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Introduction I've finally decided I need to do something with my enormous folder of pictures of old MOCs. That means uploading them to Bricksafe, and sharing them here! There's a few things I'd like to note before I start. Firstly, there's a fair amount of history amongst for me here; some photos are of my earliest train MOCs (although that was only 5 years ago). Therefore, as I post these, I should be able to show progression in my skills with building. Secondly, all of the models have been long since dismantled, frequently in order to build the next one! I worked with a very limited parts selection, and didn't often buy more bricks just for one model. Finally, sorry for the poor photography; my 'studio' was a north-facing living room with a white-ish carpet, which worked fine, but sometimes the background is cluttered or the lighting is odd. These weren't taken with uploading them in mind, so many I've had to hastily clean up in MS Paint! Hopefully they look OK. Anyway, on with the show. In this post, I'll present the 4 standard-gauge steam locomotives I've built over the years, in chronological order. 1. LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 Tender locomotive (August 2015) For my first steam locomotive (but not my first train, I'll show that later...), I thought I'd keep it simple; this is mainly based on the 79111 Constitution Train Chase, but suitably anglified. I think I used @zephyr1934's instructions for the cylinder/connecting rods mod, but with standard technic liftarms. I decided this boiler shape would look alright after seeing @Murdoch17's many variants! EB truly inspired this one, before I was even registered here. The numbers were based on a real locomotive in preservation, 46447, although with the BR logo replaced by "LRTS", as seen on the side of the Emerald Night. They were written on MS Word, printed out onto sticky labels and placed on the side! A really inelegant solution, and one that I regret to this day as the bricks still have them on or a sticky residue were I tried to take them off. At least they weren't over multiple parts. All the power functions elements were rammed into the tender, with only the LEDs on the loco itself. The battery box was controlled via the large dish representing the water cap, through which the green on/off LED could be seen. The headlamps were also movable, to represent some of the positions used in the British headlamp codes used to identify train types, hence the nest of wires under the smokebox. The bufferbeam itself got a little detail, complete with a non-LEGO part that slipped into my collection many years ago and I've never taken out. Finally, the cab even featured a full boiler backhead, not bad for my first attempt! Again, sorry for the awful pictures. Overall, not bad for a first attempt I don't think, even if it was essentially a 79111 extreme-mod. It got tested on a friend's small circle of track, and didn't perform badly if I remember correctly. If I were to build it again, I'd want to redesign the PF tender completely, maybe with the battery box on its side to get a lower profile. It was far too big for the tenders the real locomotives carry. The folder, and a few more pictures, can be found here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/lms-ivatt-2mt. And now, onto: 2. BR (ex-GWR) 56xx Prairie 0-6-2 tank (September 2015) This model immediately followed the previous, and even used the same "stickers" (completely inappropriately, the GWR or later BR (WR) never used 5 digits on their locos!) but is clearly different in many ways. Mainly, I couldn't hide the PF in a tender, so the battery box was concealed behind the side tanks, the motor is just visible at the front, and the IR receiver took up the space in the coal bunker. I have no idea how well it performed as I only had about 6 pieces of track at this stage, but I get the feeling it wasn't good! I have obviously realised I needed the rubber bands by this point, it's a shame they were yellow. I think I was quite proud of how neatly the battery box access worked! I even crammed an opening hatch into the roof, not sure why: It had exactly the same cab interior, just slightly cramped by the IR receiver, so I won't show the picture. I believe this model also featured attachment points in all 4 positions for head/tail lamps, as before. Again, not bad overall, but I reckon I could do better if I built another one now. Especially the drivetrain, an M-motor connected directly to the wheels via 2 12-tooth bevel gears can't have worked well. I also recall I had difficulty with excess friction/resistance from the connecting rods and cylinders, that I never figured out before I dismantled it. Again, the folder is here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/gwr-prairie-tank. 3. BR (ex-GWR) Pannier 0-6-0 tank (July 2016) It was only time before I had a go at one of these machines, they are probably my favourite steam locomotive! It also seems there was a break of about a year before this came about, but I think it was worth it. This build was created in LDD (and as such, I still have the .lxf file), I worked out what parts I already had, and then ordered the few I didn't already own. Mainly the many, many 1x2x1.3 curved-top bricks! This was my first train build in 6+ wide (with 7 for the cab). The tanks were fun on this one, the lower half being built upside-down, and entirely hollow to leave room for the battery box. Explore the .lxf file if you want to; I've uploaded it to the bricksafe folder. Again, the headlamps were moveable, although could only be illuminated by the LEDs when at the front. They could be placed in any of the usual positions. I didn't put much effort into the rest of the bufferbeam though, clearly! The challenge with this was definitely getting the motor in place. In the end, this mess is what I ended up with, the orange tiles meaning it couldn't quite get over level crossings. The blind drivers are held in place by 2736 technic axle towball with the ball cut off, a technique I saw @LEGO Train 12 Volts use I believe. Not purist, but I was willing to do that to 2 parts, 2 parts that have been used in many other things since. Again, it's a shame one of the rubber bands is blue. I don't think this setup gave poor performance, but I doubt it was particularly good either. Finally for this loco, here's a shot of the rear bunker, with "meshed" windows, hand rails and lamp attachment points. Once again, the folder with more images is here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/gwr-pannier-tank. I've since revisited this one in LDD, attempting to rectify the motor problem. I don't think I've got a better solution yet, I might try to get an L-motor in the cab or something. 4. BR "USA" 0-6-0 tank (June 2017) I've saved the best (and most recent) until last. This one is actually still together! Once again, a new building style was tried; I found the blueprints online, overlaid it with a LEGO plates grid (in MS Powerpoint of all softwares, it's surprisingly useful!), and scaled it to the size of the wheels. I found it lined up almost perfectly, and started to build from there. You can quite clearly see the BB here, again hidden as low as possible behind the water tanks. The IR receiver is what's blocking the cab windows, and the m-motor is under the cab floor, connected to the 16-tooth gear just visible above the rear axle. The front boiler section also used the 79111 method: Again using one of the "stickers" from the first model, and with all 4 headlamp positions available. No LEDs this time though! You may also note there's only one steam pipe from the smokebox to the cylinders; evidently I never got around to finding the parts for the second! The water tanks chamfer is also somewhat representative, not having any longer slope bricks in my collection. This is by far my proudest part of the model, the cab windows. A fair amount of SNOT and LEGO maths was employed here to get it to line up, but it works! Shame there's nothing to see through them. The enormous hole in the roof was for the IR receiver. Finally, here's the rear of the loco. This was the worst part to build as I came to it last and was running out of parts, as emphasised by the lack of actual buffers! It does feature a "live" coal load though, the usual headlamp "brackets" and that non-LEGO part used for a brake hose connector. The full folder of pictures is available here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/br-usa-tank. This model is still assembled, although stripped of it's PF components and with a proper boiler backhead instead. The drivetrain wasn't nearly as successful as I was hoping it would be, given the amount of reinforcement I added to it. Is it possible to build a good one with an M-motor, or should I get an L-motor instead for future models? Perhaps I should lower my expectations of LEGO models? I'm not really sure. Conclusion So, there they all are. I think a clear progression is visible between each model, but what do you think? If I were to build any of these again, how could I improve them? Also, did you enjoy this post? Should I post more like this? How could I improve my posting style? I've got a few more "themes" planned, such as diesel locomotives, narrow gauge trains, road-rail/hirail/whatever you call them vehicles...
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