how should a steampunk/VSF train/loco look like?

[former user]

while researching for my newer VSF train project, I stumbled over this beauty



so, what du You think?
I have read a lot about trains, yet I don't have the slightest idea how a steampunk loco should look like

this link might be interesting too
http://www.aqpl43.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/locoloco.htm

[Cory]

I wouldn't go too overboard, steam locos are the quintessential steam tech already.

Just keep in mind that speed was sought through POWER, not streamlining in much of the era.  Also, if one of something is good two must be better and the more hoses and pipes the more complex and therefore better the thing must be. An articulated boiler might be interesting as it implies a greater length than conventional locomotives.

[Hauptgefreiter]

what about this one?

[former user]

thx, not bad also

considered it myself too

[Gluteus Maximus]

Keep them much like real steam engines, but maybe use more slightly modern designs from the early 20thC and make them bigger than real ones. Size matters - at least in VSF 

Either of those two designs would look right.

[Drachenklinge]

I had the idea to think about the reason for any steampunk machinery on such a train first.

So I come up with some sort of a light machine ... the train is coal-fired like any normal train, but while steaming up velocity some kind of electrical thingy via a small propeller (or via v-belt from the coal-engine) will be charged ... and with this some light will be ignited ... or something like it.

Maybe with this background some sort of propeller ir v-belt driven elekrtical charged battery light system will make itself reasonable on such a train and therefore will give you a wanna-be blueprint how to build it on the train.

But it is evident, that the electrical machinery is not sufficient enough to run the rain itself, noob you!

best wishes  
Drachenklinge

[Michi]

Steam turbine driven engines:

[Michi]

And the American way:

[Michi]

The first actual steam turbine locomotive was built in 1907. Several attempts of different national railways and companies produced a variety of worse and better types, but WW2 and dieselization made an end to further developments.

[G2]

... I don't have the slightest idea how a steampunk loco should look like

I hear what your saying. Apart from keeping the steam loco exactly how it is. I would keep these things in mind.

1. Keep it boxy and not too streamlined. Bigger may be better than smaller.
2. Keep it blackish or a dark colour (red or green).
3. Add extra brass tubing along the outside, to run all the various steam-punk gadgest, dials and gizmos (which are inside the train cabin off course).
4. Put some more "plating" on various areas to show, the train has been "pimped/tweaked" in some way.
5. I would add any visible/exposed gears.
6. I may add a second funnel or more simply more vertical whistles my work.

I hope this helps.

[former user]

thank You for suggestions

Michis pictures are very serious insprations
the more tubes and bulges, the better

for the wagons I already consider combining gothic construction frames  (necromunda and platformer)
 with mantic elves as statues

[former user]

well these were actual working machines or prototypes and they look like this for special reasons.
But this is exactly my type of thing, because I always try to have things look real

[von der Tann]

I know, I know ... just a WH40k thing, but still I think it is quite a nice scratchbuild model.



Maybe that's "steampunky" enough. Just don't attach those guns, they're kinda silly, imho.

[Drachenklinge]

hey, from-the-Fir! 
my fellow Landsmann, where is that awesome Lok from? Found it or built it? I do not like that 4ok universe much, but that baby sure is worth looking at!

best wishes
Drachenklinge

[von der Tann]

PM send with link to the pictures.

von der Tann