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This is a MOC of the last Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad (also called the 'Katy') steam locomotive left in existence. The real 4-4-0 numbered 311 was built in 1890 by Baldwin Locomotive Works, and was heavily rebuilt in 1923. Among the upgrades at that time were: new steam chest with piston valves, new steel cab, and a new tender with an oil tank. (Basically only the 1890s frame survived!) In 1945, it was dressed up to look like an old Western engine as it pulled a four-car demonstration train called the 'Katy Flyer' in celebration of them "Winning the West" in 1870 by being the first railroad into what was then called Indian Territory, which is now the state of Oklahoma. The train toured the Katy system, and was later delivered under her own power in late 1952 to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. It was later partially disassembled in the 1980s in a still-born effort to return the engine to operation on Museum property (after which a bunch of parts went missing), though they are trying to restore the loco cosmetically at this time. The MOC version is inspired by 2010 set 7597 (Western Train Chase), but was so heavily modified that basically nothing remains of the original set except the wheel arches over the driving wheels. The rear of the locomotive. I couldn't figure out how to do the shield logo on the tender, so I just let it off. The restoration of the real engine looks mostly complete. Thoughts? EDIT 5/23/26: Pictures updated to reflect the updated paint scheme of the real world engine and MOC. -
During the second World War, the US Government controlled the railway locomotive builders, one of which was Lima Locomotive Works. The Southern Pacific railroad submitted a order to this builder for 16 new 4-8-4 steam engines, (known to the railroad as 'Daylights') which was turned down due to them being passenger-only engines. Southern Pacific reworked the blueprints to have little streamlining, and not feature the Daylight's color scheme of orange, red and black. These new dual-mode engines were painted in silver and black, and were also smaller. Lima finally built the order in 1943, but with one condition: Six engines would be taken from the order and given to the power-starved Western Pacific Railroad. Because of their smaller size and the fact they were built during WWII gave these engine the names 'Baby Daylights' and 'War Babies'. Officially, the Southern Pacific engines were called GS-6 and numbered 4460 - 4469. (GS meaning General Service or Golden State, and 6 because they were the sixth batch of engines.) Only one of the GS-6 type survives: 4460, often referred to as the Forgotten Daylight when compared to it's famous surviving GS-4 cousin 4449. This last GS-6 pulled the final steam-hauled SP train in October 1958, before being donated to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, where it resides today. You can read more about the engine on it's Wikipedia page. This LEGO steam loco model is the third iteration of this Southern Pacific engine that I've made. It was originally built over a decade ago in eight wide, then was slimmed down a year later in 2016 to 6 wide, and now has been completely torn down and revised to 7 studs wide in 2026, retaining only a scant few ideas from the original MOC. These includes the letters / numbers, streamlined nosecone, and a few other small things - the rest is totally new. As a side note: this engine's original version was the second loco I made from the museum's collection of artifacts, only beaten by the GM Aerotrain MOC from 2014 - nowadays I've got over 30 vehicles made from this location, and I'm starting to run out of things to build that I feel are worthy of inclusion or under-represented in LEGO. The rear of the engine. The ladder to the tender deck should be on the left and right sides, not the rear as has been constructed. I didn't realize this until it was too late in the design process. (Oh well!) Baggage / coach. (NOTE: This car and the rest of the train that follows below are not based on any specific Daylight passenger cars. I just built what looked good with the loco. Also, these 6-stud wide passenger cars are based off ones from when the engine was in revenue service - they are not from the Museum of Transportation!) Two (identical) passenger cars. The dome car. And finally, the observation car. EDIT: Just for comparison purposes, here is the real-world steam loco, as seen back in 2015. Thoughts?
