[MOC] ALCO PA

[Legownz]

Hi all!

I am a longtime lover of the ALCO PA diesel locomotives and I've wanted to have a model of one for a while. This model has been in the works for years, though most of that time, the file just contained the bogies and the front nose. Just recently, I decided to finally finish a first pass at a completed model.

First, some reference images of the real thing.

And now, my model.

 There were a few challenges and goals I had in mind for this project. For one, this is the first time I've done a 6 axle diesel locomotive. I've wanted to do one for a while but I wasn't sure the best way of tackling it. I went with a fairly common approach of using the motor bogie piece with an extra axle trailing behind on a turntable, so it can still navigate turns. I think this model can navigate R40, but I haven't tested it. 

The second goal I had was to do all of the livery and detail work with bricks. I love my U36B to death, but that thing used a fair number of stickers and specialized printed parts. I wanted to avoid that as much as possible here, so the train logo, the numbering, and all the striping and detail work of my custom livery are brick built. 

Also, this is the longest locomotive I have built by far. It dwarfs my U36B and DL-535 by quite a lot with a length of about 50 studs. Looking at it from the side though, I feel like it may be a bit too long, or the proportions aren't quite right. More on my issues with this model later.

I was pretty happy with how the nose turned out and it was by far the easiest part to do on the locomotive. I feel like the shapes lend themselves well to being "Lego-ified".

A shot from the rear where you can also see more detail including the roof. 

I'm not 100% satisfied with this model and I feel like some areas could be improved. As mentioned before, I feel like something isn't quite right with the length or proportions of it. Secondly, I feel like the roof curvature and detail lets the model down. I couldn't find a part/technique to get that small curvature to the roof edges like the prototype and as such, the roof curve on my model is way too pronounced. In general, something about this model doesn't sit quite right with me. I think it could use some improvements, but I think those will have to come later as I need this design to sit on the metaphorical shelf for a while before I can attack it again. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions of improvements, I would love to hear them!

As always, here is a link to the files of all my current MOCs. This one is just labeled as "ALCO PA" in the folder. If you'd like to download it to tinker around with or to build it yourself, please feel free to.

Thanks for reading!

[Andy Glascott]

That’s very impressive, particularly for a 6 wide loco!

[Moz]

That looks really good. Proportions seem reasonable - if anything both your model and the real thing look a bit short to me. I like the brick-built side details, much better than stickers and well worth the effort.

[GoHabsGo]

Great model !!!

[GrandPixelMan]

Very nice! the colouring made with bricks looks great!

[Feuer Zug]

Love the brick built solutions. The PA works well in LEGO too. The lines are easier to do with bricks.

[Legownz]

On 7/1/2023 at 5:20 PM, Andy Glascott said:

That’s very impressive, particularly for a 6 wide loco!

 

On 7/2/2023 at 4:22 AM, GoHabsGo said:

Great model !!!

Thank you!!

 

12 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Love the brick built solutions. The PA works well in LEGO too. The lines are easier to do with bricks.

 

20 hours ago, GrandPixelMan said:

Very nice! the colouring made with bricks looks great!

 

On 7/1/2023 at 5:33 PM, Moz said:

That looks really good. Proportions seem reasonable - if anything both your model and the real thing look a bit short to me. I like the brick-built side details, much better than stickers and well worth the effort.

Thanks! Glad to hear! I don't tend to do a lot of brick built lining and details like this normally in my MOCs, but it's something I envy in other builders and want to do more of!

[zephyr1934]

Nice build

[ivanlan9]

It's a great model, and I like it a ton.  I too am a 6-wide builder--very, very limited layout space.  So despite thinking that the PA is maybe the best-looking passenger locomotive ever, at the same time, I think this loco would benefit from being 8-wide.  The side view is excellent, but it's simply not wide enough.

Of course, if you offered it to me I would leap at it with all the lust of a starving kitten!  I'd run it & love it!

[Legownz]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:45 PM, zephyr1934 said:

Nice build

Thank you!!

22 hours ago, ivanlan9 said:

It's a great model, and I like it a ton.  I too am a 6-wide builder--very, very limited layout space.  So despite thinking that the PA is maybe the best-looking passenger locomotive ever, at the same time, I think this loco would benefit from being 8-wide.  The side view is excellent, but it's simply not wide enough.

Of course, if you offered it to me I would leap at it with all the lust of a starving kitten!  I'd run it & love it!

Thanks! I am pretty staunchly a 6w builder. I like all of my models to fit with each other and with official train sets. Plus, it helps save money and that matters a lot to me. However, if you'd like to take a crack at making it 8w or ordering the parts yourself, the Stud.io file is at the bottom of the original post and you are more than welcome to do what you wish with it. If you do make any modifications to my model, please post it here! I'd genuinely love to see it done in an 8w format. It's just not my style so I can't take full advantage of the extra studs.

[ivanlan9]

Thank you, but I too am a staunch 6w builder!  Someone else should step up and build it for us! 

[Darkkostas25]

Marvelous! So gorgues engine and in 6stdw wow, magnificent work !

