zephyr1934

Looks like a great start. One quick suggestion, you could use robot arms for the leaf springs on the tender.

There is little I can say that has not already been said, still, this is another excellent locomotive built to your high standards. With all of the fine locomotives you are building I'm starting to suspect that you do not sleep at night (grin). Of course now you need a roundhouse to store all of your fine locomotives... but that would be a horrible shame because you couldn't see them... oh you have an ugly dilemma on your hands... okay, hopefully you have a nice display shelf to show off all of your creations.

Oh, it was no criticism of you... I'm just stunned by the fact that I knew all of that off the top of my head. Those were simpler times though. There was a huge burst of new parts with the first minifdig sets (brackets, tools, new doors and windows, wedge plates, etc.). Oh, and thank you for digging up those pictures from the 242 book. The Peeron copy is MIA, I had seen the 241 book which is excellent but doing a search for 242 turned up scans of 242 which is even better. There were all sorts of crazy ideas there that would eventually turn in to sets and evolve in to technic. Even a ton of snot.

While that is a very fine build, there are several post blue era parts on there: headlight brick, ladder plate, 1x4 bracket, levers, windows on the passenger car, the minifig, small turn tables on the drive wheels. The inverted slopes on the stack were introduced the last year of the blue era. I believe all of these parts would come within the next 4 years though.

While the changes are small the impact is large, that looks a lot better than the stock EN

Oh wow! Yet another beauty has rolled out of your locomotive works (with foreshadowing of two more to come!!!) Excellent as usual. While the prototype is a modest locomotive (at least compared to 4-8-4's and the likes) there is still a lot of great features in the model. My favorite is the use of the fender (mudgard) for the pilot truck to clear on curves (top shot), but the detail on the second shot is also well done. I'd say keep up the great work... but it sounds like you've already done that too (grin).

Good to hear that you are already thinking about these things... I would assume that a pre-glued version would be a lot more labor and still not as strong as a single piece unit. There are a lot of great color combinations in the ME selection and certainly being free of the two wide ties is attractive in concept, both good reasons to keep the ties separate. But I wonder, If it is going to be a new set of molds, wouldn't a single piece unit just be a lot easier to produce and distribute? If so, the other question that would need to be asked is what the consumers would prefer. I'm sure some like wouldn't care (or even prefer a single piece) while others would prefer separate rails. Of course I would probably buy it either way.

As many others have said, the only right way to go is to build what you like. That said, you COULD have both realistic and heavy play value... but you'd have to bend the laws of physics (grin, and no, not my build). I started building trains with some play value (i.e., MODs of the Super Chief) but found that the roofs kept falling off and I never played with the inside. It is a LOT easier to hide complicated snot work if you don't have to attempt an interior, it is also a lot easier to build in rare colors when ignoring the inside (e.g., the structure in my North Cost Limited is mostly 6x white plates through the middle since sand green 6x plates were and are insanely expensive). Still, it is fun to wander into kid space some times.

Sheer brilliance, excellent work, and a great start! I do see three issues that are not the end of the world but would probably need to be addressed. The simplest of the three issues is making power connections from the controller without using any 9v track; but maybe that is okay. Either a user would be mixing track anyway and could use the lego power line or they are proficient enough that they could solder a connection on their own. Next is the power connection between rail segments. Regular 9v track has a lot of resistance at the rail joints, enough that on the far side of a 10'x10' loop (away from the power drop) my heavy trains will slow or stall. Looking at this design, I suspect there will be more resistance at the rail joints. At the point of connection between rails on 9v track the metal strip has a clever tab on the end that bends outward ever so slightly towards the next rail, thus providing a spring force to ensure the two rails are touching. The previous version of the ME metal rails did not have this feature and thus, had poor conductivity across rail joints. Your example has a single ME rail section connecting to 9v track on either end (with their spring connections). I would suggest building a few more sections of metalized ME and getting out an ohm meter to measure the resistance across several joints to see how it compares to 9v track. Perhaps keeping a little more of the O-gauge rail (cutting it to 2/3 width instead of 1/2) would be sufficient to replicate the spring action, but that would then also reproduce the "rail climbing" problem of 9v curves. So another potential solution is figuring out some form of rail connector on the underside or outside of the O-gauge rail, e.g., notching out the ME rail slightly differently or ??? But the biggest issue I see with this design is the nature of the ME track connectors. The ME rails that I have do not have the same clutch as lego. So the ties fall off as easily (perhaps even more easily) than blue era tracks. The blue era tracks do not have any lateral force at the track connections while the 9v/PF/ME tracks do. I'm not sure how this point could easily be fixed without either molding the ties to the rails (like PF) or gluing the end connectors to the ME rails (which I am contemplating doing anyway with my ME track). At any rate, this weak point of connection could also exasperate the previous issue of the conductivity at rail joints. And in any event, don't get my critical assessment wrong, I love what the ME wide radius curves have done and opened up. As noted above, even 9v rails have problems. I am just trying to provide feedback to ensure that whatever you produce will be top notch.

