TTCE: German BR 50 PF Steam Train

[missouri_bb63]

ENTERED

Hi Eurobrick Members!

I have just come out of my dark ages and I am now scouring the internet looking for sites with new members that can give me constructive feedback for my future builds. Having seen some very familiar, high quality steam locomotives on this site, I figured I have come to the right place. My first MOC in 13 years is this Power Functions BR50 steam train.

All the details and a load of pictures are on my MOC Pages webpage. It would be great if you could leave me your comments and a rating during your visit (you don't have to be an mocpages member to leave a rating). You are very welcome to leave comments here too if you prefer.

My high res. pictures and a video of the train in action can be found on my Flickr page.

I hope you like it!

Edited September 29, 2009 by TheBrickster

[Modulex Guy]

:Drool

Very beautiful train! Great detail on the locomotive, you hid the Power Functions very well.

And welcome to EuroBricks!

[Holodoc]

What a brilliant way to say Hello, missouri_bb63!

Very nice and accurate MOC you did.

Would you mind to tell something more about yourself here?

Anyway, welcome again and enjoy the place.

[missouri_bb63]

Oops! I've been so busy with the other threads that I forgot to check on my own.

Thanks you guys for your positive feedback. As I don't have access to an actual collection of lego bricks (all in long term storage), all the bricks for this MOC were bought on BrickLink. This was actually built to be a present and I will be handing it over this Christmas. It was built like a tank with not too many small parts or details details in the hope it may survive many years as a childrens toy.... only time will tell.

I was orginally going to build a Challenger locomotive for myself this year (have had the BBB wheels lying around for many months now), but watching the Discovery Science channel shortly after I completed the BR50 I got an idea for something completely different. No, it is not related to trains, but have no fear, the Challenger will come at some point.

Thanks again and happy building!

Edited September 28, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[WesternOutlaw]

Missouri: This is a very nice creation. Do you want to enter in our Train Tech building contest?

[missouri_bb63]

Hi Brickster,

if that were possible that would be great! As you can see from the date of the initial post, it was built before the competition so I figured it couldn't be entered.

You can find additional high res pictures on Flickr along with descriptions and a video of it in action. I will see if I can upload some more pictures of the waggon and it's contents later today.

Thanks for pointing out the possibility!

[WesternOutlaw]

As you can see from the date of the initial post, it was built before the competition so I figured it couldn't be entered.

You shared it the day the contest was released, so I think it can be entered - done.

[SavaTheAggie]

I've already commented on this MOC on Flickr, but it's worthy of commenting on it again. It's already been said, but I am thoroughly impressed how well you've hidden your PF elements into the locomotive, the prototype seems to have been made for them. One of these days I'm going to have to build myself a German style steamer, if I ever do I'll certainly be looking to your work for inspiration.

--Tony

[missouri_bb63]

Hi Tony, yes you have and thanks once again for your positive feedback! Your work is definitely an inspiration to many of us including myself.

I have just uploaded a few more pictures to Flickr, one of which shows the two M Motors inside the boiler (just incase there are still some sceptics out there). The direct Link to my Flickr page is in my signature below.

As this is now a contest entry I figured I should say a little more about this project. If you want to find out more about the BR50 range of locomotives check out this wikipedia article.

As I mentioned earlier, this whole project was intended to a present from the start. This model is based on a specific train which is on display in a small town in the south of Germany. A family that originally comes from that small town were a huge support for me over the past few years and I was looking for a way to thank the family as whole, and give them something that the next few generations of kids and grand kids can remember them by.

The locomotive is like the base of a family tree. It represents the town the parents came from and carries the now rapidly expanding family with it. Each member of the immediate family (2 parents, 3 daughters, 2 husbands in law and 2 grand children), are represented by minifigs which I made to represent each family member as closely as possible. Unfortunately I am away from home for a few weeks but will post a picture of the Minifigs when I get back. The train driver you see is actually the father of the family. He collects silly hats (hence the red one on the minifig), and he also always intends to fix stuff around the house... but never quite gets around to it, hence the torso with the tools. Each minifig/family member also has their favorite pastime with them. Books, snowboard, dog etc ... and I even made a very large NOS bottle for one of the husbands in law which can be hooked up inside the drivers cabin. (no idea what that would do to a steam engine...)

The wagon is also a replica of the one at the museum but it does not have an interior as it carries items which are important to the family, or represent mutual memories in some way. This includes the pastime items mentioned above as well as the billiard table and piano that we used to play with at their house when we were kids (photo on Flickr). The inspiration for those 2 items came from a combination of various MOCs I found online. The 6 wheel configuration on the wagon (which is what the real version has), can be changed to a 4 at the front and 4 at the back setup so that it can go around the track. I will also post a picture of that when I get home.

The family often only meets once every two years (happens to be this year), and they will get the train as a surprise present this Christmas, completely disassembled and they will get to build it as a family. There is enough track with it so it can go around the Christmas tree once completed.

As the family expands so will the minifigs and items on board. Hopefully the set will also expand as soon as the grand kids get into Lego in a few years time. This way it might still be used even once the parents (who are now in their mid 60s) are gone and some important family memories will stay alive.

