Haunted Train No. 25 - 4-8-2 steam loco and passenger train - real world MOC (inspired by TV show 'Hey Arnold!') - models totally finished 1/3/25

[Murdoch17]

"Sometimes, late at night,
you can hear the whistle wail
with a spooky, screechy sound
like a wheel gone off the rail;
and up in the smoky clouds,
you can almost recognize
the ghost of a crazy engineer
with fiery cinder eyes;
I say, Whoo-whoo!
Can't you hear the haunted train?
Whoo-whoo!
Waiting on a haunted train
I'm gonna, crash that engine,
you know, only sticks and stones
and old conductors' bones remain..."

This steam loco was from the first animated train cartoon I ever saw when I was very small (three years old, from what I'm told), and is one of my favorites, easily beating The Brave Engineer (1950's Disney cartoon) and only being bested by The Polar Express film! I got the basic looks for the model from a single screenshot of the 1990's Nickelodeon cartoon show "Hey Arnold!". The engine seem to be based on Norfolk and Western K-1 class 4-8-2, but is apparently owned by Great Northern as evidenced by the tender writing. You can read more about the haunted engine, it's known story, and even potential theories for why it crashed here on the Arnold wiki. (yes, that's a thing, and credit to Paul Welch on Flickr for bringing this info to my attention.)

The following text is from the wiki page for the episode:
"As shown in the episode of the same name (Haunted Train), the legend concerns the phantom locomotive, Old Engine 25. Forty years ago (from original broadcast date, so November 1956), during a movement from the train yard to Union Station, Engine 25's engineer suddenly went insane. Defying signals and warnings to slow down, he intentionally derailed the engine and its train which slid down a high embankment. However, no wreckage was found beyond the engineer's severed hand, still clutching a part of Engine 25's throttle.

According to the legend, the engineer drove the train straight to the fiery underworld, and now once a year on the anniversary of the engine's derailment, returns aboard Engine 25 with the intent of collecting new passengers to return to the underworld with him."

There is even a song used over the closing credits of the episode, sung by the ghostly crazed engineer who drove his train all the way to hell (see first portion of post for that song!) And yes, I know a steam engine is not a entire train... it may partially make up a train, but it itself is not a train.

The front of the ghostly locomotive. The engine's boiler is a highly modified version of one seen on this Rebrickable MOC by @Plastic_Goth (only the boiler is partially reused, I designed everything else myself).

The rear of the engine.

Inside of the engine's cab.

The baggage car.

Three coaches.

The observation-lounge car.

Yeah, I know the engine from the Hey Arnold! cartoon episode 'Haunted Train ' only had a ghost engineer. But I thought a ghostly conductor would be a good addition, and I just couldn't resist. You will note the loco's fireman is not present here; he must've jumped off just before the wreck and survived, so he isn't a ghost. (some fan theory's say Arnold's grandpa was the fireman, as he did work for the railroad and saw first hand what happened during the wreck)

...Would you look at that! It's the anniversary tonight of the wreck! Won't you go on a lovely train ride with me? 

Thoughts welcome!

UPDATE 1/3/25:

Whole post updated with pictures of the train, including the new passenger cars!

Edited January 3 by Murdoch17

[Darkkostas25]

7-stud wide - tricky one/ I adore the smooth looks of it. And how you all can band those houses, I swear for me it`s like a real pain in the megablocks. Nice train, good memories of beloved cartoon  

[Murdoch17]

On 11/17/2022 at 3:11 AM, Darkkostas25 said:

7-stud wide - tricky one/ I adore the smooth looks of it. And how you all can band those houses, I swear for me it`s like a real pain in the megablocks. Nice train, good memories of beloved cartoon  

Thanks @Darkkostas25! 7 wide is pretty tricky to build in, that's for sure. And yes, the hoses are indeed a pain in the butt to get to align in LDD: same goes for real life too!

Side note: I've just been informed on Flickr that the engine is actually a 4-8-2 (Mountain), not a 2-8-4 (Berkshire), and is apparently owned by Great Northern RR. I've made the changes to the loco, adding only four parts and subtracting just one! I'm waiting to change the photos until I build it.

[Murdoch17]

Main post edited 11/19/22: More info added, and wheel arrangement corrected from 2-8-4 to 4-8-2. The engine seem to be based on Norfolk and Western K-1 class 4-8-2, but is apparently owned by Great Northern as evidenced by the tender writing. You can read more about the haunted engine, it's known story, and even potential theories for why it crashed here on the Arnold wiki. (yes, that's a thing, and credit to Paul Welch on Flickr for bringing this info to my attention.)

The pictures updated are as well as of now. (And yes, I know the first dome should be bigger to match the K-1, but I've already found a whole bunch of parts and don't want to change it again.)

Edited November 19, 2022 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

"289 parts to find in the bin, 289 parts,
Take one out, stow it away,
288 parts left to find in the bin..."

