Category Archives: Model Design

Building Techniques, Inspiration, Model Design, Models, Prototypes

NS 2400: Designing and building three locomotives in just under three weeks time

October 23, 2019 Enrico Lussi Leave a comment

The date is February 2019. I was become a bit bored with building landscapes and infrastructure for my Bahnbetriebswerk [ https://brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2019/06/06/the-design-of-bhw-neukirche-by-enrico-lussi/ ]. I wanted to build something different, a locomotive that would be a real “working horse”. It took me three weeks from the design to the building of not just one but a total of three locomotives. In this article I will take you readers into the design process and how I was able to design and build in such a short time.

I was spending every “Lego building” time that I had into my Bahnbetriebswerk. Which is something that isn’t that unusual when you build such a huge layout. The problem was that I was getting bored with the Bahnbetriebswerk. To get some renewed energy back into the hobby I decided that I would spend all my free time for three weeks in building a locomotive. By doing this I would get new inspiration and energy for the Bahnbetriebswerk.

But how do you decide which engine is best to build?

I decided to separate the three weeks into three phases (each week one phase). The first would be the research, the second the design, and the third the actual building. But first, a bit of history.

The “workshop” table with a couple of my MOC’s during trains day at Brick King. From left to right: ICM 4001 “Koploper” NS2454, NS 2459, NS 2412. That workshop became the inspiration for this article.

History

The NS 2400 [WIKI LINKJE] was a diesel electric series locomotive built for the Dutch Railways in the 1950’s. They were used from 1954 until 1991. They were designed and build by Alsthom in France. The first 16 engines where painted light blue, the rest of the series was brown and from 1971 they got the famous Dutch yellow and gray color scheme. In 1991 all of them were either sold or scraped. Several of them ended up in Belgium, Saudi Arabia, France and Italy. After their service abroad, several came back home again. In total there a 6 still in the Netherlands, they are owned and used by Dutch Railway museums . The numbers of those 6 are as follows: 2412, 2424, 2454, 2459, 2498, 2530.

The light blue NS 2412, the blue colors is really discolored by the son in this picture, yes the son doesn’t only discolor Lego, but trains to. Beside the NS 2412 is the NS 2019 a locomotive which is imported from the USA to the Netherlands.

The Research Process

The “normal” research process that I do for a train takes around a month. The reason that this time I was able to do the research in just one week was the fact that I already had accumulated information for a long time. I already had a lot of detail pictures on my hard drive, and a few books with Technic information about the locomotives. And to top it all Raised was able to provide me with a scaled drawing that I was able to get to the scale I built (1:45 for the win!!!). Also, since several of these loco’s are currently used in a lot of Railway museums in the Netherlands the ability of seeing these locomotives in acting is just an hour drive from my home for me.

Since I already had a lot of the information I needed at hand, I was able to start the project quick and with ease. For the readers that are wondering, “why do you need all that research for a Lego train?”, the answer is quite easy, I try to build a “copy” of the real-life version in Lego. Because you’re building a copy you need to transfer each detail into Lego, if you miss a detail, it won’t become an exact copy. And beside that people like Raised and my other fellow LUG members won’t stop criticizing my locomotives if they miss a detail 😉

This picture really shows how the squire looking design has some strange and unique curves. So, 1 week down, 2 to go.

The Design Process

My normal design progress contains a lot of trial and error in LDD (Lego digital designer). For a change however I wanted to use a different design process, something Raised and UrbanErwin swore by. By getting designs of the original locomotive in scale 1:45 I was able to work out the sizes and scale of the locomotives. Besides that, it provides a perfect “blueprint”. The original design plan was in scale 1:400, Raised was kind enough to scale them to 1:45 by using Photoshop and then I was able to print them out on A3 paper.

I decided to build a prototype by using the scaled designs of the locomotive and all the bricks I had in storage, colors I had in storage were mostly black, dark bluish grey (DBG) and Light Bluish Grey (LBG). Because I wasn’t restricted to colors I could experiment as much as I wanted until I finally had a design I was satisfied with. Rainbow designs are the best. The best thing about this is that you can get a quick 3D model which shows how the engine is going to look. I really recommend doing this! You get a quick good look at how your model is going to look and it definitely helps with the Bricklink part later.

The difficult thing about the design of the NS 2400 is that it looks really squire, but it has a lot of strange and unique curves and beside that in scale both “noses” are 5 width and believe me that is not a fun with to build (more about that later).

