Classic 1980s-style passenger train with streamlined GG-1 style locomotive - real world MOCs

[Murdoch17]

The coaches are inspired by train sets 7715 / 7718 from the 4.5 Volt era in the early to mid 1980's.

The Lego Land Railway runs the train from World City to Heartlake City with stops at Classic Town, Paradisia Coast, Duplo-Ville, Ninjago City, (where the electric loco is replaced by a steamer or vise versa for the rest of the trip) Fabu-Land, Technic Town, Fort Legoredo and the Castle Realm. (with extensions into the Forest of Failed Themes and the Outer Dimension of Galidor at certain times of the year.)

As both sides are the same (even for the headlamp color), I decided to take only one picture of the ends of the loco. This model was inspired by both a 1999 version of the engine built by Flickr user legosteveb user and a couple of digital-only designs by @Sunder. The pantographs on top are inspired by set 10277. (Crocodile locomotive) Unfortunately, this is as low as they go because I built them from pictures and didn't do it right. (Oh well!)

Fictional history:

This electric engine (number 9028) was originally designed as a un-streamlined freight workhorse for use in the mountains of the Western half of the North American continent on the electrified section of the Lego-Land Rail-Road mainline back in 1925. The engine uses a 2-C+C-2 arrangement, which means single frame (really, it's split in two in the middle, as the curves were too tight to do one single piece, but that's just too technical.) mounted upon a set of two axles unpowered (the "2") and three axles powered (the "C") hinged with the ball and socket to another frame of the same design (the +). The unpowered "2" axles are at either end of the locomotive. As you can see, the three axles in the middle two sections are connected by drive rods.

After serving dutifully for around seven years as a freight loco, the engine was upgraded to a fully streamline-shrouded passenger unit after another of it's eight-strong class was written off after a accident with a stuck Shell tanker truck blocking a road crossing. (Thankfully, the steeple-cab design protected the crew, who survived!) The 9028 was also given a higher gear ratio in it's trucks, to allow for the higher speeds that the passenger schedule called for.

The engine's class has a reputation as a tough hauler, taking care of almost anything thrown at it in freight service, and plowing through the most impossible schedules as passenger engines. There have been times, however, when they have been helpless: In January 1952 engine 9030 and of the premier Lego-Land Rail-Road trains (The City of Heartlake) got stuck in the Rocky Mountains due to a large snowdrift on the tracks and 100-MPH winds in blizzard conditions. They got boxed in, and were stuck there for six days before rescue crews could reach them. (This actually happened to the real world City of San Francisco train in the Sierra Nevada's in January, 1952. The rotary snowplows froze to the rails trying to get through!)

(picture coming soon)

The engine features moving panto-graphs for picking up (imaginary) electricity from the overhead wires. They are both in the lowered position here, though normally the one closest to the train it was hauling would be used. The exception to this was if the rear panto-graph was knocked off or damaged by overhanging debris, which the engine would then have it's lead panto-graph raised in order to limp to the repair shop.

This baggage / passenger car is called a combine which is short for "combination". All the doors can open on this train, even the sliding ones shown here.

The three 1980's-style coaches are identical in every way.

The observation car, the rear-most coach on the train, features a platform for sight seeing.

Comments, questions, and complaints are always welcome!

EDIT 12/17/19: Added revised real life pictures. Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome!

Edited July 2, 2020 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Edited 10/20/16: restructured and revised entire main post and edited the topic title. The topic now includes my GG-1 and passenger train plus a color swap for the steam loco.

I hope it looks better now, and I'm sorry for the bump.

[Murdoch17]

BUMP: engine and coach ordering has begun, parts should be here soon! also, I updated the steam loco with a new (cheaper) boiler.

 

The Lego-Land Railway runs the train from World City to Heartlake City with stops at Classic Town, Paradisia Coast, Duplo-Ville, Ninjago City, (where the electric loco is replaced by a steamer or vise versa for the rest of the trip) Fabu-Land, Technic Town, Fort Legoredo and the Castle Realm. (with extensions into the Forest of Failed Themes and the Outer Dimension of Galidor at certain times of the year.)

[ColletArrow]

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

with extensions into the Forest of Failed Themes and the Outer Dimension of Galidor at certain times of the year.

 What times of year would that be? I want to book a ticket!

Very good locos, these are going to look good IRL. Have you ever published videos of your fleet (I believe it's quite extensive now) running? How many locos/wagons and coaches/complete trains are there now?

[rahziel]

I really like the steamer, very nice design, I would do a couple of things like trying to center the main headlight in front of the boiler and hide those studs on top of the cabin, but apart from that, good couple of locos :)

[Murdoch17]

3 hours ago, ColletArrow said:

 What times of year would that be? I want to book a ticket!

Very good locos, these are going to look good IRL. Have you ever published videos of your fleet (I believe it's quite extensive now) running? How many locos/wagons and coaches/complete trains are there now?

The times they leave from are just before midnight every Friday the 13th (The next one is in October of this year)... that and the February 29th leap year special (but that's only once every four years)  and no, I don't have any videos, because none of my trains have motors. I actually have more trains than track! (last count was somewhere near 82 total with 22 locos, 2 streetcars, 39 passenger cars, 19 freight cars)

1 hour ago, rahziel said:

I really like the steamer, very nice design, I would do a couple of things like trying to center the main headlight in front of the boiler and hide those studs on top of the cabin, but apart from that, good couple of locos :)

Thank you for commenting! The way the nose is designed, it would be weaker to be centered. Sorry.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Murdoch17

[Digger of Bricks]

These are very nice, I love streamlined locomotives! There are unfortunately not very many MOC examples of them, but Anthony Sava's 4-6-4 is a favorite of mine!  

