MOC- the streamlined North Coast Limited passenger train

[SavaTheAggie]

That's not a bad train, for a 6-wide. For an 8-wide it's terrible... you know, cause it's 6-wide. :)

Excellent work, my friend. I love the part usage on the headlight - I'm going to have to try to remember that one. I want to build a particular F Unit and I suspect I'll be borrowing a few ideas from this.

--Tony

[zephyr1934]

Yet again I am humbled by all the kind words... answering the various questions...

I like how you make full trains instead of just locos. Does the makeup of the train actually reflect prototypical consists?

The headlights on your A units are a novel touch - I don't think I've seen that before. What are you using for the center frames in the domes? It's not more 3x3 corners is it?

Also. Nice stickers.

Indeed, I love the old passenger trains. It is hard to imagine what a third of a mile long passenger train might look like all painted like this as it zipped passed a crossing. The actual consist would be more like 15-20 cars. So not counting the missing cars, yes, this is a prototypical consist. Perhaps the most notable exception is that until the last decade of passenger service, the NP had a policy of at least one flat roof car in front of every dome so as not to impede the view. So there should be a coach between the two domes. But I did not want to do that because then the train would almost alternate dome, flat roof, dome. The sleeper dome would get lost in the shuffle.

While I came up with that headlight trick on my own, I have since stumbled on to a lot of other folks who invented it before me. Keep an eye out and you will start seeing it.

The domes are a crazy nightmare. Click here for the details of how I built them (many clear pieces have been recolored to help show what goes where).

Meanwhile, I've uploaded a few more details to the same directory (once moderated), including an exploded view of the A unit nose. Of course there are easier ways of doing it if you have more parts than what are available in sand green.

Wow!

I would buy a Creator or UCS Expert version of this train.

When the Super Chief came out, I always hoped they would eventually make other railroads too... but if lego was only going to do one, then the Super Chief is probably the most iconic. Maybe the IDEAS sets will eventually get to the point where lego can do many small runs of niche market sets, then the AFOL train fan market can be met without sacrificing the next police or fire station.

Those big sweeping turns on PennLUG's layout really make this train shine! Excellent work and what an amazing investment in sand green parts.

My question is how long will this train run with all of those cars with 2 motors and one battery pack?

Indeed, the PennLUG layout is fantastic (it is hard not to look good on it given all the detailing they've done). Meanwhile, the fact that I am active in a club that puts on public displays meant that much of the sand green came via lugbulk (still expensive, but it could be worse)

With regular lego curves the full train requires a little attention to get it running fine. I have rare earth magnets helping increase the coupling strength, but still, if the train is moving too fast in the curves they might pull apart. Once moving, if starting with a freshly charged battery it has to run slow for 20-30 min. Then as the battery drains it slows down just a bit, notch it up one step and it will then run at a nice speed without problems for another hour or so. Done right, it can run two hours. If you go too aggressively, the IR receiver overload protection kicks in and you have to let it sit for 5 min to cool down (I still have not tried the V2 receivers).

The motors did not like the irregularities of the wide radius curves on PennLUG's layout, at the end of each 16 studs there is a small turn to the next straight track. With the trucks turning and straightening for each one of those small turns between track segments, the IR receiver overheated after 40 min.

So I am near the limit of the PF system when using the regular train motors (a pair of XL motors would have no problem pulling 5x this train). I could leave one or two cars out and these problems would go away. When I built my own wide radius curve, the long cars loved them. So I am confident that the ME curves will make this a happier train. Perhaps enough that I could add a few more cars without causing problems.

Still, the full train ran just fine at NMRA 2014 for several hours without any of these accommodations.

That's not a bad train, for a 6-wide. For an 8-wide it's terrible... you know, cause it's 6-wide. :)

Excellent work, my friend. I love the part usage on the headlight - I'm going to have to try to remember that one. I want to build a particular F Unit and I suspect I'll be borrowing a few ideas from this.