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This steel frame locomotive shed is based off a digital MOC I made twelve years ago in March 2014, which was itself based on a technique I saw on a MOC by Eurobricks user @lightningtiger who made a smaller shed circa 2010 or so. The colors / look of my LEGO version is based off the two engine sheds at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. While the real Roberts shed at the Museum has eight (maybe more?) tracks with a fancy clock tower in the middle of the roof, the Abbott building has just three tracks and is more plain-looking. Thus, my LEGO version is an amalgamation of both sheds. (sadly, I don't have comparison photos of the real sheds vs. the LEGO model, as they are just too massive to even attempt to get a proper picture of.) Side view. Yes, the (rather bright) red roof is prototypical for the Roberts shed. Looking down the length of the building. The two stall shed is just a hair over four tracks long, meaning all my currently-built engines fit under the canopy length-wise except for my 2-10-4, which is just a few studs too long. Sadly, there are also a scant few steam locos that are too wide to clear the roof support pillars... the BTTF time train is one that comes to mind here, although there might be more that I've forgotten. Here is my temporary current layout that features the train shed and my mountain tunnel in a arrangement somewhat resembling a tiny portion of my local train museum. This WIP version features almost all the trackage I have room for at this point... in fact, the rails end just out of frame to the right! Thoughts?
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This building was born from a failed attempt to recreate the Museum of Transportation's administrative offices / ex-caretakers house (in St. Louis, Missouri) out of Lego to go with my other Museum items I've recreated. I did my best, but it wasn't a good enough rendition for me so I modified it to suit my own tastes, with this typical 1930s / '40s house MOC being the end result. The house folds open to a 90 degree angle and has a detailed interior. The blue 1930s car is inspired by a mock-up car mounted at the new Museum main gate, and is modified from this Rebrickable MOC by @Leewan. NOTE: The mini-figure seen in these pictures is not meant to be anybody real. Any resemblance to any persons - living or dead - is purely coincidental! The front of the house without the car and owner. You can compare my MOC to the original building, shown above. (Photo from Google Maps, NOT MINE) The ex-caretakers house is the Museum of Transportation administrative offices in St. Louis, Missouri, and was probably built soon after the museum grounds were purchased from the Missouri Pacific railroad in 1944. NOTE: This building is not open to the public. The rear of the house. I only had the one picture of the front of the actual office from Google maps, so the back was relying on memory only, and - to be honest - I couldn't remember anything. So I made my own version instead. I completely invented the interior room arrangement and furniture for this MOC, as the original building I was inspired by is offices now, and no pictures (that I could find) exist of the inside when it was a house. Furniture for this MOC was inspired by the following sets: - UP House (set 43217) - Lilo and Stitch beach house (set 43268) - Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown (set 76108) - Pet Shop (set 10218) - Emmet's Dream House (set 70831) In addition, the grandfather clock was designed by my brother. For my changes to the Rebrickable MOC I turned the color from white to blue with white top and dark gray running board. I then replaced the Speed Champions wheels, saucer hubcaps, and teacup headlights with other parts that suit my tastes more. I also substituted the older one-piece Racers grille with cheaper parts as well. The car without the driver, who (probably?) can fit in the seat. This is because there aren't many hairpieces that can be used with this car due to the low roof. The back of the car. The 3x3 round dish is supposed to be a spare tire cover. The removable roof design was also changed to be stronger. There is a bit of space behind the headrest for some luggage. Thoughts?
