zephyr1934

I think the conventional model railroaders do think of us as real modelers, but the fact is, NMRA is at least 50% a trade organization. There is no incentive for TLC to join nor any of the nascent entrepreneurs.

Excellent job, looks really sharp. I'd echo the windscreen though. Could you do: orange tile, clear 1x2 brick, clear 1x2 plate, orange 1x2 plate, clear 1x2 brick...? Potential attachment could be make the orange plates 1x3 (up or down), have one or more plates stick back in to the cab, clip snot with a 1x1 orange plate with clip, etc. The trans clear brick+plate is not as nice looking as the 1x2x2 panels but it gets the middle window in.

That is awesome.

That thing is brilliant in so many ways. The way you were able to get so much mechanical in such a small package is unbelievable in its own right. But I must say I am particularly fond of the cab, brilliant solution to get all of those windows in there.

Neat stuff. While doing the research for my Maersk window and sticker MOD I stumbled on a lengthy article about the history of the Santa Fe SDF40's with details of the Santa Fe/BNSF Maersk unit, here. From my readings while researching the NS unit I think there were only two locomotives painted up for Maersk, the one from your post and the NS unit. At least according to the aforementioned link it sounds like the Santa Fe unit was not operational. Still a very sharp looking paint scheme. Congrats on being able to see the inside and it is always neat to see pictures of LTC/LUG displays.

NOOOO!!!! Keep them curved! (grin)

Oh yes, 4559 (and to a lesser extent 4561) looks like it has a lot of play value. But at the time they came out I was far more in to trains than lego, and neither set really looks like any trains I am familiar with.

That is insane that there was a real prototype that 4559 was based off of, I had always thought that the lego designers simply departed from reality with that one. Wasn't that one of the first lego train sets widely available in the US? Turned me off to lego trains until the superchief came out, at which point I did get two copies of 4561 on clearance (not a bad parts pack) to complement my then new superchief and the rest is history as they say.

Excellent work, looking good!

Looking good so far (and I used that same color scheme for my first train MOC too). To my eye, the boiler has the feel of a fireless cooker. Your 4-6-0 design hits all of the boxes of an 0-6-0. Getting the connecting rods working well between the cylinder and wheels is a real challenge. Then getting a pilot truck to work well with the cylinders in place is a nightmare. Without the connecting rods your cylinders can pivot with the pilot wheels without problems. Remember who you are building this for, i.e., yourself. If you are happy with it so far then you know. If you look at it and say to yourself, "I wish it ..." then you also know and it is time to continue tinkering. Often it is a lot easier to edit a MOC to make it better than it is to build something completely new. So now let the ideas percolate (and keep your eyes open for good ideas in other MOCs that appeal to you). Keep it up.

Wow! Those are incredible!

Indeed, that is a tour de force in forcing all the pf into such a tight space... and doing so with a great looking locomotive around it. Considering the fact that you did not use any curved slopes or cylinders the locomotive looks surprisingly good. That last comment is meant to be strictly praise, aside from the PF and driver wheels it looks like this locomotive could have been built with the parts selection of 2000 or earlier, yet it is infinitely better than the MOT steamers of that era and can hold its own against many of the MOCs of today that rely on a wider pallet of brick shapes.

Copy paper boxes are my storage mode of choice. 28-32 stud cars fit comfortably on the short dimension while longer equipment fits well the other way. I typically stack the cars two high in the box. Most of my old stuff is simply loosely packed with bubble wrap stuffed in the ends just to keep the trains from rattling around. For somewhat more recent builds I now place a sheet of bubble wrap between layers too. This type of packing should be sufficient for any lego set, they are pretty sturdy. I have a few wire shelves spaced to stack copy paper boxes two high, both to keep the boxes from crushing and to make it easy to pull out any given box. For my steam engines I put those in a large plastic tub to ensure I catch any parts that fall off (only happens occasionally) and built "football helmets" to protect delicate detailing on the nose. Some of my recent builds have very loose parts, e.g., the running boards on the end of this model. The parts will fall off, so I toss the entire car in a large ziploc bag before putting them in the copy paper boxes to keep the parts from getting lost. They quickly snap back on. The cardboard runners are brilliant.