But there was one problem. It took me around 4 days the design the locomotive. However I wasn’t satisfied with the nose; it looks like a simple design, but it truly isn’t. The nose has 4 lights in it that all have a size that’s difficult to build in Lego if you try to build exactly to scale. Second was the height; the nose is now 6 bricks high but in 1:45 scale it should be around 5 bricks, but the amazing Martijn decided to help me out by quickly designing a prototype nose in LDD. He couldn’t change the height of the nose, but he was able to help with the difficult shape.

The real life version and the Lego model, there a couple of details that don’t match. And I promise I will change that…. one day.

I still had 8 days left for the building progress, building itself wasn’t the problem, but the shipping time however, was.

Building progress.

I decided to build 3 different locomotives. They each are based on a locomotive that is preserved in a museum in the Netherlands and by building 3 I was able to build one in each color scheme that the locomotives had, being light blue, brown and dark gray-yellow.

I won’t take you through the entire Brick Link progress, but I got to mention that I was fortunate enough that I was able to purchase all the parts from Brick Link stores which shipped quickly. After 3 days of waiting patiently the first orders started to arrive, but there was a problem, something little called college… I had a very important week of exams, so I couldn’t build for most of the 8 days that I had left, losing most of the days. I only was able to start Friday 16:00, (meaning I had until Monday evening to finish 3 locomotives), after I finished my exam and rushed to the metro to get to the closest train station. After watching the trains arriving and departing, I got on my train that would take me home. 18:00. Let’s get this party started.

In just 3 hours I was able to get 80% done of the brown version(2459) but I was still missing a Bricklink order. Luckily the last final and very important order arrived Saturday morning. And then the marathon really began. The reason I started with the brown version is simple: The parts of the brown version arrived first.

For power there was a big problem. There wasn’t a lot of room inside the engine to place an IR receiver and a battery box. Placing the battery box was already tricky, however, I was able to hide the battery box by using a clever trick and thus placing most of the battery box inside the cabin. So, I had 2 options, Powered Up or SBrick (there are more options out there, but I don’t use/have the laying around). A difficult decision to make, but why make the decision to go for only one? Since I was making 3 locomotives, way not use both! So, the brown one (2459) has 2 pf train motors a reachable battery box and a SBrick. The blue (2412) and yellow-gray (2454) have 2 powered up motors and battery box.

This picture shows how much “space” there really is in my NS 2400 design. And yes that’s a rubber band holding the pf wires together.

And then, finally, Monday evening! Did I make it? Yes, I did. But was I completely satisfied with the result? Not totally: The undersides use simple parts, and really miss a lot of details. I still haven’t got around to finish it. But I promise, one day I will get to it and I will let you guys know!

So, that’s it for now. Three weeks and three new locomotives later I was finished. But it was a great journey and I hope that I was able to take you to the journey and hopefully inspire you to build! Because that’s the goal of this article, to tell you that you don’t need that months and months or even years and years before you finish your MOC; just three weeks is enough to have a great time!

Three weeks, three locomotives, do I need to say more?

About BMR, Contests, Layout Design, LEGO Train News, Model Design, Models

OcTRAINber 2019: The Technic Challenge Has Officially Started!

October 1, 2019 raised 1 Comment

As we announced a bit over a week ago, this year BMR will again run the OcTRAINber contest. OcTRAINber is a contest meant to get outside of your comfort zone and build something you haven’t thought of before. You know, that one truly special build that will spice up your layout like no other has before. All within the realm of Lego Trains, but with a twist. So, let us officially introduce you to the contest and let’s get rolling!

OcTRAINber

First of all, the name. It’s called OcTRAINber, if somebody had not noticed after two years. Why OcTRAINber? Well, because it’s a great intermediate month between SHIPtember and November. Also, TRAINS. Mostly TRAINS. TRAINS.

“The Technic Challenge”

Second of all, the subject of this years OcTRAINber. Why the Technic Challenge?

Two years ago we had a ‘build your longest’ theme, and last year we were all about ‘building that foreign dream of yours’. Both of them produced some really nice models, but, in essence, they were all static. Yes, some of them were motorized, and yes, some of them even had very fancy motorization that not even us had thought of before. However, in the end motorization was just a nice have-to, not a requirement, which is strange when you think about it. Therefore, we have decided that this year everything is forced to move. The more movement, the better!

