Craig Strader

Good news everyone. I have got different sizes for the disc drivers in the works. Currently the only sizes designed are #17, #18, and #19. I will get all the way down to #11 in good time. I have intentions to finally start selling more parts (Disc Drivers included) by the time Summer hits.

Hello again everyone, if you find this, then this means that I am starting to unveil some new plans moving forward on this side of the channel. First off, I started a company called Strader's Custom Bricks on eBay a while back with the intention of manufacturing and selling custom parts compatible with the likes of Lego. I was under the belief that if I could benefit from making my custom parts for my custom MOCs, then others could benefit as well. We will also see why the parts are being designed in the first place. Unfortunately, I am not going to be selling parts for the time being, I will most likely start selling my parts when my current college semester finishes at the of the second week of May. In the meantime, I will keep testing more parts in my spare time so as to give quality parts. If anyone has any ideas or concepts that could be of use to your projects and others that you would like to see take to the rails in this case, send me some photos or rough drafts of some parts on this topic and I can see about creating some prototypes. Let's start off good and strong on this one: I have perfected (to the best of my abilities) my Baldwin Disc Driver. It now features the inset that makes it iconic, and if you look closely the lettering turned out rather splendid. I was originally planning to use ball bearings like the one I posted around Christmas of 2023, but that proved to be more tedious than what I was willing to tolerate then, so I went back to the old fashioned cross-axle. The only size available is the #19 size or 62.4mm. I have more sizes planned, but for a few good reasons, I have yet to build those. Blind versions of the wheel with a 25 degree turn has also been constructed as well. Next up: Bracers. The purpose of this piece is the same as with standard Lego tiles, only difference between Tiles and Bracers is that the bracers work with the studs to create the flush surface instead of covering it altogether like the tiles. Because of that, it is one-half the height of the tiles. Next one is to be used with the round plates and tiles: I will call these Inverted Slope Bricks. The purpose of this is to work along round plates and tiles to create a much more uniform circle compared to using standard Lego Slopes. Because of its unique design it WILL NOT WORK with standard inverted curved slopes (I have already designed the special inverted slopes to go with this part and even different sizes to go with the one you see below (the one in question is for 8-stud wide round plates). They have holes so as to work with a special sloped piece with a hole as well as the technic plates as shown below. To complement the Inverted Slope Brick, we have a normal version as well. This one serves a similar purpose to the Inverted Slope Brick. Bar holders are included and my take of an LFM 6-Chime whistle with this design. Again, It WILL NOT WORK with standard Lego Slopes and already have special Slopes in play with different sizes designed from 5-8 stud wide plates and tiles. Here are some miscellaneous parts that serve their own niche purpose. From top to bottom we have a familiar face with the 3 x 8 Liftarm. The 2 parts below have a purpose of their own. They are meant to have the axle bricks offset not just by length, but height as well. To use these parts, you simply take the axle brick behind and raise it by one stud. They are fully compatible with standard lego axles and pegs. Now why are these pieces being showcased, because they are going to a locomotive that for the longest time has been on my to-do list to get done: Santa Fe 3463 in 1/35th scale. Going from this: October 2021 To THIS (Mostly): Some parts have already been fabricated to look like the prototype. Build date has yet to be determined. More parts are still in the works and they all revolve around the locomotive. The locomotive is my Guinea Pig for testing the parts you seen. Here is the current status quo of the locomotive: February 25, 2024 Let me know what you all think.

I believe the C should be replaced with a B. Is this the kind of reference you need?

I'm pretty sure the Bracers can be useful; the slope pieces will be available in different sizes in due time (Current status quo is 8-stud for the boiler on 3463), and even then, they may have to be made as a single cast piece if you want it round like it was designed for. I've also got Universal Disk Drivers in the mix. Those have yet to be fabricated, but I'm pretty sure a 1/35th scale ATSF 3415 would look good with those one. I also have more parts to showcase: Brickettes: This piece is quite straightforward in terms of what it does. It is ONE-HALF the size of a standard Lego brick and for those who do not want to overextend the height by using 2 studs. I also have corner brackets: Again, the application is straightforward here to. I designed this part because I myself experienced frustration when it came to using brackets on corners. I have 4 (working) flavors: Standard is just 2 brackets rotated 90 degrees, Sealed is Standard but with the extra support at the end, Squared which is Sealed but has a square in extension of sealed, and Cheese Slope has an extension of sealed but with a cheese slope that goes 90 degrees (The variant in the picture below). Squared and Standard corner brackets actually go good together. Offset plates: I have 2 types with this one. Type 1 uses the standard plate but the stud is offset by 1.6mm or .2 studs. Type 2 has a base extension and the stud offset by 1.6mm (.2 studs) and 3.2mm (.4 studs) compared to the original plate, respectively.

