Dulais Rock Railway locomotives.

[Neilos83]

Hello.
My first post on here. Just thought I would share a few of my models, most of which I drew up during the covid pandemic.
I used fusion 360 to draw them up, and all parts printed on my Ender3.
With a house move on the horizon, I have begun to clear my garage, and thought I would take some photos before they get boxed up, with the hope to laying a new garden railway at the new house.
With 2 young kids, I've not really had much time to add lots of details to these, and it's very much a learning curve, I enjoy drawing stuff up, and I'm learning as I go.

My bagnal was the first loco I drew. Based on Gelert at the welsh highland heritage railway. First incarnation was printed in PLA, but bits are being changed to PETG to make it a bit more weather proof. It's survived being played with by a 5 year old.
Lining was added as an experiment using my Cricut machine. It has steel wheels. Known as 'Star' by my kids.

My 6w diesel is based on the shunter at the brecon mountain railway. Drawn up while I was at home looking after the kids during covid. Printed in PETG and has steel wheels. Known as 'Moon' by my kids.

Graf schwerin lowits is based on a loco of the same name, now at the vale of rheidol in the museum.

No1, is something I started as my son loves American narrow gauge stuff. Roughly based on a sandy river locomotive I found a drawing of online. Still lots to do on this one. The tender body I found in a box of bits at the llangollen garden railway festival.

The vertical boiler loco is a model of redstone, a small vertical boiler locomotive that is on display at the vale of rheidol railway. literally just some raw prints straight off the printer. This is for my 9 year daughter as she wanted her own locomotive. It's called 'sloth'.

[ge_rik]

A very impressive set of locos. Looks like a fluorescent green de Winton lurking in the photos.....

Rik
PS Welcome to the forum. Looks like you'll be very much at home here.

[drewzero1]

Brilliant models! I especially like the Bagnall as what I wished I could've built for my 'Thornas', if I only had the design skill to pull it off. Your situation sounds a bit like mine, though my two kids are somewhat younger... I've learned to accept some damage from continued 'toddler testing' (curious prying fingers, repeated drops from 3ft) but it really helps that all of the parts are easily replaceable with just a few hours on the printer.

[Neilos83]

Better photos of the small vertical boiler locos 'sloth' , no1 and the diesel.

[Neilos83]

Brilliant models! I especially like the Bagnall as what I wished I could've built for my 'Thornas', if I only had the design skill to pull it off. Your situation sounds a bit like mine, though my two kids are somewhat younger... I've learned to accept some damage from continued 'toddler testing' (curious prying fingers, repeated drops from 3ft) but it really helps that all of the parts are easily replaceable with just a few hours on the printer.

I'm lucky in thar my son really enjoys playing with the trains, so I've disconnected the motors inside so he can push them around. The baldwin has been built with the intention if being robust, so he can play rough with it and it doesn't matter. All part if the fun letting the kids have a play.

[SimonWood]

Brilliant models! I especially like the Bangnal

Second this. All really good, but you've somehow captured the essence of Gelert there.

[Andrew]

Brilliant models! I especially like the Bangnal

Second this. All really good, but you've somehow captured the essence of Gelert there.

Indeed!

I love the big "Prairie" as well, that's going to be very impressive when it's finished!

[Trevor Thompson]

Very nice prints!

Particularly impressed that you have achieved this via "Fusion". You must have a good internet connection! And loads of skill.

Trevor

[Neilos83]

Thanks all for the positive comments.

Here is my TU7 diesel.
I downloaded the body and part of the frames from thigiverse, originally and 009 model, I scaled it up, not quite to 16mm scale, but almost. Again, printed during Covid, when there wasn't much else I could do, and it sat in the garage as a set of prints until about a year ago when I drew up some bogies and an under frame.
I had the wheels from a stall at the garden railway show in Peterborough.
It has been named 'Dash' by my kids, as it goes very fast.

[drewzero1]

Hey, I know that model! I had downloaded it and was going to try to modify it to pass as Castell Caernarfon, but then I found a Darjeeling Himalayan NDM6 and built that instead. Looks like you've really done it justice, they don't always look so good scaled up. I love it when the kids name the trains!

[ge_rik]

That does look remarkably good for a scale-up. In fact it looks good as a model per se.

Rik

[Neilos83]

The TU7 needs some work, as the bogies are not balanced, and it slips something awful when going over uneaven track. Once I've actually finished somthing I'm happy with, I will share the files on here for all of the above.

Thank you all for your comments. Means a lot.

[Neilos83]

Some updated photos of no 1. Not done a great deal as we are still in the process if moving.

[Soniya]

These models look fantastic, Neilos. I'm curious about your process how do you decide on the scale and materials for your prints, especially for something robust enough to handle kids' play?

[dudeface]

Some updated photos of no 1. Not done a great deal as we are still in the process if moving.

That looks pretty nice if you ask me. We don't get a lot of American style models around here.

[Neilos83]

These models look fantastic, Neilos. I'm curious about your process how do you decide on the scale and materials for your prints, especially for something robust enough to handle kids' play?

Thanks.
I model everything up in 16mm scale. I started off printing in PLA, but I found that some parts were warping in sunlight, so I tried PETG, and I've had no issues since.
Regarding making them durable, I try and keep glued components to a minimum, and where I can, bolt things together with m3 or m4 bolts.
I also keep wall thicknesses to a minimum of 3mm.
The biggest issue I've had is couplings snapping, as my son likes to try and pull heavy things and occasionally lift the loco with his crane!