SavaTheAggie

Gallery, including work in progress shots. Texas State Railroad Pacific (4-6-2) Engine #500. From the TSRR Website: -------------------------------- Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911, engine 500 began its career with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway wearing number 1316. It was originally built as a compound steam engine. This design proved to be mechanically unreliable and the locomotive was converted into a standard steam engine in 1923. With a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement (that’s four small wheels in front, six large wheels in the middle and two small wheels in the rear) engine 500 is what’s known as a “Pacific” type locomotive. The 1316 was primarily utilized on fast passenger trains and saw service over most of West Texas, often through the city of San Angelo. As the golden age of steam railroading drew to an end in the late 40s, this powerful steam locomotive was reduced to pulling local freight trains as the newcomer diesels began taking over its job of fast freight and passenger service. By the early 50s the Santa Fe had completely dieselized its operation and donated the once proud 1316 to the Fort Concho Museum in San Angelo, Texas for utilization as a static display. This seemingly brought to an end the distinguished 1,347,383 mile career of this engine. In the summer of 1980 crew from the Texas State Railroad showed up at the Fort Concho Museum and, laboring in the West Texas heat, began preparing the engine for a rebirth. The TSRR had arranged to purchase the engine and transport it by rail to the piney woods of East Texas. After a year of dedicated hard work by employees, the former Santa Fe number 1316 was once again on the rails under its new road number, 500. ------------------------------ This is the second version of this locomotive I have built. The upgrade was a 100% rebuild, nothing of the original MOC remains. She's been upgraded from a 7 wide design to 8-wide, and is now nearly studless. She also utilizes a true, fully functional 4-wheeled pony truck design. The original MOC of the #500. --Tony

I can't help you much with the sliding center axle, but this photo might be of some help: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swoofty/28545...57601107812903/ I can, however, help you greatly with your traction problems. http://www.railbricks.com/railblog-categor...unctions-primer --Tony

My three year old loves to play with my trains, but he's far too young for most motorized sets. He doesn't understand the concept of something moving too fast, and when I've let him play with my 9v equipment, he's always just cranked it up to 100% and it flies off the track in corners. My son loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and has a rather large collection of LEGO Thomas Duplo sets. But I let him play in my LEGO room with a loop of track I've set up for him. I give him my unpowered BNSF locomotive (which he calls "Daddy's Orange Train") and some cars and he has a blast (don't let the 9v regulator deceive you - there's no motor on that train). In fact, the only motorized train my son can play with without much supervision is my massive 10-wide Allegheny steam engine. Because I've geared it the way I have, it goes far too slowly to ever derail, and I give my son the standard, non-train, power functions remote to control it so that it only has three settings - forward, backwards and off. He doesn't have to worry about increasing the speed incrementally, and if he gets distracted and walks away the train stops, saving battery life. Given that the cargo train cannot be used as a non powered train without buying extra parts, and the locomotive's base comes with a non-removable section of a battery box and a IR receiver, I recommend the Emerald Night. It's a fun push train and watching the pistons move is a lot more fun, in my opinion, than any diesel or electric locomotive. To the question of Hobby Train vs. Holiday train - I would choose both (I did!), but if I were forced to make a decision between the two I say Hobby train all the way. The small black steam locomotive designed by Ben Beneke is much better than the Holiday Train's locomotive, and the passenger car in the Holiday Train set looks strange to me with the 1x2x3 white slopes. The Hobby Train has a lot more useful parts, but it doesn't come with figs or accessories. Of course I solved the problem long ago by building a Polar Express, which I most biasedly find to be a better Christmas train, anyway. --Tony

Well, you already said you think of steam engines as being black and red, so no wonder you prefer this color scheme. This isn't the first time I've used the 5-wide cheese slope boiler, it's a good design that works well. It can get a little dicey during construction, though - the design is very brittle and hard to hold together up until enough pieces are locked together, and then it just becomes rock steady. After that, you can toss the boiler around the room (which I've done - don't ask ) and nothing falls off. This also isn't the first time I've used a cylinder design without a functioning piston, and it really doesn't bother me too much. American locomotives don't have pistons that stick out of the front of the cylinder, so having a closed front end is a big selling point for me. Thanks much! Thanks much! When I visited the original steam engine for the first time I realized just how horribly off I had built her, which is what sparked the rebuild. I'd like to say my MOC is accurate now, but I can probably only say "more accurate than it was." Thanks much! Not everyone is into American steam engines, but that's ok, not everyone is perfect. I am waiting on the funds with which to purchase the PF rechargeable battery box before I make any attempt to power this locomotive with Power Functions, but I have come up with a design that seems to work very well in powering the tender's smaller bogies. I wrote a RAILBRICKS blog article about it: http://www.railbricks.com/railblog-categor...tions-minitruck I have built and tested the design with real bricks and it works well. Now I just have to come up with some details to attach to the outside of the bogies. --Tony

