Locomotive Annie

That's a great looking little shunting loco, I particularly like it in green.

I have three coaches for No:317 to haul already. Ones based on the 1930s Express coaches that were used on New Zealand Railways for many years well into the 1970s.

Thanks Zephyr Yes I like using those Technic connectors for exactly the same reason you said, it's just pity that they are so bulky which makes it tricky to fit in connecting rods without making the cylinder overhang too wide.

Oh dear, I can just see some poor minifig stepping out of a carriage door and blatt face first into that payphone.

Great detailing that's delightful to see, - like the broom, shovel and bin for dealing with spills

My word that's nice A really pleasant scene to take away all the boring qualities about having to place a curve on the layout. I really admire AFOL train enthusiasts who have the patient to build a scene in 100% Lego because I know very well doing that isn't cheap and it's a whole lot of brickwork to undertake as well.

That's a really good looking MOD and an excellent station Lazarus. Um..... not wanting to be a critical spoilsport or anything, but I do think that payphone being so close to the platform edge is an accident waiting to happen.

Have to agree about the 12volt motors, they are beautiful pieces of work and a privilege to own. The later motors are throw away by comparison.

..........'zactly These PF conversions for 4.5volt do run on 4.5volts and not 9volts. Possibly that wasn't made clear in the discussion thread. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5531975

This one does though...... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2952

This was discussed here http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71035&hl=%2B4.5v+%2Bremote+%2Bcontrol It's possible to use PF with 4.5volt motors and I will be doing that myself fairly soon (Waiting for a PF receiver to arrive).

It's quite likely that I will continue to mess about with it and refine its appearance as I go along Konrad. I don't use a lot of white bricks as a rule and what few bricks I had at the time pretty much determined how my loco turned out. In terms of my imaginary alternative railway history this is an older 'modern' era steam electric that will more than likely undergo a major change in appearance next time it goes in for its next major overhaul. I intend to build another modern era steam electric soon, but this one will be more post-1980s in its appearance.

My first thought was that it was like looking at a picture in an old Marklin catalog An excellent loco MOC and great looking wagon MOCs too.

Delightful That's something we haven't seen so much of with this contest, - propeller driven locos.

Olivia is an amazing young lady alainneke, - she's been such a big help to me with keeping my trains in good repair.

Olivia shows us two of the old traction tyres that were fitted to the RC motor bogie. The replacements are plain black 'O' rings from the local engineering supply and I hope they will be better than the originals. I haven't seen those white rubber bands before Konrad, - are they still available?

Yes they are great Joe . I was really surprised when I got the email offering me $10.00 off because it was going to be my birthday in another week. In middle age you don't really expect to get birthday surprises anymore (or at least I don't). The coach was an easy pick because I already had two which didn't quite look like a decent length train and one more would make the train a nice fit for the space I've allowed for my station platform. I bet your son was delighted with his voucher too and it made his day.

Well today worked out much better, one of the local online supply houses that stocks Banbao has a promotion where you can get $10.00 off anything you want when it's going to be your birthday soon. They had Banbao Hi-speed train coaches at $5.00 off already so I purchased one using my $10.00 birthday discount as well and I ended up getting it for just $10.00 even. That will give me three Banbao Hi-speed train coaches altogether which should be enough for my Hi-speed steam electric locomotive to haul about. I was tempted to buy two coaches, but I'm having to watch my budget this week and didn't want to blow it. I don't particularly like the look of the Banbao Hi-speed loco and I don't like the Enlighten Hi-speed train coaches, so this has all worked out really well. I just need to print up some custom stickers with the 1980s New Zealand Railway logo on them and we'll be good to go.

It's all those wheels ES, I don't think I actually own 12 BBB wheels that are all the same size No, I'm going to be sticking with building steam electrics for the present time, - best to stay with what I know and all that

Ooooooo wonderful train sounds on those videos. The Toffee Mountain Railway is looking very good these days by the way.

Oh my it's beautiful! - and with a Vandy tender and working inside Stephenson's valve gear as well Thankyou so much for sharing the pictures of this loco with us Daedalus and not waiting for it to be 100% completed. Oh you've really made my day

The 'modern' steam electric is pure steampunk/sci-fi what-if and isn't really a serious MOC at all. It will still get used to haul the local express trains and when I get around to putting the new colour cartridge in my printer I'll make up a set of 1970s-80s New Zealand Railways decals for it just for fun. No:514 is as you say a steam electric loco which is the more entirely possible as an actual real world loco. Even though I haven't gone so far as properly finishing off the interior yet it will be getting a representation of a two cylinder steam engine and a dynamo to fill out the empty space inside the red coachwork portion of the loco body. Most of the time it will be running cab forward, - especially once I build myself a turntable, - but it can run boiler first if necessary. My layout is still very much WIP with the three sidings by the half built engine shed being used for taking photos, but the rest of the layout board is taken up with stacked track sections, half laid track mostly for the mainline and the beginnings of the part of the Kotanga township which will appear on this board. Not really so good for overall photos just yet as I'd like to get the loco depot area more complete before taking any snaps of it. There are these photo though which does give some idea of what the area is like.

Wonderful! I really like that. A great MOC with a fun background story to go with it too.

Thank you, - I'm really pleased with how it turned out myself and I think it's going to work out better than I initially hoped it would.

Thanks Konrad