--Tony

Yeah, I know, such a cute little train isn't it (chuckles). In all seriousness though, thank you. With all of the impure things I'm willing to do (custom parts, supplemental magnets, etc), strangely I like the challenge of making a train run on the standard lego curves. As it is these cars should be another 12 studs longer to be proportionate at 6 wide, they would need another 16 studs beyond that to be proportionate at 8 wide.

Meanwhile, you aren't by chance thinking of a black widow for that F?

[SavaTheAggie]

Yeah, I know, such a cute little train isn't it (chuckles). In all seriousness though, thank you. With all of the impure things I'm willing to do (custom parts, supplemental magnets, etc), strangely I like the challenge of making a train run on the standard lego curves. As it is these cars should be another 12 studs longer to be proportionate at 6 wide, they would need another 16 studs beyond that to be proportionate at 8 wide.

Meanwhile, you aren't by chance thinking of a black widow for that F?

I don't wish to derail your thread, so I will simply say no, a certain planned mega build and local history would make a "boring" Santa Fe Warbonnet or the Texas Limited my two choices for an F7. At 50 feet, it'd only be 40 studs long in 8-wide (at the scale I build, anyway), which by my count would only be 8-10 studs longer than yours.

I'm pretty sure that piece you used for the headlight surround comes in red (Warbonnet), but I'm not sure it ever came in yellow (Texas Limited). I like the look of it so much my decision may have already been made for me.

It looks like I'm going to hope that headlight part came in yellow, cause that's the color on either livery. Oops.

--Tony

Edited November 20, 2014 by SavaTheAggie

[zephyr1934]

I don't know, seems the best trains to build are the local trains so a warbonnet makes perfect sense (or Texas Limited). And yep, that makes sense, 8 wide is 33% larger or 6 wide is 25% smaller. Unfortunately the part I used did not come in either red or yellow, but if you are not against part mods or you have a lot of room to conceal excessively large parts, there is a similar piece that did come in yellow.

[Sérgio]

Im in love!!! and that color scheme its so beautifull

[Legoboy22]

Wow. I like the locomotive. Good job

[zephyr1934]

While I remain tickled by how much better this train looks lettered, after adding the stickers there were several things I wanted to fix. At the top of the list was this photo featured in my original post:

When I first built the train (long before doing the lettering) I had already applied home printed decals for the windows on the locomotives. The black decals on dark green bricks simply were very hard to see. Now that the lettering had been applied, those windows all of a sudden stuck out like a sore thumb. I was fine with the black, but now that I could make stickers with lighter colors I wanted to add contrast. So I added a ring of light gray around the windshield and porthole windows then tossed in dark gray wiper blades for extra detail.

and in detail,

also, when laying out the first print run, I accidentally omitted half of the car numbers (there should have been two numbers per side and I only printed one per side). Those have now been fixed but I did not take any photos.

[Redimus]

How do you design the stickers and what do you use to print them?

[SteveB]

I really like the nose of the engine and the B unit too. I believe these are F units. I don't know the engine type but I recall seeing some more squared off noses on Santa Fe MOCs years ago.

I tried to build one of those too. Here's my 2008 version (http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=349224). You have totally inspired me to update this one with some newly available (in the last 6 years) elements. I think I might try the SNOT'ed 1x2x3 dark green windows like the recent TGV. And the dark green curved roof too.

[zephyr1934]

How do you design the stickers and what do you use to print them?

You can find the details of the stickers in this thread (and I will be updating it as soon as I catch up on all of the other threads)

I really like the nose of the engine and the B unit too. I believe these are F units. I don't know the engine type but I recall seeing some more squared off noses on Santa Fe MOCs years ago.

I tried to build one of those too. Here's my 2008 version (http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=349224). You have totally inspired me to update this one with some newly available (in the last 6 years) elements. I think I might try the SNOT'ed 1x2x3 dark green windows like the recent TGV. And the dark green curved roof too.

