Earlier this year we announced the first official locomotive kit from Brick Model Railroader, the Reading T-1 4-8-4 steam locomotive. Since then we have be a bit quiet about this project, only releasing a few minor updates, but this does not mean that progress hasn’t been made. Today we have big, and hopefully informative, update to share.
Of all the designs which I regard to be “almost unattainable” in terms of LEGO modeling, those of Sir Nigel Gresley are perhaps at the top of the list. Probably one of the greatest locomotive designers of all time, Gresley is responsible for the legendary A3 and A4 pacific locomotives of England, not to mention numerous other successful designs.
Gresley was also responsible for the six P-class 2-8-2 ‘mikado” type locomotives used by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). These locomotives arose out of the need for more powerful engines to be used in passenger service between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. One locomotive was initially built, which sported three cylinders and an A3-style boiler with a longer firebox, double blastpipe, feedwater heater, and smoke deflectors. The result was delivered in May of 1934, numbered 2001 and named “Cock O’ The North”.
The following P2 locomotives were improved upon until the last one, 2006, was completed. Gresley died in 1941, and his successor, Edward Thompson, rebuilt all P2 locomotives into A2/2 pacifics.
Currently, there are two separate groups working to build new P2 locomotives. One is based in Darlington, and comprised of the same team responsible for the Peppercorn A1 class Tornado. Similar to Tornado, the P2 Locomotive Trust is building a new locomotive of the class, improving upon the advancements made decades before, instead of rebuilding a former member of the class. Once completed, this new engine will be numbered 2007 and named “Prince of Wales”. Several modern techniques are being used on the locomotive, like a new pilot truck design, and use of the Lentz/Franklin rotary cam valve gear. The other P2 group is recreating the original locomotive, 2001, in the classic Gresley streamlined style.
Sam, of Australia, who goes by his Flickr username British Bricks, has chosen Prince of Wales as his newest modeling endeavor.
As promised, this is a follow-up to the post by BigDaedy and me about how the both of us designed our Bombardier Traxx’es.
The people who know me, know that most of my Lego projects can take weeks, months, even years to finish. It’s something I’m not especially proud of, but on the other hand, I know it’s just my way of building. For some reason I never mastered the art of Digital building, so everything I build, is build IRL. For me that makes the process even more lengthy, because I also tend to delay my BL orders. However, every now and then you meet somebody who seems to be having the exact same project and lengthy building process, and can actually stimulate you to finish a build. This post is the result of one of those projects.
For me, this story started the moment when the Dutch Railways (NS Hispeed more precisely) started operation on the High Speed Line between Amsterdam Schiphol, Rotterdam and Brussels. Because the ordered 250 km/h High Speed EMU’s weren’t ready when the HSL was finished, NS Hispeed decided as a stopgap measure to use the Bombardier Traxx F140 MS and IC carriages instead for what they called their “Fyra” service. Fun fact: The name comes from the same people that came up with the nonsense word “Thalys“.
A short note: Officially this consists isn’t high speed at all, but after a bit of re-gearing they could run 160 km/h. The main reason then wasn’t the speed, but the reliability and operationability: The Traxx was at that point in time the only locomotive that was able to run on the HSL to begin with, due to troubles with the special version of the European Train Control System that was used at the HSL at that time.
However, this being the first new Electrics by NS since the NS 1700-series build between 1990-1994, which I build several years ago, they immediately caught my attention. Due to the double curved front shape, I didn’t really know where to start, at one point even contemplating to just saw the Jack Stone car canopy in two. However, being the purist that I was (In my defence, I was a lot younger back then) I decided against it an shelve the whole idea.
In the end of 2014 I finally had my first a-ha erlebnis and realized how to build the double curved front. After trying it out and getting the ‘right’ feeling, I decided I should move forward and try to actually build the whole thing, instead of only the front. However, me being me, it just didn’t work out, and I got stuck with half an engine that I didn’t manage to finish.
