1880's-style 2-6-0 steam engine - heavy 7597 MOD with working pistons and freight train

[Murdoch17]

I've already built the Conjunction Junction freight train and The Caboose Who Got Loose (a MOD of a @zephyr1934 model), which you can see in the topics linked and in the pictures directly below. Until recently, however, the fact this freight train had no engine had been a major stumbling block: I looked up the 4-6-2 "Pacific" steamer from The Caboose Who Got Loose book, but it wasn't very eye-catching in the all-black color scheme. I also watched the Conjunction Junction music video and realized the engine pulling the cars is never actually seen / mentioned.

This is just about where the steam engine I started this topic about comes in.

Originally I had found a late-1930's 7-wide 2-8-4 (the link is to the designer's Rebrickable page) to pull this special freight train, but then I found out how expensive the eight driving wheels would have been from Bricklink. (two blind drivers by themselves are CRAZY pricy - about as expensive as the pre-packaged bag of one blind and two with flange!) So, late last week I went back to the drawing board, taking my set 7597-style MOD engine and tinkering with it. It emerged from the shop a late 1880's 2-6-0 instead of a mid-1870's 4-4-0 as it originally was. Adding working pistons is what forced me to stretch the frame and thus add in two more driving wheels. (NOTE: A four-wheel bogie truck can be easily added instead of the two-wheel one seen above... I just wanted to be cheap and not have to buy more small train wheels than was the bare minimum.)

Here is the steamer as far as can be assembled right now. I'm only missing 36 parts until the loco can be completed, and another one part for Katy Caboose. (I slimmed down Katy's roofline to be 6-wide to keep it more in line with the majority of my rolling stock. I also added printed 1 x 1 letters saying "KATY" on the long sides... Not very accurate to the book I know, but it makes for people to understand what it is better.) I also took apart the original, generic green caboose I made for the Conjunction Jct. consist as I needed the parts, and because it was being replaced by the Caboose Who Got Loose.

Also, if you are wondering what "WFP" stands for, it is a nod to the 12-inch gauge steam railroad I've ridden on MANY times as a child and adult. I've even displayed there some of my LEGO trains in the past as a part of Gateway LUG displays. To read more about the real Wabash Frisco and Pacific Railroad, check out their website with awesome 15 engine roster and history sections. NOTE: They don't have a 2-6-0 at the real WFP railroad or a engine numbered 289. This was a gap I naturally filled in, kind of like a fan-fic story but with a steam engine instead.

Two boxcars from a part of the Schoolhouse Rock educational cartoon series. This specific early 1970's Grammar-themed rock-n-roll music video featured a diminutive stereotypical train conductor, two hobos (one fat and tall, and one small and skinny), and a train with words on it... not just any words, but CONJUNCTIONS, as the name of the video and location is Conjunction Junction.

A tanker and a third boxcar.

Refrigerated boxcar and stone hopper.

Heavily inspired by Zephyr1934 / Trained Bricks MOC of "Katy" from the classic children's book "The Caboose who got Loose" by ex-Disney animator Bill Peet. Zephyr's version can be seen here.

I didn't want to use stickers for Katy's eyes like what's being done by the original builder, so I decided to use the eyes from set 43186 (Bruni the Salamander buildable character) from the Disney Frozen II line . I also added a actual mouth, as just the two eyes without something between them looked kind of odd, most likely because of the specific eyes I chose. The MOC I based this on used a different method for the mouth using a lot of SNOT-work.... I used a brick with 2 studs on the sides and two quarter tiles to give her a open mouth.

The "rear" of the caboose is the forward facing part closest to the engine, which is a part of Katy we never see in the book. Confused yet?

I took some liberties with Zephyr's design, such as changing the ladders at each end to black from red, removing two wheelsets + the roof chimney, and redoing the roof itself to be much simpler. (This last one was done because I couldn't figure out the original MOC roof's curved design!) I did keep the basic SNOT-work design for the body, but made it so both halves would be stud-inwards. I also changed the roofline to be six wide instead of eight as on my inspiration's model and added the name KATY to the left and right sides. All of this makes the models less accurate to the book it's based off, but I don't really think anyone in the general public will notice. (The general LEGO community might know of some discrepancies and fellow train modelers not of the LEGO-type will not care even if I did make it accurate, as it's not a "real" train.)

- More to come when the engine is completed, hopefully by March 1st! -

Comments, questions, suggestions and complaints welcome!

Edited February 16, 2022 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

New photos added to the main post, including the above caboose and Conjunction Junction freight train. There is more to come when the engine is completed, (hopefully the orders will arrive by March 1st) so keep an eye out for more pictures to come!