Here is progress as of March 3rd, 2024. More resin will be here soon, which means no more work until further notice. At least we are going in the right direction. The giant will soon ride the rails. If things go smoothly, we could get steamed up by the time Summer rolls around.

Now that you mention versatility, I have thought about the slope bricks I proposed. I don't think that those I presented will work in the long run. I have an older design that DOES WORK with standard slope bricks. They are also smaller so that their application can be applied in more places and ways. I also made slope parts for the standard 2 x 4 slope pieces, though they have a smaller profile on the backside. Could you work with this one? Could you work with this design?

Hey everyone, I'm back and boy o boy have I got something for you all to bear witness. I created the Baldwin Disc Driver a while back as a means to potentially offer more wheels aside from traditional Spoked and Boxpok or Bullied-Firth in some rare instances. But the reason I am posting this is because not just of general wheel improvements, but also how smooth the wheels turn as well. These Baldwin Disc Drivers are indeed utilizing ball bearings exactly like what you would put on rolling stock, only this set has locomotive drive wheels and has a gear. I'm thinking about setting up a shop next year selling custom parts like these. Not just the Baldwin drivers but also everything else. The wheels are undergoing further testing and if I can, I might make some kits where the ball bearings are STANDARD in them. But for now, what your see before you is a prototype. Let me know what you think of this Here is the lettering of the wheels Here is the video link to the wheelset in action. Watch the smoothness roll.

Of my own design yes. Technic bricks have an opening that is too small for the bearings. I didn't want to use a heat gun, so I went for designing the bricks to accommodate the bearings.

I made a version for accepting eccentric cranks rotated at 25 degrees right and left. The one you see before you is for your run-of-the-mill connector pegs Those will be applied in a similar fashion like an O-Gauge train. The tires in question are not those red/white "donut" bands, but a full on black cylinder with a rather big inside diameter. 50.4mm to 52.4mm for ID to OD respectively.

What kind of resins are utilized to fabricate custom parts, tough resin? I am looking to produce some parts for a project of mine and I want them to be as durable as BrickTrainDepot's wheels to where they will not chip and/or break apart.

As far as the drivers and the special crossaxle required to accommodate the steel axle go, yes. Ball bearings are model F682ZZ, Lego gear is a standard 12 teeth bevel gear

I fixed it. Better?

If you want to use steam engines and utilize some realism, might I suggest going with the Swiss experiment with an 0-6-0 shunting engine. The experiment utilize pantographs to heat the boiler.

Hey guys, I'm back again, and boy do I have some content and news for you guys tonight from where I am sending this. I am going to get my company off the ground hopefully by next week on eBay and will be selling custom parts that I believe could open up new possibilities for everyone here in this community, not just trains. Some parts that you will see will be part of the list, others will be added in possible kits in the future. With that said, let's dive right in. SPOILERS: ALL parts listed here is going to a specific engine that I posted a while back. Also, all parts are made using ABS like resin on a resin printer for durability reasons. First off, we have the 1 x 1 x 1.5 plate or brickette. Now this isn't much to look at, but I developed this for a specific reason, and that is to fill in the gaps that cannot be filled by the standard plate. This part is an in-between having a single Lego plate that would be too short and double Lego plates which would be too big. Next up we have my 1 x 2.4 x 1.4 curve piece. This was designed to allow you to have those circular tiles or plates in front of them and still look symmetrical. Perfect if you want to build boilers or anything round for something like a tank car. And inverted version of this part has been designed and will be brought out in good time. Unfortunately, there is a drawback to this part. It is designed to be FLUSHED with the bottom at the 1.6mm section of the already existing curved slopes such as the 1 x 2 x 2/3 piece. As such, it can be very difficult to remove once you have set it in place. Now for those in this community wondering, will I have any train related parts as well? The answer is yes. And here is where things get interesting. I finally perfected(somewhat) my Baldwin Disk Drivers, and I am no longer limited to the size 19 or 62.4mm or 86" in 1/35th scale. I have designed wheels as small as #11 all the way up to the 19. Unfortunately, I am lacking in terms of having a rubber tire placement because originally, the wheels were so big that I feared that the normal tires would not be adequate enough for the job, as such, I recommend that you use tires of something like and MTH Premier Line Passenger Locomotive such as Union Pacific #844. This may be resolved later on, but for now I will leave it as-is for the time being. Next up, we have cab sides. This will not be for sale, due to the fact that these were used on Santa Fe #3463 which will take form soon, hopefully before Christmas. Instead, these parts will be added to kits that will be for sale eventually. This will largely depend on how things will play out in the long term. For the production models if they get on the rails, they will feature windows. On these two, they have a smaller "placement frames" where the windows go. This was because, before, I was printing out using ABS filament on another printer before my resin printer and that prove to be too fragile, not to mention, some of the sections of the former prototypes stuck out like sore thumbs, such as filament that looked like it could go all over the place. Hopefully the resin printed production models won't suffer too much of the same fate of the filament models. Finally, we have what could be the crown jewel. It looks like steam whistle on a Lego piece, because it IS a steam whistle on a Lego piece. The whistle in question that you see is the LFM Santa Fe 6-chime, which to me is one of the best whistles out there. Go to ATSF 2926 if you want to hear the real version in action. But wait, there's MORE. The whistle itself is not there just to set pretty, but also to FUNCTION. I gave it a test on the air compressor, and when I did, IPA that could not be wiped came out THROUGH THE WHISTLE!! Which tells me it works like a steam whistle should. This part may be included on my potential eBay shop, with and without the clips and just in its 1 x 2.4 x 1.4 configuration like the slope piece you saw before. But for now, the LFM whistle and this piece in general is currently what is available. You will also have to do a little DIY if you want it to work properly. This part was originally meant to be a two-piece system where you add the whistle you want on top of the special emplacement, however, this prove to be too fragile and quite compromising, so I went with a one piece system for the durability reason I mentioned before which is what currently works fine. Overall though, I designed this part in particular to not just be decorative, but also functional. Let me know what you think of this

