MOC: BR 055 Freight locomotive

[Duq]

After building two tank engines, the BR 070 and BR 065 I thought it was time for something with a tender. There are many to choose from in Germany but in the end I picked the BR 055.

There aren't many pictures of the real thing online so I mostly based my model on pictures from the likes of Fleischmann and Marklin. Grunneger also helped me out with some pictures he took himself of a BR 055 as well as a blue print from a book in his collection. Thanks! Using a little tool I wrote back in the VB6 days I put a brick grid on the blueprint. Apart from the gap between engine and tender I've managed to stay pretty close:

The tender on this engine has quite a tricky shape at the back. With some snotting in all directions it worked out quite well. Oh, and underneath all the snot I had to get the wires in for the lights.

The battery and receiver completely filled the tender so the (PF-L) motor had to fit in the engine. Not easy, because I wanted to keep that gap underneath the boiler:

The driving gear wasn't easy either. The initial version had some issues with the rods catching eachother as documented here. This version works a treat though.

Going round corners is always difficult. The tight curves are the reason that the gap between engine and tender is much bigger than in real life.

To keep that gap as small as possible the flanged drivers are on the second and fourth axle. That unfortunately results in the front hanging well outside the track in turns. Compromises...

The tender itself also took some tinkering. It has three axles and they are too far apart to make it around a corner if they were rigid. With the way I did the detailing on the side there was no room for the normal sliding axle. In the end the solution was to make a 5-wide axle; the middle wheels never touch the rails at the same time but they're close enough to look ok from the side.

Overall I'm quite pleased with how this engine turned out. I may paint the rods and add some stickers at some stage but that's about it. Looking forward to running it on a layout now.

[Hrw-Amen]

This looks good with lots of detail. Not to sure about the detailing on the tender's wheels though, maybe a little over the top as it does seem from the photos you were working on that the wheels are at least visible? Maybe it is just the angle of the photo though. Still not for me to comment really as I tend to go overboard with tender wheel detailing as well, on top of that I am not sure I could match your level of detail on the engine, it looks superb.

[Hey Joe]

That's a beauty and sounds like it was a true challenge. The gap between the engine and tender looks quite acceptable, particularly since it's Lego.

Joe

[Duq]

Thanks for the complements guys.

@Hrw-Amen: You're right, the sides of the tender are a bit too low. However taking off a plate would leave them too short and would not leave much space for detailing. Moving the whole tender up a plate would make it too tall compared to the engine. It's all about compromises...

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful locomotive and excellent construction technique Duq!!!

I must hurry up to post my new topic ...the BR locomotives are finishing!

Maybe tomorrow...

[Rom1Kno]

such a great work ! you certainly have a great building technic to get as close as this ti the model ;)

[zephyr1934]

Stupendous build! Looks great.

[Duq]

Thanks guys!

I must hurry up to post my new topic ...the BR locomotives are finishing!

Don't worry about BR's running out. Nothing wrong with different interpretations of prototypes. The BR 94 is still on my todo list for example...

[harnbak]

Very cute and delicate! Excellent work!

[Captain Green Hair]

You've made a beautiful loco, I love the snotted back and the studs on the tender. Well done!

[harnbak]

Is it possible to do a video especially about it's size in relation to standard train?

I would love to see it move and see the scale (it looks so tiny). Thx

Edited May 30, 2013 by harnbak

[Duq]

As you can see from the first picture it's about 52 studs long (without buffers) so that's only a few studs longer than Emerald Night I think.

I'll add some more pictures and I'll try and do a video as well.

[Duq]

Here's the size comparison with the Emerald Night:

As you can see it's only a few studs longer.

And look, it actually moves!

[Frank STENGEL]

Don't worry about BR's running out. Nothing wrong with different interpretations of prototypes. The BR 94 is still on my todo list for example...

Which BR 94? There were quite a few variations in shape and size...

[ronenson]

As you can see it's only a few studs longer.

And look, it actually moves!

Looks really nice, especially in video where you can see it moving. Makes it come alive.

[harnbak]

Thx for pictures and video - love it!

[Duq]

@Frank: Not sure yet. I haven't studied the BR 94 much sofar, it's not top of the list. It'll probably be a version close to the Fleischmann model as that's what I remember from my dads model trains in the attic ;-)

@ronandson: Thanks!

@harnbak: you're welcome!

Took a few more pictures, showing how it handles points. Took a video of that too but I'm on a slow connection now so I'll upload that later.

[bricks n bolts]

Congratulations Duq on the magnificent build. That's seriously tricky stuff getting the BRs through points and the like, I'm about two years now into my BR35 build and am still not satisfied.

[Asper]

Wonderful engine! There are such many small details that all make this steamer look so real.