Conrail GP40 building instructions

[zephyr1934]

[

available here]

The Lego Corporation has built a fine collection of model trains with many train sets aimed at the adult fan of Lego (AFOL). These instructions replicate the design of the locomotive from one of the most famous of these sets: the Maersk Container Train, set 10219. These instructions are intended to be a gateway for the AFOL looking for a more detailed build beyond the regular sets.

The locomotive from 10219 most closely resembles a GP40 or GP40-2. The choice of Conrail was driven by part availability. This build was intended to minimize costs wherever possible, e.g., at the time of this writing the 6x28 train base is quite expensive in many of the colors. However, set 60052 the city cargo train has two blue 6x28 train bases and is currently available from Lego.com as well as many retailers. This set also has most of the expensive components necessary for the build, including power functions components to power the locomotive, wheels and couplers, and even a bit of track to run it on. You will need to add a lot of parts to the build, but whenever possible I used common parts.

One key thing that is lacking in most fan-designed models are stickers or decals to decorate the final creation. Don't worry, I've thought of that too and I am working with a sign shop to print white on clear stickers for this model. If you are familiar with North American railroads, you know that locomotives like these usually run with multiple units. So the sticker sheets include the lettering for two units, each with different road numbers.

These instructions include two variants. If you build power functions trains you can build a powered and unpowered unit to run as a set. If you build 9V trains you can modify the unpowered model with one or more 9V motors.

To complete the locomotives (and help encourage more instructions like these) be sure to pick up the corresponding decals either from bricklink (via http://TrainedBricks.com and look under "stickers") or drop a private message to zephyr1934 on Eurobricks.

The instructions are available at http://CR-GP40.TrainedBricks.com

At the moment I am offering two different sets of road numbers (3051+3166 or 3108+3245). If someone wants to buy stickers for more than four locomotives just let me know and I could add more road numbers.

The actual stickers will be on clear material and look similar to this prototype.

Here is an earlier thread on the build, and brickshelf gallery of the model

Click here for the instructions

Click here for my bricklink store where you can buy the stickers

[marook]

Wow, great work! Thanks!

[Legopold]

Excellent work!

[JayDee96]

Very well thought out zephy, this could be a nice trend if it catches on, will likely end up getting stickers in the future.

[gifinim]

Fantastic work, especially on the stickers.

[lanesteele240]

Thank you very much for your time and effort in all this work Could you make csx decals instead. Not much on conrail but i would purchase a set or two of csx stickers

[cgarison]

Very nice work.

[zephyr1934]

Thank you all for the kind words. I found the instructions probably took more time than designing the model in the first place. Though it is worth it, I think we need a few affordable gateway models for AFOLs. Of course we could always use more...

Thank you very much for your time and effort in all this work Could you make csx decals instead. Not much on conrail but i would purchase a set or two of csx stickers

Indeed, Conrail is not for everyone and it was not on my radar until I started looking at train base availability, but I figure it is likely more common in the US than, say, Maersk. I would also agree that there should be stickers for many more railroads. CSX and UP seem to be among the most popular across the MOCs I've seen, then NS and CN. So not yet on CSX, but hopefully in the future. Especially if there are several folks seeking a specific railroad. There is a lot of time investment in getting the stickers right.

For more discussion about stickers without instructions, topic-wise it might be better to move that discussion to an earlier thread on stickers or PM.

[bryangardner]

I watched Conrail roll through my hometown at least 40 times a day! Can't wait to add this to my set...

I would like to see a set of N&W stickers... that and many of the other preceding train lines that have been gobbled up here lately!

[Vliebricker]

Wonderful job, Zephyr1934, as soon as I've some time I'll try to rebuild the "blue cargotrain" into the GP40. Great to know that stickers are available for a proper finishing touch.

[zephyr1934]

Wonderful job, Zephyr1934, as soon as I've some time I'll try to rebuild the "blue cargotrain" into the GP40. Great to know that stickers are available for a proper finishing touch.

Thank you, and yes, indeed, these instructions are intended to be a gateway model for folks looking for a more in depth offering than what is currently available from Lego. To this end, I chose Conrail as the railroad for this model because I suspect it is by far the cheapest design given current parts availability.

One very important point that I think may have been lost in my original post...

the Conrail instructions are distributed completely FREE.

While the stickers are not free, they help give a focal-point to the model. I suspect the build could easily be modified further to simply work with the stickers from the blue cargo train.

Thank you very much for your time and effort in all this work Could you make csx decals instead. Not much on conrail but i would purchase a set or two of csx stickers

I would like to see a set of N&W stickers... that and many of the other preceding train lines that have been gobbled up here lately!

In the long run I hope to put together a collection of "off the shelf" sticker designs from other railroads for folks to order. The one challenge is that there are so many different build techniques- one person might need a 3 wide herald while the next needs a 5 wide herald. Then the locomotive numbers, then the need for a special stripe, etc. etc..

With the Conrail build I can have a set of standardized stickers that I do not need to layout differently each time. The layout is quite time consuming but because each reprint does not require the layout I can absorb that time.

So the railroad specific sticker sets should come in time. I'll use Conrail as the starting point to work out the distribution process. However, if there is already a lot of demand for stickers for a given railroad, e.g., CSX, or UP, or ..., then these folks should post. If I can get something that works for 3-4 people I'd be willing to try to give that a go sooner.

