Carefree_Dude

You could possibly activate it with a red micro motor

Following @old sergio's example, I decided to do a full powered up mod in the engine, using a train motor. Surprisingly, I only had to make the engine a single plate taller to account for the battery box. (honestly looking at it now it would have looked a little cleaner if I only raised the boiler by one plate instead of the entire train). It runs really well, especially with the added weight of the battery box on top of the motor. Sadly the train motor being only in black and only able to use 4 wheels take a way a lot of the charm of this engine. (Im pretty sure i've seen custom printed decorative motor sides though that allow for a third wheel). I could have used tiles similar to old sergio to "hide" the white part of the battery box, but I decided to opt for electric tape just to show how well it works. Also, in order to make the battery box fit so well, I had to remove the bottom; thankfully the pin of the train motor holds the battery harness in place so it works really well; It honestly works so well I wonder if the designers had this use case in mind when they designed that center gap in the battery harness. I went back and changed it so only the boiler is raised by a single plate. Much better! Im also considering adding lights. oddly enough the giant LED from the battery box shines through the front center light on the boiler. With the powered up lights, I could easily have all three lit up. Anyways, here it is now. I haven't built a tender for it yet, so I let it borrow one.

Hey I saw a new steam engine in stores! It's set 30575!

Speaking of Metroliner, my local lego resale store has a metroliner with an extra car and two club cars for $260 and i'm really tempted to grab it.

Wouldn't that look weird to have one wheelset on the train higher than the others? My original train plate arrived today! IMO it makes a huge difference. The brick build train buffers look cartoonishly large for such a small engine

Here is a quick fix. Didn't have the right colors available offhand but it works really well. Spacing still works on Lego curves

It looks easy to fix though. Just those 1x2 bricks with two holes

Handles corners fine. Wheels do rub together however and it makes a squeeking noise and adds friction.

I got mine yesterday and I gotta say it's an adorable little train. The giant buffers drive me nuts though, so I ordered the original train plate. Another minor gripe is that the wheels touch each other; this looks like a rather easy thing to fix though. For now I just gave it the Disney train tender. My 2 year old son loves playing with it and he has a much easier time getting it on the tracks than the Disney train. I love that powered up mod posted earlier in the thread. If I recall though I thought you had to hold the button down to make the motor go, and it wasn't variable speed? Or is that different now? Also red and black electric tape will work wonders as battery box decals to hide it better

So will this thing need a floating middle axle? To me it looks like the wheels are close enough together to not matter. It's a minor change either way, just curious. Also I think the original train didn't have one?

Oh that's easy you would just use these. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2920&idColor=11#T=C&C=11

Your best bet would be to build a small tender that has Powered up hub and motor. You can attach it to the engine using a small technic piece or buy some magnet. You can take it a step further and buy this: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4178&idColor=5#T=C&C=5

I've heard of lego destroying moulds in the past. *Sheds tear for monorail*

Quite the wild ride! What track is that? Does it have any issue attaching to baseplates?

Speaking of Thomas the tank engine, My toddler son and I were recently driving around, and we came across a life size fully operational Thomas the Tank engine. My son just happened to have a thomas the tank engine toy with him, so, after getting permission, we went out and took pictures with the train and his little toy. Something really funny was that there was a bag over thomas's head, like he was kidnapped.

as far as bonuses go, this isn't too bad of one. There are a couple expensive sets I want to buy anyways, would be a good way to get two of these. Also I think it would be enjoyable to stick Powered Up into a small tender to motorize it.

This makes me want to build a train car that say a steam engine would pull and have a camera mounted on top for a third person view of the train. Maybe have it offset so you can see the drive rods and pistons moving

There is always that 40 years of trains anniversary set.

Seeing a monorail on roller coaster track will be odd

Wow that is a REALLY good coach design. And seeing your model next to the real thing makes it look even better

I'm really loving the custom rods. Once I have the money I'll have to buy some for my big boy. The train looks really nice too. The windows curving inwards is a beautiful touch. For the most part I like your decals, though the striping tape could be cleaned up a little. Lastly, the only thing this post needs is a picture of the original train this model is based on.

I haven't figured out what size i want to go with yet. The red ones lego uses on the large drivers will fit, but its a stretch

it would continue into the writers descent into madness as he starts to embrace the IP based lego sets and start to shun some of the more original lines like Alien conquest. The writer would also complain that bionicle isn't real lego, get horribly upset when it's gone, complain when it's back, then be upset when it's gone again.

This really needs to be updated for the past 20 years

@Toastie I did my first XL wheel using your method. I used my power drill and a cheap file I got from the hardware store. It took a while (close to 10 minutes straight) but it worked out amazingly!