The Old Man of the West: A LEGO® creation by Hunter Dobbs : MOCpages.com

The Old Man of the West

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The Old Man of the West , or number 7597, is a 4-4-0 American type Steam locomotive. Originally built for the Central Pacific Railroad, 7597 entered service shortly after the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point Utah. It spent most of its life hauling freight and passengers over the Sierra Nevada's. During its life the engine changed hands several times, often being employed as a switcher or a banking engine. It was put up for sale in 1949, but with the onset of the Automobile, Plane travel and the new Diesels, there was no one willing to buy 7597. She was set on an out of the way branch-line and left there until 1989, when a group of hikers discovered 7597's resting place. The engine was soon under restoration at the Tennessee Valley Railroad, and in 1999, was bought by the fledgling Steam Valley Railroad company, where The Old Man of the West has been a favorite of the tourists since day one.

About this creation

This is what I like to call, "the money shot," of a steam engine.

The Engine itself.

Close up of the front truck and running gear.

Close up of the back running gear, and the power functions motor powering this old iron horse.

Just some aesthetic greebling on top of the boiler.

The Cab, where an engineer would be sitting if not for the I.R. receiver.

A back view of the engine, showing the solution i found to Lego's high pricing of Train parts. The following are pictures of the tender that don't really deserve their own commentary.

Fourth Wall:

As you can probably tell this is my revamp of the Engine from the Lego Toy Story train set. I bought the set with the intention of cannibalizing it for the train parts, but I couldn't resist putting the engine together, and soon I had the whole thing assembled. I ended up scrapping the caboose in-order to give the engine a proper tender, shortened the cab a little to smooth out the originals cartoonish proportions, and lengthened the boiler. Oh, and of course I added some Power-Functions to make it remote controlled.

Since this is my first MOC on the pages, I really want to know what my fellow MOCer's think of this, so please review and comment to your hearts content.

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I like it

TF Twitch

January 13, 2013

So, how many cars can this locomotive pull, and at around what speed?

I like it

TF Twitch

December 17, 2012

My largest locomotive design has eight of those motors (six under the tender, and none as "drive wheels") as the projected power source. So, hopefully it will work out okay when I am able to build it in real bricks and not over power itself.

I made it

Hunter Dobbs

December 17, 2012

Quoting TF Twitch First! Sorry, I have always wanted to do that. So, welcome to MOCpages! This is really great, I love the detail and how you canned the caboose to create a better locomotive. The motor that you are using, is that the PF Motor that resembles the 9V motor? If so, how does it perform? I want to use it, but I do not know how well it does overall (i.e. power-to-weight ration, hauling power, torque, speed, etc.).

Thanks for the comment. The power functions motor is the new one you can find on Lego's website if you look for it, product number 88002. As for performance, this engine is a speed demon, first time I ran it it nearly flipped the track. Its better for passenger runs, as the lack of weight above the motor leaves it wanting on pulling power, and the wheels have a habit of slipping with heavier loads and longer trains. But i would definitely recommend this modification to any train builder.

I like it

TF Twitch

December 16, 2012

First! Sorry, I have always wanted to do that. So, welcome to MOCpages! This is really great, I love the detail and how you canned the caboose to create a better locomotive. The motor that you are using, is that the PF Motor that resembles the 9V motor? If so, how does it perform? I want to use it, but I do not know how well it does overall (i.e. power-to-weight ration, hauling power, torque, speed, etc.).