I regret not buying it when I had the chance, but as it has been said the Emerald Night doesn't fit - and neither do the majority of my locomotives (being mainly 8-wide) - not just in width but in length. My Berkshire, even without the tender, is over three track lengths long. No, I resigned myself long ago that I'm going to have to build my own, but the parts from one of these would have been really helpful in getting started. --Tony

Thanks! Thanks much! After seeing the real thing I felt I hadn't done it near the justice it deserved, so I certainly did try to add in as many details as I could. Thanks much! To me, European and English locos look pretty strange, but like you I can appreciate them nonetheless. Every time I see one I think "What happened to the cow catcher?" :) --Tony

Thanks much! TexLUG isn't well known for huge, complicated layouts, let alone layouts with variable terrain height, so as far as my bridge being part of a huge layout that may not happen for quite some time. But, I do have a plan to build the bridge taller (maybe) and longer for the purposes of putting it in the Houston LEGO store's Window Into The Community display window. As for the bridge as it is now, I can't say just yet... ;) Thanks much! It doesn't really bother me that the 1x10 plates have studs - they're deep inside the superstructure and if the bridge was attached to something at either end you'd hardly notice, I think. Thanks much! I have no plans to make it brown. Real bridges use lumber treated with creosote, which makes them last longer. A brand new bridge would certainly look just as black as my bridge. Only older bridges, where the sun has bleached the treated lumber and it has not been re-treated would not be black, and would probably look more grey or dark brown than anything else. Since black is cheaper than dark brown or even regular brown, my personal choice is black. Too late. :) Thanks much! To be honest, since this bridge would be a straight bridge, there wouldn't be any need to slow the train down. There is very little wobble or sway in the bridge, and what is there is only because either end of the bridge isn't attached to anything. Once it's installed on a layout I suspsect it'll act just as well as any other section of track. A curved bridge, however... might pose some problems at high speed. Thanks much! In practice I'd probably only tile the outermost plates, leaving any internal supports studded to just cut down on costs. A full sized bridge would be so complex to look at you'd probably never notice otherwise unless you really studied it. Thanks much! Yup, that certainly is a big selling point for me on this design, though I wonder if a bridge such as this could support a steam engine as massive as an Allegheny. Thanks much! Well... there's no detail to the bridge, really - no lead up, no ground detail underneath, plus I'm not even done working on it - it's hardly finished. So, as a work in progress, I call it a tablescrap. I don't have a layout of my own, so I have to take other steps to use bridges, and that's all I'm going to say on the subject... for now. ;) Thanks much! Not a lot of monolithic stone bridges around here... heck, in East Texas there isn't a lot of stone to begin with. People make due with what they have, and around here wood is cheap and plentiful. --Tony

Gallery, including work in progress shots. Texas State Railroad Consolidation (2-8-0) Engine #300. From the TSRR Website: -------------------------------- Engine 300 is one of two surviving United States Army “Pershing” engines. This type of engine was named after General “Blackjack” Pershing and built for service in Europe during World War One. Fortunately, this locomotive remained in the United States, primarily serving the Camp Polk Army Base in Leesville Louisiana. This engine is a 2-8-0 type, meaning that it has two wheels in the front, eight drivers in the middle and no wheels at the rear of the engine. This wheel arrangement is commonly referred to as a “Consolidation”. At the end of WWII the locomotive was acquired by the Tremont and Gulf Railroad, a Louisiana Short line. The T. & G. completely rebuilt the engine and renumbered it 28. The T. & G. sold number 28 to the Southern Pine Lumber Company, and East Texas short line operated by the Temple Lumber Company. After years of dedicated service, the company owner, Mr. Arthur Temple, donated the engine to the Texas State Railroad in 1973. The engine was brought to the railroad in 1976. Boiler problems and budget restrains delayed restoration efforts until the late eighties when work began on obtaining a new boiler for the old war-horse. All running gear and appliances were completely reworked or replaced. After years of effort, engine 300 was put into active service on April 13, 1996 to commemorate the Texas State Railroad’s Centennial celebration. From her humble origins of hauling freight, lumber an munitions to her present occupation of transporting tourist and rail fans of all ages, Engine 300 has done it all with style and grace. ------------------------------ This is the second version of this locomotive I have built. The upgrade was nearly a 100% rebuild, almost nothing of the original MOC remains. She's been upgraded from a 6 wide design to 8-wide, and is now nearly studless. The original MOC of the #300. --Tony

