How I made a Motorised LEGO Narrow Gauge Train Car - Larry’s Lego

[@LarrysLego]

As CircuitCubes are making smaller components, and there are many improvements to be made, there will be a future iteration of this! (Perhaps taking on a different form... :)

[@Jessecolliton3992]

i cant wait for gordon to be done!!

[@MrAds_MC]

I’m ready to help

[@Jessecolliton3992]

@@MrAds_MC oh yeah

[@Tomasmoravia]

That's cool! l was wondering if you could make the small wheels fit bigger axles and make it really compact? have fun with it!

[@paulsladen]

Looking at 17:25 the distance between the axles is probably too long for narrow gauge track [with curves and pointwork]: Looks like ~10 studs on the powered van versus 3 or 5 studs on all the other models-a ratio of 3x times the track gauge (~3 studs for 4-stud track). Is it possible to move the wheels (axles) inwards towards each other? Second problem is that the track tyres (rubber bands) can only be on one side, because of the through axle one wheel necessarily has to slip on curves (no differential like a car!), so the powered van is going into 4x4 mode and climbing off road (off the track).

[@nrike89]

2:26 The wheels aren't the only problem. The worm can't be moved on that way, it is physically impossible, it is a gear specially enginered to transmit the movement to another gear by spinning itself. But the movement only goes on thet direction, if you try to spin the gear to move the worm, it blocks. Thats how many gear actuators works on real life.

[@jonathanporkchop3511]

I was hoping to see someone else say the same thing.

[@LarrysLego]

Ah wow! It was doubly impossible then haha

[@xFuaZe]

@@LarrysLego you can put the worm gear on the output of the motor and make that drive a regular gear, but not the other way around. There's also small rubber bands that you put around the wheel to give it more traction.

[@Kool_Fish_Here]

@@LarrysLego Hi may I ask what Lego peace is the rail?

[@Code_S7]

i mean its not completely impossible but there is way too much friction

[@MrHack4never]

If you retheme it as an caboose, you can use it to pull trains, and then reverse the footage to make it look like the other end is pulling the wagons

[@RubenAssassinRose]

17:06 "Outta the way!" *Knocks Annie over* "You're all mine now, Blue boy!"

[@LarrysLego]

That van has a mind of its own... :0

[@quirkyproductions2021]

RIP Annie 😂

[@sunwoolee2645]

Don’t need you useless coach anymore

[@ebkjosh8240]

Thomas: Aaaaaaah

[@czechian525]

@@LarrysLego o: what if you made a ww1 armored train thing

[@MrAds_MC]

Hey Larry I am an engineer and I can make custom motors for smaller builds. I can also make custom sized batteries and recievers and motors and whatever I need

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks for the offer Aadam! Have you emailed me previously? If not I would like to get in touch

[@MrAds_MC]

@@LarrysLego I have emailed you previously Sure we can. I think I know how to make a motorised mini Gordon or Henry or one of the other big engines since they need giant drive wheels anyway

[@LarrysLego]

@@MrAds_MC Cool! Please email me how you think this could be done :)

[@harryrigdon8496]

​​​​@@MrAds_MC hey I have experimented with 3d printing i took the measurements of the hole in the small wheels and measurements of lego axels and printed it with a realy tight tolerance I found that the tighter tolerance the better it worked I cant reach out to anyone my mom wouldn't let me im 13 after all. edit 1. I could post it on thingaverse probably will.

[@MrAds_MC]

@@harryrigdon8496 good idea, but I don’t have a 3D printer. Show us

[@mrpuddingpop1]

I liked the faces of the cab falling off, it resembled the Thomas breakdown scenes with how imminently it destroys itself

[@EV0X-byteVA]

Fun fact: the 4th season of Thomas and friends had the narrow gauge engines to small so they made the running motor into the backs just like what you made

[@Chomp-10888]

The music choice is always on point. The world 1, lvl 1 theme from New Super Mario Bros Wii but its been remixed to fit the Thomas n Friends theme, dude that's awesome. Then the sonic R soundtrack for the end is great🥰

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks so much! :D (Outro is the theme of Sonic 3D (Saturn/PC) recreated for Sonic Generations). Nice to see the choices appreciated!

