someguy

I agree with the above as well. More weight over driving wheels means more traction, increasing the factor of friction. Also, only put rubber rings on the wheels that are directly powered by the motors. The more o rings you place on wheels the more the boggies will bind on curvers. Your local hardware store should have some o ring kits for toilets. Those kits usually have a good selection of different size o rings to use.

When I was a kid my parents bought me the red 9 volt cargo train. Later I went over to a friends house, who is now my best friend, and he had this GIGANTIC Lego layout. There was Lego EVERYWHERE. So I continued to collect Lego trains over the years and just started getting the city building modules. Last year I really got back into model trains and wanted my own big boy 4-8-8-4 engine. Lionel's version is so much money I could buy half a motorcycle. So instead I built a Lego version for a fraction of Lionel's price. Plus if it falls off the table and breaks (which it has, gives it character with that bent ladder), I just put it back together. Plus I like building things.

Thank you, took a long time to get a design I like and it was torture waiting for the parts. I wanted to put bigger motors in before I built it, but now that it's up and running I am very happy with how it performs. But my next engine will use bigger motors. :) Yea I didn't realize while building it how close the clearances would be in turns. It has a half beam clearance, but I am waiting to buy some custom rods. Mostly I want to see how it performs on a large layout at a LUG convention since the custom rods are so expensive. Plus I want to make sure I worked out the bugs regarding the rods binding up. The tender was a bit of an annoyance at first. Seen below every axle can turn by itself. The 2 on the far left look connected to that bogie, but underneath are 2 turn tables to provide lots of freedom for it to move. I quickly found out that by doing this the axles would go around turns the wrong direction and then would not go back to straight and would just drag along sideways. The problem is the technic piece sticking out acts like a toothless gear forcing the other axle to turn the opposite direction, so every other axle would be facing a different direction. To fix this I simply 1/3/1/3 bricks connecting the( from the right) 4-5 and 6-7 axles. Now these go around curves like normal bogies under a trailing car. The 3rd axle is still free to move but the toothless gear action caused on it by the 4-5 connected axles forces it to turn in the right direction. The connections with the 1/3 pieces are weak, but since I made my own tender, which is crazily heavy, the tender easily holds everything in place. If you have a look at my next engine design I am using the same idea on the tender. This time though it's more even on both sides so more of the tender stays over the axles around bends. ex: above 2-2+2-2+2 2-2 next tender 2-2+2-2 2-2+2-2 '-' means connected axles to solid frame, '+' means connected axles by hinge. If this is confusing just ask and I can post pictures lol. Also, this tender goes around curves so smoothly now it's insane! I put a pf train motor in place of the front bogie and I could go full speed around my layout without it tipping over and flying off on curves. Unfortunately I found out it will throw my friends Santa Fe engine off the table at full speed.

I just did a lot of research about this myself for my next steam engine. http://www.eurobrick...opic=113958&hl= Good discussion about torque and speed here as well as discussion about the V2 IR sensor and battery packs. Basically if you only want to pull 4 cars 2 M motors with v1 IR sensor and 1 battery pack should be good to go. The V2 sensor can supply 3 times as much power through its inner gadgets than the V1 sensor can. The rechargable battery box can supply more power than a AAA battery box can. I'll just make a short list of the answers I got out of my thread: 2 M motors, 1 V1 IR sensor, 1 Battery box 2 XL motors, 1 V1 IR sensor, 1 battery box 2 L motors, 1 V2 sensor, 1 battery box 4 L motors, 2 V1 IR sensors OR 1 V2 IR sensor, 1 rechargable battery box OR 2 AAA battery boxes. ( 4 will run with 1 V1 IR sensor and 1 AAA battery box, but you will not get full performance out of them.)

This is something I could see Lego selling. Its the right size for Lego and in 6 wide. Plus it comes standard with coffee mug like most Lego heavy machinery lol. Very nice engine!

I really like the bendable drivers with rotating driver sections in the first design. It looked excellent taking those turns with all 5 flanged wheels. Amazing final result as well. Glad you stuck with 5 driving axles.

So when does Lego put it in stores??????????????? This is so awesome!!!