I put together a tablescrap bit of Train Testle Bridge today. I thought I'd share. Complete description on the Flickr Photo Page, as well as the gallery with three other angles. --Tony

I was asked via PM about the quality of BBB wheels, and how they compared to LEGO's steam engine drivers found on the Emerald Night. I gave my opinion, and I thought it would be a good tool to spark conversation. First off let me say I am a very biased opinion on this subject. It really is no secret that I am a huge supporter of Big Ben Bricks, and this will probably look like a huge advertisement for Ben's wheels (says the man who just posted a huge advertisement for Ben's wheels above this paragraph). I have bought hundreds of dollars worth of wheels from Ben over the years, and I've never been disappointed. I also own two copies of the Emerald Night, so I feel that I can adequately compare the two reasonably well. Let's examine some of the different areas one would look to compare the two products- Quality, Cost, Availability, Function, and Form. Quality. Big Ben Bricks wheels are very high quality injection molded plastic wheels. Their colors match LEGO bricks in both color and shine, and, of the colors I own, anyway, do not look at all out of place on a LEGO steam engine. I have owned Big Ben Bricks wheels since 2006, and have been running them on my locomotives the entire time. I have never (knock on wood) had a Big Ben Bricks wheel break, not even after falling off a table onto a concrete floor in a show (even when the weighted - with a pile of nuts and bolts - tender fell on top of the locomotive after it had hit the ground). The wheels turn perfectly smoothly and, at least on mine, show no signs of being at all unbalanced. Cost. LEGO offers three train wheels. Currently, as of this post, you may purchase the small LEGO train wheel from S@H, via the online PaB, for $0.49 USD. The Large Blind and the Large Flanged drivers are unavailable for individual purhcase. As of this post, you may purchase the small LEGO train wheel off Bricklink for an quantity average of $1.77 USD (New) each, the Large Blind Drivers for a quantity average of $2.77 USD (New) each, and the Large Flanged Drivers for $3.00 USD (New) each. Big Ben Bricks offers five train wheels. The small train wheels go for $1.50 USD each, and the other four - Large Blind, Large Flanged, Medium Blind, and Medium Flanged - all go for $3 USD each. Ben also offers special bulk amounts which will lower the price. The best deal gives you 4 each of the drivers plus 8 small wheels, giving you a price of $2.10 USD per driver and $1.05 per small train wheel. (The above calculation is based on 2 small wheels ($1.50 ea x 2) = 1 driver ($3 ea x 1)) LEGO charges $4.95 USD for shipping the first $25 USD, IIRC. Bricklink is variable. Big Ben Bricks charges a flat $5 for any quantity. Availability. LEGO only offers small train wheels direct via PaB. In order to buy the drivers you must buy the Emerald Night. Availability on Bricklink is limited to the sellers who have parted out the Emerald Night (in the case of the drivers). Currently there are 25 and 41 lots available on Bricklink for Blind and Flanged drivers, respectively. You will be limited to where these shops ship, which I did not investigate. Big Ben Bricks will ship to anywhere in the world. I am unaware of what quantities Ben keeps on hand for his stock. I can say that his wheels have always arrived at my house within only a few days of paying for my order, so he's never run out of stock when I've ordered (and he can get more when he needs it). Function I have not put them side by side, but as best I can figure LEGO's and BBB small wheels and large and blind drivers are the same diameter and all accept Technic axles. They also have technic holes to accept connecting rods in the exact same spaces. Now maybe it was my particular copy of the Emerald Night, but I found that the LEGO drivers were more loose on the axles than the BBB drivers I own, that is to say, they were easier to pull on and off the axle. This can be a bad thing during operation, but like I said - maybe it's just my copy of the Emerald Night. One major difference is that LEGO's small PF train wheel and flanged drivers have grooves molded into them to accept an o-ring, and BBB wheels do not. I find the groove distracting and a bit ugly, but that's personal taste. The groove might cause performance issues, i.e. the groove catching the rails oddly causing it to grind or jump the track, but I have not tested it so I cannot say for sure. I have noticed that if you try to use wheels and drivers with installed O-rings on non-powered locomotives, such as push trains or tender powered locomotives, the O-rings cause a lot more friction and can add more strain to your motors, robbing you of pulling power. I tried this very thing on one of my smallest locomotives because the LEGO small train wheel was so much cheaper, but the locomotive has twice or three times the resistance to want to roll as it once did. If you do not like the groove in LEGO's wheels without the O-Rings, and you plan to design a tender powered or push engine, I highly recommend BBB wheels for the best performance. However, if you plan to create a locomotive that has powered drivers, I recommend LEGO's drivers - the added friction of the O-rings, while not 100% essential, will certainly give you a much greater performance. I also use LEGO's small wheels on all of my Power Functions tender-driver engines. Big Ben Bricks also offers a Medium driver in both blind and flanged varieties, for those who want to build locomotives with smaller drivers to scale with your other train MOCs. These wheels function just like the large drivers, except the medium blind drivers cannot be attached overlapping the flanged drivers like the large drivers can. You can, however, space the wheels closer together using creative building techniques. Form Visually, the big difference between LEGO's small wheels and BBB's small wheels are the spokes - LEGO's wheels are solid disks with depressions imitating spokes, where BBB small wheels have hollow spokes. In my opinion the hollow spokes are much easier to see when the train is in motion than on LEGO's wheels. It also allows for using BBB's small wheels in other, non wheel applications, such as the vents/fans on top of a diesel locomotive, or on the side of a building. The drivers are more alike, with the very notable difference that LEGO's wheels have a counterweight built into the spokes of the drivers, and the BBB wheels do not. LEGO's wheels, at least for now, only come in one color - black. All of Big Ben Bricks wheels are available in eight colors - black, light (bluish) grey, dark (bluish) grey, red, yellow, green, blue and clear. LEGO Purism Buying non LEGO parts for a LEGO MOC is a non starter for some people, and if that's the way you feel that's fine. However, I would like to point out that of the many LEGO purists I know in the train community, the vast majority of them make an exception for Big Ben Bricks wheels, and say that they are the only non-LEGO parts they will use. It's a testament to the quality of wheels Big Ben Bricks produces, and only reinforces why I recommend them so. --Tony

