MOD: MLCAD WIP - Unnamed 0-2-4

[-The Hyphen-]

Greetings. To those that don't know me (and that wouldn't be surprising, seeing as how I tend to lurk more often than I post) I am -The Hyphen-, and I am crazy.

I've been working on this design for a week or so, and since it's about finished, I decided that I would get some feedback on it before I chose the colors and started ordering the parts.

This was more than somewhat inspired by the first locomotive from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which was in turn probably based off of Stephenson's Rocket.

I plan to eventually power this locomotive by means of a tender built around a 9v motor, or by power functions built into a train car.

Lastly, here's a bit of in-universe backstory.

This locomotive comes from one of the less technologically advanced nations in my 'verse, and as such, was designed to be extremely simple in construction. These trains had to something that could be built and repaired in a blacksmith's shop, without access to advanced machining tools. As a prime example of this simplification, the locomotive uses an oscillating cylinder rather than the traditional locomotive valve gear.

In spite of (or perhaps due to) these limitations, the resulting design was reliable, efficient, and nearly bulletproof. This locomotive and others like it quickly became the standard for the nation that created them, and more than a couple were exported to other railroads.

So, assuming my ramblings weren't too much to read through -- what do you think?

Edited March 29, 2010 by TheBrickster

[lightningtiger]

Very interesting design, a very good friend of mine has built 'Stephenson's Rocket' which is an AWESOME design - I should ask him what he thinks of your design.

I feel it's a bit short in the wheel base department, but still it reminds me of the classic Lego train designs of the 1970's.

Good job designing it and I'm a conformist! '-The Hyphen-' I'm a conformist! !

[soc399]

I like it. I've thought about trying to model something from Spirit Tracks, but I haven't gotten much farther than that. One question: how did you build the other end of the oscillating cylinder?

[-The Hyphen-]

She is pretty small.

13 studs/10.3cm/4in Long, and

11 studs/8.7 cm/3.4in High is what MLCAD tells me.

How did you build the other end of the oscillating cylinder?

The cylinder is just one of these:

with the axle/driverod run through the hole

and attached to a technic brick/w hole using one of these:

It works, in that the driverod moves in and out and the cylinder rotates freely.

It may not look great, but nobody's going to see it behind the skirting anyway.

Thanks for the comments so far!

Edited March 28, 2010 by -The Hyphen-

[TaltosVT]

I really like this. I'm curious how it'll run through curves and switches with three flanged wheels that close together.

-Elroy