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Madcat2000

Rarely made locomotives and traincars.

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After doing alot of wikipedia research today (after deciding I want to try to get a lego train soon) I found several types of train cars and and locomotive that aren't seen to often in real life and far less in lego.

!. B-unit-These are basicly diseal locomotive without the cab, although many have any control panel so they can be moved around with requeiering the use of another loco. The reason for this is they or cheaper to produce(no ac, heating, toilet, etc.) however they also have the disadvantage of being less versitile. B units are subclassified into "boosters", one that can be controlled without needing another loco(so they can be moved around yards and such), and "slaves" which have to be wired to another loco the has a cab. Some B units are purpose built while other are conversions of normal locos that the cab has been damaged to such an extent that fully rebuilding it is not worth the time and money. B units are actually so uncommon, atleast to me, that the first and only time I saw one(a BNSF) I noticed somthing odd at first and then noticed the loco had no cab, I sat there with a WTF look for a couple of seconds. B units should not confused with slug, as explained below.

2. Slugs-These are like B units, however do not have a source of power generation. The power is supplied by the loco it is attached to which it uses for its drive wheels. I don't recall ever having seen one of these in real life nor lego form.

3. Snowblower-pretty self explainatory, most of you may know of these and I do seem to recall seeing atleast one of these built in lego before.

4. Offensive military trains-Not counting trains transporting tanks and so on, the only military trains I have seen are a model of a German Krupp K-5 railgun and a non-specific railgun. No one to my knowledge has attemped an armored train other than my attempts to make some cars in LDD, and I know for a fact no one has attempted the super railguns Dora and Gustav(I think they've been included in atleast half my posts on the site).

5. Cab Forward Steam Loco-Self explainatory.

Further info on all of these can be found on Wikipedia. If you feel offended because I told you something you already know sorry, I wrote this so everyone who reads this know what I'm talking about.

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Actually I'm talking about MOCs not official sets. And I'm not looking to build these things myself, I was trying to give other people ideas for their own MOCs.

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if you really wanted a b unit just don't put a motor on the 10133.

No, that'd just be a "dummy A"--a "Baggage Cab" as Amtrak refers to some of their F40PH's where they've turned the former engine compartment into cargo space but kept the cab for double-end train operations (point-to-point and back with no turnaround at either end, like the Seattle-Portland Cascades)

Take a look at these drawings, which will explain it better (can't embed for copyright reasons)

GM FT A & B: http://paintshop.railfan.net/images/belanger/ft_ab.html

Note, on the FT the cab (left side of the drawing) and booster (right side) units were permanently connected by drawbar--this was before the unions had wrapped their minds around the concept of multiple-unit operations.

Slugs were typically rebuilt from locomotives by railroads' own shops, like this Missouri-Kansas-Texas slug chopped from a GM GP-series:

http://paintshop.railfan.net/images/moldover/ex-gp_slug.html

Or they could sometimes keep their cabs, like this Morrison-Knudson rebuild of an EMD GP30:

http://paintshop.railfan.net/images/moldover/gp30slug.html

If you're ever trying to MOC North American locomotives, Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Volume 1: Steam Locomotives and Volume 2: Diesel Locomotives, while a Texas-size pain in the butt to get now, are must-haves--they even include diagrams for the monster Big Boys, Triplexes and the eight-axle GM DD series, which were basically two smaller complete units mounted on a common frame.

Someday a DD35A/B/A set and DD40AX doubleheader are on Ye Olde To-Do List... even though each unit will need not one, not two, but four PF motors to run!

----------------

Now playing: Frank Klepacki - Tension

via FoxyTunes

Edited by Diamondback

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!. B-unit

Alot more common than you'd think. Just search "B Unit" on brickshelf. I've built one, myself.

2. Slugs

A rarity, but not unseen in LEGO.

4. Offensive military trains-Not counting trains transporting tanks and so on, the only military trains I have seen are a model of a German Krupp K-5 railgun and a non-specific railgun. No one to my knowledge has attemped an armored train other than my attempts to make some cars in LDD, and I know for a fact no one has attempted the super railguns Dora and Gustav(I think they've been included in atleast half my posts on the site).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorsiniste...57604974781835/ (based on the Dora railgun)

Also

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/12871

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=147579

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23168122@N07/3324425836/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25681217@N04/3474542591/

5. Cab Forward Steam Loco

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=236399

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=4947

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=223670

And don't forget the Camelback Steam engines.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/savatheaggie/3279162208/

--Tony

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when you said cab forward steam locos i thought you ment

SR_Leader_05.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Leader_Class (it is a long article but a great one for steam buffs.)

(on a very losely baised note (when you said things lego dont make) i think lego should make a class 66 or a emd series 66 to europeans - my reason they will take over the world- train world!)

:devil: cb :yoda:

Edited by crabboy329

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when you said cab forward steam locos i thought you ment

SR_Leader_05.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Leader_Class (it is a long article but a great one for steam buffs.)

(on a very losely baised note (when you said things lego dont make) i think lego should make a class 66 or a emd series 66 to europeans - my reason they will take over the world- train world!)

:devil: cb :yoda:

I'd quite like to do a Leader class loco, but I might do a Fell loco instead. Something on my long list of projects!

I built a '66' soon after they went into service in the UK:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=178205

Doors open inwards.

Roof sections can be removed in order to close the doors or put the driver in either cab.

My latest work on the '66' was when I converted my main line trains from 12V to 9V in 2002.

I might re-do the bogie fascias, given what I've learned on several loco builds since then.

I will fit PF lights (6 light bricks) when I convert all my locos to 9V/PF hybrid operation.

I think main line 'B' units were once proposed in the UK but AFAIK it was quite a few years ago. For shunting, the class 13 was two class 08s where one was a 'B' unit with the cab removed. UK main line operation often has a second loco controlled remotely (class 20s are usually in pairs and 2 class 37s might substitute for a '66'), but presumably that type of remote operation is the same as for any 'A' unit in the US?

A Pendolino EMU operates a bit like a series of 'slugs'. The power is received on one of the two pantographs and is distributed on 25kV busbars throughout the train. Motors are in more than half the vehicles.

A snow blower with two small jet engines would be possible, but they're rare in the UK. Since I've already built a class 44 Peak loco, I had considered a snow plough based on a class 40 or 44 bogie set.

Mark

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A snow blower with two small jet engines would be possible, but they're rare in the UK. Since I've already built a class 44 Peak loco, I had considered a snow plough based on a class 40 or 44 bogie set.

Jet snowblowers are rare over here too; the only ones I remember were three cases in the 1960's where the New York Central grafted old fighter engines, 1 each, onto flatcars. I'll see if I can find the photos again and get access to a scanner...

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(on a very losely baised note (when you said things lego dont make) i think lego should make a class 66 or a emd series 66 to europeans - my reason they will take over the world- train world!)

If they want to stick with passenger trains they could make the Irish version (Iarnród Éireann 201 class), a slightly different varient for passenger use. They could even do the cross-border "Enterprise" model, complete with flames (one or two incidents of the loco overheating and catching fire due to the heavy load that HEP on those trains puts on them).

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