Model | Brick Model Railroader

The earlier post on 1:5 scale trains reminded me of an excellent MOC built years ago by Shaun Sullivan. Setting my Wayback Machine to 15 years ago, I perused Shaun’s Brickshelf Gallery to dig up his Piggyback flat car from 2002.

Piggyback Car by Shaun Sullivan — A Train on a Train

What isn’t clear from the photo is that the train on the flatcar is actually animated. Gearing on the underside of the flatcar allows the mini train on top to circle its own track, all while the flatcar is being pulled in a consist. Originally built before the release of Power Functions, the car uses a standard 9v motor to provide power from the track.

Video back then wasn’t what it is today, but even this short clip shows what an ingenious build this was.

For me, the best way to build is to have an end goal in mind. Putting bricks together is great and all, don’t get me wrong. But if you don’t know where you want to end up, how do you expect to get off on the right foot?

That said, there should be some thought that goes into a model before the building process is begun. I usually start a model with extensive research on the prototype. For the purpose of this article, the example model will be a Pennsylvania Railroad BM70m baggage-mail car.

BM70m car no. 6565, a match to my model, albeit riding on different trucks. http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/media/Prototype%20Train%20Photos/8-16-071.jpg.html

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Piggy Back Ride

A Topic of Epic Proportion(ing)