Edited September 29, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[fonz]

really like this steamer! what...and how much stuff do i need to run a train on Power functions.

[missouri_bb63]

really like this steamer! what...and how much stuff do i need to run a train on Power functions.

Unfortunately you need quite a lot to run with power functions.

8878 battery box (rechargable) or 8881 battery box with 6AA batteries.

8879 remote speed control (variable speed) or 8885 (fixed speed)

8882 XL motor or 8883 M motor(s) depending on the power you need

8884 IR sensor

8887 Transformer (battery charger)

I used, 8878, 8885 (because 8878 was taken off the market for a while), 2x 8883, 8884 and 8887 plus a PF extension cable to bring the power from the tender to the boiler.

It is expensive too. I am sure I paid over 100 Euros for the PF gear plus shipping on BrickLink.com

There is a great thread about the pros and cons of each system here. It is definitely great for steamers as you can actually power the drivers with them. Happy building!

Edited September 29, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[Bonaparte]

That's a brilliant steam engine. The black in combination red is a classic and it always works. To me this one looks perfect (and I'm kinda a train expert because I take one to the office every day ).

[missouri_bb63]

As promissed many weeks ago (was only home for one weekend inbetween and forgot), here are the pictures of the custom Minifigs that represent the family to whom this train will be given at Christmas (details mentioned my previous post). As you can see they have all their favorite things with them.

In the standard setup, two of them are being pulled along on their snowboards. Unfortunatety I haven't managed to get that to work on the track though. I might have to make something to help guide the boards along the track.

As I also mentioned that the 3 original 3 wheel setup had to be changed for the car to go around corners (yes, it really looks this bland in real life too... but it is authentic )

By simply moving the middle wheels to one of the train bogie plates, placing an extra set of wheels on the other, and then removing the 1x10 plates that lock the bogie inplace... one has a car that goes around corners. I tried various techniques to get it to work with the original 3 wheel setup (including stiff tubing), but nothing worked particularly well so I went with this option. ther is a picture of the underside of the car on Brickshelf.

Edited October 14, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[aawsum]

As promissed many weeks ago (was only home for one weekend inbetween and forgot), here are the pictures of the custom Minifigs that represent the family to whom this train will be given at Christmas (details mentioned my previous post). As you can see they have all their favorite things with them.

..............

As promissed many weeks ago (was only home for one weekend inbetween and forgot), here are the pictures of the custom Minifigs that represent the family to whom this train will be given at Christmas (details mentioned my previous post). As you can see they have all their favorite things with them.

I am seeing double

As I also mentioned that the 3 original 3 wheel setup had to be changed for the car to go around corners (yes, it really looks this bland in real life too... but it is authentic )

Does this really exist in life ? This is probably only on a track without corners

Looking very good BTW, also the toys

[missouri_bb63]

I am seeing double

Does this really exist in life ? This is probably only on a track without corners

Looking very good BTW, also the toys

OOPS! Thanks for pointing that out. Got a little carried away with the copy/paste there.

Yes it really does have 3 sets of wheels in real life. Unfortunately almost all the picture I took of the train were damaged when my hard drive crashed.. but in this picture you can still see the three sets of wheels (you just need focus a little harder as there is a break running right down them middle of the picture ). As the car is quite short I guess it doesn't have any problems going around normal curves and switches.

Fortunately I will be back down there soon and will re-take all the pictures.

Edited October 14, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[aawsum]

(you just need focus a little harder as there is a break running right down them middle of the picture )

interesting tree, are you a magician ?

[Duq]

Here's a picture on railfaneurope:

Remember real life curves are nowhere near as tight as Lego ones...

[missouri_bb63]

Here's a picture on railfaneurope:

Remember real life curves are nowhere near as tight as Lego ones...

Thanks for the contribution Duq! I had never seen those 6 wheelers before the one in Blumberg. They really look nice in good condition!

Edited October 15, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[BMW]

Remember real life curves are nowhere near as tight as Lego ones...

I've tended towards building shorter rolling stock for just this reason. Its an engineering marvel to make a Big-Boy run around a traction radius curve... but it will never look good doing so.

- BMW

[missouri_bb63]

I've tended towards building shorter rolling stock for just this reason. Its an engineering marvel to make a Big-Boy run around a traction radius curve... but it will never look good doing so.

- BMW

No they don't you are right, but like you said, the fact that they can do it at all is pretty ingenious. Especialy as one often doesn't even see all the engineering trickery when it is positioned on a straight piece of track. HoMa made a wide curved track for his ICE 3, that would suit the Lego Big-Boys quite well.

Edited October 18, 2009 by missouri_bb63

[missouri_bb63]

Right, at long last here is a descent video of my BR50 in action. Check out the video here

It is running at about 50% power at this point. The new remote (set 8879) with the adjustable speeds is definitely worth the few extra Euros.

As I mentioned earlier, this set was a present for some friends and was given to them completely disassembled at Christmas. It took them about a day and a half with various family members working on different parts in parallel, and the video shows the end result.

The original idea was that it would run under the Christmas tree but unfortunately there were too many low hanging branches which one would have had to cut off (which is why it is on the table).