Indeed, it looks like the new 9v motors are starting to dry up. There have been some good threads about refurbishing a 9v motor using parts from a PF motor and/or renewing the electrical contacts. If you are savvy with a soldering iron that would probably be the best route to go. If you do go PF, the 10205 locomotive doesn't really offer much room to hide the PF components. The simplest solution might be to build a powered boxcar to house the PF components. You would need a motor, decorative sides (which are different from the 9v), IR receiver, AAA battery box, and PF controller. Since these parts are only available in train sets or directly from lego, the best bricklink prices are usually comparable to lego, so without a lucky sale they'll run you probably around $50 (assuming you do not go the route of the more expensive, rechargeable battery box). At this point, you might be better off just buying a train set, the current passenger train is $125 at Amazon and has all of the PF components with it. Or instead of a boxcar, you could build another locomotive, e.g., MOD the Emerald Night into a different color... but that is yet another discussion (grin)

That is a fantastic looking locomotive, great work. On the car it looks like you meant 44 studs long rather than 24. I see that you are using at least one part that never existed in those colors, namely the 2875 2x6 slope. You could probably substitute 1x2 92946 or 2x1 85984 though... I think the smooth slope of the latter would likely go well with the curved slopes above.

You could build your own version of the EN locomotive following the instructions but do so in a different color (red, normal green, etc.). Then make some MODs to improve the running (search the EB archives or post back if you can't find them), and tweak the design to improve the appearance (use the more recent 1x2, 2x2 & 1x4-double curved slopes, bigger tender, etc.). If you already have an EN and don't want to run a Christmas version all year you could simply borrow the PF gear from the straight EN for the holidays. PS, ecmo47's train in the tree is great.

Simply extending the train is a huge improvement, but your addition of the power cord through the train and the bicolored lights is a well executed MOD. One small suggestion, have you considered wrapping the rainbow colored connector wires between cars with black electrical tape? (or using a black marker)

@Tenderlok Ha ha ha, I must say "Doh!". That misspelling, my friend, is the combination of my focusing so hard on how to get the actual model just right and prepping the artwork late into the night (including three new boxcars, which I'll post about in the near future) when it was already at risk of being too late for the show, while juggling unusually high demands of the day job, family and home life; all on 4 hours of sleep. If it wasn't for you meddling kids.... In all seriousness though, in all of my scrambling that typo slipped right under my nose. I'll fix that on the next print run and get out a scissors for the short term. Thank you for catching that for me. And thanks for helping flesh out the backstory. Indeed there were a handful of earlier diesel electrics (some successful, some not) and there is no doubt that the Pioneer Zephyr borrowed liberally from those earlier advances. I was thinking specifically of the earlier GE efforts but I also had vague remembrances European developments. Looking again, the Flying Hamburger (built in 1932) would have to have been one of the original inspirations for the Pioneer Zephyr (which was conceived in 1932). While building my lego model it became very clear to me that the real Pioneer Zephyr was actually little more than a prototype testbed that brought together all of the major ingredients in the right proportions. Aside from moving to larger, coupled units, the basic proportions would persist with little change through the streamliner era in the US. @Hod Carrier That is almost exactly how I started out with MOCs and in fact how I still build today. The only difference is that I use MLCad instead of LDD. Like you, I still build up physical subsystems to make sure it will work in real bricks. In general I think some of the Bionical parts have potential for grebling on steam locomotives, etc., and the mask based Electroliner has remained on the back burner for almost a decade. Still, I keep my eye out for all sorts of great inspiration from other builders (e.g., some of the impossible curves others have done with the Siemens Taurus)

What a fantastic layout, you guys put in 200% and then find room to squeeze even more in.