So I got a little something interesting that I believe is a real first in this community and because the holiday was coming up I wanted to make it something really special, I give you a BALDWIN DISK DRIVER. This type of driver was designed and made by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and was used on railroads that ordered locomotives from Baldwin. This wheel was designed and made by me on AutoCAD 2022 and with the help of a humble XYZ Da Vinci 3d printer. It is 62.4 mm in diameter compared to the #13 43.2mm diameter. This took over 20 different attempts to create. It is still imperfect from the color of the wheel for I do not know any steam locomotive from Baldwin that used red colored wheels and the fact that it is not the plastic that is used on BrickTrainDepots wheels. Nevertheless, it still accepts standard axles and connector pieces in the exact same fashion as all of the other steam train drive wheels. Here is the wheel with the connector peg and axle in their respective places. For comparison, here is the disk driver(62.4mm) beside BTD's #13(43.2mm) Boxpok Driver

Hello Again. I have a rather iconic piece of railroading equipment for you all today. It is the oldest engine on the Strasburg railroad as well as the only operating 4-8-0 mastodon operating in the United States, it is 475 herself. She is a rather unique piece of equipment in more ways than one. Built as part of a series of locomotives in 1906 for the Norfolk and Western Railroad, they were the answer for increasing train loads. The 4-8-0 was utilized over the 2-8-2 because of adhesive weight. The M class was a deckless locomotive where the cab was alongside the firebox with the crew literally sandwiched between them. They were at first given Stephenson Valve gear but were later on given Baker valve gear 10 out of 125 ordered was superheated and all were fired by hand. Nicknamed "Mollies", they may have not been the prettiest locomotive created, but at over 40,000 lbs. of tractive effort for something made in 1906. However, when the Norfolk and Western started ordering new Y Class locomotives a decade later, it downgraded the Mollies to branchline work. 475 still runs to this day at Strasburg About this model: With my plans to start a company now taken seriously, I decided to build another and this time a smaller locomotive to complement Santa Fe 3463 and the C&O Allegheny. All I have to say was HOLY HELL, it was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be with its "distinct" shape of the boiler. But with a little help of brackets, I was able to complete it. However, it renders part of the boiler to not be as aesthetically pleasing, primarily along the bell area and below it. This model is equipped with Baler valve gear, but I also want to apologize for the lack of complete valve gear, for I had technical issues that saw my last computer's boot device fail, and it is only compounded by PartsDesigner being temporarily disabled at least on my side. Therefore; I am unable to make the new parts required to complete it. I do plan to have that resolved in time) With that being said, here is the photo gallery: As stated before, these locomotives were deckless. I did try my best to cover every square inch as possible, even the "backhead" to this locomotive. If I offer this as a product, the only thing that will be added aside from crew members will be the Reverse gear and the train brake. The throttle is also present but it is attached to the cab roof.