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In the early 1950's the United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) was considering what would happen to an enemy railroad if another European war broke out. If the native locomotives in said enemy country were destroyed or rendered inoperable (as they likely would have been) what would pull the US military trains on their soil? The answer was not easy, as many countries have different gauges, loading clearances, brake types, and couplers. The USATC decided on specific set of guidelines for it's Military Road Switcher (MRS) and waited to see which companies would offer the best design. American Locomotive Company (ALCO) beat out Electro-Motive Division (EMD), and won the contact. ALCO produced 83 locomotives, which sat unused until ~1970 when the Pentagon decided their plans no longer required the capture and use of an enemy railway network. These 96 locomotives (including the 13 EMD prototype ones) were either sold, sent off to various Army or Navy installations, while many were scrapped. One of the ones not scrapped is US Army 2069, which was acquired from the US military surplus program in 1993 by the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri where it remains operational to this day, periodically shuffling historic items around the grounds. The LEGO model of the 2069 started life as @SavaTheAggie's much larger 8-wide version of the MRS-1 type built in the color scheme of the Texas State Railroad. I modified the hell out of it since purchasing instructions in 2014 - among other things, I changed the colors to black with yellow railings and slightly shortened the frame and long hood. The model was slimmed down from 8-wide to 6 for the frame and 7-wide for the cab, while the hoods remain 5-wide as on the original MOC. You can buy instructions for Sava's original model here at Brick Train Depot. The middle axle of each of the locomotive's bogies slides to-and-fro for traversing switches and curves. Here we see the long hood of the engine. The real world US Army 2069 locomotive from the Museum of Transportation, as seen late last year. (It appears the loco bumped into something a some point, as I don't think the plow is supposed to look like that!) Thoughts?
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This 4-6-0 steam locomotive's real-world counterpart was built in 1889 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway and was numbered 635. After working the Sedalia to Warsaw, Missouri route for many years, it was donated in November 1966 by Missouri Pacific to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, where it still resides today. My LEGO model of the real engine is as faithful to the real deal as I could feasibly get while still retaining my style of building. As a side note: the boiler of the engine is inspired by the loco in set 71044 - Disney Train and station. The rear view of the locomotive. Sadly, I couldn't get the name of the railroad into it's proper spot above the road number on the tender. The inside of the engine's cab is pretty sparsely detailed. The real world loco as of March 2018. (Sorry I couldn't get a better picture, as the streetcars are parked in the way most of the time!) Thoughts?
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This Douglas C-47 Skytrain is modeled after one at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. The real aircraft served in the D-Day landings, among other events of the European theatre of WWII. In August 1945, it was taken back to the US to be stationed with the 817th Base unit, at Kellogg Field, Michigan. It was turned over to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for disposition in October 1945 and may have been sold to Bonanza Airlines for passenger service between Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada for a time. It was reacquired by the Air Force (now an independent service) in December 1948 and assigned to the 131st Fighter Group, Missouri Air National Guard, located at Lambert Field in St. Louis in May 1950. It was used as a VIP transport and used to carry the governor and other state officials, as well as Air Guard personnel. Former President Harry S. Truman was a passenger on at least two occasions. In October 1972 'Old 635' as it was known, was retired and the Air Force Museum placed it at the Museum of Transportation on permanent loan. My LEGO C-47 is in D-Day invasion stripes (just like the real plane is painted these days), and was based off of 2008 Indiana Jones set 7628 - this set features a DC-3 aircraft, which is the civilian version of the C-47, so it was rather easy to convert it to military use. The rear of the plane. This singular C-47 Skytrain is one of over 800 such planes that loaded paratroopers for Operation Neptune, part of Operation Overlord - AKA the D-Day invasion of Normandy of June 6, 1944 by the Allies. These paratroopers were dropped before the main invasion force storms the beaches, attempting to capture bridges and strategic defensive points held by the Axis powers, before linking up with the incoming ground troops. Thoughts?
