| |
full gallery
I think I’ve built my masterpiece, I doubt I’ll ever be able to top this one.
Just over a year ago, after the Emerald Night came out I decided to build a
better Pacific. My chosen subject was the Southern Pacific Railroad, 4-6-2
‘Pacific’ type steam locomotive. Several of these locomotives survived into
commuter service and were preserved at the twilight of steam in the US. Two were
operational in the past decade (2467 and 2472) and a third is under restoration
(2479).
I had planned to use the banded drivers from the Emerald Night and finally power
a steam engine via the drive wheels. But then I saw Cale’s PF Y at Brickworld
and pffft, now I had better propulsion to pursue. I stuck with the SP pacifics
though.
I finished the model a few months back and have been waiting for something
special for the public debut. Since I will not make NMRA this year, what better
reason than Brickworld?
On the surface this model captures many distinctive details from the prototype-
opening cab windows, boiler arch between the domes, cab roof vents, the roof
tapering at the rear, curved hand rails around the nose, Vanderbilt tender with
running boards, three axle tender trucks, and much more. Under the surface the
two XL-PF motors deliver a lot of pull and the suspension under the engine can
handle very bumpy track.
A quick (and incomplete) list of the highlights, first the brilliant tricks
blatantly borrowed from others,
- pilot/cow catcher- Tony
- main rod- EN (yeah, it is bulky, but is it any worse than pinning together half beams? I wanted to do something more decorative, but decided to go with functional for this model)
- cylinders- Cale (with tweaks)
- propulsion- Cale/Swoofty/Tony/et al
- front cab windows- Garret
- marker boards- Jayhurst (hey, why aren’t you in COLTC)
- cab steps- Garret
and the tricks/features I came up with on my own (some wheels have likely been
reinvented)
- curved grab irons on nose
- smoke box door- it is safely secured
- five chime whistle (repurposed crystal- bonus points for use of useless part)
- 3 wide steam domes (okay, I stole that one from myself on an update of my NP tenwheeler)
- arch in the boiler between domes (I was having troubles capturing it with my camera, but it is there)
- hatches in cab roof
- cut on rear cab roof
- opening windows on cab
- running boards on Vanderbilt tender
- almost all of the major piping on the locomotive
- reverser gear
- suspension (she’s well hung)
- hiding two XL motors and all the PF gear in the tender (she’ll pull a Buick alright)
- and more...
During a shake down run last fall, she pulled 33 passenger cars, most of the
time with the train in four separate curves. I’ll post photos from under the PF
“hood” and videos as soon as I can.
Here are some side by side shots against one of the prototypes,
 
full gallery
|
|
Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: I can stop building steam engines now...
|
| (...) Hi Benn! Very cool engines and building techniques - thanks for sharing them with us! I especially liked your use of crate plates to create the illusion of smoke rising from the smoke stack. Brilliant idea! Ben (14 years ago, 10-Jun-10, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
| | | Re: I can stop building steam engines now...
|
| Benn, Excellent MOC! I really enjoyed seeing it in person and was surprised by the detail that it has. Really nice job curving the shape of the boiler! I had fun at BrickWorld, and hope to see you again next year. Scott (14 years ago, 25-Jun-10, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
|
5 Messages in This Thread:
  
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