Ah, there's a good shot of the bus, the doors also have the train windows and even the train logo on it. The cockpit piece on this wrecked plane looks like it could have been designed for a train, but those are some challenging angles off of it so maybe not.

There are several further challenges for lego trains. Lego is a global company, but most trains have regional appeal. It is difficult to find a train that will have global appeal. Their choices so far have been focused mostly on iconic trains (Flying Scotsman & TGV) while the Maersk is semi-cross promotion (I believe the family that owns Lego also owns a good portion of Maersk) and offered a design that could appeal to Europe more than a license of a N America RR. I believe the EN and Maersk sold very well while the HE did not. Part of that was the fact that a lot of resellers parted out the EN and Maersk in large quantities for the rare colors while the HE did not offer many rare parts. While the AFOL train market is certainly coughing up blood, Lego is doing a good job of slipping in train specific parts into mass-produced sets. They do seem to realize the marketing potential of having a moving train running around a massive AFOL display does for their products. While I lament not having a gateway set for AFOLs, I am glad that the critical train parts continue to be available. And while a gateway AFOL train would be nice, I don't think there has been a complete train system since 12v in the 1980's.

Another exceptional build filled with juicy details. The backhead in the cab alone is quite impressive.

An excellent looking machine (and well photographed too)

There are all sorts of obvious color schemes. The large tiles are the obvious limiting factor, but you could probably work around those too. Beyond the liveries already mentioned, D&RGW also comes to mind. I've done up instructions for a Conrail build (here) as a gateway MOC/MOD for AFOLs looking to build beyond the sets or simply to have a copy of the Maersk at a much more affordable price. It gets most of the train specific parts from set 60052. I've sell stickers for CR, UP, SP and CSX so far. I made a special CN print for someone so I could probably be talked in to making a CN variant too. I've built up some well cars to go behind my GPs, posted here. There are some subtle building tricks to get cars this long able to negotiate standard lego curves. Nothing too complicated though. I want to make up instructions for these cars, but at the time I built them I had to buy up all of the available lots on bricklink for a few of the parts in the build. So I would likely make the instructions for a different color and owner, but I have not had time to think much about that.

I'd suggest starting with an 0-6-0, just so that you can focus on getting the mechanics of the drivers to work. I'd suggest Cale's solution with a half technic pin and a pair of rods for the crosshead, e.g., as was used in this mod of the lone ranger train. There are lots of challenges with steamers. The tight lego curves are an obvious one (so your wheel bases can't be too long and if your locomotive is of any significant size it will hang over the side of the curve (to the outside on the ends if the wheels are fixed in the middle or inside in the middle if the wheels are fixed to the end). You are probably wise to then move to n-n-0 next so that you only have to worry about two points of contact on the rails. With three points of contact (n-n-n) even a small bump in the rails could give the locomotive inspiration to derail or get stuck in a valley (go over a bump, the middle wheels lift the flange of the front wheels above the track and they come back down off of the rails). No matter what size locomotive you make, you should probably just build up the mechanicals first to make sure it functions satisfactorily, also include the outline of the tender to make sure there are no clearance problems on curves.

Thanks for the kind words, and I would think simply the snotted panels without the stickers might be good for some. Or perhaps instead of the 1x2x2 panel + 1x2 plate in clear, use the following stack for a pure lego solution without stickers: a 1x2 clear brick, 1x2 plate (not sure if clear just to get the lines or a color to match the loco would be best), 1x2 clear brick.

Nice work! A great improvement to power the locomotive.