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The Frisco 1522 loco is a 1926 oil burning 4-8-2 "Mountain" type, (4 leading, 8 drivers, 2 trailing) that was made surplus in 1951, donated to the Museum of Transportation (in St. Louis, Missouri) in 1959, and restored to working order in 1988 by the St. Louis Steam Train Association (SLSTA) for it's excursion career. It's new lease on life lasted until 2002 when rising insurance costs made the engine enter it's second retirement, which will be probably be forever. When the engine was running in it's second career, the SLSTA had four train cars (one of these MOC's is a fictional fifth car to beef up the train's length) in it's excursion support role. They carried parts, tools, merchandise to sell, and crew members not on duty. After re-retirement of the 1522, most of the cars were eventually sold to Milwaukee Road 261 organization and were renamed and repainted into a different paint scheme more suited to that group. This may not be the best interpretation of the Frisco 1522, but it seems to be the one of the few I've seen built out of Lego. The model you see here has been my dream ever since I was 5 or six years old and rode behind the steamer on one of it's last public trips. (I don't remember much of the trip, but I do remember the sense of awe and respect for the power of steam after seeing the loco pull past us on it's journey back to the museum and into what looks to be permanent retirement.) The rear of the (newly remade in 7 wide) locomotive. The cab walls on both model and real engine have the name of the railroad (Frisco) on it's side, while the number of the loco (1522) is on the tender sides. Inside the cab. I chose the classic printed slope with the knobs and gauges seen here a throwback to my first train MOC from the early 2000's. One half of this baggage car (named 'Black Gold' after a train the 1522 used to pull) housed tools, spare parts, lubricants and a fire hose or getting water for the loco, among many other things. The other half (usually closest to the engine) had the souvenir shop with shelves and tables for fundraising merchandise selling. The car is now repainted and named 'Golden Valley'. It has been used with Milwaukee Road 261. The 'Firefly' was the crew car. It was also named after a train the 1522 used to pull. The car has been sold to be used with Milwaukee Road 261. It sits in storage currently. This coach is NOT based on any SLSTA car. It was added to the train to beef it up to normal amount of five passenger cars. It is named 'Meteor' after an actual Frisco train like the others just to look accurate. The diner-lounge 'Chouteau Club' wasn't owned by the St. Louis Steam Train Association (SLSTA), but by a private individual who was a member of the club. It now is stored / owned by Illinois Transit Assembly in Madison, Illinois, sidelined by side sill rust. The 'Bluebonnet' was a business car and brought up the rear of the train. It was also named after a train the 1522 used to pull. The car has been sold to be used with Milwaukee Road 261. It has been renamed back to it's first name of 'Milwaukee' and repainted into the proper colors for that railroad. The real engine is publicly displayed at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. The Lego model of the loco is sitting on the front of the loco, just above the cowcatcher. This official Frisco 1522 website gave me invaluable info and pictures of the excursion cars and the loco itself. This page in particular was very helpful in getting the window amount / spacing / 'look' of the excursion cars right. NOTE: Yes, I had a thread made in 2016 for the loco only. That thread was last updated in 2017, and I didn't want to mess with the moderators by bumping it. Thus, this new thread was created. I hope that was ok! EDIT: 11/26/25: Revised real world photos added with fifth passenger car and remade 7-wide steam loco + tender.
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Description from the Museum of Transportation's website on the real vessel I based the towboat off of: The H.T. Pott was the first Missouri River towboat with a welded steel hull instead of a riveted hull. The vessel operated out of Kansas City, Missouri on the Missouri River. It is named for Herman T. Pott (1895-1982), a distinguished river transportation executive and entrepreneur. The groups of barges that are moved on the nation’s rivers are called “tows." The boats that propel the barges are “towboats” even though they push the barges from the back instead of pulling them. The H.T. Pott is 58 feet long and 15 feet wide, and it has a “draft” the amount of the hull below the water line of 6 feet. You can walk the decks of the H.T. Pott. You can see a picture of the real towboat on the Museum's website here. Notes on the LEGO model: The name of the vessel, HT Pott, will go on the studs just below the roofline on the bridge. Besides the lettering, two white brackets and four black curved plates are missing from the digital model. Also, a printed-cloth American flag will fly at the rear of the craft off the second level. The rear of the vessel, with flagpole and ladder to upper deck visible. I plan on putting this 1930's towboat and my 1880's Proud Mary steamboat on the depressed-height table holding my Eads bridge, to give a stereotypical view of life on the Missouri / Mississippi Rivers, both distant past, and more recently. (as the towboat worked the Missouri river traffic from '33 up until the middle 1980's.) Now, you may be asking yourself "What good is a towboat without something for to to push up / down the river?" This was the existential question I asked myself today, and the answer I came up with shortly thereafter was "not very good". So, I set about building something quite commonplace if you live near any of the major rivers of the mid-western USA: a pair of un-powered barges! (I think they usually use them for grain and silica, among other bulk goods, but here they are empty, mostly because like the towboat model I made, they have open bottoms.) These type I see a lot here in Saint Louis, and are of the modern variety... although I'm unsure how long they've been using this design, to be honest. It seems to be two barges next to each other, but in actuality, they are one big barge. I did this because less parts are used this way. I will eventually have two of these ancillary models hooked onto my tugboat / each other with 5-long LEGO chains. (these are not in the picture) The HT Pott is few bricks less in height (and more than a few studs shorter in length) than my 2019 sternwheeler steamboat MOC, the Proud Mary (link to it's topic). Side note: The two being near each other like this isn't exactly an anachronism, as there were a scant few steamboats still plying the rivers when the HT Pott was built in 1933. (Granted, most steamboats had seen better days and were on the way out or retrofitted for cruising duties by then, but it's still accurate!) Thoughts? EDIT 6/2/22: added real world pictures.