The above ditty is to the tune of "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall", and I think we can all relate to it. The 289 parts are exactly how many parts are left to find for this train MOC. (This picture showcases the older version of the model, but rest assured - all two of the needed parts for the changeover from 2-8-4 to 4-8-2 have already been found.)

[Murdoch17]

Progress so far on the haunted steam loco MOC, with 132 parts left to order later this month.

I was forced to modify the design again to use smaller drivers than originally intended as prices for official LEGO driving wheels are obscene. The trailing / leading wheels' price were also insane, so I decided to purchase small drivers and regular wheels from Big Ben Bricks.

*Rant mode on*

Four each of BBB's blind / flange medium drivers, and six regular wheels w/ flange cost less WITH SHIPPING than the official wheels from Bricklink would have by themselves! ($32 overall from BBB vs $33 before shipping from two sellers from Bricklink) It's certifiably insane what the prices for official wheels are going for these days!

*Rant mode off*

Anyway... thoughts on any of this?

[Murdoch17]

It's BAAACK! The Haunted Train never finished it's journey to real bricks, so I decided to give it a new lease on life rather than just haunting my computer.  I was inspired to do this by a kid at a recent train show I displayed my models at, who asked me if I had heard of the TV episode and it's train. (and why I didn't have a model of it on display!) I took this as a sign from forces beyond my comprehension that I needed to build this engine, pronto. As soon as funds are available, it shall live on my layout! Also, the first post has been updated with the revised and recolored model. It's currently missing Big Ben Bricks medium drivers, a few types of printed tiles and a few bricks of various types.

[Murdoch17]

January 6, 1957 - While most of his generation is watching Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan show in what will be his final time on the tv program, 19-year old Herbert Melville is climbing a light tower in the Hillview railroad yard with his camera. He hired on with the railroad nearly 6 months ago, and is up on the 100+ foot tall tower to change a lightbulb and to quickly take photos of the rail operations in the yard. Herbert is a major railfan, and when this opportunity presented itself to help document the end of steam, there was no way he was going without his camera!

In this snowy picture from that night in early 1957, we see Great Northern 25 (an ex-Norfolk and Western loco fresh from a wreck rebuild), slowly pulling a freight past Tower 96 and out of the yard. In the background, number 7996, an brand-new ALCO cab and booster diesel unit set (owned by Brick Railway Systems) is moving backwards through the switches, heading for the diesel servicing facility.

 

(In reality, the "Haunted Train 25" loco from the cartoon 'Hey Arnold!' is finished as of last Thursday, but lacks the parts for the ghostly engineer figure as they haven't shown up yet as the package is still AWOL. So I set the engine up on my layout, and wrote a fictional story about the scene. I hope you all like it!)

[Murdoch17]

Well, it's a day late and a dollar short, but it's done!

The main post has been edited to add the three real world pictures. Sadly, the ghost engineer I was making isn't going to be built, as his package got lost in the mail. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Shiva]

Nice :)

I hope the ghost engineer finds the way to you, someday soon. There is still hope, right?

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, Shiva said:

Nice :)

I hope the ghost engineer finds the way to you, someday soon. There is still hope, right?

thanks @Shiva!

Sadly, the package is a week overdue, and tracking info updates stopped on the 27th at a city nowhere near me. It's either been stolen, lost, or destroyed at this point. I'm going to the post office Saturday to see what can be done.

[Shiva]

I still hope for the best :)

[Murdoch17]

On 11/2/2023 at 6:46 PM, Shiva said:

I still hope for the best :)

@Shiva was right, I just needed more hope.

Well, literally one month (30 days) after the parts shipped, my ghost engineer for Haunted Train 25 has finally arrived... and he doesn't fit where I wanted to put him on the engine.

So I'm going to probably reuse him (with a different head) for another engineer, possibly Henry from The Brave Locomotive animation.

Thoughts?

[Shiva]

Murdoch17, <3 for the update!

[Murdoch17]

So I decided to recolor the New York Central (and by extension, ex-Santa Fe LEGO sets) coaches into the Great Northern "Blue Sky" paint scheme to go with my Ghost Engine 25... or at least, what I thought that paint scheme looked like from memory. (Pro tip: don't trust your memory and do actual research instead!) But, since I've already found a bunch of bricks I'm not changing the colors anymore.

I have four kinds of cars on this train, with all having removable roof sections based on the 2013 Inside Tour set (Villy Thomsen Truck - set 4000008):
- baggage
- coaches (x2)
- dome car
- observation car

The baggage car. It's actually totally empty inside, but the roof still comes off to get at the inside.

These two passenger coaches have seven seats apiece, whereas the dome has five and the observation has seven seats. Also in this picture, you can see how the roof looks once removed from the car. Needless to say, these were the easiest cars to design.

The dome was the hardest car to design. After a number of efforts, I elected to borrow from set 4547 - Club Car and use panels for the dome. even though the bottom floor is empty and inaccessible, I daresay this car looks pretty good.

