9V Steam Train
Ever since my son became interested in LEGO, I’ve been building “what ifs” for him. “What if” is a constrution that could be an official LEGO set, playable, buildable, fun, easy to maintain and repair, built according to LEGO’s rules in terms of durability, build flow, brick volume and so that I can make simple instructions for my kid to build these things.
This here is a 9V steam loco heavily inspired by Reinard “Ben” Beneke’s fake set of a BR 39 steam engine for April fools joke from 2004 (brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=95045).
I went that route mostly because I don’t care much for reinventing the wheel, saw that locomotive running and clearing switches so why sit and rethink a perfectly good drivetrain? Especially because in it’s day Ben spent a great deal of his time to perfect steam engines that would clear the LEGO tracks*.
Actually, my original idea was simply to reverese engeener and build it in black, but in the end no stone was left “unturned” (høhøhø), and although at first glance the engines seem similar they are different in almost every aspect. Main difference is that mine could be an official set. It is built following all LEGO rules and guidelines, and I’m sure that with a few tweaks here and there it could become an official set.
I’d shoot it’ll be a set for ages 10 and up, it’s a lot of black, and the drive wheels need to be built in certain order to insure their functionality.
I really wanted a “fire” in the boiler, and
tried very hard to run a 9V cable from the motor to the fire place, but while looking thru my kid’s junk yesterday, I found the remains of a Batwing/Brother Eye set which has a light brick and boom, “real” light in the fireplace. That’s nothing we’d do at LEGO, but for my kid it’s fine.
The train cars are from an official LEGO Set (2126 from 1997 > I’m 16 years old!)...
*Actually, the shown version, although it runs perfect on a closed oval, doesn’t clear the LEGO switches because it’s too low. The reason for that is the old style wheels that look sooooo much better than their modern counterparts with and give the train that 80ies catalogue vibe I love so much. The old wheels are smaller in diameter though, so the 2x4 brick they sit in must be turned on it’s side to line up with the other wheels. To play I simply swap the front and rear buggies for ones with wheels from 40370...
9V Steam Train
Ever since my son became interested in LEGO, I’ve been building “what ifs” for him. “What if” is a constrution that could be an official LEGO set, playable, buildable, fun, easy to maintain and repair, built according to LEGO’s rules in terms of durability, build flow, brick volume and so that I can make simple instructions for my kid to build these things.
This here is a 9V steam loco heavily inspired by Reinard “Ben” Beneke’s fake set of a BR 39 steam engine for April fools joke from 2004 (brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=95045).
I went that route mostly because I don’t care much for reinventing the wheel, saw that locomotive running and clearing switches so why sit and rethink a perfectly good drivetrain? Especially because in it’s day Ben spent a great deal of his time to perfect steam engines that would clear the LEGO tracks*.
Actually, my original idea was simply to reverese engeener and build it in black, but in the end no stone was left “unturned” (høhøhø), and although at first glance the engines seem similar they are different in almost every aspect. Main difference is that mine could be an official set. It is built following all LEGO rules and guidelines, and I’m sure that with a few tweaks here and there it could become an official set.
I’d shoot it’ll be a set for ages 10 and up, it’s a lot of black, and the drive wheels need to be built in certain order to insure their functionality.
I really wanted a “fire” in the boiler, and
tried very hard to run a 9V cable from the motor to the fire place, but while looking thru my kid’s junk yesterday, I found the remains of a Batwing/Brother Eye set which has a light brick and boom, “real” light in the fireplace. That’s nothing we’d do at LEGO, but for my kid it’s fine.
The train cars are from an official LEGO Set (2126 from 1997 > I’m 16 years old!)...
*Actually, the shown version, although it runs perfect on a closed oval, doesn’t clear the LEGO switches because it’s too low. The reason for that is the old style wheels that look sooooo much better than their modern counterparts with and give the train that 80ies catalogue vibe I love so much. The old wheels are smaller in diameter though, so the 2x4 brick they sit in must be turned on it’s side to line up with the other wheels. To play I simply swap the front and rear buggies for ones with wheels from 40370...