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This streetcar (alongside several others) was built in 1914 by the St. Louis Car Company for use by the Saint Louis Waterworks Division to transport employees and pull freight cars of equipment from the Baden Waterworks to the Chain Of Rocks Water water filtration plant near St. Louis, Missouri on it's own private railway line. These interurban streetcars were also used later by fun seekers going to the then-new Chain of Rocks Amusement park, which was near the plant. Over time, the cars got so full of park-goers, they doubled the ticket prices (to a whopping ten cents!) to deter the public... which did nothing to stop the torrent of people riding the cars! In 1936, the streetcars were replaced with buses, until in 1944 when World War II rationing of gasoline and tires forced the Waterworks Division to un-retire the trolleys until they were finally made permanently redundant on April 30th, 1955 - 70 years ago this month. Cars 10, 11, and 17 were then donated to the Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri. Only cars 10 and 17 survive to this day, as 11 was in very poor shape and was scrapped shortly after donation, with a few parts saved, while 17 is in long term storage out of public view. Car 10, however, was totally restored from 1997 to 2001 and has been run at the Museum by trolley volunteers since then on the demonstration line. Sadly, in January 2025, vandals broke into the museum and damaged / graffitied this car plus a nearby PCC streetcar that also runs at the museum. These two will have to be repaired before they can run again and who knows how long that will take to complete. As such, I don't have my typical picture of the real world vehicle next to the LEGO model... but I do have an old book about the Waterworks Railway featuring the car on the cover, so I used that instead. This LEGO MOC of the 111 year-old Waterworks Car No. 10 has been made in tribute to the blood, sweat, and tears of the Trolley Volunteers who restore, maintain, and run this car and several others at the Museum. I must admit I was inspired by the cable car in set 10308 in several places while designing this MOC. Several differences from the real-world streetcar exist on this model because of issues stemming from this decision. Side view of the streetcar. I used eight XS wheels from Big Ben Bricks for this MOC, as using regular official LEGO wheels would have made it much too tall. The car with one of it's trolley poles raised, ready to depart on it's next journey. Thoughts on this MOC are greatly appreciated!
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I found a builder named jwolfe7 a decade ago who made some instructions for a President's Conference Committee (also known as 'PCC') streetcar. You can see his work here, (including multiple different PCC liveries!) on Flickr, though the instructions link is dead. This particular car that I've constructed based on those instructions is a St Louis one, and is wearing the St. Louis Public Service Company paint scheme worn on PCC's from around the 1940s up until service was discontinued in 1966. This particular car is modeled after one at the Museum of Transportation, car No. 1743, which is operational there but needs some slight work. The LEGO version features two rear lights, one headlight, trolley pole, a accurate number of windows, plus some neat sideways building techniques. The rear of the streetcar isn't totally accurate to the real deal (I'm looking at you, rear window!) but it's close enough for me. Thoughts?