Oh yeah, I have some ugly looking 4 wide F7's. There is one qualification though, occasionally there is an otherwise useless part that just so happens to bend in exactly the way you need it to and becomes invaluable to your MOC. For example, digging through my gray parts I stumbled on to one of these wedges, I never would have imagined finding a use for one of those, but it perfectly fit the angle of the cheese bricks with 1.5 plates offset snotted for the observation car. At 4 wide, there are some odd ball pieces that might just have a strange but very useful curve. For example, I'm still slowly scratching my head as to how to take two of these, and turn them into an Electroliner. While it has most of the angles right, it seems to be about 3 studs wide... or maybe 3.5. A big hassle to try to get anything else to line up. Still, there may be some promising parts in bionical masks or other unusual parts.

That's a great collection of work. I think my favorite is the freight house, but it is all good, the silos, the station, and even the power transformer at the far end of the station platform.

Oh, that was just the summary (grin). There were several good ideas that got dropped along the way. For example, I tried using the old style 1x2x3 panels like this over the PF train motor to keep that truck a true 6 wide. I'm pretty sure I got the idea from a 9v tram that you posted over 10 years ago, but I can't find the source anymore. While it works well over 9v motors, I wasn't able to get it to work over the pf motor. I think the train wheels are a little bit larger... but spinatundei was able to get the wheels to work in his creation linked above, so ...? Maybe I got the orientation of the panels wrong...? You are too kind LT12V, but that means a lot coming from a builder like you (and all of the other prolific builders who posted) Heh heh, you got me!... but don't let anyone else know... okay? Oh, and one thing I forgot to include in my original post. The show was my first all PF display and I only have two chargers. So I was paying close attention to the charging times. I would run two trains for 2 hrs and then swap them out. While I did not run any trains until the batteries died at this show, I did find that the Pioneer Zephyr would recharge in less time than it took to discharge.

I think 52 is the best value for the money, but assuming you intend to build the train as the set (rather than parting it out or otherwise modifying it) definitely go with whichever one you think is most attractive. The two freight sets put a lot of the design in the locomotive, with the cars being fairly light and empty (well, the hopper in 98 is interesting). Since you are in the US, at least last time I checked both the passenger train and 52 were $40 off at Amazon. Whereas 98 had no discount (a TRU exclusive). Since the 52 and 98 have the same MSRP, the discount on 52 might further tip the scale. The 3 unit 51 seems rather tiny, but with a few more cars it does start to look like a real passenger train, e.g., use a second copy of the set to give you 3 more cars. Yes, I designed those instructions for the 52 MOD to be a gateway for AFOL builders in the absence of any creator trains. I think 98 could be turned into an SP, SSW, or a few other roads. If someone wants to take a crack at a buildable LDD file (i.e., actually available parts) to use the train parts from 98 [plus more bricks] to turn it in to a Maersk-style GP 40, I'd be happy to chat via PM about possibly producing decals for the MOD.

