MOC/MOD - 4-6-0 Hall Class "Olton Hall" - aka The Hogwarts Express

[Phil B]

As already shown in a preview in my Hogwarts Express Carriages thread, I have completed my rendition of the "Olton Hall" steam locomotive, famous for pulling the Hogwarts Express in the fictional wizarding world of Harry Potter. Here she is in close-up:

[

Hogwarts Express by Phil B, on Flickr

This is a model that started as a Mod of 75955, but has progressed far enough from the original set that you can call it a MOC I think. Here is a list of all modifications I made:

• Lengthened the entire boiler by 6 studs and placed the middle section under a one-plate angle to better capture the shape of the real Hall Class.
• Widened the engine to 7 studs (almost 10 across the pistons and driverods). This allowed me to accurately model the forward facing windows in the cab, and allowed me to create openings for the wheel flanges to accommodate a larger wheel size,
• Upgraded the wheels to Big Ben XL Drivers and Big Ben Medium pilot truck wheels - I like how they have true spokes vs the printed spokes on LEGO's regular train wheels. The model works with standard LEGO Large and regular train wheels as well.
• Extended the pipes from the side to around the nose of the boiler.
• Redesigned the front buffer beam. Gone is the "lock" from the original model, but it features the same details as the real-life Olton Hall.
• With the change to 7 wide I widened the cab, but kept the original firebox and gauges from 75955, which was quite an "offset" challenge to do.
• Completely redesigned the tender to house a LiIon LEGO battery box and a Power Functions IR Receiver, though the model can work with PFxBricks as well.
• The tender is 6 wide, with one pivoting axle and a fixed PF train motor.

On the pictures she is pulling my consist of 5 BR Mk I coaches - 2 First Class, 2 Second Class and a combined First Class/Baggage/Brake coach. Each carriage has a fully detailed interior and is 7 wide. Progress on these carriages has been documented in my Hogwarts Express Carriages thread.

Here are the picture and drawing I used for inspiration:

 

 

More pictures of the engine:

 

The full consist:

 

 

And the coach interiors:

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Phil B

[SteamSewnEmpire]

Overall, great. I'll offer some minor critiques:

• Did you consider widening the boiler to 5 studs width? It looks a bit narrow at 4 to me.
• I think it's possible that the stack could be closer to the real-deal. For example:

• You could also probably use a more severe angle on the roof of the cab.

These are pretty small nits, though - I can't really spot anything else. Great job.

Edited January 12, 2020 by SteamSewnEmpire

[Phil B]

30 minutes ago, SteamSewnEmpire said:

Overall, great. I'll offer some minor critiques:

• Did you consider widening the boiler to 5 studs width? It looks a bit narrow at 4 to me.
• I think it's possible that the stack could be closer to the real-deal. For example:

• You could also probably use a more severe angle on the roof of the cab.

These are pretty small nits, though - I can't really spot anything else. Great job.

First of all, thanks for the compliments and the suggestions. A couple of quick reactions:

• I left the boiler 4 wide on purpose. If you look closely at the front drawing I included in my post, you see that the width of the boiler is equal to the space between the buffers, which in 7 wide is 4 wide.
• I like your suggestion for the smokestack but currently I have no spot available for an axle to fit in. As I am toying with the idea to make the firebox one stud longer, I might experiment with different smokestack designs as well.
• The roof of the cab indeed needs a more severe angle to be like the original. As I started this as a Mod of 75955, I just kept the overall look of the cab, while making it 1 stud wider. I also wanted to keep the height of the engine the same, which further restricted my ability to change the roof (I actually made the roof 1 plate less tall compared to the original to compensate for the increased wheelsize.

For now I am happy with how she looks like and she runs smoothly (ok, handling S-curves through switches is problematic but I think that is a common problem with the lead truck design - if anyone has any tips on that I’d be happy to hear their experience on how to fix it).

[zephyr1934]

That is looking really nice, great work! Had you not mentioned it I would not have noticed the cab roof, but now that you have, did you try 1x3x1 curved slopes instead of the 2x4x2/3 curved slopes + one red plate? Also, the stack does seem very tricky, I have no idea how to do it better beyond keeping an eye out for clever tricks.

[coaster]

For the smokestack, might I suggest a 2x2 round brick in black, a 2x2 round tile with the hole in the middle in red, put a 2L axle into that and then stick a train wheel with axle hole on top?

[Phil B]

2 hours ago, coaster said:

For the smokestack, might I suggest a 2x2 round brick in black, a 2x2 round tile with the hole in the middle in red, put a 2L axle into that and then stick a train wheel with axle hole on top?

That is a great idea! How about this?

 

Here's a real-life picture (I only had one 15535 Tile Round 2x2 with Hole in Black, so I had to use a DBG one). Took the clear O-ring off of the wheel.

Edited January 12, 2020 by Phil B

[Pdaitabird]

That's a lovely engine! The longer tender and angled boiler are nice improvements on the set. 

[coaster]

2 hours ago, Phil B said:

That is a great idea! How about this?

 

Here's a real-life picture (I only had one 15535 Tile Round 2x2 with Hole in Black, so I had to use a DBG one). Took the clear O-ring off of the wheel.