THE M1 SHARKNOSE Design procedure and notes Last year I competed a Lego big boy steam locomotive from instructions I found online plus a few modifications I wanted. Now I want to build another engine, but not flat out copy someone elses design or even recreate a real train in Lego. I prefer steam engines mostly so that is what I decided to build. There are different things I like about different engines so I decided to list them and try to incorporate them into a single design. Design details to include: - articulated engine design - large cylinders - 2 axle leading and trailing trucks - shark nose from the shark nose diesel locomotive - sloped boiler from the PRR K4 - streamlined look - large 4 seat cab supported by trailing truck - the PRR T1 4-4 driving wheels arangement - that box on a tender someone can sit in when the engine is moving in reverse - large tender - special/rare/unique tender axle/wheel arrangement - possible sloped end of tender - larger than most engines, but smaller than the big boy engine - Big Bens Bricks extra large driving wheels - custom drive rods - Powerful, yet fast - all BBB driving wheels connected to motors - 4 large motors in boiler - V2 IR reciever in tender - 2 battery boxes in tender - not black because I want a brighter colorfull engine like the Mallard and other British engines (blue, green, orange, etc) but not a rainbow of colors either Now I know I said not copy other peoples designs, but there is an axle design that Nebraska uses and I think it is the best axle design ever created, so I am going to try and re-create that axle design. - Nebraskas awesome axle design Additionally I decided not to paint any real railroads name on the tender or name the engine after a real engine. The name also includes some of my favorite ways railroads named there locomotives. PRR (my favorite Railroad) typically used a letter and number to name a type of engine eg K4, T1 etc. This is simple and easy to say imo. My nick name is 'Moe' thus the "M," "1" for my first MOC design, and sharknose after the sharknose diesel. The M1 Sharknose! I also plan on (hopefully eventually) putting "Moe's Railroad" on the tender. My lucky number is 80, so this will be engine number 80. United States flags will be on either side towards the front 'waving' similar to Nickel Plate Roads flags. Still not yet sure what symbol with 80 will be on the front. (PRR's was the keystone symbol with engine number in the center.) So after this insane list of things I want to include I started working on a design in LDD. The first thing I wanted to do was get a good wheel arrangement down with the correct heights for the boiler to clear flanges. I designed an entire wheel set and realised it was too small. The engine would have been DWARFED by the big boy. I began work on a MK2 version, except I remembered to use BBB XL drivers (represented by backwards lego flanged drivers). The sets of driving wheels both rotate in the center to provide better turning and less overhang. I imported my big boy engine into my new train file so I could reference it for height, length, and width while building. I want my engine to be shorter, the same height, and 1 stud wider than the big boys boiler. Medium motors are place holders for the large motors I will install. The two drive wheel boggies are identical except for where the front and trailing boggies attach. The tender will be about the same size as the big boys tender. The tenders wheel arrangement features 2 seperate boggies with 2 sets of trucks. The wheels under the BBs tender work well except 5 axles are connected and 2 axles are connected making one set of axles cause a large amount of overhang on turns. I simply added a 8th axle and seperated the trucks in the center for better turning. This also meets my goal of having a unique wheel arrangement under the tender! I may change those black and grey turn tables to bogie plates so the boggies dont easily fall off when I pick it up. The 1x6 flat tiles will help the tender slide over the axles. Bumpers are placed on the engine and tender due to the coupler. The coupler is designed to rotate in 3 different places for tight turns when the trailing bogie needs more freedom to follow the driving wheels. Battery boxes will be wired for longer supply, not over supply of electricity. Last, the tender will feature a 'real' coal load (bunch of spare/random black and grey 1x1x1 parts); will hide a handle to lift out the coal to show the battery boxes and IR sensor. I would like to use the axle design (Nebraskas) from the trailing truck on the tender axles, but am not sure how to make it look good. Chains will be connected from the trailing bogie to the tender. Possible coal auger (universal joint?) I am currently trying to figure out how to get a good look for the front. The boiler would stick out and be so far above the leading truck I just don't know what to put there right now. I might just design from the cab forward and see what I have once I get to the front. Suggestions welcome. If you see anything blatantly wrong, please let me know, thanks!

I just use 1 battery box. But from what I have heard Im not getting full performance out of them. I would need a v2 IR sensor and rechargable battery box.

