zephyr1934

Very nice! Though why not just build some platforms for your furniture and leave the layout up all the time (grin).

I suspect the answer is yes, though you would likely have to verify if it works for your situation even if someone else has made it work to their satisfaction. A few more thoughts, the technic axle will have more friction than normal train wheels. Some folks have oiled these spots though. Another thought is if you have space, you might be able to split the axle, using two 3 long axles and thus, let the wheels on opposite tracks rotate independently around the curve. I THINK the PF wheels are effectively flat without the band, while the regular lego train wheels are tapered (in which case )

The loco looks great and the layout has some nice details (I like the sweeping curve up the viaduct, spotted a low rise turntable, and other bits too)

Thanks all for the continued kind words. The first dark blue one is now 2/3's built and waiting on parts. I won't say what road it will be until it is done. Although it is not MP, the design should be close enough for a quick mod. With the new model the cab definitely looks better five studs long instead of the 4 used in namesake of this thread and shown in the photos above.

Nice work!

!@#$% you got the gears turning about how to do it in dark blue and now I've got it mostly worked out, more to come as it develops. Yeah, the paint scheme is really sharp. I had nothing to do with the original, they did some fantastic designs back in the 1940's. Though it is also very neat to uncover the suitabilities as I try to recreate the designs in lego.

The 9v controller has about seven speeds in both directions, few 9v trains are able to stay on the track at full power unless they are very heavy. At the other end, if you go too slow, you risk stalling out at a dead spot (slow speeds is one spot where PF really shines). As for better performance with the train weights, it is probably due to better adhesion/friction. Without the weight I think the 9v wheels spin a bit on the track.

My solution is to put the layout on the floor and run it behind/under the furniture. The track is low enough that most doors will clear it and strong enough so that you can occasionally kick it or step on it. You might need to build some wood boxes or other spacers to make sure your bed does not get pushed back on to the lego trains or that stuff doesn't fall "between the crack" on to the lego. This situation is one of the few where the tight lego curves actually come in handy. If you have enough clearance under your bed you can run the track under the bed instead of behind and you can even add a small yard or storage track.

If your problem is the rigid frame of the EN, you might do fine depowering the EN and only using the power car. If so, you would also want to pull out the gears and remove the drive bands (or all but one drive band) from the EN to reduce drag. Another possibility that you could try is to rebuild your EN so that the front and rear trucks can pivot up when the engine hits a low spot. I did that on my EN but I don't have any photos handy.

Probably yes if you don't mind a compromise. I don't have any of the 12v wheels or the 12v rods so I couldn't replicate the connection (and as mentioned earlier in this thread, I do not have the resolution to fabricate pins). The quick and easy solution would be to use the modern PF train wheels, 55423, or BBB small wheels then use something like this across the center axles, You could probably use this to also hold the center wheel in place if you did not have a 12 motor. Of course that approach does not have the the rod actually moving with the wheels. I could also do my "thin" design, shown here in white, if the standard rods are too "heavy" looking. If you wanted the rods to move with the wheels and you don't mind modifying your lego, I'd suggest using a technic axle and this lift arm, as a guide to drill a pin hole from the back side of the 66423 wheels. Or if you want to keep it pure, you could use but your locomotive would be wider and I've found that the axle holder on these parts do not have much clutch compared to other technic connectors.

Well, the engine is normally unpowered, but yes, I can pop off one of the trucks and replace it with a 9v motor, no other changes. When powered, yes, it runs fine. For the unpowered trucks I think I put an extra plate under the bogie plate so that the end of the trucks do not collide with the end of the 6x24 baseplate. The train baseplates are two plates tall, but inside they are only one plate tall, so on curves he trucks will collide with the ends and side of the baseplate if you aren't careful. The motors have a two plate top (both 9v and pf), the decorative sides and buffer beams have tile tops, so these are specifically designed to overhang past the end of the train baseplates. The motor is 10 studs long with the wheels aligned between studs (where the technic hole would be), the normal train wheel sets are 3 studs long with the wheels aligned to the middle stud. So the geometry is slightly different depending on whether you have a powered or unpowered truck. The pictures show the switcher with unpowered trucks and yes, the gap is one stud. As noted above, the limiting factor is actually the ends of the baseplate, which I eliminated the conflict in this case by adding a plate below the boggie plate. If you do not use the train baseplate, you will eliminate this problem, but then you wind up showing the very top of your trucks. When I put the motor on, I believe I keep this same one stud spacing to the fuel tank in the middle. As for the 3677, I think that is based on European locomotives, and I THINK there are some "road switcher"-like units that have a long, low hood like this model (there were very few such diesels in the US, the NW5 is the only one that comes to my mind). I would guess that lego used two stud gap next to the motor to idiot proof the PF cable connection. It is simple enough to test the clearances though, just make sure you do so before you get too far in your design.

