I was waiting until the release of RailBricks #5 to post this. So now that it’s out I present.
Pennsylvania RR #7688
Pennsylvania RR #7688 was built by Lima Locomotive Works in September 1915. She
was one of 445 H10s class 2-8-0 Consolidations built for the Pennsy and one of
45 to eventually receive automatic stokers. She is equipped with a 80P81a class
tender.
She is now preserved at the Railroad Museum of
Pennsylvania in Stasburg Pennsylvania and is the only surviving Lima built PRR
steam Locomotive.
My model of #7688 has a unique twist. It ditches the standard 9v train motors
and uses a power functions based drive system inspired by
Swoofty. If you
want to know all the gory details about it works you can find my article on it
in RailBricks #5.
Building this engine has given me hope for the future of LEGO Trains. #7688 was
built with the PF elements currently available (which aren’t really geared for
trains but are very versatile non the less) and has proven quite successful.
Hopefully when the actual PF Train line is released things will only get better.
The Pennsylvania RR built 17 of these F37B class flat cars between 1948 and
1952. The center of the car was completely open to allow a tall load to be
carried as low as possible minimizing clearance issues.
The one thing I couldn’t fit in #7688’s tender was the battery box. So I chose
to build a Pennsy F37b flat car with an electrical transformer load to hide the
batteries. I’m hopping that the smaller rechargeable battery that will
supposedly be released with the Power Functions Train line will allow me to
eliminate the need for a battery car.
Very nice! I'm impressed at how you hid the PF battery box and components. I've tried running the current PF setup in my modern locomotives, but with the non-variable controller it is very rough going. BTW, nice articles and pictures in RailBricks. (...) (16 years ago, 16-Feb-09, to lugnet.trains)
(...) --snip-- (...) --snip-- (...) Excellent variation of using PFS. We're really beginning to see the potential of this system. When I spotted the two motors in your instructions I was immediately sold. Great work making it all look pretty. Tim (16 years ago, 18-Feb-09, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
