New Train - Fast Lane "Western Express"

[Rob_Jedi]

Hey folks I picked up a new train today from Toys R Us, just curious if anyone else has painted or modded up one of these.

I did a repaint on the smaller Fast Lane trains I picked up a few years ago and started a bit of a flood of other trains in the Warmachine forums. This one uses the same gauge of track but has pivoting bogeys and is a fair bit bigger.











nice you can easily fit 40mm bases in the goods car and with a bit of a squeeze a 50mm fits.











the half a train station is nicely scaled for minis too, helpfully I have another half from the previous train so can glue the two together to make a whole building, it could use a platform though.

[6mmfan]

That would be great for Wild west gaming

Cheers
Kieran

[Marine0846]

I have that train,
Paints up pretty nice.
Wish it came with more straight track.

[Rob_Jedi]

 Marine0846 I'm curious to see how your's painted up.

I agree about the straight track but thankfully it also fits on the my previous smaller Fast Lane train's track which I have lots of straight bits

With this one I've already gutted the locomotive and cut out it's windows. Now to build a deck inside the cabin and detail the cab. I'm not sure if I should shorten the carriages or not, they seem a tad tall. I wish they at least had removable roofs.

Will post WIP shots soon.

[FramFramson]

Shame it didn't come with just one more goods car. A box car or something.

Also a car you could use as a "Military car" would be neat like this:



or the other kind with a goods car built up with sandbags and barricades, possibly with a machine gun emplacement, but more typically with a brace of soldiers. Usually set before the locomotive and sometimes behind as well (with more in between for longer trains). For the life of me, Google images won't cough up a decent picture of these, but I hope you know what I'm talking about.

I wonder if you can find any matching bogies to make your own spare cars?

[Rob_Jedi]

I really wonder if there was an easier way to do this but I cut out the windows on the cab like this



pin vise to drill holes along the outline of the window



then a keyhole saw blade



which leaves fairly messy holes so then you spend a few hours filing





if you were wondering about the yellow tape it was so I could work out the straight lines to cut windows at the front





then I added frames



and a bit of an edge at the front of the roof



and started on an interior, not sure if this boiler looks right or not



sorry this is a bit blurry but I just spent a few more hours cleaning up all mold lines on the top thingies.

[mysteriousbill]

There are other versions with a freight car. Also some of the versions come with tank car comes off easy and gives you a flat car you can build on.

[Rob_Jedi]

I'm pretty sure those other versions are the smaller trains. I'll take a pic of my older train next to this one for a size comparison.

[FramFramson]

I think that if this was his only set he could probably convert the caboose to a box car anyway. With two good cars (one open and one box car).

For gaming purposes you really don't need more than two passenger cars (two cars is enough for a mixed train or a short passenger train), plus you can't really use the interiors, so they're not that interesting other than as blocking terrain or as an objective. Ideally, the following would give you enough for about 90% of the gaming scenarios that might involve a single train:

- Locomotive & tender
- At least 2 passenger cars
- At least 2 closed goods cars (box car, with interior space accessible, preferably with doors able to open on both sides)
- At least 2 open good cars (with or without sidewalls. If without, you can make some removable ones easy enough)

You can easily make a removable layer of sandbags or a machinegun/cannon emplacement to use an open-top goods cars as troop transport or military cars

With the set you have, you could get at least 2 passenger, 1 closed goods car (if you do the conversion) and 1 open goods car, wihch is probably going to be good enough 70% of the time! You'd be able to run a regular passenger train or troop train (passenger train plus an open military car) with no problems and can manage a small civilian freight train. A military supply train might be sort of unconvincing visually, but you could do it (open topped car as a military car carrying the guarding soldiers and a single box car with the supplies).

How well do the two sets mix? Can you use the cars together without it looking terrible?

EDIT: By the way, I like the boiler. I think that once the firebox is in and there are one or two gauges or controls on the rest of the cabin surface you'll be set.  

[Schogun]

Stopped by my nearest TRU (US) this morning, but they didn't have the train set. A whole section of Fast Lane toys, but no train.

Fast Lane was on sale though -- buy one, get second for 50% off. Sales runs through October 20.

Online search of TRU site shows 3 different train sets. Two are labeled as "Western" but they have different locomotives. One is more decidedly western while the other could work for WWI/Interwar/WWII. The third set has a more modern, streamlined locomotive that could work for later years (but still maybe back to WWI/RCW).

Also stopped at Walgreen's (US) drug store yesterday. That's where I first saw the Goldlok/Fast Lane train sets. I haven't seen them for 2 years now and nothing yesterday. I fear the worst though because they had a bunch of Xmas toys all stacked on the very top shelf seemingly waiting to be brought down when the season officially starts...and no train sets.

[Rob_Jedi]

Took some pics of my old train compared to the new one.





can really see the size difference from above







comparing them the locomotive isn't hugely different in length but is much taller. The other carriages are all much longer and taller. I'm really not sure which of the 2 sizes is best for miniatures but the new one does give that massive feeling much better, will be harder to fit on the table though

[FramFramson]

Looking at your minis, I do actually think they look a bit too tall now. If you imagine a mini in the passenger car, he could look out the window, but not while sitting down! Maybe you're right that cutting them down a bit might be an idea. I don't think it's a big deal though, so if it's too much work then never mind.

The two locos work well together though. I love your Russified war-train.

[OSHIROmodels]

Coming along nicely, are you going to do anymore conversions to it?

I really like the original train 

cheers

James

[Cory]

I'd cut the new passenger cars down, probably about where the top of the green sticker is.

 A 19th century coach ceiling isn't very tall, at 6'2 I've had to duck on a few of the doors of restored cars and been darned close on others. Moreover they are long and a reduced height will give the car more of that feel.

[FramFramson]

Yeah, I see slightly longer passenger cars as a bit of an advantage rather than a drawback.