Motorising 0-6-0s - LEGO Caledonian 812

[BananaBrick01]

Hi all - I wanted to share my latest project of creating a LEGO Caledonian 812 with tender, and see if anyone else had experiences to share (good or bad) of motorising a 0-6-0? 

LEGO Caledonian 812 ‘Jumbo’ steam train by BananaBrick01, on Flickr

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/19a8da31-bbb5-4119-9fab-dcb1d287cc12

In my model the main chassis of the train is built directly onto the Powered Up train motor (88011), with power going to the middle and rear pairs of wheels, as well as being transferred to the front pairs of wheels via the pistons. To ensure the train can corner, the middle pair of wheels are blind drivers without flanges.  The tender uses three pairs of small wheels in 38339 holders, but the rear wheel can turn (using a similar connection to the front wheels of Emerald Night), again to enable cornering. The drive wheels have O-rings.

The Powered Up box is its usual place in the tender, beneath a panel with 'coal' studs and wedges on top:

LEGO Caledonian ‘Jumbo’ (showing powered-up box) by BananaBrick01, on Flickr

I found that once the O-rings are attached to the drivers, the train will both start and run well on both straights and corners, though with a heavier load (2+ carriages / trucks), it would need a nudge to start if placed on a corner. The train has lights fitted; one of the lights is in the usual place on the front of the train, and the second lights up the fire in the firebox (as shown on the Lego Ideas page).

Hope this is of interest.  Really interested to know if anyone else has experimented with 0-6-0s, and what they found to be optimal to get everything working well! 

Happy building all.

Edited April 7, 2022 by BananaBrick01

[idlemarvel]

My 0-6-0 Powered Up tank engine has two powered axles and the third driven by coupling rod, and the middle axle was blind driver. However I used a Technic large motor not the train motor.  I didn’t have any issues starting on R40 curves but it did go slighty slower.

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/189724-moc-zillertalbahn-uh-class-0-6-2-tank-engine-6-wide/

[ColletArrow]

Very smart little engine, I love the eye-catching colours and neat lining out of engines from this era - much more exciting than plain black! You mention it's got lights in it - any chance of some after-dark photos?

14 hours ago, BananaBrick01 said:

Really interested to know if anyone else has experimented with 0-6-0s, and what they found to be optimal to get everything working well! 

On both of my recent engines, the 0-6-0 Collett Goods and it's predecessor the LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 I cheated - there's a train motor under the tender, and that's it. I've found this method far easier and more reliable than powering the drivers, and allows the loco itself to be entirely cosmetic with no compromises for motors and gearboxes.

Prior to that I've build an 0-6-0 Pannier Tank with an m-motor in it, although that had a worm gear in the drivetrain so crawled along barely faster than a snail...

14 hours ago, BananaBrick01 said:

I found that once the O-rings are attached to the drivers, the train will both start and run well on both straights and corners, though with a heavier load (2+ carriages / trucks), it would need a nudge to start if placed on a corner.

I've seen it written before that you don't want O-rings on both sides of the engine, since on the tight R40 curves one side will need to slip over the rails. (This is because the curve is sever enough that the wheels have a significantly different distance to travel in the same amount of time, meaning they effectively need different speeds). Only having O-rings on either the left or the right could improve performance in curves, although may introduce a slight tilt to the engine depending on how thick your O-rings are.

Overall it's a beatiful looking loco and the station and carriage are excellent too - good luck with the Ideas project!

[Feuer Zug]

Excellent locomotive. The colors work well and you have a good amount of details. The station on Ideas is pretty neat too. I like the Billund Tea sign. Supported.

[BananaBrick01]

Thanks for the replies - lots of great ideas and feedback here!

idlemarvel - I love your tank engine. It’s always a challenge squeezing in all the tech even when you have a tender to play with, so kudos for getting everything so neatly in a tank! It looks great, and very true to the original.

ColletArrow - these are really great builds. I will send some low light photos to show the firebox light in action on the 812. Having said that, the firebox build and lighting from your Collett Goods looks amazing, so I don’t know if mine is a patch on that!  But always nice to share ideas :) I am going to experiment with the O-rings in line with your suggestions about leaving off one side, and see what impact that has on starting / running.

