Hod Carrier

It's quite an old thread so I suspect that Eurobricks must have purged the file. I'll try and see if I can resurrect my Brickshelf account and upload it there. I'll add a link just as soon as I've done so, but I'm just waiting for the admin e-mail to reset my password. I'm more than happy for you to build this for your show. I'm not sure if it's going to be robust enough to withstand use by show-goers, but you can have a look at the design and decide that yourself.

Thanks guys for the positive feedback. @Roadmonkeytj I'm not sure which part of the bus you wanted to use, but I'm very happy if you see anything you like about it that you want to reproduce in your own models. @Laura Takayama Getting power into this model isn't too bad, especially compared to the TRAXX loco I built a couple of years ago. Admittedly it won't take any of the LEGO batteries, but there's actually a reasonable amount of room to fit everything else inside. I will post up some photos of the internal configuration once I start the build phase.

Well, it's perhaps not quite the same thing as you are after, but click.

Design work on the body and appearance of the Ferrobus has been continuing apace. The roof is on, I've found somewhere to hide a PP3 battery and I've added some detailing touches. If I'm being critical, I'm not completely happy with the profile of the roof because it makes the bus look too square, and I would like some sort of corner piece like a 1x1 quarter dome or somesuch to help finish it all off. It may be subject to a redesign before completion. I have also rendered the bus with a prototypically correct fixed rear axle rather than the bogie I mentioned before, as I would like to try both arrangements to see if the more prototypically accurate axle can be made to work somehow. @ColletArrow will be pleased that the awful "cow-catcher" has gone and been replaced with something crappier and, therefore, closer to the prototype. I'm afraid that there are one or two rendering errors in these images, for which I must apologise. Some parts were rendered in the wrong orientations and some were not rendered at all.

That’s a fantastic solution. Hiding the battery in plain sight like that is so obvious and yet so very well executed. Congratulations

What a fabulous little thing. I do love these old locos and am very aware of the important role that lightweight narrow gauge lines played during the First Workd War on both sides of the conflict. I’m guessing that, as your Simplex is unarmoured, your layout will be back a way from the frontline trenches.

Probably a whole lot more about forces than I do, I expect. Thanks for casting your expert eye over my design. I was already suspicious that I might have problems, and I'm certainly not content with a single attachment point either, but you're the first to confirm it. I'm confident that the cross axles will prevent the top and bottom halves from being sheared away from each other horizontally, but I fear that the motor torque will either try to separate these halves vertically or push the entire bottom part of the bogie carrying both sets of wheels clean off the central assembly. Some strategically placed drops of glue might help prevent these issues, but there's nothing to prevent the motor still prying the two halves apart enough to prevent the gears from meshing. I'm hoping that the weight of the body bearing down will reduce this risk, but we shall see. One advantage is that this model will only need to move it's own weight and won't have to deal with any tail loads, reducing the chances of it stalling under power. The plan is to drive the vertical shaft through 90 degrees by a horizontal motor using bevel gears. There is sufficient space inside the body to run a larger bevel gear on the top of the vertical shaft to gear it down if necessary. I'm already considering doing this anyway to limit the model's speed because it's looking like it might be rather top-heavy and, running on narrow gauge track, vulnerable to toppling.

As I am hoping that this model will be able to drive under it's own power, I thought it was perhaps time to discuss some of the more technical aspects of this model. In my earlier post I mentioned that I felt that, due to LEGO's track geometry, it would be necessary to give this MOC a rear bogie rather than following the more prototypical route of having a fixed rear axle to provide drive. However, I really didn't want this bogie to be obvious and, therefore, I set about trying to design a power bogie that would be as small and light as possible. And this is what I came up with. Naturally there are potentially some disadvantages to such a lightweight bogie design. There is a very real risk that the torque of the motor could simply tear the thing apart. I am already envisaging the need to *ahem* help reinforce the joins between certain components, but even allowing for that it is possible that it will not be able to contain the forces acting on it and that the gears will not remain correctly meshed. However, only time and testing will tell how successful this design will prove to be.

Don’t things look so much better when they are properly rendered? So much better than an LDD screen-grab. I agree with your assessment of the relative merits of the software. I find LDD more intuitive and simpler to use (even though the latest update has shuffled the parts palette around and moved some standard everyday parts into the Extended menu), but I use Stud.io to gain access to POV-Ray. Your entry is progressing very well indeed. I’d say you have the shape nailed down pretty well and the details are coming along nicely. I’ll be interested to see how things develop.

Thanks everyone. @Laura Takayama Wishing you speedy recovery so that you can get out on the rails at the weekend. You’ve got a few days still to shake off the bug, so make sure you rest well and keep your intake of fluids up. I had not heard of the Galloping Geese before. You’re right, they are very similar to the Ferrobuses of Bolivia and elsewhere. They do make excellent light rail vehicles and very suitable for poorly maintained or lightly laid track as well as making good economic sense, especially in developing nations. I also looked up your Doodlebug. That’s a fine looking vehicle and would make an excellent MOC. Has it worn any other liveries in the past that better suit the LEGO colour palette?