[@jordyvt08]

Fun fact: there was actually a Thomas the Tank Engine game for the Wii

[@theaverageteleporter7435]

If you wanted to make it into something like the tv series it could work really well as a sodor mail van and it would have the benefit of looking better with passenger trains

[@LarrysLego]

The bad news is that the mail van design is so complex that that would just not be possible. But the good news is that I know this because I am building a mail van ;)

[@theaverageteleporter7435]

@@LarrysLegonice

[@Jam-Jar1]

The ultimate Larry's Lego video.

[@LarrysLego]

Glad ya think so 😁 I think it might be my proudest yet!

[@Jam-Jar1]

@@LarrysLego It's cool to see the truck/car pushing the engines and rolling stock, it fits in extremely well when used in a goods train.

[@methus9812]

cool stuff! one suggestion: if you want it to push and pull more reliably, try looking into weighted bricks (metal or something heavier). It will push the carriage down more giving it more traction

[@bricktrician]

Glad you got it working; it was fun watching you in live streams and trying to figure it out. I learned quite a bit from you because I am looking at doing something similar in the near future.

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks Bricktrician! You really helped me out there haha. I'm glad you could learn from me, too :) I'd be interested to see what you'd make!

[@bricktrician]

@@LarrysLego You would have figured it out sooner or later.

[@aarontv1242]

This design is genius! It's amazing that you got all the components that compact

[@LarrysLego]

Thank you so much!

[@jessicu511]

This is amazing! I love seeing the whole process of trial and error that led you to the finished model. Keep it up!

[@LarrysLego]

Why thank you Jessica! Glad to hear that was all fun to watch 😊 Will do!

[@pinkius]

Appeared in my recommendations for NO REASON, and I watched it fully. Amazing build, now it's time to make 2x2 moving train >:D

[@LarrysLego]

Oh shoot :0 Thanks! Glad it ended up being interesting to you! :) Haha, next up, a 1-stud-wide motorised train...

[@WhiffTheRubbishEngine1869]

Model railway enthusiast here. If you really want to see some tiny trains, look up T Guage. It’s three millimetre wide track and you need special tools to put it on the tracks.

[@horsewoodtrains15]

You continue to impress me with these wonderful models!

[@LarrysLego]

Glad to hear it, Horsewoodtrains! 😊

[@horsewoodtrains15]

@@LarrysLego 😄😄

[@Danominator]

I've actually been making small Lego trains four studs wide recently, and placing them on roller coaster track, which allows them to roll surprisingly well I might add. Good to know I could motorize the little engines if I ever want to. Thanks for showing us your process of making this!

[@LarrysLego]

That's really cool to know! No problem at all. Glad you can now motorise them if you wanted to 😁

[@philismenko]

Never have i been happier to see a grey brick moving down a track

[@LarrysLego]

Lol!

[@plpGTR]

I never understood the Lego 4/6 Stud concept. Did you ever look at a real train and see how narrow the wheels are compared to the actual body of a train? In Germany, we have 4ft 8½" tracks (1435mm) but the trains are 9 ft 3¼" (2825mm). In studs it means: 4 inch wide track allows 7.8 stud wide train! A Shinkansen is even 3380mm meaning almost 9.5 studs wide on a 4 stud track!

[@MrAds_MC]

And I thought 8-stud wide was too big for my 6 stud track!

[@newwesterngrove]

The lego trains strangely seem to be close to UK loading gauge (ignoring the scaling issues in comparison with the minifigs)

[@BirthdayBoiSkarloeyBrickBuildz]

3:25 ayyy that me! (i made one out off scratch, but being a poor dutch person i never bought circuit cubes. sooo i scraped it)

[@KenjiT04]

ik snap je

[@Matej1473]

Circuit Cubes is game changer for Lego builds, because more smaller option for motorised sets or MOCs, example Speed Champions sets or train sets(City). Lego will make smaller option for motorised sets, because they actual have oversize parts(example motors and battery boxes), if you don't want use old Power functions system with micro motors, maybe older Lego System Electric system(interesting solution for Lego City sets).

[@MrAds_MC]

@@Matej1473 Even big builds circuit cubes can be useful so you don’t have to sacrifice other aspects of the build to fit it all in

[@agepbiz]

Your Thomas MOCs looks absolutely amazing!