Feuer Zug - always appreciate your support and feeback. On the colour choice - I’m not an expert on the history, but I believe the 812 series started out painted dark blue, but were changed to black later, possibly in the 1930s or 1940. I love the blue personally, but of course when Donald and Douglas - based on the 812 series - were introduced in Thomas the Tank Engine, they first appeared in black paintwork). Those with keen eyes will spot that there are a couple of bricks on the model that I couldn’t get in dark blue, so are black instead - that’s the challenge of building MOCs for real I suppose, rather than using programs! ;). The Ideas vote is really appreciated. I think you’re the first one to spot the Billund Tea Easter Egg :D

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Nice steam model!

The stickers with the gold stripes are gorgeous ...very accurate work!

[BananaBrick01]

1 hour ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Nice steam model!

The stickers with the gold stripes are gorgeous ...very accurate work!

Thanks a lot - I really appreciate it!   Some of the stickers are on quite small bricks, so they took a while to apply!  

[BananaBrick01]

23 hours ago, ColletArrow said:

Very smart little engine, I love the eye-catching colours and neat lining out of engines from this era - much more exciting than plain black! You mention it's got lights in it - any chance of some after-dark photos?

On both of my recent engines, the 0-6-0 Collett Goods and it's predecessor the LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 I cheated - there's a train motor under the tender, and that's it. I've found this method far easier and more reliable than powering the drivers, and allows the loco itself to be entirely cosmetic with no compromises for motors and gearboxes.

Prior to that I've build an 0-6-0 Pannier Tank with an m-motor in it, although that had a worm gear in the drivetrain so crawled along barely faster than a snail...

I've seen it written before that you don't want O-rings on both sides of the engine, since on the tight R40 curves one side will need to slip over the rails. (This is because the curve is sever enough that the wheels have a significantly different distance to travel in the same amount of time, meaning they effectively need different speeds). Only having O-rings on either the left or the right could improve performance in curves, although may introduce a slight tilt to the engine depending on how thick your O-rings are.

Overall it's a beatiful looking loco and the station and carriage are excellent too - good luck with the Ideas project!

As promised to ColletArrow, here are a couple of low light photos showing the front light and the firebox light in action - it is quite fun to turn up and down the intensity, particularly for the firebox! 

LEGO Caledonian 812 - Front light by BananaBrick01, on Flickr

LEGO Caledonian 812 - Firebox by BananaBrick01, on Flickr

Though I have to say CollettArrow, the firebox in your Collett Goods is amazing, and hard to top!

[zephyr1934]

Looking good

[BananaBrick01]

25 minutes ago, zephyr1934 said:

Looking good

Thanks zephyr1934! 

[ColletArrow]

8 hours ago, BananaBrick01 said:

Though I have to say CollettArrow, the firebox in your Collett Goods is amazing, and hard to top!

Looks great! I love what I can see of the boiler backhead, the red 8T gears for valves are fantastic. The headlamp looks good too; I usually put a yellow lens on them to represent the warm-white light of an oil lamp.

Of my two locos I think I preferred the effect on the Ivatt 2MT - the enclosed cab makes it much more pronounced. I did find though that putting a trans-red plate behind the trans-orange "fire" creates a much better flame colour, although also somewhat reduces the brightness.

[BananaBrick01]

1 hour ago, ColletArrow said:

Looks great! I love what I can see of the boiler backhead, the red 8T gears for valves are fantastic. The headlamp looks good too; I usually put a yellow lens on them to represent the warm-white light of an oil lamp.

Of my two locos I think I preferred the effect on the Ivatt 2MT - the enclosed cab makes it much more pronounced. I did find though that putting a trans-red plate behind the trans-orange "fire" creates a much better flame colour, although also somewhat reduces the brightness.

Thanks for those, tips, ColletArrow! I will definitely try them out. You are right about the brightness - the light in the firebox photo is only on the second notch, and already very bright - and the gaps between the coloured translucent studs / wedges allow some white light through, depending on the angle - so an extra plate should hopefully fix that! 

[garmsey]

I like the steam engine and also the station you have included on the ideas page.  I have supported it.

[BananaBrick01]

On 4/13/2022 at 3:17 PM, garmsey said:

I like the steam engine and also the station you have included on the ideas page.  I have supported it.

Thanks a lot garmsey - I appreciate it!