AbleChristopher

Thank you very much @Feuer Zug!

Thanks a ton @zephyr1934, wouldn't have been possible without your rods and bars. I appreciate your eye for the details, getting the look of #844 dialed in while maximizing structural integrity resulted in many creative solutions. The trick of the centipede tender is that the 5-wheel set swivels while certain wheels are also allowed to slide, not only on their axle but the wheel coverings (which are rigid on the real locomotive) slide with the wheels. I have seen many centipede tenders and doubt I am the first to come up with this concept, but it has been employed to great effect on this model. I appreciate those kind words @thesnoqualmieroute, I spent far too much time trying out colors and pieces in the cab. Historical photo's of the FEF-3's from the 1940's are all black and white. So I had to do a big history dive to figure out what Lego colors would be the most accurate. I am glad you appreciate that!

DONE. I am happy to share with you all that my UP #844 model is now complete. A build long in the making...for well over a year and spanning many life changes that attempted to derail this project, Union Pacific #844 finally emerges from my workshop. UP #844 has captured my imagination since childhood, appearing in several mini-series, TV shows and ads from the early 1990’s. With a sleek body, brutish flat face, high stepping drivers and enormous smoke deflectors, it embodies every definition of monstrous speed and power. Manufactured by the American Locomotive Company and delivered to UP in 1944 to accommodate both wartime traffic and the projected increase in passenger service after the war, #835-844 were built upon the nearly perfected FEF-1 and FEF-2 series of locomotives delivered between 1937-1939. The entire FEF-3 series proved to be a masterpiece of design and was continuously called upon to lead top priority freight and passenger service. #844 was delivered on a cold December day in 1944 as the final steam locomotive ever received by UP. Truly an unsleeping giant, #844 is the only steam locomotive of any American Class 1 railroad that has never been struck from the roster. Throughout her revenue career, she headed express freight, fast mail, and the most prestigious passenger trains of the central high plains and mountainous west – The Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose, and Pony Express. Fitted with 80-inch drivers and a 300 psi operating boiler pressure, #844 generates 63,800 lbs of tractive effort. She was designed to comfortably haul a 1,000-ton train at 100 mph and would regularly run at 120 mph. Significant research was put into this model. Before even laying out the frame I had compiled an 80-year timeline documenting every minor, and major, upgrade, repainting, and alteration. I had one specific goal in mind: to capture her high-speed passenger service essence. As such, I have modeled her exactly as she would have appeared in April of 1949 – oil burning, with a Sellers exhaust steam injector and painted in the famous two-tone gray of Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray. I am proud to say that this is one of the most accurate representations of a two-tone gray FEF-3 in the modeling world. This model is 8-wide and precisely 1:48 scale. #844 represents the absolute apex of duel-service steam and I want this model to represent nothing less. It is powered by two L power function motors in a 1:1 gear ratio so that she has both high tractive effort and can travel at high speed. The tender is fitted with a power functions control switch and two V2 IR receivers, one dedicated to each motor, powered by a 20c 7.4V Turnigy battery. I design all my models with usability in mind. That being said, due to the #844’s unavoidable long legs, the locomotive can technically snake its way through R56 curves but is much happier with R120. I will pride myself in saying that the tender can navigate R40 due to my engineering of a unique design to conquer the flexibility challenges that plagues centipede tenders. Custom wheels and drivers were sourced from Brick Train Depot and Breckland Bricks while the Walschaerts valve gear is from Trained Bricks. I want to particularly thank Monty’s Trains who designed and printed all stickers you see on this model. Monty also provided the technical experience that allowed me to upgrade from a standard Lego battery pack to the vastly superior LiPo world. I strive to make my models both detailed and accessible. As such, instructions ARE available for this model in both two-tone gray and black (accurately dated to July 1954). Additionally, both liveries come with simple and complex valve gear instructions. Today known as The Living Legend, UP #844 is the last of a great breed and represents the absolute apex of duel-service steam as one of the most powerful, prestigious and well-engineered Northern type locomotives of all time. I feel extremely grateful to the Union Pacific Steam Team for ensuring that, through unquantifiable amounts of continuous labor, #844’s clock is not approaching twilight, but held at dawn. She is poised to travel the high iron for time eternal, forever roaring across the heartland plains and into the rising sun. Thank you everyone for taking time to read this post, I greatly appreciate your questions, comments and praise. This model represents the end of a personal era, and I appreciate all the encouragement and support that I received from the community along the way. Railroading and Lego modeling are my passions, and I am happy to be part of these growing communities. More photos can be found over on my Flickr page. https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopher_locomotive_works/ Cort

@thesnoqualmieroute this is astonishingly well done! I thoroughly enjoyed the read, in my opinion a project is so much more satisfying when it is accompanied by history and a story. As a fellow PNW native, I too am partial to the fallen flags of the north (Northern Pacific, Great Northern, etc.). There is an industrial beauty to NP's A-series Northerns or Z-series Challengers, Great Northern's Q-series 2-10-2's, etc. I notice many details in your model that give the locomotive that specific Northern Pacific look. I am a part time volunteer on SP&S 700, so I would know. Fantastic work.

Incredible build @Kyle84! I am an enormous fan of the books and of course the film. Do you have instructions or a Stud.io file for sale? I would be happy to purchase a copy.

Wonderful work, Wolf. The balance between detailing and streamlining is so challenging, and you nailed it!

In progress! Several elements of the locomotive are being rebuilt after the first trial run period. I am also decreasing the gear ratio from 3:1 to 1:1. Pilot truck, trailing truck, centipede tender, gear tower...all improved. These extensive changes take time, but ensure that the final build will be a great runner and fun to build. Thank you for your continued interest!

Fascinating, this was not my assumption at all. Well then the 844s differential is getting scrapped and the gearing ratio will be reduced to 1:1. The 3:1 ratio I originally designed combined with XXL drivers allowed very high speed, but did not have enough torque at low speed to start much of a consist. A ratio of 1.3:1 might be it's magic number...to be determined in rebuild #2.

Thanks Jeffery, very insightful, love your builds. And there have been no issues with two IR receivers? My biggest concern is one receives a signal and the other does not causing one to increase or decrease rpm while the other tries to stay the same. This is assuming the wiring is set to receive the same color coded command from the controller (all wiring on the blue connector for both receivers so only the Blue knob on the controller needs to be turned to give a command to both recievers at once)

Glenn, with two L motors (facing each other, and connected to the same gear, I assume) wired to their own receiver, do you not run into issues with one motor spinning faster than the other? I could see this happening either because one receiver didn't acknowledge an order from the controller or because one motor has a slightly different rpm due to age, or other factors. The only way to avoid excessive wear and tear on the motors would be to install a differential within the boiler. I have gone down that path with the 844, but after looking at my mechanical disaster and/or masterpiece, I thought it was worth it to pose the question to you.

Fantastic work, Glenn!

Thank you both! Having this thing finished will be a bit of a dream come true. First draft of the walschaerts valve gear is running...a video is over on my flickr.

And I love the support! Its progressing! I have wheels, stickers and custom rods/valve gear pieces being drafted or on their way to me. Lots of work to be done with trial runs, but it is coming together. Thank you for your continued interest!

I'm not yet sure. One of my "building beliefs" is to have instructions be available to as many folks as possible while also helping offset the cost of the initial build. My other instructions are $25 each, so somewhere around there is reasonable to expect. I hope to run it at Bricks Cascade next year, so I have got to hurry and get this thing put together and started on its trial runs! https://www.brickscascade.com/

It will be powered by two large PF motors within the boiler.