[@LarrysLego]

Oh my goodness hi! Thank you so much!! I absolutely love your videos, man :D

[@johnvillarico3826]

glad i made it in the livestream. This was sick!

[@GJBricks]

I love how you made the battery part of the structure to make it stronger! Thomas and his friends look so good moving under their own power! Beautiful video! Those big wheel are not fans of those junction are they.

[@eryhv]

13:50 Fun fact: The original model series modified its rolling stock to account for mismatched bufferbeams all the time, like how in 'Down the Mine' where you can see the truck's buffers are placed lower to compliment the buffers on Thomas' dipped front bufferbeam for when he bumps them. Once you start to notice it you can't unnotice it!

[@Алекс-у1ъ5ш]

This build is so cool! I am very impressed by such Lego masters! It is straight up beautiful!

[@LarrysLego]

Thank you so much!

[@ShipRail_Studios_official]

This is a feat of engineering in of itself! Great job with it. Will definitely build one in the future.

[@LarrysLego]

Thank you :) I hope that goes well for you and you enjoy it!

[@neko9x19mm8]

I learned a lot from this video as someone who was planning to build a lego set in his room, thanks for this video

[@LarrysLego]

No problem at all! Happy to inform/inspire :)

[@Arkay315]

The motor car has arrived.

[@knapfordman1984]

I like the extra lower-able buffer beam reminds me of how, since Thomas' buffers were lower on the front and higher on the back, they had to give Annie an extended bufferbeam so the bufferbeam heights would match.

[@bubblingboiler195]

I got a idea! so because you have to use larger wheel on the motor. You could possibly and motors to bigger engines like Gordon or Henry and still use the large wheels

[@fredfoulkes1521]

The BT on the circuitcube is crazy, the amount of uses of it!

[@Thomasremakes55]

Thanks for taking my suggestion^^ and glad it worked! I plan to use circuit cubes for my standard LEGO engines (that are also Thomas) so glad I could help u with it

[@LarrysLego]

Thank *you*! That's really cool, hope it goes well 😄

[@Thomasremakes55]

@@LarrysLego me to!

[@Thomasremakes55]

@@LarrysLegohey I was just thinking that if you make a express coach you might be able to make a motorized one with how you made this

[@quirkyproductions2021]

Wow, I can't believe how far it's come since the first livestream! Always thinking outside the box! 😄 Pity it doesn't explode anymore though, would have been so TV series accurate 😢🤣

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks QP! Indeed it has, especially with how fragile it was... which I feel doesn't come across as clearly in the video! And haha, yeah a real shame that it doesn't detonate randomly 😢

[@yorgle]

Amazing job! I’ve been working for the past year or so trying to get a good motorization mechanism for my Disney inspired monorail. Definitely some food for thought!

[@LarrysLego]

Thank you! That's cool :D Hope this helps you

[@legovic2299]

Lego have a lot of small motors. But you still need battery box. Also you can use lego bars (that can fit in minifigs hands) for making wheels smaller.

[@BlueSpino4472]

A motorised 4-wide LEGO train… I have officially seen the light XD

[@orion7353]

Some of the engines could probably fit just the motor! An idea to play with 🤷‍♂️😁

[@zacharykoplin6543]

I think the word you used for Torque you need is Tractive Effort. They are very different, as tractive effort is an Indicator of pulling power. Basically, weight and amount of powered axles are good if they are higher

[@LarrysLego]

Ahhh!! I meant to fact-check that I was using the right term there... Oops 😅

[@zacharykoplin6543]

@@LarrysLego Don’t stress, it still communicated the point well. Also very well done with the build, it seems very useful indeed

[@LarrysLego]

@@zacharykoplin6543 I'm glad. Thanks for informing me! And thank you :)

[@patrickfox-roberts7528]

yup, there was loads of torque (torque is a rotational 'strength' , the wheels were often spinning despite the lack of forward motion) but that was not being translated into a tractive ( a linear 'strength') force. A bit of additional weight on tractor unit * might* have helped.

[@CBrick]

You can always remove the shell of electric components to save space. I did that with a technic controll plus hub to only be one brick high instead of 5-6.

[@gamer_3453]

10:31 AND SPLATOON MUSIC

[@mrspiderbricks9634]

love it! I have a driving narrow gauge double fairlie that is very fun but I simply don't own a complete loop to drive it around on

[@catsup1308]

You might be able to get it to fit into a standard train by swapping out the battery box with a small pouch cell li-on and having a discrete switch to turn it on and off. Also you could add some weights to give it some extra traction.