Yes, at various times the NP had F3's, F7's and I think F9's on this train and I aimed for the F7's (not sure you can tell them apart at the resolution of lego, but the numbers are a giveaway). Meanwhile, I can't believe you attempted this train back then when sand green had such a small number of parts, nice job. There were several critical elements for my build that came out since 2008. I wanted to build this train for some time, but I was waiting for sand green cheese before attempting this model and then the 1x3 tiles proved invaluable for getting the vestibules the way I wanted them. Can't wait to see your update.

[SteveB]

As for the sand green I got lucky and found clearance Yodas for $25ea. I bought 12! But that was a long time ago.

I think Bob Day built a nice PAC NW consist too. He's part of PortLUG.

BTW I cheated on the nose and used painted archs... But they were painted in Billund!

SteveB

[cmwcampbell]

Another spectacular build, Zephyr.

Of the many great details to emulate, I'm intrigued by the 1x2 door rail plate-driven diaphragm design...do you have a photo or diagram showing the construction method? I had a tough time trying to reproduce it on one of my own builds last night using the existing Brickshelf photos for reference.

[Astar]

Wonderful and amazing colour scheme!

[zephyr1934]

Another spectacular build, Zephyr.

Of the many great details to emulate, I'm intrigued by the 1x2 door rail plate-driven diaphragm design...do you have a photo or diagram showing the construction method? I had a tough time trying to reproduce it on one of my own builds last night using the existing Brickshelf photos for reference.

Thank you for the kind words. I've just uploaded an exploded image of the diaphragm design, and linked below. There were a few minor variants to get it to fit in different configurations and I think I grabbed left and right halves from different variations. Sand green is on the bottom, although not completely clear, the bracket lines up with the right hand side of the sand green 2x4 plate (shown in the exploded view on the left but accidentally omitted in the assembled view on the right). The bracket then holds the assembly on and it presses against the wall of the car from the inside. For the ends with doors, the 1x2xn door assembly is built one stud in from the end, in line with the pink 1x4 tile. It is supported from the inside of the car because the bottom touches the jumper plate assembly. The door is 5 plates wide while the opening in the diaphragm is 4 plates. I then top it all off with a stacked pair of studs up door rails (not shown).

I think the design on the right attaches on the high end rather than the low end due to an internal conflict with the low mount somewhere in the model. For the car ends with the window in line with the 1x4 tile, I use a slightly different assembly to keep it from obstructing the window, but the basic principles are the same.

Wonderful and amazing colour scheme!

Thank you for the kind words as well (and I agree), of course credit for the color scheme goes to Raymond Loewy. I just translated it to bricks.

[UrbanErwin]

That is on big long train, the colour combination of Dk green and Sand green is awesome.

[cmwcampbell]

Thank you for the kind words. I've just uploaded an exploded image of the diaphragm design, and linked below. There were a few minor variants to get it to fit in different configurations and I think I grabbed left and right halves from different variations. Sand green is on the bottom, although not completely clear, the bracket lines up with the right hand side of the sand green 2x4 plate (shown in the exploded view on the left but accidentally omitted in the assembled view on the right). The bracket then holds the assembly on and it presses against the wall of the car from the inside. For the ends with doors, the 1x2xn door assembly is built one stud in from the end, in line with the pink 1x4 tile. It is supported from the inside of the car because the bottom touches the jumper plate assembly. The door is 5 plates wide while the opening in the diaphragm is 4 plates. I then top it all off with a stacked pair of studs up door rails (not shown).

I think the design on the right attaches on the high end rather than the low end due to an internal conflict with the low mount somewhere in the model. For the car ends with the window in line with the 1x4 tile, I use a slightly different assembly to keep it from obstructing the window, but the basic principles are the same.

Ahh, the 1x2 jumper at the bottom is what threw me off. I wound up shaving the studs of a door rail to get the bottom diaphragm effect. Also used a side-mounted 1x1 headlight brick and a 1x1 tile clip attached to a mounted antenna to hold the end apparatus onto the car frame. I'll post it later.

Thanks for the detailed view.

[LegoGunInstructions]

This is truly brilliant work with the trains! I am sure you impressed lots of people there.