If you are thinking you would only build this for static display, probably cheaper to omit the train bits altogether. If you are thinking more that you would run it, on the mechanical side I see a few problems that you will likely encounter. First off, the lego curves are very tight. It is hard enough to get 8 wide trains to handle curves well (the space between cars has to be very large so the corners on the cars don't knock together). Since this is your first train you don't have anything you need to match, in which case you might want to consider trying a larger gauge (e.g., LGB) that also has the advantage of wider radius curves. Second off, the lego train motors are not very strong and your train looks as if it will be very heavy. If you do power it in lego, you'll probably want to use XL motors, the most powerful motors lego makes. If you are moving away from classic propulsion, well, then shouldn't the locomotive be a walking engine, with eight spider legs pulling it along the track?

Wow! The prototype is insane 2-6-8-0 and 6-4 tender. Makes total sense given the application. As for your build, simply fantastic. It is great to see a huge articulated engine like this running and especially impressive given the constraints of lego curves. For your next challenge, make it dual gauge so that it can run on the Russian LGB gauge track (just kidding, I half expect that you've already incorporated that feature, grin). Typical of so many of your builds, there are tons of innovative pure lego techniques (I like how you mounted the arches for the fan housings on the tender) and and equally innovative non-pure techniques (all of the electrical wiring). Of course just fitting all of the electronics and motors in the housing is a feat unto itself, then making the housing look this good, well that's just stellar. Keep up the great work! On my own locomotives I have often looked at the connecting wires between the tender and engine and thought, "wouldn't this wire make a great water hose?" But never got around to figuring out how to disguise it as such.

Oh wow, that is a fantastic build! I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.

Thank you all for the kind words! Meanwhile, answering specific questions... Heh heh heh, I would love to do them in dark blue and revisit one of my earliest train MOC's, but there are a few parts I would need before being able to do it in dark blue, e.g., the headlight bricks exist but they are insanely expensive. I still want to do some dark blue GPs in C&O colors though, so maybe one of these days... The cab is 4 studs long, the locomotive is built on a 6x24 base with 2 stud overhang on either end (28 total in length). I'd rather do the cab like the GP20. Oh, don't get me wrong, yes, I build with my son. He put all of the pieces together for my Horizon Express and he has helped with a lot of my recent MOCs. This one was a toughy though. To get all the snot work lining up took a lot of trial and error. Once I had the design, there were still some tough parts to the build. The hood is almost all headlight bricks and tiles (very finicky building) and as I said, it took me three hours to build it. I didn't want to risk burning him out on his birthday. (In any event, I do appreciate the constructive suggestions, they are very good).

[ full gallery] Here's my take on the classic SW1200 yard switcher, this time in NP colors. I chose my subject from the MTM collection for several reasons, (1) my son is fond of this specific locomotive in part because it is featured in several episodes of the Choo Choo Bob Show (if you've got railfans under the age of 8 in the US I highly recommend this show), (2) I am fond of this specific locomotive because I spent way too many hours running it and maintaining it as a volunteer 20 yrs ago. On a side note, I know of at least one earlier build of the same subject by the folks at GMLTC. I built this locomotive as a gift for my son. He like's his 7939 set but although he is barely in the recommended age range he much prefers his dad's trains. So I wanted to build a very realistic train for his birthday. Since he is still young, it had to be kid tough, which meant one or two compromises, the biggest one being the cab. I managed to get a lot of great details in the cab, I am particularly fond of the back, getting the windows pretty close to correct. Shortly before building this I was commenting to a friend about the reintroduction of 1x1 trans clear bricks and how you could almost always substitute the much cheaper 1x2 bricks... oops... I needed four 1x1's for this and the photos predate my acquiring them. I also like the fact that I was able to work in the all weather cab windows. The thing I don't like about the cab is its length. It is 4 long and I would much prefer to have done it in 5 long, but all of the designs I came up with would have been a lot weaker. As it is, the 4 long cab is the weakest point on the locomotive (plenty strong for AFOL use, but you can't stand on it), I've had to rebuild it a few times ("now remember, the most important thing is that if it breaks, you collect all of the pieces"). To keep the structure tough, I used a lego train base. I also wanted to keep some flavor of classic trains, so I used the train railing on the ends. My son likes to push his trains around, so no motors on the stock build, but I made the trucks the same size as a motor so one can quickly swap in a 9v motor when desired, e.g., The hood is 5 wide, mostly snot. I am particularly fond of the stacks, I think I got the look pretty good (as original, not with the spark arresters that were subsequently added to the MTM unit). I borrowed the hood doors from my GP20 The taper at the cab was inspired by Jeramy's BN kit (the production of this kit reportedly consumed all of the available 2x2x3 double convex slopes in black at the time, though now they are becoming more common). With instructions now available for free here. At the time of the build I contemplated building a second one for myself, but I did not want to take away from the magic of my son's locomotive. In spite of some of the compromises, there are a lot of features on this build that are among my most advanced. I really wanted to give it to him and have him build the set, but in the end (sadly) I built it and presented him with the completed model (in a few more years I can give him the bricks and instructions, just not yet, this build took me a few hours to assemble). Some point in the future I will likely revisit this prototype to incorporate a few changes- 5 long cab, slightly longer frame, replace the train baseplate with regular plates, and motorized from the start. [full gallery]

