After several months of hard work, challenges, and setbacks, our first steam locomotive and first full kit is now available for pre-order. It’s been quite a journey to get here. We’ve learned a lot in getting the kit ready and we’re excited to move this project into the next phase.

Our instructions are currently being finalized, prices and costs have been taken into account, and we’re ready to start taking orders.

Reading T-1 4-8-4 Premium Kit

Our model of the T-1 has proven itself many times as a reliable locomotive. It looks at home in front of a series of freight cars or Reading passenger cars. It is operated using a PFx brick and sports many features including five working Brickstuff lights, sound, printed elements from Brick Print Studios, accurate Boxpok drive wheels, pilot wheels, and trailing wheels from Nate Brill, and accurate connecting rods and valve gear designed by Glenn Holland. Of course there are also some of our ball-bearing wheel sets in the tender.

Our kit allows the customer to specify their desired locomotive from the ground up. The following options are available for this kit:

• Choice of paint scheme and locomotive number: Reading freight, Reading Rambles, or unlettered/unnumbered
• Choice to include or omit the PFx brick and IR receiver
• Choice to include or omit the light package
• Choice to include or omit a speaker for sound capability
• Choice to include or omit a battery
• Choice to include or omit a remote package

The cost of each option is given in the order form (more information below).

Pre-orders for the Reading T-1 4-8-4 Kit will remain open until Friday, December 6, 2019.

The Real Reading #2100

We will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this kit to the American Steam Railroad, an organization currently restoring Reading 2100, the first T-1 locomotive, to operating condition. Brick Model Railroader is a strong supporter of railroad preservation and restoration and we are happy to be able to support their cause.

Special Thanks to…

Firstly, we want to extend our thanks to Forrest Nace and the American Steam Railroad for their assistance in producing this kit. Forrest et al. have been a great resource in providing technical information and photos and allowing us access to Reading 2100. Without their help, we couldn’t have made this kit.

We would also like to thank the following people and organizations:

• Brick Print Studios for doing the top-notch printing on our T-1 kits
• Nate Brill for allowing us to use his wheel designs on our locomotive
• Fx Bricks for supplying the PFx bricks, infra red receivers, speakers, and light boards
• Brickstuff for producing custom motor and lighting wire connectors and for providing the LED lights
• OKBrickWorks for printing the front and rear box art
• Our editors for trudging through the 20 pages of history text (25 with pictures) and the rest of the book
• The BMR writing staff for keeping articles coming as we work on this kit
• The community who has supported us from the start

Reading Passenger Cars

Of course, we have to have some appropriate rolling stock to put behind the T-1. As mentioned above, the T-1 locomotives handles passenger trains during their service lives, and a select few went on to pull the Reading Rambles railfan excursions. Cale has produced excellent models of the Reading Arch Roof Combine and Arch Roof Coach which were used during both eras.

Both the combine and coach will be added to our regular lineup of Premium Instruction Kits, so they’ll be available indefinitely after the T-1 pre-orders close, and we’ll do our best to keep them in stock regularly.

Instructions include details to make up slightly different combines and coaches which were also used on the Reading. A number of other railroad also had these cars or built their own copies, and we have a selection of appropriate decals available for those too:

Reading

Central Railroad of New Jersey

Boston & Maine

Maine Central

Stewartstown Railroad Co.

Both the combine and coach are available now for pre-order. You can expect these to ship before our T-1 kits.

***IMPORTANT ORDERING INFORMATION BELOW***

Firstly, no, the Reading T-1 4-8-4 Premium Kit does not cost $0.00. The online product only exists to initiate the order process.

Once an order for the T-1 is placed, we will receive a notification for it. Then, the buyer will receive an order sheet by email. The buyer completes the order sheet and returns it to Brick Model Railroader by email or mail.

Once the completed order sheet is received, we will send an invoice for half (1/2) the cost of the specified kit to the buyer, which must be paid within two (2) weeks of the receipt of the invoice. If it is not paid after that time, the order is automatically canceled.  Once an order sheet has been signed and sent to Brick Model Railroader, the buyer is obligated to pay the remaining cost.

After the invoice is paid, we will begin assembling the kit as specified. Once this is completed, we will send a second invoice to the buyer for the remainder of the kit plus shipping. This invoice must also be paid withing two (2) weeks after the receipt by the buyer.

Once the invoice is paid, the kit will be shipped. The estimated ship time for the Reading T-1 4-8-4 Premium Kit is February, 2020.

Thanks to everyone who has supported our endeavor to produce this kit. It has been a huge undertaking, but we remain excited and eager to deliver a product of the highest quality. It’s taken longer than expected, but we hope you’ll agree with us that we are delivering a top-notch steam locomotive kit.

Note from Cale Leiphart

On a personal note, I just wanted to say how excited I am to finally be releasing this kit. Producing my own LEGO steam locomotive kit has been a dream of mine for many, many years now. And now to have finally made that dream a reality is indescribably awesome! And to have done it with one of my best friends, Glenn Holland, as co-creator makes this kit truly special. It’s been a long road, full of hard work, frustration, the occasional creative differences, and a lot of back to the drawing board moments. But it’s all been worth it.

I hope those of you who purchase a kit enjoy this model as much as we did making it. We’ve poured years of LEGO steam experience into this kit to bring you the best model we could. As the old LEGO motto goes, “Only the best is good enough”. And this will hopefully be the first of many locomotive kits to come.

Thanks all, and happy building.

Cale & Glenn