Thank you all for your kind words! Oh yes, that was a definite contender early on, but I ultimately went a different direction for a couple of reasons. It precluded the brick built vents and headlight that I thought were iconic features of the MOC and it created to much of a vertical element at the bottom of the curve. It was bad enough that I could not take a half plate step where the herald is, as noted right after your post... ... the front angle is indeed too steep. So I did not want to make it any steeper. I've seen a few other brick built versions with slopes for the nose, and some of those get the correct vertical slope, but they do so at the expense of the rounded front. Getting round on one dimension and sloping in another dimension is very hard at 6 wide, especially if you then want to cut it off with a horizontal line for the windshield or the bottom of the nose. I did see an interesting hybrid that used normal slopes mixed with curved plates to get both features to some degree, but that is just falling at a different point in the trade-off. I'd be interested in seeing if someone has further ideas for getting the curved and sloped closer to the prototype though. Some possible ideas include this, only it is too steep and it does not come in gray. And this, Only it is 8 wide, does not come in gray, and has not been made in over 15 years. Can't wait to see your Flying Yankee, definitely post about it in the future. Meanwhile, my model looks great snaking through curves, when I upload the shots of the train with IR receiver moved completely inside I'll also add a couple of videos. I think it was the emergence of these small streamliners (the Zephyr and UP's M-10000) that triggered the streamlining of various steam locomotives, e.g., the first generation of Milwaukee Road's streamlined Hiawatha locomotives also debuted in 1934. Most of those first generation streamlined steamers soon had the skirting cut drastically back because it was so hard to actually service the locomotive. Pahh! Forget metallic silver, I want chrome... lookout ChromeBricks here I come! (grin) The Superliner MOC is the grand-dad of my Pioneer Zephyr. I haven't started a (long over due) photo gallery of them yet, but I did write up an article in RailBricks #10. You can find a little more about the autoracks in this archaic thread, as noted in that thread the autoracks were more a MOD of another builder's great design. The real train sat outside long neglected for a few decades and then was cosmetically refurbished (1990's) and moved inside, where it sits today. The original prime mover is in the Smithsonian, it was on display for many years but I think it is now in storage. From what I gather the prime mover in the Pioneer Zephyr is the one it had when it retired in 1960. They do still given tours of the inside (went on one during a break from Brickworld earlier this year) and indeed, definitely worth the visit if you are in Chicago. More details of the prime mover can be found in the comments of this photo, supposedly showing the Pioneer Zephyr a year before retirement (note the large Mars light above the cab, missing shrouding from the trucks, etc.). However, I suspect this shot is actually the Mark Twain Zephyr, number 9903. The MTZ had 3 cars from the start, with the second unit being strictly baggage and express, whereas the second unit on the Pioneer Zephyr (as built and as displayed at the Museum of Science and industry) was a combine of Express and coach. Hum... the extra car was added in late 1934, before the Mars light was added, so it would be fairly simple to add that car too.