That's an easy question, at least 12 m x 8 m for the layout and try to keep the office stuff as out of the way as possible so that it doesn't interfere with your lego (grin). Okay okay, if you can't pay the bills that means no lego, sigh. It all depends on how you like your trains and what aspect you like most about modeling. You could try taking over a portion of your dining room for a few weeks to get a feel for what you like and don't like about running. No matter what size you have, one of the real tricks is putting some good thought into how you will layout the track. A plain loop on a table can be boring, but if you hyper detail everything inside the loop, then you won't even notice that it is a simple circle. I personally like a layout where the trains can disappear for a moment. So I like the tracks running around the perimeter of the room. A pair of tracks is nice, so you can have two trains running. The hard part with this type of design is crossing the doors. My solution is to put it on the floor (how brilliant, who'd a thunk, I know). You could put some bits in, e.g., designing the doorways anticipating a lift bridge or draw bridge. Work in a couple of ledges to expand out into yards or town, etc.. Or if you didn't want to cross the doors, you could do a dogbone on two walls , or a two track loop on one wall with the outer loop expanding into a dogbone on a second wall. Run the trains behind your desk so that you can watch them go by while working.

Stupendous build! Looks great.

The Kof is very good, but the cars are unbelievable. You've really nailed the look of wood sided boxcars.

BBB's photo gallery has at least 3 examples. One, two, and three.

Fantastic build Duq! Looks like the half pin solution works without washers too (but remind me when you place your next order and I'll toss in a pair of washers for this engine).

Great little build with lots of detail

A fantastic build with tons of great details, e.g., I like the way you used the grilled cheese for steps/ladders on the cab unit. The roof doesn't seem quite right to my eye. It looks like dark gray might be closer to the prototype, and if only there was some way to get rid of that grove... I came up with 5 alternatives, but after typing them up, none of them strike me as being better than what you did. Still as 93273 become cheaper in dark gray, it might look nice to redo the roof in all dark gray. Since I typed the ideas up, I'll keep them here, but each idea has its own problems... idea 1) 93273 into the studs on the side of 30414 laid on their back, with cheese bricks on the "top" studs. Then use 1x plates in what would be the "bottom" of the 1x4 bricks if it were upright to hold it all together. This design has two problems though, the final roof would be 1/2 plate too narrow on both sides, and there would still be a line at the edge of the cheese bricks. idea 2) 93273 + cheese bricks like you did on the ends of the cars, only raise the 93273 1/2 of a plate. This design addresses both problems of idea 1, but now the slope is not as steep where the roof meets the walls. idea 3) use 6005 arches, but then the windows become tricky. idea 4) use 93273 + conventional 45 deg slopes, but you still have that half plate ridge and again, the slope is not as steep where the roof meets the walls idea 5) use 93273 with a half plate offset + 92946, but now you have the funky corners of 92946 and the slope is not as steep where the roof meets the walls.

Huh???

Thanks Fugazi for keeping up with all the MOC posts, the index is very handy. Perhaps rather than indexing specifically "digital" MOCs, have two groups: "instructions available" or "digital form available" so that folks looking for detailed guidance have a handy spot to turn to. These two categories could include some of the MOCs listed elsewhere in the various physical build categories as well as those that only exist as digital. That's my 2c, but it may be too time consuming to actually implement it. Benn