zephyr1934

nice build!

@P.M., you should definitely try bricklink.com, the prices can be up to 10x cheaper for 90% of the parts listed on PAB, but be careful, it can also be addicting. @W.U., yeah that's the charm of brickshelf, clunky old system likes to go down way too often, seems to be up at the moment though. I'm just a fan of having one place with so many lego photos and nothing else.

Thanks all for the kind words... @Hey Joe and @Murdoch17 There have been a few posts with various tender mods out there. The one I would like to see (or design) is one that can contain an entire PF system (battery/RC/train_motor) while still looking like a realistic tender. I was also thinking changing the coal to wood. @H.J. and @P.M. price for the custom parts is currently $21.96 +s/h (the nice thing about the custom rods is that the set up is very low for the first part, the unpleasant thing is that the set up cost stays the same for all subsequent fabs too). While this price means the rods are not for everyone, as of last night, Amazon had this set for sale for about $20 off, so you could get close to MSRP with free bonus rods tossed in if you tilt your head the right way (grin). @H.J. and alainneke while I wanted to add rods, I also wanted to keep the charm of the original design. Like the EN, you fix the rods and the engine looks 10x better. One of the hardest parts of this design was working with the four wide boiler. Initially I wanted to go 10 wide at the cylinders, which would have allowed a lot more room for wheel swing, etc., but with the narrow boiler, that would have looked awkward from the front and rear views. So I decided to stay 8 wide at the cylinders. There goes the rear pilot truck axle. @M17 you made a few other choice modifications too, e.g., the straight smokestack and making the overall color more homogeneous. In any event, yeah, that is fine with me if this thread picks up other "how to fix the LR CTC loco" tips.

[full gallery] I have modified the locomotive from the Lone Ranger, Constitution Train Chase (Lego set 79111) to add working driver rods. I had to completely rework the pilot to make everything work, but I think the final design is pretty good. The new model is the same width as the original, one stud longer, and it has working rods. The mechanicals are packed in very efficiently. The front wheel just barely clears the cow catcher, the side rods just barely clear the crossheads, I came up with a clever bearing to fit over the moving pilot axle, etc.. With the moving rods I think this engine is shaping up to be pretty sharp. A larger tender would be nice, and one of these days I'll take a stab at that. The one tradeoff (and I'm not sure it is much of a tradeoff) is the fact that I had to convert it from a Ten Wheeler to a Mogul. Here's a shot of the modified engine on a curve I've prepared instructions for the modification and have already uploaded jpegs to brickshelf (I'm working on finding a good home for the .pdf version). There are two versions of the instructions: V1 is for building the modified model from scratch, V2 is for retrofitting the completed model after it has been built. To build this modified model you will need the parts that come with Lego set 79111 and the additional parts listed on the last two pages of the instructions. Note that this build requires 4 non-Lego pieces for the driver rods, available here. [full gallery]

Yeah, I thought the same thing, it would look good, but it doesn't exist (at least not yet). Next best thing might be to go snot, with a tile on the outside, then a transparent brick, e.g., like the back windows on the cab of this locomotive,

Funny you should mention my custom rods and the Lone Ranger train. I just got a copy of the set and finished building it yesterday. Aside from the goofy pilot truck (very functional but awkward looking), it is a pretty good looking locomotive. I've worked up instructions for converting the loco to one with working rods. I need to take a couple of photos and then I will be posting the instructions shortly thereafter. Keep an eye out for that new thread.

If your boys like trans and like lego, you can't go wrong with the duplo trains. PS, and a fun challenge to you is to try to come up with clever builds in duplo... much more challenging than regular lego.

Looks good, and I like the extra detail of including the centenary in the photos.

Oh, don't get me wrong, the 4460 is a beautiful engine. I'm just saying that these railway museums are doing an incredible job attempting an insane proposition. I was at the Illinois Railway museum this past summer and they have at lest 20 steamers out in the elements rusting away. Fortunately they have more than that under roof. It is hard work preserving all of that equipment.

Ah, cool (and irrespective of my thinking of a different architectural feature, apologies if my last post was too abrasive). Thinking about my earlier suggestion further, I bet the 1x1 technic bricks could be used to hide the unused studs. Since one would have to repeat row after row, it would just introduce a slightly larger than normal crack at the top and bottom of the stack (two total), the middle rows would be fine. Of course it would also introduce vertical cracks that span many rows of bricks, so it would be fragile. For me, I generally do not build interiors so it could be strengthened internally (I still don't understand how you interior folks do it, with so much detail inside and out).

Wow! What a fantastic build. There is so much detail there. From the roof, to the vertical lines on the shed, etc. etc.. Having seen your steam engines I'm not surprised at all that you were able to squeeze 300% of the amount of detail allowed by law in to such a small space.

PLEASE do not bump two year old posts just to say "nice job", now the post is up at the top of the board and generating chatter. Instead, with such an old post it is better to send a PM to the author asking for instructions.

A beautiful build, does she run well too?

Looking again at this photo, I do have one small suggestion. It looks like the dark gray 1x2 tiles on the corner are mounted one stud in from the corner. If instead you used a 1x1 brick with studs on all four sides in the corner, you could line up the end of the 1x2 tile with the face of the corresponding 1x1 tile for a cleaner corner. However, to do this, you would have to work around the other two studs on the 1x1 bricks, to that end, you might be able to force 1x1 technic bricks in, or use 1x1 panels... or older 1x2x2 panels... might work... might not work...?

Looking good with lots of fine detail... and clever tricks like filling the gap in the rail.

If it wasn't for you meddling kids!!! (sorry, couldn't resist the scooby doo reference)

Very nice! I like how you avoided the notches in the wedges on the nose, a very determined technique.

Now be nice to the museum, there is a good reason why railroads converted to diesel and even diesels take a lot of money to maintain. Back when I was active in train museums I think we figured that it took about 3 volunteer hours of maintenance for every mile a restored ten wheeler ran, and that did not include any of the restoration time. The fact that this loco is under roof is a very good start. It is also very difficult/expensive to get big locos like this out on mainline excursions where they belong.

You might consider the red drivers that came with the toy story train.

One of the more clever designs for non-lego lego track that I've seen is posted in this thread. You might also want to search "garden railways" in the train tech forum, seems to come up every few months and each time with unique new ideas. Post pictures of your progress.

looking good!

Great build and it looks like the station is served by only the finest trains.

Looking good, so does she take the curves better now? If so, did you figure out the source of your previous problems?

nice work!

Yes, looking good, and I would echo that the buildable one is mighty fine too.