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I remember when the original BNSF Lego set 10133 was delivered back in 2004 to my dad's house. (for him - not me, sadly!) That set, along with the complete Super Chief he already owned from two years prior, got me even more psyched for LEGO trains. Granted, I couldn't afford the set at the time, but now I'm 20 years older and have money - yet still can't afford it! Thus, I decided one day late in March to redesign the 9v Train set 10133 - Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) GP-38 Locomotive into the modern black / yellow / orange color scheme. It turned out nice in LDD, but then I decided to make something else from it's basic shape. I looked around, and saw an high-hood ex-CB&Q SD24 repainted into the Burlington Northern cascade green / black paint and fell in love. This MOC is the result of that love. Burlington Northern SD24 No. 6240 pulling a BN wide-vision caboose. The front end of the diesel loco, with the high short hood. The real BN loco number 6240 was scrapped long ago, but it lives on in my MOC. The rear end of the locomotive. I'm missing the trio of 'torpedo tubes' (air reservoir tanks) up on the roof, and I'm not sure if this bulge on the left side was on the actual SD24 locomotives.... but beyond that, it looks pretty accurate in my eyes. The cab roof comes off to place an engineer fig at the controls. The three-axle truck with the floating middle section is mostly my own design. I based it a bit off a much longer version seen in the Alco MRS-1 sold by Anthony Sava. Built in 1969, this Burlington Northern caboose was the home away from home for the train's conductor and brakemen. This specific sub-type of Caboose is called a wide-vision caboose, which was a type that became prominent after World War II when taller than usual freight cars became common. The new extra-wide cupola allowed the crew to see around these obstacles, but the life of the car was rather short, having last been last used in the 1980s when it was donated to my local train museum. You can find the real-world version of this specific caboose at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. (You'll be seeing a LOT more freight cars from this museum some time soon, so stay tuned to Train Tech for when I post that thread!) The rear of the caboose. Thoughts?
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This train features the following items from the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. Almost all of them are from one track at the museum, with the two cabeese being the exceptions. They are (from L to R, back to front): Wabash streamlined caboose Burlington Northern wide-vision caboose Monsanto nitric acid tanker Union Refrigerator Transit Lines / Milwaukee Road reefer car American Car and Foundry 70 ton two compartment covered hopper Union Tank Line triple dome railroad tank car Van Dyke frameless railroad tanker Chicago and Illinois Midland 2-8-2 steam loco 551 Now let's see them a little closer up, and with their real world counterparts! Wabash streamlined caboose This streamlined Wabash caboose model is based off one at the Museum of Transportation in Saint Louis, Missouri. I don't have many details about the real world 1952-built caboose's service history... All I know it was that, after being retired by the railroad, caboose 2847 was eventually bought by a suburban homeowner and stored on his property for almost 20 years. It was donated to the Museum in 2013, where it still resides today. Rear of the caboose. (I don't have a picture of this one with the real deal... yet) Burlington Northern wide-vision caboose Built in 1969, this Burlington Northern caboose (originally built for Northern Pacific) was the home away from home for the train crew and also served as the office for the conductor, who is in charge of the freight train. The cupola atop the car is the 'watch tower' of the train. When it is operation, the conductor or brakeman sits in the cupola watching to see that the train is running satisfactorily. This specific sub-type of Caboose is called a wide-vision caboose, which was a type that became prominent after World War II, when taller than usual freight cars became common. The new extra wide cupola allowed the crew to see around these obstacles. This caboose was last used in 1983 after a very short service life of just 14 years. It was replaced on modern trains by the FRED (Flashing Rear End Device) with the conductor's office being relocated to the locomotive cab. You can find the real-world version of this caboose