Exactly what I was thinking!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful convoy ...I like the interior and the smart use of those old legs from seventies!

[Phil B]

41 minutes ago, coaster said:

Exactly what I was thinking!

Only issue is that the funnel is a bit too chunky when compared with the real Olton Hall. I'm still trying to find a better solution - your suggestions got me thinking ... if only lego made a black cylindrical brick that is 1.5 studs wide (and not bulbous like a minifig head). Any suggestions, anyone?

PS: @coaster: Received my OcTRAINber prize from your company yesterday. Awesome product! You'll see it featured in some WIP pictures here shortly on the next thing I'm building (which will be massive and also HP themed). Stay tuned!

Edited January 12, 2020 by Phil B

[Pdaitabird]

This might be a little too narrow.

I agree, there needs to be a 1.5 stud round brick!

[LegoDW]

Question, how many engines are you running to pull all those coaches?  I have a modified similar set, pulling 4 coaches...they are the smaller size that came with the set.  Running a single PF motor under my tender.  This motor will pull the load, but struggles with any fancy curves.  I'm still using the connectors that come with the set...see you upgraded to the standard train couplers.  This might help a bit too.

As for your build, looks great.  My moc was off the latest version and had the tan access on the coaches.  I swapped this out to yellow as you have done.  Your tender looks great with the 6 wheels and larger size.  I ended up putting my battery in the first coach.  I pulled all the Hogswort Express off, wanted a more general engine and passenger coaches.  Can post some pictures if you are interested.

[Phil B]

Single PF train motor in the tender. It was slipping at first, but then I added bicycle inner tire rings onto the wheels and now it runs great. Pulls all 5 coaches easily.

[dr_spock]

Very nice.  Coaches look good in 7-wide. 

 

[Phil B]

On 1/12/2020 at 3:49 PM, Phil B said:

Only issue is that the funnel is a bit too chunky when compared with the real Olton Hall. I'm still trying to find a better solution - your suggestions got me thinking ... if only lego made a black cylindrical brick that is 1.5 studs wide (and not bulbous like a minifig head). Any suggestions, anyone?

 

I finally settled on this design - it's pretty close I think, and not as bulky as the previous one based on a 2x2 round plate design. The gold stripe is done using 1/32" gold stripe tape.

Hogwarts Express by Phil B, on Flickr

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Phil B

[WRoberts316]

What are the chances you have a parts list for your modification? This is the best one I have seen anywhere, and I'm looking to start making my first R/C lego set and want to customize the Hogwarts Express the way you have. Its utterly beautiful and it would be awesome to give such depth and accuracy to the engine. :)

[rday1982]

It's a gorgeous MOC. Such a shame that there have been so many poor attempts at an official set, and nothing closer to this.

[Dragunov2]

If u buy two official sets, how close do u get to this model?

[Phil B]

On 8/22/2020 at 3:01 PM, WRoberts316 said:

What are the chances you have a parts list for your modification? This is the best one I have seen anywhere, and I'm looking to start making my first R/C lego set and want to customize the Hogwarts Express the way you have. Its utterly beautiful and it would be awesome to give such depth and accuracy to the engine. :)

I do have a parts list somewhere, but I haven't checked to see how close it is to the actual built model. I'm still working on the drivetrain, as it tends to derail through sidings (runs fine on mainline R40 loops). The XL wheels might just be too large for the S curve caused by a switch ... might have to go R104 only (got a full circle from BrickTracks a couple of weeks ago but haven't tried them yet).

50 minutes ago, Dragunov2 said:

If u buy two official sets, how close do u get to this model?

My model is based on 2 sets, but with significant extra pieces. The drivetrain of the loco is the standard 75955 drivetrain, but it has a 7-wide base on top so lots of 1x2 and 1x3 jumpers used to create the necessary offsets. Those aren't in the set so they required significant Pab/BaP and BL orders to accomplish. The boiler is by-and-large the stock boiler from 75955.

[Dragunov2]

I bought two sets, I wonder if u can give a list of extra pieces needed?

Thanks!

[WRoberts316]

On 8/30/2020 at 12:48 PM, Phil B said:

I do have a parts list somewhere, but I haven't checked to see how close it is to the actual built model. I'm still working on the drivetrain, as it tends to derail through sidings (runs fine on mainline R40 loops). The XL wheels might just be too large for the S curve caused by a switch ... might have to go R104 only (got a full circle from BrickTracks a couple of weeks ago but haven't tried them yet).

My model is based on 2 sets, but with significant extra pieces. The drivetrain of the loco is the standard 75955 drivetrain, but it has a 7-wide base on top so lots of 1x2 and 1x3 jumpers used to create the necessary offsets. Those aren't in the set so they required significant Pab/BaP and BL orders to accomplish. The boiler is by-and-large the stock boiler from 75955.

Thanks for the update, and sorry for the late response for some reason I didn't get a reply notification. If you havent figured it out I'd be happy to help do some research and testing to see what can be done to help it move smoothly. I've been doing a ton of looking, and have wondered at the usability of both technic joints and the couplers that came with the original set to redesign the drive train to be more flexible in style.