[@coasterblocks3420]

Good work! Thanks for the mention - very cool! I found that problems going over points and around curves increases with increased wheel base length. I reduced my wheel base on the locos to 8 studs total, which is the shortest I can go using the 20 tooth bevel gear mounted vertically driving a 12 tooth bevel gear on an axle powering both set of wheels. (I hope that all made sense.) My narrow gauge rollingstock is based on that used in Queensland on sugar plantations and our local amusement parks - 2’/610mm industrial tramway gauge, so rollingstock is disproportionally wide, often at or more than twice the track gauge itself. I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!

[@LarrysLego]

No problem! Ah yes that makes sense - don't worry, it all did Oh that's cool! I did not know that loco had a basis, nice one :) That also explains the disproportionately wide loco Thanks Coaster Blocks, likewise!

[@Britishbricks]

Awesome work mate!

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks so much mate! 😄

[@TrainBoi227]

That bufferbeam solution is a very Thomas solution lol, they did the same thing with Annie for Thomas, and a bunch of the narrow gauge stock for Peter Sam

[@LarrysLego]

So they did! I guess I followed in their footsteps :p

[@speedking_gaming]

here's a fun idea, you make 2 more of these powered trucks, some other troublesome trucks and rolling stock, and a break van. then you make a big consist of trucks for an engine to pull

[@johnathonmcjohn3]

15:37 thomas got a new special coach

[@pranavghantasala6808]

12:45 Thank you for using Franky for this meme, that was absolutely *_SUUUUPEEER_* of you!

[@rud9713]

you should make it look like a carriage or a brake van or something that will not look lifeless compared to the rest of the fleet. interesting build!

[@tomtative]

That satisfying mario bros wii cross percy theme really suits this lovely video🙌

[@LarrysLego]

Glad you thought so! Even if there's no Percy (yet...) it was too fitting not to use 😄 S.A Music is so great

[@TobyOliverHenryFan]

Idk why, but I feel like you could have made Hector be the powered truck. Mostly got that after seeing the powered van being in the middle of Bill and Ben, like Hector was.

[@LarrysLego]

Would love to see how it would be possible with all the empty space at the bottom lol

[@TobyOliverHenryFan]

@@LarrysLego He could be full of coal.

[@Creeperboy099]

Wait a minute, that isn’t Thomas’ theme at the end-

[@Chomp-10888]

Bro I caught on too, it's the world 1, lvl 1 theme from New Super Mario Bros Wii but 4 been remixed to fit the Thomas n Friends theme.

[@NWRGreen5Productions]

I have noticed with my set of circuit cubes that they often loose the bluetooth connection with the device that controls them, and I was wondering if you ever had that problem. I also noticed that your motor looks very fast on the narrow gauge track (faster than it looks on standard gauge). Very well done! hope you can work out the bugs, and maybe fit it in a LEGO Gordon or Henry.

[@LarrysLego]

Oh right, I had that but only if I left it alone for a long while. And thank you! :) It's worth noting that in the final montage with it pushing trains I sometimes sped up the footage for it to sync with the music

[@evanadcock387]

An idea for a locomotive design challenge: put the motor in the engine with a dedicated coal car behind to house the battery. Cool video - It was nice to see you learn along the way.

[@Saturn_Sky99]

i love how dramatic the the thing was LMAO like the way it fell apart when the wheels went opposite ways or when it tipped over on the curves

[@TheDiamondSquidy]

Beautiful, absolutely magnificent

[@ericernst7414]

Move the wheels closer together, this will help on the points. A 2-4-2 design would be cool. Design it like an 18 wheeler truck with the drive axles close together. You can the use the smaller wheels front and back with the four larger driven wheels in the middle.

[@Peter-1848]

You could make a Big Boy steam engine and use the motorised carriage as a coal tender.

[@JenniferSkidmoreSmith]

Cool

[@Tammy-ll5nx]

Add little elastic bands around the tires for extra grip so it doesn’t slip on the track

[@henryparker8980]

I love this it seems like so much fun

[@igaxbz_4089]

Would be great if you could redesign it as a brake wagon which was seen on almost every train

[@effen_aey_man]

That GTA 4 pause screen sound effect when you said this video wasn't sponsored was epic

[@Timeworks]

i love your trains, theyre so awesomeeee!!

