The Eurobricks Spaghetti Western competition had 3 categories, and one of them was to build a western train. I had never built a train before, so I figured I would skip that category, but then I was struck with inspiration and thought it would be a good challenge. I was hard pressed on time too, since I had also entered the two other categories. But I was able to finish just in time, with only a half hour to spare! And here is the result. The locomotive is based on a Denver & Rio Grande steam engine, DRG268. The rest is mostly fiction, only loosely based on pictures I could find of trains from that time.
I’m quite pleased with the result, seeing as it’s my first train MOC. But there’s also a lot of things I would have loved to improve, given more time. I would also have liked to motorize it, but I fear it’s to fragile at the moment to be able to run around a track without falling apart 😀
I’m also very happy with the texture on my caboose. It was a last minute idea to use plates to create this effect, and I had to borrow a load of them to have enough (since I didn’t have time to buy more on bricklink).
I wanted to use all my purple train windows from the Harry Potter Knight Bus set, so I made my wagons purple, although that may be an untraditional color from that time. I think they turned out quite alright though. There’s a post and baggage wagon with sliding doors and shelves for mail and suit cases inside, a passenger wagon, and a dining wagon with a small kitchen. Here’s a picture of the dining wagon.
You can see more pictures on flickr, including close ups of the locomotive and pictures of all the wagons, including the interior. I think I may take some additional pictures too, as I was sort of stressed out when I took these in a hurry to get them uploaded in time for the deadline. I’ll see when I can get around to that, as I’m still busy building for a deadline, this time for my trip to Lego Fan Weekend in Skærbæk in a week.