I was just sitting in the dining room with a cup of coffee admiring the collection to date, my mind decided it needed a challenge... what are my Lego trains modeled after? If they are at all?!?

The newest trains to collection are obvious; 60052 Cargo Train = GP38 (sort-of) ; 10233 Horizon Express = TGV

Older trains are easy too; 7898 Cargo Train Deluxe = Class E93 "Alligator" ; 7722 Steam Cargo Train = DB BR89 (could be wrong, my only reference is some Marklin catalogues)

And of course the MoCs are no brainers.... "Hmmm, gosh I wonder what train the 'Vossloh G2000' I designed and modeled is???"

But one train I can't pin down is the 7740. As of now I'm yet to be come a certified anorak owner, but the signs are there. My only guess is it might be a DB Class 103. The shape vaguely looks right and original colours of tan and dark red would match up with Lego's 70's/early 80's palette, Lego yellow and bright red. Then again the only real-life trains I really know are Deutsche Bundesbahn and recently I'm paying attention to what's in "my backyard" so-to-say.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks,

Stu :)

Probably a mix with the BR 112 - which has only one row of grey on the sides, though the 103 has more of an inverted slope in the red part of the front. Altogether, it's a TEE (Trans Europ Express) like this one.

Arguably, 7745 is modeled on the TGV, too - just limited to what was possible in the 80s. Never liked the looks of 7745 myself, though. :)

Trans Europ Express

http://en.wikipedia....s_Europ_Express

Steam engines were generically modeled after the german BR locomotives. No particular model.

What about the 7725 ? That has to be a pure flight of fancy surely!

Ignoring the 6 wheeled end cars (limitations of the Lego parts of the time) and the short length of the coaches, I don't find it impossible to believe that somewhere in Europe there was 3 or more coach EMUs with only 4 wheels per car. Hell, you could argue it's actually a tram, then it makes all the sense in the world (again, ignoring the excessive wheels on the end cars).

My guess is the 7725 is inspired by the 1970's S-Bahn trains of BR 420 - it's just much shorter and reduced to 4 wheels because it had to be a much smaller and cheaper set.

Note, by the way, that the bright-red-with-white-doors design now common in German local/regional trains (cf. set 7938) was introduced only in 1996. There were other red trains before, of course, like other older EMUs (sort of precursors to the S-Bahnen), but not all over Germany.

The closest I can think of is the British class 144, Its a horrible diesel but it does have 3 four wheel cars. However they were introduced years after the 7725.

Nah, apart from the 4 wheeled coach, it's nothing like Pacers (*shudders*, nearly always the trains that go to my local station). Also, who the hell would want a model of a Pacer? lol

Nah, apart from the 4 wheeled coach, it's nothing like Pacers (*shudders*, nearly always the trains that go to my local station). Also, who the hell would want a model of a Pacer? lol

I had to look up what your Pacers are. On this side of the pond, Pacers were a name of a car that didn't rank highly. Based on your shudder, it seems like your Pacers have the same level of fondnesses with the public. I suppose we could stick some rail wheels on our LEGO CITY bus and call it a Pacer.

It's basically what a Pacer (Class 140-144) is. Hell, the prototype (Class 140) literally was literally built out of Layland bus bodies!

The second batch of prototypes actually look a little more like the Lego model (Class 141) although they like all other versions used a bus diesel engine and never had 3 coaches.

Edited December 1, 201410 yr by Redimus

The TEE looks like the closest. I can't see any connection between 7740 and the Pacers.

It's obviously based on a TEE train. It even says so on the box. The question is which one. (Because it seems like some people here think TEE is one train..)

Edited December 1, 201410 yr by Savvvas

I think 7725 may be based off some EMU. It looks like it has been toy-ized so it might hard to determine without interviewing the set designers. Maybe the modern FLiRT EMU is based off it.

The TEE looks like the closest. I can't see any connection between 7740 and the Pacers.

That's true, my fault for going off topic, the Pacer was being compared to 7725.

And now a bunch people not of our land have had to suffer the horror of knowing Pacers exist. The question is, can you live with that you've done? lol

Edited December 2, 201410 yr by Redimus

And now a bunch people not of our land have had to suffer the horror of knowing Pacers exist. The question is, can you live with that you've done? lol

Are they really that bad to ride? Now someone should model one out of LEGO.

They're nicknamed nodding donkeys because of the way they bounce up and down on any kind of less than perfect track or points thanks to them only having 2 axles per car and bus springs for suspension.

Not only that they are often used on secondary routes with 60ft jointed track, the natural frequency of the springs seems to correspond nicely with the frequency of the joints when running at just the right speed... which is often the speed they do run at making them very bouncy!! The nodding donkey nickname arising as when one end is going down the other is going up... And the long wheel base means they squeal nicely on curves, again something you get more of on secondary routes!

Edited December 2, 201410 yr by Heppeng

Having left the UK earlier this year I thought I had finally escaped the horror of Pacers/nodding donkeys. I haven't slept since they appeared on this thread ;-)

That's true, my fault for going off topic, the Pacer was being compared to 7725.

Oh, that makes more sense, although 7725 looks a little short for that.

The 7725 might be based on a Swiss regional train from that time, the RABDE 12/12. This was a red, later blue-white, 3-car EMU.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:SBB_RABDe_510?uselang=de#mediaviewer/File:09.08.88_Z%C3%BCrich_HB_SBB_RABDe1212_1106.jpg

Having left the UK earlier this year I thought I had finally escaped the horror of Pacers/nodding donkeys. I haven't slept since they appeared on this thread ;-)

lol, this post made my morning.

The 7725 might be based on a Swiss regional train from that time, the RABDE 12/12. This was a red, later blue-white, 3-car EMU.

http://commons.wikim...De1212_1106.jpg

Way to spoil the conversation by actually going back on topic! lol

My guess is the 7725 is inspired by the 1970's S-Bahn trains of BR 420 - it's just much shorter and reduced to 4 wheels because it had to be a much smaller and cheaper set.

Note, by the way, that the bright-red-with-white-doors design now common in German local/regional trains (cf. set 7938) was introduced only in 1996. There were other red trains before, of course, like other older EMUs (sort of precursors to the S-Bahnen), but not all over Germany.

I agree ! I was just reading about TEE. It was a dream train when I was a kid. But TEE is not a single train. It's just stands for Trans Europe Express. If coachs remain most about the same (during 70's), a lot of different locomotives pull the TTE. Each country have it's own locomotive for TEE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Europ_Express or Google image for TEE train.

Edited December 3, 201410 yr by Exa