Subject:
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A castle fan's Train plan
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Mon, 13 Mar 2006 22:50:02 GMT
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Hey all,
Before I begin, let me apologize for not being 'with it' as far as the train
lingo goes. I'm just a novice, so please be kind.
Before I was an AFOL, I was a model train fan, and to tell the truth I have a
sizable collection in storage (HO gauge). And while medieval castles and
mythical fantasy are my first love, trains follow close behind. However it's
only been recently that I was in the financial position to actually start buying
trains and train accessories to not only feed my love of trains, but help out my
native TexLUG.
So now it comes to my plan, and I would greatly appreciate any feedback I could
get. I've been discussing it with Larry a bit via email already, and even
though Larry doesn't like steam engines... I mean hasn't built one yet (hehe),
he's been very helpful.
The plan:
The Polar Express
Every since my wife and I saw the relatively recent Tom Hanks CGI movie, she's
wanted me to re-create the train for future holiday seasons. It's taken me till
now to not only find the inspiration, but fully understand the mechanics behind
building a steam locomotive, plus be in the financial position to order all the
parts I need.
I want this train to be fully layout compatible, and by that I mean I want it to
be a fully functioning LEGO train capable of running on normal track layouts.
Sure, it'll be mostly a holiday decoration, but I want to bring it to TexLUG
events and maybe even a Brickfest/west/pdx/aarp or two.
The engine:
The Polar Express steam locomotive, at least in the movie (I can't say for sure
about the book) is based entirely off of one engine: the Pere Marquette
Berkshire type 2-8-4 locomotive #1225. The 1225 was rescued from the scrap
yards by a group from Michigan State University for $1, and was picked out by
the yard master for the sale specifically because of the signifigance of its'
number (1225 = Christmas Day). It leaves little to wonder why it was chosen for
the movie.
There are a lot of sites I've found about the engine, here's two:
http://www.mstrp.com/1225.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pere_Marquette_1225
I want to purchase some BBB wheels in the near future to power my engine. I'll
be going with black wheels and grey arms, I think. The leading truck of 2
wheels I think will be the small BBB wheels, and since the 8 driving wheels are
positioned so far forward on the engine I don't think I'll worry about the
leading wheels supporting weight. The rear truck of 4 wheels will need to have
a tiled surface to help support the weight of the cab and the back of the
engine. I think I will use official LEGO wheels for them, spaced with 2 studs
between.
I plan to build the boiler as 6 wide, with the cab and runners either 7 or 8
wide. My current brick supply will only support building the boiler using
slopes (or possibly SNOT), though I was toying with the idea of building it out
of 1x3x3 curved half arches. Another idea I've seen used is black castle wall
cornders on end, which is a great solution, though I think I'd rather the face
of the boiler be studless/studholeless, even with the 4x4 black radar dish on
the front.
I'm going to start with my extra copy of the large black My Own Train engine,
borrowing heavily from the basic cab design (and parts, too). As said before
I'll be using the black radar dish, as well as some of the other assorted boiler
mounted parts. I plan on mounting the yellow 'bell' on the same 1x2 plate with
the hooked arm, but mounting that on the front of the boiler overhanging the
light. I'm not going to be a rivit counter and put ALL of the hoses and things
on the engine, but I do want to put in as many greebles as I feel comfortable.
The tender, as Larry suggested, will match the width of the cab, whatever it
ends up being. The tender will also be the power plant for the train, having
both its' trucks being LEGO train motors. After my experience with the Santa
Fe, I can't imagine having less than 2 motors on the train.
The passenger cars:
For the sake of my bank account, I'm limiting myself to three passenger cars.
The last car will be an observation car with a rear deck.
I originally thought the Polar Express livery was green, and that my three My
Own Train passenger cars would work very well, even if they did need a little
re-tooling. I've since re-watched the movie and I've done a lot of research,
and it seems I was very very wrong.
The movie clearly shows the windows to the cars are red. I've looked as
carefully as I could at the walls of the cars, but because of the movie's
lighting I couldn't tell if they were green or not. The roof color, as far as
the movie is concerned, is a mystery to me, because it's covered in snow the
entire time.
There exists a Lionel train version of the Polar Express, which seems to have
been a movie tie in. On that train, the livery is red windows, blue walls and
black roof. Not exactly my first choice in color combinations, but at least
train parts are available in those colors.
I'm currently thinking of building the passenger cars to be 28 studs long,
matching the Santa Fe cars, since the locomotive is going to be so long. If I
did this, I calculate that I will need 12 red windows and matching glass per
car. I will also need blue train doors, 2 per car. The movie cars also have
interior doors and doors between the cars, but currently I am tempted to have
the interior doors be just openings, and using normal 'town' doors or Santa Fe
style non-functioning doors for the doors between.
As for width, Larry has suggested I match whatever width I use for the Cab. I
can see benefits to the many camps of construction theories around here. With 6
wide, I can use LEGO's existing train bases, and gaining all of the ease of
building and structural stability that entails. 8 wide will give me a bigger
interior, allowing for 2 rows of seats inside the cars just like in the movie.
7 wide gives me an 8-wide like interior, but is a bit more layout friendly.
Frankly I'm not sure which to choose at the moment.
I will say that an 8 wide observation car will allow me to create an octagonal
rear to the car, mounting the 4 wide windows on 1x4 plate hinges and angling
them at 45 degrees, with a 4 stud window between. It's perhaps ironic that the
octagonal towers on my recent Ulmaris Castle would have given me the experience
to do such a shaped end to the car.
The Conclusion:
I think I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to build the Pol Ex, and
frankly I'm obsessing over it. I've never been this excited about building a
non Castle MOC, and I can only name a handful of Castle MOCs that I've been this
excited over.
Any comments, tips, criticisms are welcome. After all, if I can't build it
until I can get enough funds together to order parts, I might as well talk about
it, bounce ideas around with the people that know LEGO trains better than
anyone.
Thanks!
--Anthony
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: A castle fan's Train plan
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| Anthony, Best of luck on your Polor Express project. Funny thing - I've always been a train fan. I'm now scratching the Castle itch and have gone on a bit of a spree buying up classic Castle sets! Must have more Forestmen... -- Bryan "Anthony Sava" (...) (18 years ago, 14-Mar-06, to lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: A castle fan's Train plan
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| (...) If you plan to put connecting rods on the drivers, you'll want to get 4 large wheels with flanges and 4 that are blind, no flange. The blind drivers will allow you to run through curves, and place the wheels closer to each other If you want (...) (18 years ago, 15-Mar-06, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
| | | Re: A castle fan's Train plan
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| I never thought I'd have to ask this question, but hey details are details, right? Is it common for there to be very little between the bogies underneath a passenger wagon? I've been studying the Lionel toy version of the Polar Express, and thats (...) (18 years ago, 21-Mar-06, to lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: A castle fan's Train plan
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| I just wanted to post a big 'Thank you!' to everyone who's replied, you've all been a great help to me. Don't stop, by the way, I have much to learn. I also wanted to give a little public update on my progress - I built a prototype passenger car (...) (18 years ago, 23-Mar-06, to lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: A castle fan's Train plan
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| Hey all, One final train novice question before I leave this thread to die (and hopefully start a new one with complete pictures!). Typical passenger cars: In the movie, the main character slows down a runaway rail car using a manual brake wheel on (...) (18 years ago, 4-Apr-06, to lugnet.trains)
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