Thanks zephyr, the tooth pick idea sounds really good! For now I plan on using either 4 L motors with a v2 sensor and 2 battery boxes or 2 to 4 XL motors with 1 v2 sensor and 2 battery boxes. Im still working out how im going to get the look I want for the engine and how to make a sturdy chassis.

Feels like Lego has dropped the ball on that new yellow cargo train repainted red and resold deal. I hate when companies repackage something with different colors, small changes in looks, and call it "new." What we need is another train set like the Santa Fe. (not the Santa Fe!) Something where you buy the base set with an engine and 2 cars then can buy optional cars and engines. Id say a steam set this time. Base set: $200.00 includes PF remote control, L motor, AAA battery box, IR sensor. Steam engine: 844, Daylight, some well recognized North American steam engine. Obv comes with tender so it does not count as a car ok. Passenger car 1: simple passenger car. Passenger car 2: end of train observation car. Optional sets: special car 1: can be built into a mail or luggage car. $40.00 special car 2: can be built into either a bar car or restaurant car. $40.00 special car 3: aux tender. $20.00 Is this post biased because this is exactly what I want? YES IT IS! Is this post suggesting something doable that people would buy with prices similar to the Santa Fe when it was sold, YES IT IS! Seriously id spend $380 dollars so fast on this.

You know what this topic really needs is a picture of Nebraskas 844 and 4014 double heading pulling those awesome Union Pacific passenger cars!

How did you ever fit 4 XL motors on that thing?!?!? (Both surprise and confusion!) Could you PLEASE make a topic with pictures? I tried to put 4 XL motors in it on LDD but my skill is not yet high enough. Will also help me with my next engine build! (Sorry if there are some terrible spelling mistakes. I am on my phone and it's hard to see.)

The side rods are not yet complete. What happened was in August 2014 I had to start classes again and I just now took the engine back out to get it working. The problem is on the rear set of drivers the current connecting rods stick too far out and hit the cylinder when connected to front wheel so I cannot connect all 4 axles. Same problem on the front set of drivers. The conecting rod, if connected to the rear wheel, hits the rear drivers cylinder around turns and causes a derail. I plan on buying custom connecting rods and driving rods hopfully soon. I didn't buy the plans, but I can post links here for them! I found them on youtube with a link in the description. Just use microsofts snip tool to get the picture if it wont let you copy them. Just a warning though, there are some things I found on the plans that I did not like or had to change to make the engine stop derailing and run better. Also, I did not use the tender from the instructions. Just to be clear, these are not my plans and I do not take credit for them. According to the youtube video description the instructions are Scott Mills inspired by JayHurst. http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=533320 Here is my original post when I was still in the planning stage. Hope this helps with your planning as well. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93035&hl=steam+engine+4884 For more inspiration see below! Nebraska also just built a Big Boy and it is very nice! http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=113369 Also see the 844 by Nebraska http://www.eurobrick...=+steam +engine http://www.eurobrick...98#entry2051832

Thanks! I have some thinking to do and some more design to do to see what I will use.

Same here. I recommend off seting the connecting rods by 90 degrees on both sets of drivers, this helps stop them from binding. Also, have a really close look at the leading wheels. I had to modify mine because they scraped the front cylinders on turns and would grind badly. If you need more traction try rubber o-rings from your local hardware store from a toilet o-ring kit. but only use o-rings on 1 axle per set of drive bogies. Would you say yours is significantly faster switching to L motors?

Why dosn't Lego fund this?!?!?!?!!? This is awesome!!

Awesome train! Very cool that you came up with its own name. The 909 National Limited sounds like a train you would take cross country.