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Inspiration, Model Design, Models, People

A big Box on wheels

September 5, 2019 raised Leave a comment

Some might say that engines that look like a big box have no soul. That they are just what they are, big boxes with no aesthetic value. I however tend to differ. Just like how American diesels have found aesthetics in absolute utilitarianism with all kind of weird vents and other hood elements sticking out of the weirdest places, so do boxes on wheels have a certain beauty in a ‘form follows function‘ way of thinking as well. In fact, the box on wheels is the European version of exactly that, the absolute utilitarian engine. So, little surprise that I was blown away when Dennis aka TECHNO posted his rendition of the BR 143, the absolute max in German boxes on wheels.

Front View of the BR 143 by Dennis aka TECHNO

According to the builder, it is meant as a birthday present for one of his colleagues who – luckily for both – don’t use social media. Which means that we have now seen the model sooner than the intended new owner. Talking about the privilege we have as a community!

Top View of the BR 143. Including all the strange greebles that an European Electric should have by Dennis aka TECHNO

Currently it’s now powered, but Dennis aka TECHNO has semi-promised us he will in the future build a second, fully functioning, version. I for one definitely look forward to that version as well.

3/4th view. Embrace the Wedge! by Dennis aka TECHNO

One more thing: Some people might say ‘yeah it’s a box, it’s not that hard. Just try to model a GE ES44AC with all it’s vents and quirks, and after you finish doing that, we will talk again. To those people I say: Well… Boxes aren’t that easy to do either. Ironically, because they have so little design elements, they look way off if you just mess up one. Point to prove is the render that Dennis aka TECHNO made before building. Just have a look at all the little details, the slightly sloped windscreen, the cheese graters on the roof, etc. etc. Point made.

The digital model. You can see the slightly sloped front windscreen, which is just like the original. It’s not a total box after all! by Dennis aka TECHNO

Building Techniques, Model Design, Products

Alternatives to the LiPo Battery Box

August 21, 2019 raised 1 Comment

Now that it turns out that TLC has officially phased out the Li-Po battery packs for PF, I’m wondering how we as a community are going to power our PF motors from now on. The ‘easiest’ way would obviously be to switch to PUP (not really, because of the exact same lack of LiPo boxes available), but for people like me, who still have a bunch of M and L motors laying around, this isn’t an option.

So, what are the options in the mean time? Well, after some discusion over at the EB Train Tech forums, we concluded there are several solutions currently out there:

Battery boxes with regular recharchable batteries
Annoying because you have to dissasemble the whole thing all the time. However, the most sustainable solution since you can keep on changing batteries. Even my old 9V boxes still work perfectly fine, so the same will most probably happen with these.
Buwizz with build-in remote
Not the ideal step if you for example want light & sound and thus want to include a PFx Brick, or if you are totally hooked on SBrick or the Lego IR receiver
Modding your existing PUP, PF or even 9V boxes and installing a LiPo pack in them yourself.
A solution for the few of us with the proper knowledge of electronics. More difficult than you would think, since you would also need to include protection circuitry to keep the LiPO cells from running down too low and overcharging
FX Track Sytem
Only being released in 2020 and a whole different ballpark to begin with.
Our well known clone friends from China
The ‘clonebrand that shall not be named’ is currently producing Li-Po battery packs that look almost 1-on-1 like the TLC Li-Po packs. However, officially they should be shutting down after the raid, so is this really sustainable? Also, in a matter of ethics: Are we really willing to sponsor them? (in this case I’d say yes, since TLC decided to ditch the Li-Po PF battery pack, so there’s no alternative anymore)

So, what are your thoughts? Have we forgotten any that deserve some attention, and what are your experiences with the different solutions that are currently out there?

Building Techniques, Model Design, Models, People

LNER P2 “Prince of Wales” by British Bricks

July 24, 2019 StreamlinedBricks Leave a comment

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 original P2, #2001 “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.

Illustration showing #2007 “Prince of Wales” completed

Sam, of Australia, who goes by his Flickr username British Bricks, has chosen Prince of Wales as his newest modeling endeavor.

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Building Techniques, Inspiration, Model Design, People

How to Traxx

July 17, 2019 raised Leave a comment

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.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/E_186.114_NS_Hispeed_-_Badhoevedorp_Haarlemmermeer_-_2013-04-16_-_Generaal_Gibson.jpg — HSA / NS Hispeed 186 114 in Fyra service

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.

Raimund’s second version of the Bombardier Traxx

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.

BR 186 in Angel Trains liverei by Dennis aka Techno

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.

(almost) final front for the Traxx F140 MS

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!

