Santa Fe 3463 in 1/35th scale

[Craig Strader]

First, some context: Here's a shout-out to Daedalus304 and his ATSF #2926 4-8-4 locomotive, for this locomotive of my own shares quite a lot of cosmetics with 2926.

Onto my project:

Santa Fe 3463 was built on October 30th, 1937 for the Santa Fe Railway as a passenger locomotive and was assigned to crack passenger trains that ran from Chicago, IL to La Junta, Colorado along with its sister locomotives. 3463 was assigned to lightweight trains such as the Chief when they first rolled out, but given their power, they were assigned to heavier trains on the Chicago-La Junta Division in January of 1938. This locomotive pulled trains like the aforementioned Chief, the Scout, The Oil Flyer, and even the Fast Mail Express. In fact, one of these 3460 class Hudsons', No. 3461 set a record for the longest run without any maintenance stops, the only exceptions of course were fuel and water. No. 3460 was given a very special streamline shrouding which earned it the nickname "The Blue Goose" and was the ONLY streamlined locomotive to run on Santa Fe rails. 3463 would soldier on until 1953 when it pulled its last train The Antelope. In 1956, it was put on display outside what is called the Stormont Vail Event Center in Topeka, Kansas, and has remained since. There was an attempt to get this locomotive restored by the CSR in 2012, however, legal issues plagued this for 5 years and after that, the favor was to go to the CSR in 2018. But even then, there were more turn of events that still render the locomotive dormant. To me, the poor girl's restoration was doomed from the start and personally, I would like to see her back in operation someday.

 

This model demonstrates the Hudson in 1/35th scale, it is roughly 11-12 studs wide, approximately 17 studs tall and 113 studs long. This thing is LOADED with details, even an (almost) perfect valve gear system. 6 L-motors are the current power source in place, 2 in the locomotive to keep the drive wheels in order and 4 in the tender, this may be upgraded later but I doubt it. This train HAS been assembled before, however, it was HEAVILY flawed. Faulty drive design with the side rods and gear ratio, too small drive wheels of the incorrect design (I ordered #13 boxpok drivers a while back) which as far as design goes to the wheels, drivetrain, and cosmetics has been resolved. You can check out my wheel by searching for Baldwin Disk Driver. That very same driver will also be going on this locomotive in the future. I even went ahead and designed some special parts that will be incorporated into the locomotive as well.

 

This locomotive is a design that dates back to October of 2021 and by spring of 2023, I plan to have it completed by then unless something comes up. Who knows, I may enter it into the Brick Train Awards if the timing is right and I may have a consist running by the summer of 2023 as well, but I cannot say for certain because the locomotive and tender will come first. For the most part it is complete, but still could probably use a few tweaks before being finalized.

 

With that out of the way, here is the photo gallery of my engine.

Here is the valve gear on the LEFT side of the locomotive

Here is the valve gear on the RIGHT side of the locomotive

I did my best to capture the cab. Unfortunately, I could only find ONE picture and the picture in question is the one with the locomotive in its current condition, that being derelict. Here, we have a water glass on the left, In-Cab signals in the middle, Steam pressure gauge is located below the signals, Speedometer is to the right of the firebox followed immediately after the throttle. The brakes are located below followed by the power reverse on the cab floor. Oil "stoker" is located under the water glass along with gauges.

[LordsofMedieval]

Cool. Gigantic, but cool. Would it run? And, if so, on what?

[Craig Strader]

1 minute ago, LordsofMedieval said:

Cool. Gigantic, but cool. Would it run? And, if so, on what?

It will run on standard Lego track, however, because of its size, it will be used on BALLASTED track to give it a more prototypical look to it

[Darkkostas25]

Gorgeous beast *_*

[JopieK]

Really neat @Craig Strader. I also like the history and developments around it never knew it if you hadn't shared it with us.

[Craig Strader]

5 hours ago, Darkkostas25 said:

Gorgeous beast *_*

Thanks

4 hours ago, JopieK said:

Really neat @Craig Strader. I also like the history and developments around it never knew it if you hadn't shared it with us.

I did my research not just the history

[M_slug357]

@Craig Strader At 1:35, isnt the Lego track on the narrow side?

[Craig Strader]

12 minutes ago, M_slug357 said:

@Craig Strader At 1:35, isnt the Lego track on the narrow side?

Maybe, maybe not. It is meant to operate with ballasted track and to be compatible with Brickmania's equipment. Plus Lego train track width is larger than standard O-gauge, and on top of that, the minifigure is substantially wider.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Craig Strader

[Feuer Zug]

Great work on recreating this Santa Fe Hudson. The lighting could be better on the renders, but I can tell all the details you added.

[Craig Strader]

2 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Great work on recreating this Santa Fe Hudson. The lighting could be better on the renders, but I can tell all the details you added.

Thanks. The pictures are all POV-Ray which is why the lighting is "questionable". I created and posted a "special wheel" a while back called Baldwin Disc Driver. It will be going on this locomotive hopefully by next year if no wrench is thrown into the works.

[Shiva]

Sweet! So this is the locomotive that will have those Baldwin Disc Drivers.

[Craig Strader]

So I have a couple, but HUGE updates to this engine, first of all I was able to figure out how to make the rods and bars completely straight with the cylinders and such. And if you can't tell already, I gave a distinct slope that starts from the backhead to the end of the firebox and all the way to the end of the steam dome.

 

 

For those wondering, where is the walkway and many of the other parts? Like I said in my 475 post, my last computer's boot device failed and the original file to this locomotive with it is now lost forever, which is why the valve gear is incomplete. I had another locomotive file with a slightly older variant and had it not been there, it would have truly been a bad day. Nevertheless, it did give me an excuse to remodel the design utilizing lessons learned from my 475 project, which is how I was able to give the slope in the locomotive. Even the firebox follows suit with the design.

I also redone the cab thanks to some other photos I found. New backhead, new seating arrangement. The cab is now 12 studs wide which may be my new go-to standard as far as size goes for ALL of my equipment. It will be updated more in good time

[Shiva]

Thumbs up.

[Craig Strader]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:26 AM, Shiva said:

Thumbs up.

Thanks