Inspiration can be an odd thing.

My newest creation is a train inspired by a youtube video. (Train appears at 2:50 if you're impatient). This music video was produced by a group known as The Piano Guys. The two guys seen above are representative of musicians Jon Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (supposed to be a cello). Go ahead and watch - if you have any appreciation for music at all, you will enjoy this. Check out the rest of their videos, too - they have a great talent as well as a great sense of humor.

A big thanks to my friend Collin for introducing me to these guys.


The train itself was provided for the video by the Heber Valley Railroad, who offer scenic railway tours in Utah. The locomotive is #1813, an EMD MRS-1 diesel-electric road switcher built in the 50's. I assume the rest of the cars belong to the railroad as well.

After watching the video a few times, I suddenly became drawn to the train - maybe because the train was so 'mismatched' in it's complement of cars, but mostly because of the flatbed with the two musicians playing on it. How cool and absurd will that be when seen running around the layout? :)

This train took me a week to build, start to finish.

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Trains are difficult to photograph in full. :P

The only customizing work I did for this train was on the engine. Stickers, of course, for the decals, and paint for the front and back. The paint is Testor's 'yellow', which is a near perfect match for the Bright Light Orange tiles on the side.

Several watchful people may point out that the engine is shown 'backwards' here. Well, that's the way it was in the video, so that's the way it goes. :)

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This is based on Heber Valley RR's #1813 engine. Note that many pictures here are of the older (?) paint job.

The engine is probably simpler then most, but I still wanted to give myself a challenge and that came in the form of the roof. The roof itself is a little too steeped then what it is in reality, but using 1x1 slopes and 2xX roof joins was the best way to realize it.

Lastly, the middle wheel in each truck is able to freely move back and forth, so it won't have any trouble on the tight LEGO train curves.

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The 'front' of the engine. (although as I understand it, road switchers, though, are designed to be more versatile in moving forwards and backwards so it doesn't often matter which way they face.).
Aside from the hood, there's not much different from the other side.

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I couldn't find much about the specific tankers used in the video, but I'm guessing they're not dissimilar from this one.
The trucks used here became the basis of all the other trucks used in this train, excluding the engine.

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