[ MOC gallery] I am proud to present my take on the small train that was the first modern streamliner. Built in 1934, numbered 9900 and originally simply called the Zephyr (the last name in passenger comfort). After its success it was quickly joined by many more Zephyr's and was soon renamed the Pioneer Zephyr. There are many great articles on this historic train, e.g., here (note the PDF schematics that were incredibly helpful); here; and here. The Zephyr was the first lightweight train set, the first (or one of the first?) diesel electric powered trains, and the first stainless steel train. It was small and light, consisting of a motorcar that was a combination engine and RPO, then a combined express/coach, and a coach observation car. The entire train was articulated, with shared trucks between each pair of cars. I sought to reproduce the as delivered version of the train set. Several substantial changes were made over the first few years of the train's long life, including the addition of a 4th car (or 3rd car if you consider the motorcar a locomotive) and a large Mars light on the front and rear of the train. As such, my model might differ in appearance from many photos of the train after the changes were made. The train has been restored and is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL, USA. Another three of these train sets were built for the Burlington route, and the nearly identical Flying Yankee for the B&M. But enough history for now, first a quick image of the train itself, Look at all of those round curves... The nose was a challenge- how to get the rounded and sloped front. The above photo shows my solution. I would have liked to have gotten a little more slope, maybe one plate where I'm currently using half plate steps, but that would have only worked if there were curved sloped bricks of just the right shape/size. I was pleased with how well I was able to capture the distinctive air vents above the cab (including the small gap between the two vents, with room for the headlight), and also how I was able to get the right topographical shape from the rectangular slope bricks for the transition from the front to the top curves. At the end of the engine compartment is an abrupt narrowing and slow drop in height (again at half plate tall steps) to the roof of the cars. The photo also shows the IR receiver not so eloquently hidden. Some of the other shots show a "cap" built over the receiver. That was for the show this past weekend (which I'll post more about after uploading photos), and at this show, 10 ft away from where my trains were running, there were four stations for kids to run lego city train sets, with IR controllers and all. The cap blocked most of the IR, but you could still operate the train from 2 ft away. With that success, I rebuilt it again this morning and put the IR receiver completely under the 1x3 curved slopes so that it is now completely hidden. Again, it will hear the IR receiver from 2 ft away. I'll post photos of that update soon, but that will send the entire folder back for Brick Shelf moderation and I don't want to do that right now. Below the car you can see the skirting on the powered truck and along the body. This feature of the prototype also made it easy to hide a black PF train motor while blending it in with the model (similarly on the trucks, using standard PF train wheels in black, but more on that in a moment). Also of note are the doors with a half plate recess, the brick built mail catch, and custom decals using fonts from RailFonts.com The above shot shows a side view of the motorcar. The stark light does not do the step down in the roof justice. It looks much better with overhead lighting (as seen in some of the other shots). The above thumbnails show how I did the connections between cars. As noted above, the skirting on the wheels covers plain black PF train wheel sets. I got the idea for the 4x4 curves for the diaphragms from Swoofty's SP cars. The configuration in the photos is designed to run on R88 or better curves. The lenght of the cars lead to too extreme swings on R44 curves and the outer corners will knock together. However, with a quick rebuild of the trucks to add one stud separation, she will run fine on R44 tracks. Here is the middle car. The doors were another challenge to get the half plate offset with the profile bricks, and then quick turn from studs up to studs sideways. All sorts of fast brickwork in the intervening 6 stud width of the train. Needless to say, my brain is still hurting a bit from all of the hoops to get the offsets working. Although none of the photos show it, the coach windows offer a clear view across the train. Here's a shot of the observation car. More half plate offset doors, skirting, etc. The rounded observation end was another challenge... ... I started with my basic design from the North Coast Limited. I made a few quick improvements- the NCL had 1 brick tall windows on the sides and so I had to make the observation windows either 2.5 plates tall or 5 plates tall. The Pioneer Zephyr has 5 plate tall windows to help emphasize the small size of the prototype, which then made the transition to the snotted windows on the curved section a lot easier. But I also faced a challenge. The NCL uses a curved winshield to transition from the 1x3 curved bricks of the roof to the curves of the rear of the train. I did not have enough height to fit that same piece on the Zephyr. So I wound up using a wedge plate design to again capture the topographical form of the curved section. It works from a distance at least. Here's a shot of the train from the inside of a R108 curve... ... and a shot at speed at the show this past weekend. Note the bulb over the IR receiver (which as noted above, has since been smoothed over and the IR receiver can no longer be seen from the outside (I'll post those photos in a week or two). If that isn't enough, you can find more photos here in the full gallery. Comments, questions, suggestions, etc. are welcome...

See the end of this post for a link to instructions for a nice container design.

Come on folks, be nice to the moderators. The rules are actually here for a reason. If a lot of old posts keep getting bumped for no good reason then the regular readers (and contributors) will find it difficult to navigate to find the current topics mixed in with all of the ancient threads, and then this forum will fall into decline. There are some incredible MOCs and other builds throughout the archives of this forum, but if every deserving one got the attention it deserves there would be little room for anything new. That said, definitely go exploring through the archives, e.g., use that search menu up there in the top right corner and punch in the name of your favorite train and see what others may have done years ago. But if all you can think is "WOW!" it is better to PM the original poster. A great spot to find MOCs is in the master index, pinned to the top of the main train tech page. There are lists of tips, tutorials, and one of my favorites, MOCs. Unfortunately this forum has been without a moderator for a few years (which is why you'll occasionally see an outside moderator wander by to enforce the rules), so as a result, the master index is a few years out of date. We do have our own kneecap buster, but no one to pull out and sort the best of the posts to the master index.

Michael Gale made that library and it can be found here.

To my eye it looks like an SP GP40 trying to emerge in the style of the Maersk only with the gray baseplate and the large gray tile with studs (grin)