Dutchiedoughnut

Maybe you can use 9V tracks and use your own electronics to power the track and the L motors? I think nearly all portable batteries would drain really quickly.

I guess you can tell I'm an engineer ;). Right now I can get an L motor to fit in LDD (like a glove!). Next is getting the tender to fit the IR receiver and the battery box. And I want to reduce the gap between engine and tender to one half stud.

Oops, missed that! Did someone mention this beauty?

I think we're looking at the drive train for a Crocodile locomotive, commonly used in Switzerland. Or at least something similar ;). Its wheel arrangement is a little different (2-6+6-2 rather than 4-4+4-4), but it's the same sort of drive system for an electric locomotive.

Food for thought. If I swap out the motor for an L motor - and the battery box and IR receiver to the tender - I would have to place the motor higher up in the boiler to account for the bigger size. As it is, the M motor is a snug fit for the lower firebox. It should fit inside the boiler just fine (the boiler is mostly empy). It sounds like a better alternative than the XL motor, which would use up space in the cab...

I have a bunch of parts meant for a class 4mt, but I dont like it very much in real bricks. So I might try another 2-8-0 and use an L motor in one and a XL motor in the other. And thanks! I love how she looks. I should get round to doing some proper pictures with a good background and lighting :)

While I'd love to use ME tracks, I don't have any yet. Swapping the wheels over might be a good idea, at the moment the front axle isn't driven and I have traction issues. I'm sure there is binding going on in the curves as well. By the way, I've added pictures to the first post (and I now have an avatar, yay)

I do have an idea where to fit the XL motor - I have a couple of LDD models to get ideas. It will help move the battery box to the tender. At the moment I've rebuilt the engine with a battery box in the front of the boiler, but that ruins the looks and structural integrity of the model.

Well, the M is geared down. I'd be able to use different gears on an XL motor. I think. (I need to play around with the motors ;) )

Hi everyone, I've dreamed up a new design, and it rolled right off the computer screen ;). So this time, I won't bore you with LDD screenshots. But with a box of bricks instead: As you can clearly see from the box, the model is a 2-8-0 British locomotive in dark green. For the quick parts counters, it'll have about 900 bricks. If you tip over the box it looks something like this: Okay, lets stop the monkey business and get down to the work at hand. First, the drive train: The model will have all its main drive wheels driven by an M motor. It turnes out that's a tad slow, so I might change that to an L or XL. Also worth mentioning: the middle 8-tooth gear tends to move around a bit. It'll stay in place and the drive works fine. But I want to secure it a little better. The ball and socket joint pictured above didn't work out, so it has been replaced by a hook and a 1/2 stud wide Technic beam. Things are moving along now, here is the chassis and cab: I will be adding more later (as I need to get to work). Edit: The boiler under construction: And the finished body. I'm particularly happy with the tapered boiler. It's both taller and wider at the firebox end compared to the front end. Shown here without the battery box, the package is very strong and you're able to see under the boiler to the drive wheels at the far end: And a shot when the engine is on the track with the front truck installed:

I got the Hill Valley reference ;). There should be native Americans nearby though... and a gorge! Great looking train and scenery :).

Cute! Its a shame it's in black... it's hard to make out the curves and details.

I feel that a load of projects is just showing off, or a rather undetailed model posted on LEGO Ideas for some reason. It's difficult to get to the really good models.

I think that exact same question has already been answered. If you scroll up just a little you'll be able to see the answer.

Well the first post was probably fine, but the second one may be regarded as trying to push attention for your project.

I came across this project on Lego Ideas: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102108 It doesn't look like it'll make it, but it seems like a pretty nice build and it's all well thought out.

That BR 52 does look amazing. And there's the history behind it. Too bad I'm building all-British locomotives. I might want to change all that...

Front and rear are 36 studs (front to rear buffer) and the middle car is 28 studs across the buffers.

Ooooooh banana!!! Those are great, dr_spock!

He did say "as soon as they are online". I guess we're waiting for Brickshelf to sort this out

I'm not an economic builder (a single engine can easily do 1000 parts...) so I am curious to see what results come of this contest ;). If I'm inspired I might try and make something of my own, hmmm... (I do fear that the design constraints will lead to a generic Lego train set much like the ones already in stores. Lego is rather good at those, so it is wise to go for that?) Edit: I do have a thought that has been in the back of my mind for a while. I'm not sure it'll be within 1000 parts, but lets give it a go.

It might be very unreliable ;).In any case it's not as easy to couple or uncouple cars. Then again, there is no danger of pulling more cars than a magnet can handle.

It's geared down 8/20. So its not going to be a speed demon, but it will pull a few carriages im sure.

Lets ask James May to help us then :D.

Do you have any way to measure voltage at the electrical contacts?