General Train Tip: There is NO shame in starting small. Build a set with instructions or something simple and easy so you can get a handle on the whole genre. There are a lot of techniques to learn in order to build a complex train and it's better to learn the ins and outs of those techniques one at a time. #1 Steam tip: http://www.bigbenbricks.com I can't recommend that enough. I'm sure I can think up a book of other tips given more time. --Tony

I'm not going to say for whom I voted, but I find the results fascinating. It's interesting to see who voted for what, and which MOCs people think surpass others. Certainly a wide array of tastes. --Tony

Fun contest, not sure if I'll be able to enter (what with everything else I'm building) but who knows. :) I built a haunted train of sorts a while back, even got the ghost on film... --Tony

My harshness is not directed at you, but it is out of frustration from my perception in my experiences here on Eurobricks. My most recent MOC, the PRR T1 for example, only has two replies, but as I said I had written that off as people not having anything to say. And as for you putting each of my MOCs in the Train Tech, that is neither factual or correct. Perhaps you mean you've indexed every one I've posted since the Train Tech forum was started, which that is true. Not even Hinkley's list of Train and Town MOCs in the greater "LEGO Trains & Town" forum contains a complete list of my train MOCs I have posted. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7725 (First post to Eurobricks, I think) http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7779 (Post had the MOC I was most proud of at the time, only got one reply, which is what started my frustration) http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8555 (finished/cleaned up versions of some of the MOCs in the previous link http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8651 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9516 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10496 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11219 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11642 None of these have been indexed in either Hinkley's or your list, (your list is significantly shorter) nor do I expect you to add them. I'm not looking for accolades or attention, so I wonder why I'm even bothering to reply. I view my train MOCs as far from perfect - otherwise I wouldn't be constantly editing them! But thank you for the kind words. Good God, man! Do you know how big a round house that would have to be? (Not that I haven't thought about it, mind you... ) --Tony