at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. the rear of the caboose. This one was still in the process of being repainted. Note the missing BN logo and reporting marks. Monsanto nitric acid tanker The real version of the freight car that inspired this MOC was built in 1940 by American Car and Foundry for Monsanto. The 8,000 gallon double-hull tank car was designed for hauling concentrated nitric acid, which is extremely corrosive. The inner tank is constructed of an aluminum alloy which is protected by an a cushion of air and steel outer shell. The car was donated in 1961 by Monsanto Chemicals Company to the Museum of Transportation (in St. Louis, Missouri) and you can actually walk through the car via the access hatches at either end. Union Refrigerator Transit Lines / Milwaukee Road reefer car Built by General American Transportation Corporation for Union Refrigerator Transit Lines in 1948, this car is a steel bodied reefer with ice bunkers at each end. These ice bunkers 10,400 pounds of chunk ice or 11,500 lbs. of crushed ice. In the winter, charcoal heaters could be placed in the bunkers to keep the cargo from freezing. Fans are located in the floor at each end to circulate air and keep the temperature even throughout the car. Typical cargo would be fresh fruit, vegetables, or eggs. The car was owned by Union Refrigerator Transit Lines but leased to the Milwaukee Road, which is why that railroad's herald is on the sides of the car. This specific car's real-world counterpart was donated to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis by General American Transportation Corporation in 1975. The LEGO version of the reefer car is my own design, and the doors actually open on this one! American Car and Foundry 70 ton two compartment covered hopper Built in 1960 by American Car and Foundry, this two compartment 70-ton capacity steel covered hopper was used to carry bulk items which needed protection from the elements. Cement, grain, dry chemicals, and plastic pellets are examples of typical cargo. This car's real-world counterpart was donated to the Museum of Transportation (in St. Louis, MO) in 1993 by ACF Industries. The Lego MOC version was shortened and modified from instructions for a very similar version inspired by one built by Pullman Standard rather than ACF. I found those instructions on this very cool site here. Union Tank Line triple dome railroad tank car Built by Union Tank Line in 1936, this triple dome tank car (UTLX 3882) was typical of most built until the late 1960's. Each dome is the entry and fill point for a separate compartment which is emptied at the bottom. All three compartments were equipped with steam heating pipes to enable the car to haul thick liquids needing to be heated to flow easily, such as tar. Donated in 1983 to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri by the Union Tank Car Company. Van Dyke frameless railroad tanker This Van Dyke patent frameless tanker (UTLX 14387) was built by the Union Tank Car Company in 1910. The 6,500 gallon petroleum car is an early attempt to build a tank car without a full-length underframe. Short frames at either end attached the tank to the wheels and couplers. The tank itself was constructed of heavy steel plate in order to absorb the movement of the train. The stress caused by this movement cause the tank to flex, loosening the rivets and causing the contents to leak. This problematic design was eliminated by welded seams on modern tank cars. The real car this MOC is based on was donated in 1952 to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri by the Union Tank Car Company. Chicago and Illinois Midland 2-8-2 steam loco 551 Here we see my LEGO model of a real-world steam locomotive, Chicago and Illinois Midland 551. Here is the info on that real engine: This 2-8-2 USRA light Mikado-type locomotive (number 551) was built in 1928 for the Chicago and Illinois Midland (C&IM) to haul freight. This most likely was coal most of the time, as the railroad was owned by Commonwealth Edison power company to get coal from it's southern Illinois mines to it's power plants nearer to Chicago. This loco is the last surviving steamer of that railroad, and it has resided at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri since 1955. The rear of the loco. Inside the cab. Sorry this one is such a crappy pic, there was a crowd of children coming and I was trying to keep them out of the shot. This train constitutes my last Museum trains for a bit.... I've almost run out of things I want to build from there and am trying to pace myself. Thoughts?
