MOC WIP: American 0-6-0 Saddle Tank

[AgentRick]

About two years ago, I whipped together a quick American Saddle Tank slightly based off of H R Porter's tabk engine designs. She was small, didn't really take curves all too well, and was more of a background decoration compared to some of my other trains. This is one of the few decent pictures of it's old self.

I've been musing for a while on how I could improve this old workhorse, and a few BBB drivers and a PF M-Motor later, I came up with this:

Ignoring the placeholder colors, this is going to be the general shape of the finished product. Zephyr's custom rods will be ordered soon enough to replace the technic rods, and I already have most of the black slopes needed shipping out. The only thing that will probably be changed in the near future is the cab, as I'm thinking about cutting it down in length to scale better with the rest of the engine. What do you think ?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Nice improvement! I like the new boiler and I think you have to cut down the cab just for one plate

The new rods from Zephyr will do the rest of the work!

[Pizzareno]

Looks really nice. I personally don't think it hangs out too much at the back at least in comparison with images I have seen on the web. Will you keep the very angular roof or make this more rounded? Personally I think more rounded would look better with the rest of the loco.

Have you fitted the batteries and motor inside this? If so I would like to see how you have done it

[zephyr1934]

That's a nice looking update. I would agree that the cab roof would look better with curved slopes. Only other suggestion is that it might look better without the small window (back side of a headlight brick?) between the two larger ones. I think the cab length is fine, but I could see it working either way (this length or slightly shorter).

[AgentRick]

Thanks guys, the cab will definitely use a more curved roof, that 6x6 roof piece is just a placeholder. I'm probably going to keep the cab length the way it is now, and I'll toss the headlight brick windows on the sides to get a few other details in there.

As for the Power Functions side of things, the engine is powered by a medium motor as I mentioned earlier. The design is based off of a Brickshelf user's design that I figured would work considering the small-scale of the engine.

The receiver will most likely be in either the cab of the engine or a freight car that will also carrying the battery box (Tossing around in LDD right now, I might go with either a simple boxcar or a hopper)

[zephyr1934]

Oh, that is slick. It looks like the reference model used a cut down full technic beam (the half wide beams only go out to 7 long). One potential weak point is if the motor comes loose, the bevel gears might not make sufficient contact. So just be careful to make sure the motor stays tight in place. One thing I would suggest different from the reference design is putting the traction bands on the axle that is powered rather than using the rods to transfer power to a different axle. Somewhere around EB is an article about adding a groove to BBB medium drivers for traction bands. I've not tried it myself, but it looks like it should help.

[Hrw-Amen]

Nice looking tank engine. It is nice to see some small steam engines as well as all those big mainline ones. I can imagine this working in a yard, or maybe even a small branch line.

[Redimus]

I like the new tank, but actually prefer the old smokebox for some reason (I think it's the technic holes that put me off).

[zephyr1934]

I like the new tank, but actually prefer the old smokebox for some reason (I think it's the technic holes that put me off).

Oh, good point, but also quick to fix. A gold 1x1 plate in one as a builders plate and some grebling in the other (technic half pin with a loudhailer (4349) as an air compressor) and "poof," the holes are gone.