The extreme rear of the roof of this observation car was a pain to get right. There just are no parts that slope inward and down at the same time when used sideways. So I made the best of bad situation and used the next-best part I could find.

(As you can see, a number of parts are missing from this train because LDD doesn't have them.)

Thoughts welcome!

[Murdoch17]

I decided to split my Great Northern train into two sections, with the dome car being the first part, and the other four cars being the second section.

As you can see in the picture, the first section's remaining parts were ordered 12/24/23 and should (hopefully) be here before January. Sadly, the 50 wheel parts ordered from LEGO back in late November for this train are stuck in limbo. (otherwise known as New Jersey) Who knows when / if those will arrive!

[Vilhelm22]

Love this repaint scheme in the GNR’s Big Sky Blue (been reading about the Empire Builder recently so know a bit about it.  

For full accuracy there should be only blue on bottom and white on top and not the top blue stripe, but I think the extra stripe looks really good.  I’ve always felt GNR big sky blue was actually almost too simplistic (particularly after the previous Empire Builder livery) - the third stripe you’ve added ‘solves’ that ‘problem’.

[Murdoch17]

1 minute ago, Vilhelm22 said:

Love this repaint scheme in the GNR’s Big Sky Blue (been reading about the Empire Builder recently so know a bit about it.  

For full accuracy there should be only blue on bottom and white on top and not the top blue stripe, but I think the extra stripe looks really good.  I’ve always felt GNR big sky blue was actually almost too simplistic (particularly after the previous Empire Builder livery) - the third stripe you’ve added ‘solves’ that ‘problem’.

Thank you, glad you like it! I assume I got the Missouri Pacific's paint scheme and GNR's Big Sky mixed up in my mind, as they are similar, after all. I was really worried I was going to get chewed out for messing this up (more at train shows than online, but still), but you've alleviated my fears @Vilhelm22! Thanks again!

[Murdoch17]

first post updated 3/31/24:

Yeah, I know the engine from the Hey Arnold! cartoon episode 'Haunted Train ' only had a ghost engineer. But I thought a conductor would be a good addition, and I just couldn't resist. You will note the loco's fireman is not present here; he must've jumped off just before the wreck and survived, so he isn't a ghost. (some fan theory's say Arnold's grandpa was the fireman, as he did work for the railroad and saw first hand what happened during the wreck)

Thoughts? (Oh, and the coaches were too expensive, so they have been removed from the first post)

[Shiva]

Thumbs up :)

[Murdoch17]

On 4/1/2024 at 10:49 AM, Shiva said:

Thumbs up :)

Sorry for the late response, but thanks @Shiva!

And now for another update:

I've had this ghostly 4-8-2 steam loco built for over a year, but have had issues designing accompanying train cars for it that made me happy in the thirteen months since construction ceased. But that's no longer the case!

These five blue, red, and gray passenger cars are on the list to be built at some point in the near(ish) future. The closest car is a streamlined observation car, while the next three are identical coaches. The furthest car from this picture's viewpoint is a combination baggage-coach.

Out of the 971 bricks I needed at the beginning of this project, I have found 472, with 499 left to go. I found this all yesterday, and and am almost to the half-way point - let's see how far I can get today!

Sadly, I've had to split the parts list in two: there are 40 expensive train-centric parts that cost just as much, if not more, than the entire remainder of the train's 459-parts strong list by itself! So, the cars' bodies might get built long before I can get the more pricey bits.

Thoughts?

[Toxic43]

Great news, but also sad that they might have to go on the back burner for a while.

Just out of curiosity, what are the expensive parts you need for these?

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, Toxic43 said:

Great news, but also sad that they might have to go on the back burner for a while.

Just out of curiosity, what are the expensive parts you need for these?

Thanks @Toxic43!

20 metal-axle wheels, 10 modern magnets, 10 yellow bogies plates are going to run me over 100 USD after S&H (~88 before S&H) from two Bricklink stores. Except for the wheels, the parts are probably cheaper on PAB standard, but that's down until January and has a major shipping backlog of over 50 business days.

This is gonna take a while....

Edited December 12, 2024 by Murdoch17

[ILoveSeatron]

Nice train! I think it would look better if you put a 2x2 round tile with a hole in the middle (part 15535) on the top of the funnel. Also, have you checked brickowl.com for the parts you need? I have no idea if any of them are cheaper there or not, but it wouldn't hurt to look.

[Murdoch17]

51 minutes ago, ILoveSeatron said:

Nice train! I think it would look better if you put a 2x2 round tile with a hole in the middle (part 15535) on the top of the funnel. Also, have you checked brickowl.com for the parts you need? I have no idea if any of them are cheaper there or not, but it wouldn't hurt to look.

I don't buy from Brickowl, as they are smaller and have less for sale than Bricklink so the situation is probably worse there for these rare parts. However, I will take your funnel idea under advisement for the future @ILoveSeatron.

Edited December 12, 2024 by Murdoch17