Inspiration, LDraw, Model Design, Models, People

Bombardier Traxx by raised and BigDaedy

June 26, 2019 raised Leave a comment

In the last 5 years, me and BigDaedy have been desiging our own takes on the Bombardier Traxx in 1:45 scale. The Traxx runs both in the Netherlands and in Germany, and is, together with the Siemens Vectron, one of the two truely “European” Electrics out there at the moment. While we had very different starting points, we more and more converged to a same type of design, but we’ll get back to that in a future post. Since both of us have just finished our respective versions, we thought it would be nice to present them together in one post.

Bombardier Traxx F-140 MS2 in NS Hispeed / Fyra livery by raised. Yes, those two 1×1 round plates in purple are intentional, but only in the sense of ‘happy little accident‘

Bombardier Traxx P-160 AC2 in DB livery by BigDaedy

Introduction: The Traxx

The Bombardier Traxx is the current workhorse on most of the Cargo trains in Europe, but next to that, it also has seen a fair share of use in passenger trains. In the Netherlands the High Speed Line – Zuid between Amsterdam Schiphol, Rotterdam and Breda is their main operating ground, but there are also several private freightcompanies that run Traxx’es. In Germany almost every Rail Cargo company uses Traxx’es, plus several of the big passenger train companies like Deutsche Bahn and Metronom.

Bombardier Traxx P-160 AC2 in Metronom livery by BigDaedy

Motorization

Between our two models there are some very big similarities, which (most of the time) are intentional since we worked very closely together on this design, sharing WIP pictures quite often. Some differences are the vents on the side of the roof, the pantographs, the sidepanels and a different motorization option. Whereas I (raised) chose to go all-in with two 1:2 geared PF L-motors for extra speed, a PFx Brick (with the potential to include lights) and an additional XL Speaker for sound, all build in, BigDaedy chose the always reliable 9V motor. Who says Modern European Elecitrics can’t have some heritiage in them? (In all fairness, with the future arrival of FX Track, a hybrid of both might not even such a bad idea to begin with…)

3/4th view from the right side – Bombardier Traxx F-140 MS2 in NS Hispeed / Fyra livery by raised,

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Model Design, Models, People, Prototypes

Buffalo Creek & Gauley 2-8-0 #13 by Glenn Holland

June 10, 2019 StreamlinedBricks 2 Comments

I’ll be honest. Building models for BMR, such as the NMRA and Brickworld exclusives, the bulkhead flatcar, and now six versions of an extended vision caboose, has been fantastic. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. But it’s now been over two and a half years since I added a locomotive, or any piece of rolling stock for that matter, to my personal fleet, coming from my to-do list rather than BMR’s.

This was a topic of conversation between Cale and I at the end of 2018. We were hanging out together over the final weekend of the year getting ready to announce the T-1 and prepare for other things coming up. At that point, it had been a little over two years since I built a locomotive that was good enough to keep. (I did build a 2-10-4 in that time, but I don’t count it because it never worked properly and has been mostly dismantled.) That had to change.

BC&G #13, modeled by Glenn Holland. Fireman’s side front, 3/4 view. Cale Leiphart photo.

Several locomotives were brought up as contenders for my new project. My primary goal was to select a locomotive which could be built from start to finish with a minimum of custom work and electronics. In essence, I wanted a strong jumping off point instead of having to perfect several new techniques like a drive-train. Cale and I had recently completed the S160 2-8-0 for Brickmania, so I was inspired to build a similarly sized locomotive: a 2-8-0 or 2-8-2 would be the perfect size, it could use the same “golden” drive-train as the S160, and I had no suitable freight locomotives. I began to look through my build list and found a locomotive that met all the criteria.

The Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad

Growing up I was gifted a boxed set of VHS tapes called “American Steam: A Vanishing Era.” These old tapes comprised of old black and white and color film of steam railroading right up to the end of mainline steam power and beyond. My favorite was “Steam Shortlines of the South” which was a collection of footage from numerous small steam-powered railroads in the Southern United States. The Buffalo Creek & Gauley was one of these railroads, although featured for only a few minutes. The tape showed a hefty 2-8-0 switching strings of coal cars at the line’s interchange with the Baltimore & Ohio. That was my first contact with this incredible shortline.

The BC&G shops at Dundon, WV. The mainline is to the right and continues on to the interchange. The rest of the line continues the opposite direction behind the photographer. Doug WIngfield photo – November 1961, from Brook’s website

The Buffalo Creek & Gauley was a coal hauling railroad with connections to the B&O in Dundon, Clay County, West Virginia. If there was ever a perfect West Virginia coal-hauling shortline, the BC&G was it. The line ran from Dundon all the way to the mine in Widen, West Virginia with several unincorporated towns along the way.