You know, I've often wondered if I get ignored here on Eurobricks, since many of my MOC posts only get a few replies, whereas others posted at the same time get many more. I've been writing it off as people just don't have anything to say. But for a forum moderator to ask if you get to see fine details (even with the edited comment) even though each one of those trains has been posted here to Eurobricks, with links to full galleries with pictures of them from every angle, just takes the cake. Is there a general distaste for American locomotives here at Eurobricks, or just mine? --Tony

Thanks much! Thanks! I do have a website devoted to my Castle MOCs, but I've left Flickr and MOCpages deal with the traffic for my train MOCs. http://www.mocpages.com/home.php/415 I've thought about creating a website for Sava Railways, it might be fun, but it'll have to wait. I've got at least three steam engines in the works right now (two rebuilds, one from scratch) with a possible two more on the way, plus all the rolling stock and trackside buildings I want to put together. My plate is full! I've been playing with 10-wide for quite some time now. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=29807 Thanks much! I've always been a fan of American Steam, and to a lesser extend Russian steam as well. My American eyes look on European and Brittish steam without rail guards/cow catchers and cringe. :) Thanks much! I've tried long and hard to get some nice group shots before, but this one certainly is the best of the lot. --Tony

Nicely done, looks just like the prototype. I'm always fascinated by all of the "non standard" rail equipment out there, and I'm always pleased to see when one is rendered in LEGO. --Tony

Inspired by the painting located on THIS PAGE, I just had to create one for myself. I think it turned out pretty darn good. --Tony

Thanks much! I tried my best in getting her to articulate around curves without hanging over too much. You can find photos of her doing so in my Flickr Gallery. Thanks much! With every train I build I seem to find solutions to problems on previous ones, so I seem to always be rebuilding and modifying all my locomotives these days. --Tony

This is a fantastic build, but I suppose being the steam fan I am I'm a bit biased. It's rare to see such a large 6-wide steam engine look so well proportioned, but I think you've done very well. What did you use for the white rims on the drivers? How well do they hold up to the locomotive's basic operations? I've been thinking about adding such detail to several of my steam engines. --Tony

I've already commented on this MOC on Flickr, but it's worthy of commenting on it again. It's already been said, but I am thoroughly impressed how well you've hidden your PF elements into the locomotive, the prototype seems to have been made for them. One of these days I'm going to have to build myself a German style steamer, if I ever do I'll certainly be looking to your work for inspiration. --Tony

Nicely done. The Berkshire class locomotive is close to my heart, it's the first type of steam engine I ever attempted, and still one of my favorites. You've done a great job here, I've always been a fan of cheese slope boilers. The cars are well done, too - you've gone much further into the realm of detail than I ever would have considered. --Tony

ENTERED Like Cale, I'm a member of the Railbricks staff, so I am not eligible to officially enter the contest. But... I couldn't not enter her after taking so long to finish her. More images, including a year and a half's worth of progress pictures, can be found in my Flickr Gallery. Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Duplex (4-4-4-4) Steam Engine #5544, one of the Sharks of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The powerful PRR T1 steam engines were designed for one thing - speed. Their massive boilers and split driver design were capable of hauling 910-ton passenger trains at speeds in excess of 100 mph. In fact, they rank as some of the strongest, fastest steam engines ever produced. The PRR T1s were designed with a rigid wheelbase, but unfortunately LEGO's tight turn radius forced me to articulate her. Still, I am very pleased with the results. A slightly longer write up is available on the photo page for this photo. --Tony

The drivers on the Emerald Night do indeed have a groove in them to house the o-rings. I've not looked very much for replacements like the ones Cale found for the small train wheels. I've read how people have carved similar grooves into their BBB wheels to accept O-rings, but as made the sloped surface of the BBB drivers cannot accept O-rings, they slip off real easy. --Tony

Though you have to make room for the wire attached to the top of the battery, so you might as well consider it to be five bricks tall. --Tony