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Built by General Motors (GM) / Electro Motive Division (EMD) in 1939, this is the diesel that showed the way to the future, signaling the start of the diesel era. This particular engine (FT 103) was originally owned by Electro-Motive as part of a four unit demonstrator. After proving diesels were the superior to steam by way of a whirlwind tour of a whole heap of railroads, it was later sold to the Southern Railway and the lead A unit was eventually placed in the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri where it resides today, under cover and out of the elements. (the other three units were scrapped before they could be preserved, sadly) My MOC is heavily drawn from the 2002 LEGO set 10020 - Santa Fe Super Chief. As that loco is a F7 from the same basic design as the earlier FT, not much had to be changed on the body outside of window placement and a few other things. The roof however, was completely revised to use the same design as 2013 LEGO Inside Tour set 4000008 - Villy Thomsen Truck. This was due to the needed parts as used in 10020 not being available in black in quantity. The rear of the locomotive. This model was first designed by me in 2013 in a very crude way (as seen on my Flickr here), but was heavily upgraded and modified over the years until finally being built last month when the final part - the windscreen - was released. The inside features the engine and control cab, and the roof is removable. Here is the real loco circa 2018, with the FT B-Unit from the Roanoke Transportation Museum behind the original A-unit. (This B-unit was at the St. Louis museum from 2015 to 2020 as part of a loan, but has since returned to Virginia.) Thoughts?
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Both of the models featured in this thread together. This 2-10-0 'Decapod'-type freight locomotive was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1918 under contract with Imperial Russia as part of an 1,200 strong order. Needleless to say, after the Communist Revolution the last 200 or so locos were not deliverable. Twenty of these orphaned engines were subsequently purchased by the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway (also known as the 'Frisco') - including this loco, 1621 - and modified from Russian 5 foot gauge to the standard 4 foot, 8 1/2 inch gauge, among other changes. After working on the Frisco for many years it was purchased by Eagle-Picher Industries to haul lead ore to it's smelting plant in Oklahoma, before eventually being donated to the Museum of transportation in St. Louis, Missouri as a static display in 1961, where it still resides today. The 1621 also has a operational sibling (1630) you can see / ride behind at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. My LEGO model of the 2-10-0 is 7 studs wide, and is not lettered for Eagle-Picher like the real engine is currently. I have instead chosen to label it how it was before the recent remodel, with the only road name visible being Frisco. Truth be told, I borrowed a lot of the design for the 1621 from an earlier loco of mine from this same museum, a 2-8-2 lettered for the Chicago & Illinois Midland. I stretched out the engine's frame, added two more drivers, removed the rear pony truck, and revised the tender and cab quite a bit. (The boiler is brand new however!) The rear of the engine. Sadly, this will most likely be my last loco using small drivers, since Big Ben Bricks is closing / going away at the end of this month... and before anyone asks, I refuse to use 3D printed parts! A view inside the cab. This is a LEGO model of an St. Louis - San Francisco Railway (also known as the 'Frisco') wood-sheathed caboose from 1942 that used to be at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, MO. Not much about this rolling stock is known (or at least I can't find any info!), as it was scrapped in place in 2012 due to being totally beyond saving. This model is an approximation of the former caboose based on pictures from when it was scrapped and pictures of other Frisco cabooses from the 1940s, as I've been unable to find pictures of this specific car in it's glory days. NOTES: The 1621 steam loco MOC has spurred the re-model of it's stablemate, 4-8-2 'Mountain' type Frisco 1522, into 7 wide with some accompanying upgrades. Keep an eye out for this revised model, coming soon! Thoughts?
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In 1948 the Whitcomb Locomotive Company of Rochelle, Illinois built this 65-ton industrial switcher, model 65-DE-17-A for American Steel Foundries - specifically the Granite City Works (of Granite City, Illinois) as their locomotive number 8. The diesel has a B-B wheel classification, cost $49,775 when new, and was built with two Hercules, 4 cycle, 6 cylinder diesel engines that each produced 240 horsepower, for a total of 480 HP. (These were later replaced with 200 HP Cummins engines, giving it 400 HP.) The loco has a top speed of 41 MPH and was donated in 1980 to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis by American Steel Foundries. My unpowered LEGO version is 7 studs wide with both the front and back ends being identical. Is this the front, or is it the rear? Nobody knows for sure! Thoughts?