[Murdoch17]

On 6/11/2017 at 9:54 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

These are very nice, I love streamlined locomotives! There are unfortunately not very many MOC examples of them, but Anthony Sava's 4-6-4 is a favorite of mine!  

Thanks! Here's my latest update: 

A project three years in the making is finally taking shape. The red and blue streamline trains project is coming into the station.... soon.

(Yes, that's a GG1 sitting there. The steam loco seen above is a 4-6-4 streamlined NYC-style Hudson.)

 

EDIT: added new picture with the steam loco... progress is being made! 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

slight BUMP:

All the real life pictures have been added as of right now!

[Murdoch17]

I took apart the GG-1 and turned it into a bi-polar electric loco with a streamlined shroud. See the first post for more details and updated pictures!

[zephyr1934]

You could use a few of theses

for the cars

[Murdoch17]

On 12/17/2019 at 11:09 PM, zephyr1934 said:

You could use a few of theses

SNIP

for the cars

I wish I could, @zephyr1934, but unfortunately, that part is not available in quantity in blue in the USA. Otherwise, I would buy 10 of them in a heartbeat.

Also, I just uploaded a updated Dreyfuss -style Hudson to the first post.... it isn't complete in real life yet, but it's close.

[Murdoch17]

This electric engine (number 9028) was originally designed as a un-streamlined freight workhorse for use in the mountains of the Western half of the North American continent on a electrified section of the Lego-Land Rail-Road mainline back in 1918. The engine uses a unusual 2+C-2-C+2 arrangement, which is code for  two un-powered wheels then these are connected to six powered wheels connected to each other by steam-style driving rods. In the middle is a set of completely separate two un-powered wheels, and then six more powered drivers, lastly followed by two sets of non-powered wheels connected to the drivers by a pin.

After serving dutifully for around seven years as a freight loco, the engine was upgraded to a fully streamline-shrouded passenger unit after another of it's eight-strong class was destroyed in a accident with a stuck Shell tanker truck blocking a road crossing. The 9028 was also given a higher gear ratio in it's trucks, to allow for the higher speeds that the passenger schedule called for.

It was around 1932, that the engine type was first given it's title as the "American Crocodile", or the "Alligator", by a senior Swedish railway official on vacation. The name was picked up by local, then national railroad press, and the name stuck from then on, even officially used by the railroad that owned it from time to time in publications.

(In reality, the loco was screaming for new pantograph's due to the old one's completely breaking, so I gave it some based on set 10277's leaked pictures. Also, this uses eight Big Ben Bricks medium drivers + four blind drivers for the driving wheels where the gears are. I swapped in the new steamer wheels because the regular wheels are getting scarce, and I need to conserve them as much as I can. I ordered the few parts I don't already have to complete this version of the engine today, so they should be here soon... maybe a week or two for the wheels.)

 

Oh, and sorry for the bump!

Edited June 14, 2020 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

New 10277-style pantographs arrived today for this electric engine, along with the new wheels that necessitated removing the center section of the cab body.

...Now I just need to make a taller box to hold it, as this is as low as the pantographs go!

Here is my updated in-world description for the loco which I'm nicknaming the "GG1 of the West", after the similar famous Pennsylvania RR GG1 locomotives that were made from 1934 to 1943 that ran on the USA's Northeast Corridor until 1983:

This electric engine (number 9028) was originally designed as a un-streamlined freight workhorse for use in the mountains of the Western half of the North American continent on the electrified section of the Lego-Land Rail-Road mainline back in 1925. The engine uses a 2-C+C-2 arrangement, which means single frame (really, it's split in two in the middle, as the curves were too tight to do one single piece, but that's just too technical.) mounted upon a set of two axles unpowered (the "2") and three axles powered (the "C") hinged with the ball and socket to another frame of the same design (the +). The unpowered "2" axles are at either end of the locomotive. As you can see, the three axles in the middle two sections are connected by drive rods.

After serving dutifully for around seven years as a freight loco, the engine was upgraded to a fully streamline-shrouded passenger unit after another of it's eight-strong class was written off after a accident with a stuck Shell tanker truck blocking a road crossing. (Thankfully, the steeple-cab design protected the crew, who survived!) The 9028 was also given a higher gear ratio in it's trucks, to allow for the higher speeds that the passenger schedule called for.

The engine's class has a reputation as a tough hauler, taking care of almost anything thrown at it in freight service, and plowing through the most impossible schedules as passenger engines. There have been times, however, when they have been helpless: In January 1952 engine 9030 and of the premier Lego-Land Rail-Road trains (The City of Heartlake) got stuck in the Rocky Mountains due to a large snowdrift on the tracks and 100-MPH winds in blizzard conditions. They got boxed in, and were stuck there for six days before rescue crews could reach them. (This actually happened to the real world City of San Francisco train in the Sierra Nevada's in January, 1952. The rotary snowplows froze to the rails trying to get through!)

....anyway. That's my story so far. Any thoughts?

Edited June 28, 2020 by Murdoch17