Last year I got back into building with Lego and I decided to go from never building anything complex to building something extremely complex. In January 2014 I started researching how to build a Big Boy out of lego. Five months later, 3 LDD files, and A LOT of random train car designs I finally started ordering parts for the engine! Thankfully before Christmas I was able to complete the engine. However, it did not run......it spun the wheels quite well though! This engine is not my design however, I found the instructions online and changed some things that I thought made it look better. The tender is my own design, I did not like the tender in the instructions. I still want to get a shorter technic piece for the coupler from engine to tender and tubes that run along the top sides of the engine. Here are some pictures of my engine. Some may be a bit small. Here is an imgur link with full size pictures. http://imgur.com/a/5b5PF This is the inside of the boiler. It is just a bunch of technic 1x's and holds 4 PF M motors. The front wheels are quite close to the drivers and cylinder. I created a simple stand for the boiler so it would be easy to work on without it constantly rolling everywhere. A MOC I designed. Goes with the Alien Series 13 minifigure. The engine crew! Inside the Cab Some overall shots. The drive rods are only on 3 wheels each side because the front drive rod hits the rear cylinders and the rear drive rod is too wide to get past the rear cylinders. I plan on ordering custom steam rods which will resolve these problems. I also used some silicon on the gears which drys quickly and keeps the surface slick, making for much smoother running. Just a MOC fire station I am working on. Here's 10 pounds of bacon for reading my post!

Ok now I understand better. Untill I found out about these 2 ir recivers I thought my research was done! Now I have even more questions! I figure before I start asking questions I should start by stating what I want my engine to be capable of doing. Goals: - 2 battery packs - 1 or 2 ir recivers (v2) - 4 L motors or 2 XL motors - no quick reversing - no quick acclerations - quick decelerations - High speed - capable of pulling at least 10 normal lego designed cars - capable of pulling at least 6 MOC cars aprox. dimensions: 6x40 studs Questions: - Which could be built to be faster and has more power, 4 L motors or 2 XL motors? - Would you use 2 V2 ir sensors with 4 L motors?

Can I still order from the replacment parts list even if I don't have that set? Or should I order from the replacemnt parts list and 'have the set.' ;)

Somehwere a while back I read where someone used two in a MOC, but I cannot find it anymore. I remember it was something about reducing the PF whine noise by making the signal stronger to the motors, or perhaps that was done by using two batery packs. For now though I will stick with one ir sensor, I can always add another later. I went and uncovered my big boy engine from the layout and got it all together and working. (I had been modifying it like crazy trying to get to move!) I did not realise too many tires would make it bind up and I removed 4 tires. (Not lego tires because I was not paying $4 a piece for black ones, went to Lowes and bought toilet O-rings) Now it runs great! I got some silicon from the garage that drys and keeps surfaces slick. I also, finally, took the driving wheels off and rotated them all 90 deg apart and put drive rods on. The engine now runs smoothly and I can even control a nice slow acceleration to start moving on turns instead of a sudden lurch! I do know that my next engine WILL be geared for faster running. The big boy cannot run very fast, but it can easily pull my friends full train of Santa Fe cars around with ease. (6-8 or something) Why does it not give me their full power without a V2 reciever?

Ok so I tested a single train motor under my big boy tender by itself (no big boy engine in front) and it had serious trouble moving, will not be using train motors for my next build. I use 4 of these motors in my big boy and it goes pretty good, but I would like to get some more speed and power out of my next build so I am considering using 4 of the large motor at the bottom. . Last, my next build will be a 4-4-4-4 (not a T1) wheel arrangement using BBB XL drivers and custom drive rods I have seen advertised on here. I plan on having 2 sets of drivers with 2 large motors powering each set. Now a question of 'power.' I can fit 2 battery packs into the tender with 2 IR sensors. I plan on connecting the batteries just so the engine stays powered longer and the drop off from the bateries discharging is not as noticable. Two IR sensors because I heard this helps improve responsivness and help with using 4 motors. Is it a good idea to use two batery packs? Is it a good idea to use two IR sensors?

I totally forgot about syncing the wheel speeds up! So either tender or the boiler now. As for the motor not being strong enough and spinning too fast I think I'll do some testing. Reason being is I built a big boy which is powered by 4 lego medium PF motors in the boiler which power the drivers and it has E P I C wheel slip. So I am weary of something similar in my next engine. Do you think it would be a good test to configure my big boy tender with a PF train motor in the front with regular lego size drivers and lowering the rear axles down to the track? Here's why I think this would be a good test: - big boy tender definitly will weigh less than my finished engine. - comparable amount of total axles I would be using (for friction) - I will see how many of my lego cars it can pull. - I will get an idea of how much wheel slip will be a problem. Also, I know I basically want to do the opposite of what you both mentioned and suggested, and I appreciate your input, I just want to research and educate myself before I make a descision. (prolly going to be another $500 dollar engine lol)