I got some good news for tonight from where I am sending this. I got PartsDesigner back online and with that, I have completed the valve gear on 475 a while back. Aside from missing a few pins in the event of a later update, it features the baker valve gear that is utilized on 475. It wasn't the way I wanted it to go, however, unlike your typical Walschaerts valve gear, Baker elevates and pivots at the same time which is why it is in this current set-up. I don't plan to change this for now because I put functionality before aesthetics when you compare my take versus what 475 uses. With that aside, here is the LEFT SIDE with the new BAKER valve gear

First, some context: Here's a shout-out to Daedalus304 and his ATSF #2926 4-8-4 locomotive, for this locomotive of my own shares quite a lot of cosmetics with 2926. Onto my project: Santa Fe 3463 was built on October 30th, 1937 for the Santa Fe Railway as a passenger locomotive and was assigned to crack passenger trains that ran from Chicago, IL to La Junta, Colorado along with its sister locomotives. 3463 was assigned to lightweight trains such as the Chief when they first rolled out, but given their power, they were assigned to heavier trains on the Chicago-La Junta Division in January of 1938. This locomotive pulled trains like the aforementioned Chief, the Scout, The Oil Flyer, and even the Fast Mail Express. In fact, one of these 3460 class Hudsons', No. 3461 set a record for the longest run without any maintenance stops, the only exceptions of course were fuel and water. No. 3460 was given a very special streamline shrouding which earned it the nickname "The Blue Goose" and was the ONLY streamlined locomotive to run on Santa Fe rails. 3463 would soldier on until 1953 when it pulled its last train The Antelope. In 1956, it was put on display outside what is called the Stormont Vail Event Center in Topeka, Kansas, and has remained since. There was an attempt to get this locomotive restored by the CSR in 2012, however, legal issues plagued this for 5 years and after that, the favor was to go to the CSR in 2018. But even then, there were more turn of events that still render the locomotive dormant. To me, the poor girl's restoration was doomed from the start and personally, I would like to see her back in operation someday. This model demonstrates the Hudson in 1/35th scale, it is roughly 11-12 studs wide, approximately 17 studs tall and 113 studs long. This thing is LOADED with details, even an (almost) perfect valve gear system. 6 L-motors are the current power source in place, 2 in the locomotive to keep the drive wheels in order and 4 in the tender, this may be upgraded later but I doubt it. This train HAS been assembled before, however, it was HEAVILY flawed. Faulty drive design with the side rods and gear ratio, too small drive wheels of the incorrect design (I ordered #13 boxpok drivers a while back) which as far as design goes to the wheels, drivetrain, and cosmetics has been resolved. You can check out my wheel by searching for Baldwin Disk Driver. That very same driver will also be going on this locomotive in the future. I even went ahead and designed some special parts that will be incorporated into the locomotive as well. This locomotive is a design that dates back to October of 2021 and by spring of 2023, I plan to have it completed by then unless something comes up. Who knows, I may enter it into the Brick Train Awards if the timing is right and I may have a consist running by the summer of 2023 as well, but I cannot say for certain because the locomotive and tender will come first. For the most part it is complete, but still could probably use a few tweaks before being finalized. With that out of the way, here is the photo gallery of my engine. Here is the valve gear on the LEFT side of the locomotive Here is the valve gear on the RIGHT side of the locomotive I did my best to capture the cab. Unfortunately, I could only find ONE picture and the picture in question is the one with the locomotive in its current condition, that being derelict. Here, we have a water glass on the left, In-Cab signals in the middle, Steam pressure gauge is located below the signals, Speedometer is to the right of the firebox followed immediately after the throttle. The brakes are located below followed by the power reverse on the cab floor. Oil "stoker" is located under the water glass along with gauges.

Thanks

Perhaps. But, what it lacks in space, it more than makes up for it in visibility. We can always refer to this engine as "Scarface"

So I have a couple, but HUGE updates to this engine, first of all I was able to figure out how to make the rods and bars completely straight with the cylinders and such. And if you can't tell already, I gave a distinct slope that starts from the backhead to the end of the firebox and all the way to the end of the steam dome. For those wondering, where is the walkway and many of the other parts? Like I said in my 475 post, my last computer's boot device failed and the original file to this locomotive with it is now lost forever, which is why the valve gear is incomplete. I had another locomotive file with a slightly older variant and had it not been there, it would have truly been a bad day. Nevertheless, it did give me an excuse to remodel the design utilizing lessons learned from my 475 project, which is how I was able to give the slope in the locomotive. Even the firebox follows suit with the design. I also redone the cab thanks to some other photos I found. New backhead, new seating arrangement. The cab is now 12 studs wide which may be my new go-to standard as far as size goes for ALL of my equipment. It will be updated more in good time

Will this model get its place on BMR like the T-1 did?

Thanks. The pictures are all POV-Ray which is why the lighting is "questionable". I created and posted a "special wheel" a while back called Baldwin Disc Driver. It will be going on this locomotive hopefully by next year if no wrench is thrown into the works.

Maybe, maybe not. It is meant to operate with ballasted track and to be compatible with Brickmania's equipment. Plus Lego train track width is larger than standard O-gauge, and on top of that, the minifigure is substantially wider.

Thanks I did my research not just the history