BC&G #14 passing the dairy at Cressmont. Photo by Jack Wheelihan – September 1963, from Brook’s website.

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Model Design, Models, People

Ten Wheels, Nine Studs

June 1, 2019 StreamlinedBricks Leave a comment

We all know Scott Hoffemeyer for his outstanding work in engineering new LEGO-compatible track elements. Those who know Scott personally will know that he never fails to deliver anything less than awesome, and this week he again proved this to be true.

Scott published an excellent model of Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O #377, a 4-6-0 steam locomotive with classic lines and fun colors.

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Building Techniques, Inspiration, Model Design

Building an European Railcar Part 3 – The Build(s)

March 30, 2019 raised 1 Comment

About two year ago, I started a three-parter series about designing and building an European railcar, more specifically the SDGGMRS type of trailer railcars, meant to transport trailers over rail. Due to reasons like “life”, “work” and “priorities”, I never got around finishing part three of that story. However, today I will finally do so.

First of all, a short recall of part one and part two. In part one we looked for a prototype and some drawings, in part two we actually tried to build and go through several iterations before finally settling for a design. In part three, we will look at the finished product (which has been finished for some time now, to be honest…), but also about the best part of this whole series: The inspiration it gave to others to build their own versions!

The Final Build

As promised two years ago, the final part of this three-parters would be known as The Bragging (also known as “Hey, I actually finished something again!”) and even though this isn’t the official title, I think the pictures below do pay hommage to this:

3/4th view. As you can see, the sleek design I was going for did work out in the end

Without trailers it’s indeed a bit boring…

Less than 1 plate of clearance. That’s the beauty of building with Legos!

These pictures have been taken about two years ago now, and since then have run hunderds of very reliable rounds on the layouts I was part of. At first, I wanted to have them close-coupled with elastic bands, but due to reliability issues I in the end decided against this, so nowadays they are just hard-coupled on the Jacobs Bogies in the middle with two 2×2 turntables. Nowadays I have 3 sets, one of them empty, one with trailers, and one with three TEU containers.

LegoWorld 2018 — My SDGGMRS wagons running together with UrbanErwin’s container wagons (link = video)

Inspiring Others

As said, it turns out that since my initial posts, several of our readers got very excited and decided to give it a try themselves. Something I really like seeing (Just give credit where credit is due), this is exactly the reason why I made these posts to begin with!

Version 1: Dennis.P

First up is Dennis.P aka TECHNO, a German builder who not only was inspired, but also decided to add some extra details, and decided to change the way how the couplings work; where I had them directly connected to the trucks, has Dennis.P decided to attach them onto the frame itself.

Topview. The 1×2 technic brick at the end of the carriage shows the different way how Dennis.P attached the couplings

Details. Dennis.P added some pretty nifty little details that really give some extra character

A rake of six (6!) SDGGRMS. A beauty, beyond doubt.

Version 2: Pehter Abrahamsson

About a year ago, I was browsing online and by accident came across an event by SWEBRICK, the Swedish LUG. It turns out that Pehter Abrahamsson read the post as well, and decided to try to build the SDGRMRS for himself as well. Since he never saw the final product, he decided to change several little parts to create a subtle different model. As he said it himself: “I passed the train station when these wagons passed by and remembered seeing something simular in Lego earlier, after some digging I found your posts but no finished result. You saved me some trial and error 🙂 “

The sheer beauty of absolute grey boredom!

The sleek design fits perfectly in the yard of SWEBRICK

Version 3: Peter Schmid and Michael Katzmann

The third one is the newest. This one is build by German AFOLS Peter Schmid and Michael Katzmann, who run a Flickr account together. The nice part of their design is that they actually took their cues from both the models of Dennis.P and myself!

As you can see, they actually decided to use Dennis.P’s design for the couplings and details.

Conclusion

Two years later than planned, but I can finally say I finished this this threeparter. When I wrote the first part two years ago, I never in my wildest dreams had expected that anyone would actually try to copy or redesign my carriages. Yes, my intention was to inspire people to build their own goods waggons, but I had never expected that my own model would be perceived as such a beauty that they actually decided to copy it, instead of designing their own… But hey, everybody knows that copying is the most sincere form of flattery. So thank you all, I’m honored!