Now, this is the moment that normally I would shelve an idea indefinately and just give up. Luckily for this build, this was the exact moment I got in touch with BigDaedy. He was very enthousiast of the build and told me I should just continue. The reason was simple; he had just started his training to become train driver on the German Traxx. In his own words:
“If I remember correctly you started building your first iteration of the Traxx sometime back in late 2014, right when I started my trade training to become a driver.”
Even though he tried to get me enthousiast about a total rebuild, I just didn’t see any added value in that, I had just given up on the loco. BigDaedy however had a different view and got inspired in 2016 to just give it a try himself as well:
“I’ve built my first version in early 2016 after seeing this post in a German forum, 1000steine.”
We kept in touch while I was living abroad for a year, and thus was away from most of my Legos. I did keep the original mock-up of the front, but wasn’t really interested in doing anything with it. Every time when BigDaedy send pictures of his current WIP it kind of gave me the feeling to keep on trying, but in the mean time I had started several other projects, plus it’s really nice weather in Curacao so why bother.
Around the time I moved back to Europe I got another message from BigDaedy: His second version was ready. Ditching the curved slopes he came up with a totally new front design, which didn’t bear any resemblance with mine at all. It’s always impressive to see how different builders can come up with totally different designs for the same prototype, and this was no exception.
This second version however left me with a problem: I got really inspired this time around to start building again, but for the next two months, all my Legos were locked away in a container, waiting to be shippped back from Curacao to Europe. So again, I wasn’t able to actually build anything (and still wasn’t comfortable with LDD either).
So finally, in the beginning of 2018, I was reunited with my Legos and ready to go. I didn’t change all to much from the previous iterations external, but internally I did a lot. As usual however, life catched up on me, and more than that, Legoworld 2018 did.
An then came the build by Dennis aka Techno, and I knew I had a major problem. Cause Dennis actually managed to get almost everything right that I never managed to. I had been struggling with certain details in the front for example that I never got around to fix, and he just nailed them in his first pictures.
To make matters even worse (or maybe better?) for me was that BigDaedy contacted me again, showing his almost finished Traxx P160 DE ME, the Diesel version of the Traxx, in use with DB Regio. That one set the bar even higher, incorporating some of his earlier design elements from his Electric Traxx, but also some elements that Dennis aka Techno had introduced.
In the meantime I had however finally been able to find my ‘ideal’ front. I combined several types of slopes and techniques, including a nice incline, to get to an as natural possible version of the shape that these beasts have.
So then came the most difficult part (at least for me): Choosing the drivetrain, desiging the frame and building the trucks. All other parts of building a loco are pretty easy with me, but these three always turn out to be a huge pain. Finally I just ended up with a plates + bricks frame that is party hold together by the L-motors themselves. It does very well actually, the loco is really stable, so I can’t complain.
I however did have to exchange gears in the end (and thus come up with a different way of connecting them) because this way it actually slowed down the motor, whereas I wanted an increase in speed. I’m definately not that good with gears…
And that actually leaves at the end of this story. Because when I had these parts finished, the rest just fell in place, and I was finally able to keep up with BigDaedy’s speed. He actually decided to ditch his last version of the front of his loco and change it to the one I had just engineered, so that took him a couple of extra days to figure out how I had attached all those parts. In fact, his V4 and my V2 have been finished within a month of each other. Not bad when you think of it!
To quote BigDaedy for the last time:
“In a few days we’ll see the fourth and hopefully final version. What a long way to go, but perfection takes time. “
And right he is!
Brickworld Chicago, being one of if not the largest gathering of AFOL train builders in the world, is often a time of incredible conversation about the hobby as well as announcements regarding new models and products.
This year saw new innovations and a wonderful announcement from BrickTracks, which is today’s topic.
This is comes as a very welcome breath of fresh air since ME Models stopped producing track. As a community, we’ve largely been stuck to straight track in 16-stud multiples. Unless you’re alright with cutting up track here and there, there hasn’t been anything smaller than that for those of us who need it.
Wait no more. Scott Hoffemeyer of BrickTracks is now offering a solution. Enter the Short Straight track pack, available from BrickTracks for $19.95 USD.
You must be logged in to post a comment.