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Hi all,
I finally completed my rendition of a German train from WWII. All told, it's
over 12.5 feet long (over 3.8 meters - I believe this makes the double
entendre in the subject heading perfectly valid :D), and comprises 11 cars:
BR52 Steam Locomotive
Tender
K5 Leopold Railway Gun
Freight Car
Flatbed Car with Sd.Kfz 250 Halftrack
Barracks Car
Flatbed Car with 88mm Antiaircraft Gun
Officer's Car
HQ/Radio Car
Freight Car
Guards' Van (Caboose)
Of these, the engine, tender, flatbed w/ halftrack, flatbed w/ 88mm, and
railway gun are all models of actual German equipment. The remaining cars
would technically fall under the category of "plausible", as I didn't have any
basis outside of my imagination for their design and inclusino in the train.
However, given that the railway gun itself required a significant contingent of
personnel to transport and fire, I envisioned the entire train as being a
somewhat self-supporting community, which goes a long way in explaining the
assortment of cars represented. It's small by train standards, but conveys the
hodgepodge nature common in many wartime assemblies.
N.B.: I hereby disclaim any knowledge of Guards' Vans, and whether my version
might have been an appropriate addition to a European 1930s/40s train, but I
couldn't very well go without it, now, could I? ;)
I've taken pictures of the cars that were heretofore undisclosed. They can be
seen at my Brickshelf Gallery:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=7086
I'm pleased with a number of little features and elements in the train. Not to
play "Where's Waldo" or anything, but some of the items you can find include:
An Enigma Machine
An interrupted card game
2 Pictures (front, profile, and handprints) of the Fuhrer (sp?)
Extra Chains and Cargo Netting
A "red and white" flag on the side of a car
Sheet Metal plates welded over windows to convert a car to wartime use
A tired rifle
A room full of war booty
A refrigerator/freezer unit, as well as a stove and oven
I've also included composite pictures which show the entire length of the train
in detail. These, specifically, are here (Warning: the last image listed here
is quite large, around 3 MB; the other two are around 400K, IIRC):
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=73638
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=73639
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=73640
These were assembled by cutting, pasting, cropping, lathering, rinsing, and
repeating many times over. Examined with any pair of DMV-certified eyes, it's
not too difficult to recognize where the seams are, and it is interesting to
take in the effect of seeing both ends of a given car at once. However, I like
to think that the pictures do a good job of showing the detail and scope of the
entire train ... keep in mind, these scroll for about 8 screens horizontally.
The entire train can actually navigate any LEGO track layout, including 180
bends, crosses, and switches. Well, now that I think about it, the train won't
exactly work on a full circle, but that's only because it's much longer than
the circumference of a LEGO track circle :). Due to the extreme weight of some
of the train cars, a number of the magnetic couplings are assisted with small
technic rubber bands.
The only restriction on the train I've uncovered thus far is that the K5
railway gun needs to be either near the end of the train (3rd from the end
works, for example), or have at least one (possibly more) train motors *behind*
it. If neither of these two precautions are taken, the railway gun will
capsize on tight 180 degree turns as the forces on either end (pulling on the
front, weight on the back) actually work to overturn the trucks. The methods
listed here both seem to alleviate this problem, however.
The one piece of information I *don't* have is exactly how many train motors it
takes to pull this ... I currently have two, which *might* be enough (??), but
I haven't gotten around to purchasing a power regulator yet. All claims to the
train's functionality are based on "Ye Olde Push-Pull" methodology.
Further information about the engine and tender is provided in this post (note
that the links don't work anymore, though all of the same pictures are in the
same directory provided above):
http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=10457
The (pneumatically powered!) railway gun was described at length here:
http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=10987
And the AA car was quickly noted in this post:
http://news.lugnet.com/build/?n=8950
All told, this train took me over 7 months to build from beginning to end. I'm
sure I'll continue to modify, add to, and adapt various parts of it, but for
the time being I am more than happy to sit back and call it "done" !!!
If you're still with me here, thanks for reading through, it was certainly
above and beyond the call of duty. Comments are welcome ... LMKWYT!
Thanks,
-s
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: WWII German Train (LONG)
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| In lugnet.build.military, Shaun Sullivan writes: <snip> Wow! Very nice. The only car I don't think is plausible is the guards van... it looks too US proto. See James Mathis's pages for some possible guards vans... the cupola tended to be a little (...) (23 years ago, 1-Oct-01, to lugnet.build.military, lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: WWII German Train (LONG)
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| (...) said this before)--do you have any plans to put a shield on that gun? I also wonder if the engine doesn't need a meatier cowcatcher. But man! is that nice. So let's see, now we have a boat *and* a train for BrikWars...:D best LFB (23 years ago, 1-Oct-01, to lugnet.build.military, lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: WWII German Train (LONG)
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| (...) I was interested in doing a "war" train myself and now i see the standard that must be met. I especially like your 88. That gun gave the Allies a heck of a time during the war. When it wasn't shooting down planes, it made an awesome antitank (...) (23 years ago, 1-Oct-01, to lugnet.build.military, lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: WWII German Train (LONG)
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| Oh my goodness! that is sweet! Great work! the detail is incredibly immense, Wow, I'm awesstruck, that is totally amazing. It looks real, that's what's so cool about it. The leopold is awesome, absolutely stunning. I can't get over the detail, (...) (23 years ago, 1-Oct-01, to lugnet.build.military, lugnet.trains)
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