassy! I can't believe it's been nearly four years since that silver mine was built... feels like yesterday!

3 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Great work, the two locomotives give the real feel of simplicity yet robustness they had! I really really like these two and the whole diorama!!!

Thank you! Just wait @Paperinik77pk: I've got two whole trains that go with these engines already built, plus the possibility of a small station and a 4-2-4 switcher tank loco for the future. (I'll make a separate topic when the time comes for all that!)

Edited November 21, 2021 by Murdoch17

[Toxic43]

Sorry for bumping but I had to let you know @Murdoch17 that I went ahead and worked on this a bit over the last few days. Great work! The LDD file was the kick I needed to tear down my kid's set and rebuild it into something they would be proud of. So without further ado:

7597 Mod post on Imgur

[Toxic43]

The BrickTracks wheels just came in and I have had one of the 5 Bricklink orders ship also. I'll of course update once I have it all together, and more importantly, if my geometry for the rods and pilot truck actually works!

[Murdoch17]

3 hours ago, Toxic43 said:

The BrickTracks wheels just came in and I have had one of the 5 Bricklink orders ship also. I'll of course update once I have it all together, and more importantly, if my geometry for the rods and pilot truck actually works!

I took a look at your Imgur picture, @Toxic43, and I think what you are doing with it is very awesome. Keep us posted on whether the piston / side-rods MOD goes well... I might try to add it into my two models if it does work!

Keep up the good work!

[Toxic43]

Just now, Murdoch17 said:

I took a look at your Imgur picture, @Toxic43, and I think what you are doing with it is very awesome. Keep us posted on whether the piston / side-rods MOD goes well... I might try to add it into my two models if it does work!

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the kind words. I wouldn't have even begun on it had you not posted this topic though! I will certainly update here once I have the loco and tender together. Heck if it works I'll give you the Stud.io file I have!

[Toxic43]

7597 Mods built in bricks

Well, it's on the bench now and being built. Got the loco done last night and the bogies/frame done for the tender. Just have to finish the tender tonight then onto the extended bank car design to push it. I'll post that too once I have finished.

The rods and the pilot truck geometry work well though. I'll see about getting a video this evening.

[Toxic43]

Here we go. Tender all finished and on the rails!

7597 Mod in motion.

Many thanks to @Murdoch17 for the inspiration and the LDD file, without both of which I wouldn't have spent all my money building this!

[Murdoch17]

On 12/17/2021 at 2:54 PM, Toxic43 said:

Here we go. Tender all finished and on the rails!

7597 Mod in motion.

Many thanks to @Murdoch17 for the inspiration and the LDD file, without both of which I wouldn't have spent all my money building this!

Just wondering if you have a LDD file version of your MOD of my MOD, @Toxic43, or maybe if you can't do the LDD, a file / list of just the parts you added so I know what to order? (I don't do Stud.io, but I would like to add this for my two 7597-style steamers.)

Thanks in advance!

[Toxic43]

40 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

Just wondering if you have a LDD file version of your MOD of my MOD, @Toxic43, or maybe if you can't do the LDD, a file / list of just the parts you added so I know what to order? (I don't do Stud.io, but I would like to add this for my two 7597-style steamers.)

Thanks in advance!

Yes, I do. Although seeing as I use Studio, it is an .io file. The io file is here.

And an exported parts list is here: CSV File

[Murdoch17]

I never really liked the fake piston design I came up with in November of 2020 for my set 7597 Toy Story-style 4-4-0's, so I decided to take another crack at them on March 10th. (This is why no "official" photos were taken back in December, as I wasn't satisfied with the engines) The end result of this re-working is I actually got them to move properly, and parts were ordered from Bricklink on the 11th and arrived on the 15th.

As soon as I can add these pistons into the engines, (which should be in a few days / a week since they are in an currently inaccessible spot for an currently unknown amount of time) I'll take pictures. Kudos to @Toxic43 for getting me thinking it was possible in the first place... I'd about given up!

I'll create a new, sperate topic for these revised engines, the other two similar styled steamer's I have, and their respective trains when I take the photos. But until then, here is group shot from early February as a sneak peek.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Murdoch17

[Toxic43]

These look great! I'm interested in how you put the chassis and cylinders/rods together here. Can't quite see how they're attached. Looks like it would have to be pins or axles, but then I can't see how there would be enough room for the leading wheels to tuck underneath and be able to pivot as is required on this wheel arrangement,

Looking forward to your next post on these two!

[Murdoch17]

13 minutes ago, Toxic43 said:

These look great! I'm interested in how you put the chassis and cylinders/rods together here. Can't quite see how they're attached. Looks like it would have to be pins or axles, but then I can't see how there would be enough room for the leading wheels to tuck underneath and be able to pivot as is required on this wheel arrangement,

Looking forward to your next post on these two!

Here's a closer look at what I think you're asking about:

The pistons are attached to the gray (they are actually the black friction ones but were recolored here so you can see them) pins, which doesn't impact the height much if it is assembled the way shown.... any other way with the pistons causes issues. I also placed the cowcatcher on the frame instead of the bogie. The leading wheels are attached the same as before, but with curved slopes on top to prevent catching on the underside of the frame. Hope this help, @Toxic43!