[Spellbinder99]

Thanks for making these instructions available Zephyr. I have the Freight Train set but am collecting the parts to build this Loco from my spare parts and buying in what else I need as it look pretty cool and certainly is a more substantial engine than the one included in the set. Cheers!

[THERIZE]

May sound stupid but the buffers look pretty nice! As I'm a european a train without buffers is like a plane without wings.

[zephyr1934]

Thanks for making these instructions available Zephyr. I have the Freight Train set but am collecting the parts to build this Loco from my spare parts and buying in what else I need as it look pretty cool and certainly is a more substantial engine than the one included in the set. Cheers!

Oh yes, definite a more detailed locomotive than 60052 since this build is based off of the AFOL set 10219. Part of my objective is to provide a gateway train for the AFOLs looking for something more indepth than the current offering of sets. It should be a lot cheaper to build than a Maersk set these days.

May sound stupid but the buffers look pretty nice! As I'm a european a train without buffers is like a plane without wings.

They certainly pay homage to earlier lego sets that were based on N. American locomotives. That is the nice thing about lego, there is always room to modify it to your tastes.

[trainbot1]

nevermind i read the readme

Edited June 5, 2015 by trainbot1

[spirosand]

I love this train, thanks so much for pulling this together.

One question: is there a list of additional bricks i need to complete this assuming i have the base train? i know i can compare the parts list from the original and your parts list, i'm just wondering if that has already been done. i will have to order the parts, as my collection of Lego is really small apart from completed kits.

Again, i absolutely love this, and i really appreciate your putting in the time to publish the instructions. I'm an AFOL, but not much of a customizer (yet).

[zephyr1934]

I love this train, thanks so much for pulling this together.

One question: is there a list of additional bricks i need to complete this assuming i have the base train? i know i can compare the parts list from the original and your parts list, i'm just wondering if that has already been done. i will have to order the parts, as my collection of Lego is really small apart from completed kits.

Again, i absolutely love this, and i really appreciate your putting in the time to publish the instructions. I'm an AFOL, but not much of a customizer (yet).

Oh, thanks for the kind words and you are quite welcome. This set of instructions was my way of making it easier for folks just like you to get into the hobby. No, I have not compared the parts list from the set against the instructions, I just made sure that the most expensive parts (at the time I made the instructions) would be in the set. If you stumble on to something that is too expensive certainly substitute, e.g., much of the 1x4 bricks in the walls could be built with 2x4's (well, you will need some 1x walls in the PF powered unit) or 1x6 bricks, or panels, or ... you get the idea. Also the 4x4 plates can be replaced with a pair of 2x4 plates, etc. You can print off the parts list from the instructions and then review the parts list from the set, checking things off that are already in hand.

[dxpert]

Fantastic guide! Very detailed and very clear. Great build. I think that the switch is used to reverse the direction of the second truck, but I'm not positive. Can you confirm?

Where can I download more guides like this one?

Thanks.

[zephyr1934]

Hi dxpert,

yes, the pole reverser is used to flip the polarity for the second motor. In this configuration they have to run in opposite directions. If you forego the lego train baseplate you can run two motors in the same direction, but that is a more advanced technique than what I wanted for this build.

If you poke around the EB train forums, MOC pages, and elsewhere you can find instructions or LDD files for several good looking trains. There are a few sites that also have instructions available, including RailBricks, LGauge, and rebrickable.

There are also several folks who sell instructions, e.g., Michael Gale and Tony Sava

[A Gallifreyan Cat]

Plus one to Railbricks. There is some great stuff there.

[zephyr1934]

So there was one thing that always bugged me about the Maersk locomotive, and it was the same thing that bugged me about the BNSF: the side cab windows were just flat out wrong. In my various MOCs I had come up with a 5 long cab and side windows that I liked, but it took a ton of bricks and you couldn't see through the windows.

Since I will need my GP 40's to pull my new well cars at the NMRA National Train Show in a month I wanted to spruce up the looks and came up with this sticker based solution that replicates the appearance of my earlier brick built solution, compare the stock design on the left and the sticker windows on the right,

Now you can see through the entire cab to the other side. Much more efficient in terms of bricks, and the engineer can even sit in the cab with the fancy windows.

While I like the direction this is going, I still want to adjust the design, bringing the bottom of the window up one plate and making the frame a little darker. Once I get this in to a final design I'll start figuring out how to also retrofit the Maersk model.

A few more shots can be found here.

[Nemo57]

Perfect solution. And it will come to many locomotives that have a white frame and dimensioned window.

[Dread Pirate Rob]

Looks great! It is a huge improvement. You are right; no going back now, you will have to do the whole fleet:)

[zephyr1934]

Thanks all, I think simply putting the trans clear panel in makes a huge difference (but I'd suggest making the 1x2 plate blue in this case, or gray for the original Maersk version).

So, any thoughts on the height of the windows? As mentioned above, my first thought was to shorten the windows by 1 plate, right now the sticker completely covers the tile below, making the window and frame a total of two bricks tall. Now that I'm looking again, perhaps the two brick tall version is fine. Any thoughts one way or the other?

@DPR

the second Conrail engine is just waiting for its rebuild, while I have even bigger plans for the Maersk loco... but that will get a new thread when the time comes.

[mjotrainbrain]

Those locomotives looks great! I had forgot how much I enjoyed Conrail's simple paint scheme.