Thanks for the excellent feedback so far. It's good to get the opinions and views of other builders as it helps to improve the final model. @ColletArrow I think it's an act of great generosity to call the contraption on the front of the railbus a "cow catcher", as I seriously doubt it's ability to catch anything larger than a medium-sized llama without folding up and pitching the bus into the nearest ditch Ha ha!! It appears to be little more than some hastily welded leftover scaff tubes. However, I do take your point. The design posted here doesn't look right and I will go away and try to come up with something a little less robust and, therefore, closer to the prototype. With regard to the headlights, it is perhaps difficult to see from the small prototype photo I included, but these old Dodges do have round headlights. I can see where the confusion may have arisen because these headlights are grouped in pairs and have a shared chromed bezel that is roughly oval in shape.

As a proud Brit I wondered for a while what I could enter into this fine contest. Quite a lot of the world's railways still uses equipment designed and built right here in the UK, and I wanted to try to build something distinctive and clearly not British. Earlier this year I designed my own LEGO version of the Oslo Tram 2020 concept but, as much as I like it, I decided that I didn't want to rush into building it. Then I had a brainwave. Come with me to South America, to the Andes and the high Altiplano on the borders of Peru and Bolivia. Life is harsh and transportation is difficult over the inhospitable terrain of the Andes. And yet the railways exist even here. But there are no modern express trains whisking extravagantly coiffed socialites in air conditioned comfort, no at-seat refreshment service offering a selection of hand-ground coffees and artisan baked goods, and certainly no high-speed rail connections linking the glittering capitals of these two proud nations. Instead, there is this. It's a 1952 Dodge "Ferrobus", one of a motley selection of improvised railbuses running on Bolivia's metre gauge network. No other rail vehicles are light enough to safely traverse the poorly maintained track, and so these plucky little vehicles ply back and forth across the Andes and provide a lifeline to isolated communities. Even so, derailments and other mishaps are not uncommon and the service depends on the skill and determination of the crew to deal with any situation that may arise. I have no personal connection with these railbuses, as I have never travelled to the Andes to gain first-hand experience of them. However, as a railwayman myself, I have a great admiration for my Bolivian colleagues who run these services and for the vehicles which seem so unsuited to such a large and demanding challenge. My entry will be a tribute to the railways of the Andes and to the people who run them. As you can see, I'm already quite a long way through the design process because I started my designs within a couple of days of the announcement of this year's contest. Most of the body is done, although the roof still needs to be finished together with the roof rack and other details, and I still have to decide where to hide the battery. Some parts of the model have already gone through quite a few redesigns, most notably the front bogie, and there are some parts I'm still not sure about. I'm borrowing the power and control concept from the tiny TRAXX loco I built a couple of years ago, with drive from an M motor, control coming from an SBrick and power from a 9V PP3 battery. My initial thoughts are to run this train on standard LEGO narrow gauge tracks, but this means that a fixed rear axle, as used on the prototype, would be unworkable. Therefore, I have designed a small and hopefully unobtrusive bogie to allow the rear axle to articulate, but I may come back and revisit this idea later.

Blast!! I fear I may have jumped the gun slightly. It wasn't clear until now how the WIP updates would be judged, but I'm already a decent way along the design process of my entry.

He can see that there’s an officer on the scene who is checking the contents of the wagon and will take all the best rations for the officers mess.

I found that standard PF wheels worked OK for my 4-wide TRAXX loco, even on LEGO’s standard narrow gauge curves. I agree that you would need to keep the distance between the axles fairly short to prevent binding, but when I tested the loco it seemed to manage OK. Click

@raised Point conceded.

Gah!! I feel your pain. It sounds like a glitch in the software, because I’ve never had this happen whenever I’ve used LDD. I’m sure you’ll make back the lost time and have your design repaired in no time. Maybe you’ll even come up with something better.

It’s more complicated than even that. It’s a Canadian-built loco, designed in the US for the UK network but now used right across Europe. I don’t think ANYONE will be able to enter one of these into the contest. Ha ha!!

@dr_spock I’m with you on the foreign theme because most of my builds are from foreign nations too. Ha ha!! I’m excited that OcTRAINber is back for another year and am interested to see what people come up with. I like that the contest is not limited to rail vehicles and can encompass infrastructure and other structures too. It doesn’t quite suit my current build schedule as the project I’m in the early stages of is very British in flavour, but I think I may be able to rustle up a little something.

Wow!! Pinch me. Am I dreaming? We’re seeing some great stuff this week. It feels like we’ve won the lottery. This is just tremendous!! I saw a sneak preview on Flickr and I had to look twice to make sure this really was LEGO. But then I saw your name against it and it all made sense.

How it sounds cannot be helped, although I did wonder if the reference might have been too territory-specific. If it helps start your research, 1000 years ago Cnut the Great was King of England, Denmark and Norway.

@Jim I fear that may just be an inescapable consequence of being online. The story of King Cnut and the tide comes to mind.

That’s 100% genius from front to back. Just the livery alone is jaw-dropping, but the attention to detail and the use of parts elevates this. Congratulations on starting your own rail company.

Blimey!! That’s a whopper!! You could have entered that for OcTRAINber last year. That would definitely have been a strong contender.

I completely support the actions of the admins in helping to reduce spam on the forum. Personally I wasn’t aware the problem was so big as I only see the occasional spam thread popping up, and they’re usually easy enough to spot. I imagine that it would help if individual members were vigilant too. I always report any spam that I find by clicking on the flag within the thread and it usually gets deleted quickly. I would encourage other members to do the same. The mods and admins can’t be expected to check every single post and it helps them if we can identify contentious content and mark it for their attention.