[THERIZE]

Looks awesome! The PA is a really nice locomotive in my opnion and your model captures the look really well. The brickbuilt livery is also quite impressive. On what you said about proportions. I think the model could benefit from the entire roof section and front window being lowered perhaps a plate or two. If you look at the real model you can see how the front windows are actually quite small and the side windows are set lower than the top of the hood. Or perhaps raise the front by a plate or two. If I may, here is a very quick mockup of what I'm thinking of, I lowered the front window one plate and raised the hood by one plate. I also placed cheese wedges on the roof, admittedly they aren't curved like the actual roof but perhaps a more stylized look using slopes instead of curved slopes might be an option. You could perhaps also try using the same kind of cheese wedges at the front to give the nose a bit of a sloped look like the real locomotive, although this might be difficult to combine with the brickbuilt livery.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by THERIZE

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Nice model, identical to the original!
The only technical observation concerns the rear bogie which should be oriented like the first one (first the engine and then the wheel with the free axis otherwise you could have problems on the switches).

[LordsofMedieval]

Not big on 6w, but credit where it's due: this is very strong.

Edited July 11, 2023 by LordsofMedieval

[Legownz]

On 7/9/2023 at 1:59 AM, Darkkostas25 said:

Marvelous! So gorgues engine and in 6stdw wow, magnificent work !

 

On 7/11/2023 at 1:25 AM, LordsofMedieval said:

Not big on 6w, but credit where it's due: this is very strong.

I don't know why I didn't see these comments until just now, but thank you!

On 7/9/2023 at 1:41 PM, THERIZE said:

Looks awesome! The PA is a really nice locomotive in my opnion and your model captures the look really well. The brickbuilt livery is also quite impressive. On what you said about proportions. I think the model could benefit from the entire roof section and front window being lowered perhaps a plate or two. If you look at the real model you can see how the front windows are actually quite small and the side windows are set lower than the top of the hood. Or perhaps raise the front by a plate or two. If I may, here is a very quick mockup of what I'm thinking of, I lowered the front window one plate and raised the hood by one plate. I also placed cheese wedges on the roof, admittedly they aren't curved like the actual roof but perhaps a more stylized look using slopes instead of curved slopes might be an option. You could perhaps also try using the same kind of cheese wedges at the front to give the nose a bit of a sloped look like the real locomotive, although this might be difficult to combine with the brickbuilt livery.

 *snip*

 

That's a really good point on the front and side windows. Now that you pointed it out, I can't unsee it! I definitely think that's part of the "off"ness about it. I'm also noticing now that I forgot the round window right near the back. Oops! I might mess around a bit and see if I like the cheese slopes better, but I do like the curved roof a lot.

On 7/9/2023 at 1:48 PM, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Nice model, identical to the original!
The only technical observation concerns the rear bogie which should be oriented like the first one (first the engine and then the wheel with the free axis otherwise you could have problems on the switches).

Thanks! And that's a great point I hadn't even considered! I have very limited experience with 3 axle trucks like this and I haven't tested it much. If I do the orientation where the two free axles are behind, would that complicate running the locomotive through switches in reverse? When I get a chance, I think I'm going to need to experiment more!

It seems like I have some work to do, and I'll need to go back and revise my design a bit. I'll update the post when I have a new version. Thanks for all the helpful feedback, everyone! 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

On 8/5/2023 at 4:27 AM, Legownz said:

If I do the orientation where the two free axles are behind, would that complicate running the locomotive through switches in reverse?

You will probably have loose axles arranged unnaturally and the locomotive could jam but how many times do you have to make it go backwards compared to normal operation?

You could also adopt a solution in which the front axle can only slide left and right without turning ... I don't know if it is compatible with the rotation angle of your model, but it's a solution that I have used in the past...

Edited August 8, 2023 by LEGO Train 12 Volts

[Legownz]

Finally got some time to update the model and change some things. I changed the roof to use cheese slopes, which I think I like better. I also changed the nose a bit and messed with the color blocking/livery a little. Lastly, I switched the rear bogie around as @LEGO Train 12 Volts suggested. I considered that I might make this an A-A set someday, but I'll figure out the problems with those bogies if I chose to make a second one, let alone buy the parts for the first!

Might do some real world tests to make sure I like the design before ordering parts, but we shall see!

[idlemarvel]

Love the way you have done the livery and numbers in bricks. I don't like using stickers so I'll be using some of your ideas! Thanks for posting and sharing stud.io files.

[GoHabsGo]

Thank you so much for the files !

I think I'll spend hours looking at these

[zephyr1934]

17 hours ago, Legownz said:

Might do some real world tests to make sure I like the design before ordering parts, but we shall see!

Looking good. Just one thought... right now the round tiles are set in the side, instead of having a 4x4 indent of one plate, what would it look like if you moved them out one plate so that the white was flat?

[Legownz]

7 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Looking good. Just one thought... right now the round tiles are set in the side, instead of having a 4x4 indent of one plate, what would it look like if you moved them out one plate so that the white was flat?

I do like that there are no exposed studs on the side now. In a perfect world, I'd have it all flush to the side and there would be something filling the gaps in between, but I don't think the parts exist to do that/I didn't want to have to rely on crazy techniques.

[Murdoch17]

Much better. The loco is now, dare I say, perfect. (as perfect as our brick-based medium gets, at least!)

 

Keep up the good work @Legownz. Now you just gotta build a B unit to go with it! 

[zephyr1934]

Yeah, brickbuilt circles are a challenge. I think the new version looks better and there is some precedence for railroads welding or otherwise attaching fluting or other textured decoration on the side of locomotive (the nose of Milwaukee Road C-liners, MKT/T&P E7's with fluting)

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Splendid, I lile the new roof!

Now we are waiting for this beauty in real bricks!