Yeah, I don't think your problem is power flowing from the batteries. A heavier train will drain the batteries faster but it should not be limited by how much current the batteries can deliver. My most powerful trains have two XL motors coming off of a LiPo battery (I think others have reported that the LiPo delivers lower voltage than the AAA box with fresh batteries). In any event, the RC receiver is likely to be the most limiting factor in terms of current. I have other heavy trains where the RC receiver drops out for a second when it overheats and then returns at full power, if you are not getting that, my guess is that you are not having current problems. In terms of your low speeds it might be that the L motor simply is not turning fast enough for your tastes, but to use gearing to speed it up you will lose power. Simple to test though, does the engine slow down as you add more cars to the train? If yes, then indeed, the single motor is probably too weak, if no, then it is simply too slow. Regardless, there is another important factor not mentioned, namely friction and drag. Look for friction in the mechanism- technic axles have a lot of friction. Then if you have a long wheelbase on the locomotive or traction bands on multiple wheels your engine might be binding in the curves. If you have long cars (over 40 studs long on standard lego curves) those could be causing a lot of drag in the curves. If the train is constantly in curves that too could be adding a lot of drag. Solutions here are to add more power (another motor or XL motor) and/or fight the drag (eliminate friction and/or wider radius curves). Of course fighting the friction might be at the expense of aesthetics, so probably adding more power is the way to go. But that might mean moving the power to the tender. This tender based power plant with 2 XL motors is only limited by the magnets separating (solved with rare earth magnets) and then by its own wheels spinning. I've pulled upwards of 50 cars on standard lego track with it.

Maersk window mod and relettering The Maersk locomotive set 10219 was one of the few Lego train sets aimed at AFOLs. It was inspired by NS 3329 a real Norfolk Southern locomotive painted in 2002 to celebrate the opening of Maersk's Pier 400 container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. The prototype was a former Contrail SD40-2 and after the ceremonies it kept the paintjob in daily service throughout the NS system. Through early 2008 it was often seen in the company of other former CR units that had not yet been repainted. The 3329 was damaged in 2008, after repairs it was repainted to the standard black livery and returned to service. Of course the SD class locomotives have 3 axle trucks while the lego model has 2 axle trucks, making it look more like a GP class. While I think 10219 is one of the best lego sets ever, there is at least one aspect of the design that continues to nag at me... or at least it did until recently. The cab windows are completely wrong for this era of locomotive. I preserved this design element in my instructions for a repaint of the set to a Conrail livery, but that was to keep the feel of the original 10219 set while offering a much less expensive option for this design for those only now getting in to the hobby. I have since rectified the design in my personal version of the CR repaint. I wanted to keep the ability to place a minifig in the engine, so that ruled out any clever brick built solution to get the windows. Instead, I used snotted 1x2x2 panels and a custom sticker to get the window frame. Now with this post I am bringing this modification to the original Maersk set as well. In this case the rebuild has an additional challenge given the rarity of the now discontinued Maersk blue pieces. So any Maersk blue parts in the design would have to be recycled from the original model. I also wanted to make sure any modifications were completely reversible. In other words, the 1x8 tiles below the cab would have to stay in place and the 1x4 bricks with "10219" would be flipped backwards. The lower cab walls are held on by two layers of white plates and bricks. While the cab windows are a collection of panels snotted in to place. One could stop here and simply enjoy the centered cab window, or use stickers from http://TrainedBricks.com to finish out the design. Of course one could easily follow these steps to revise the window while keeping the original 10219 stickers facing outward. The engineer is much happier with the improved side view and faux rear windows. Compare the mod to the original Step by step instructions can be found here. Enjoy Full instructions can be found on http://stickers.trainedbricks.com

Oh wow, that is a beauty! I love the sand green on gray/black, really pops! Of course now you need a 3% grade and 100 cars to shove (grin). The detailing on the locomotive is impressive, watching it run is great but peering over all of the details in the still shots is equally enjoyable.

Those are some fine locomotives that you have in your collection on flickr (10x BNSF road switchers alone). How many are powered? I see 9v and standard lego curves, do you also do PF? You ever pull long trains with 4-5 of those units? Or do you have more locos than cars? Oh, and a technical question, how did you do the gray split between the cab windows, is that a 2x2 flag?