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks so much :D Glad you like em!

[@ljsbean2705]

You could also put a long 2 wide plate across the whole of the bottom to help with strength

[@bobspeirs]

Great build very well done.

[@TheOldGuardsVan]

I'd love to see you try and tackle Hector, I don't think I've ever seen a LEGO version of him

[@kaylinosprey3306]

If the switches had a different frog design it probably wouldn't derail on switches as much. Not really much that can be done about that though, aside from shortening the wheelbase of the car. Not sure if that's possible with that design though.

[@hobbestiger123thetankengin7]

Lovely build. If you want to make it fit in with rolling stock, then making it a red express brake coach with printed decals on the side could be a good idea. It could also double as thomas' special coach from the missing coach

[@Pieberius]

Here's just a thought for anyone else wanting to try this themselves, Why not try adding a motor to the loco and a battery to the tender/ rolling stock this could reduce the size overall and ofc if you do this yourself it needs a face ;) after all it's alive.

[@maddadbricks]

You've got me thinking how I can motorise Stephenson's Rocket with these...!

[@LarrysLego]

Ooh good luck!

[@Compgeek86]

I wonder if you can put really small o-rings/rubber bands on the flats on the outside of the wheels? Something to add a little more traction, and maybe handle track seams on points a little better?

[@Meepmeepseatbeltseveryone]

I feel like actually fits in because it look almost identical to any other cargo train cart

[@MonsieurBiga]

Love the peggle sound fxs

[@JamesTDG]

I might recommend giving a try at designing interesting facades for this motorized car, such as having it be the fuel car for the train, an oil tank, a passenger car, and more. I bet working from a "naked" base would help let the creative juices flow.

[@LarrysLego]

Interesting idea! Thanks

[@davidmolin8944]

Reminds me of season 4 when they created battery carriages for the skarloey railway to run the eye mechanism

[@k992-o6r]

the mini models are 4 wide means u can fit a hobby motor and a battery in there if you wanna do some diy wiring it would be pretty simple to modify the design, may need a second car but that's simple enough

[@alvaroskarson6175]

Bro im new and these builds are epic

[@LarrysLego]

Welcome! I'm glad you like them :)

[@BattleshipOrion]

I got a six stud wide mock switcher I'mma gonna try this on. I already have the gear-train figured out, all I'd have to do is cosmetic modifications.

[@scottbrandner6596]

You should make a Lego 4 stud wide train layout and the tracks are balasted and have ties.

[@CosmicHase]

I have several 4×4 tiles in yellow blue green and white.

[@DocterGeko]

The lowered buffer beam does make it more a like to some of the Season 1 rolling stock or the Season 4 Skarloey Railway.

[@perigrot7565]

tryna watch a lego train video and got jumpscared by franky one piece, might be the best YT channel of all time

[@LarrysLego]

Hahahahaha

[@kikokusy9974]

In regards to making it smaller: I know that lego has made an official "micro motor" that runs on 9V and is the size of a 2x2 brick. Many people use it for motorizing lego miniatures (a good example is the golf marbe maze that JK brickworks made). Unfortunately there would be a problem with getting power to it, but I feel like a bodge with some bluetooth micro battery pack wouldn't be hard.

[@VanDougherty]

new to the channel- just want so to say this video rocks! I love all of the Thomas and Friends narrow gauge you've made, as well as motorizing a basic box car at the same scale! I am curious about two things tho- why narrow gauge, and are any of your files on patreon (will be subbing here in a minute) set for standard 6 wide track, or just narrow gauge? Also, food for thought- if you want to motorize any of the locomotives, hide the battery in the coal car and use the wire as the chain connection under the cars to connect to the motor inside of the engine, so it all stays hidden. Thank you so much man!

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks so much!! Glad you like it all :D Why narrow gauge? I don't know! I'm just drawn to working in a smaller scale and I find it cuter and more satisfying :) I have one MOC that is 6-wide but the rest is all narrow gauge. I really appreciate the pledge! And thanks for the food for thought :)

[@crrm]

Very cool.

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks!

[@Magnetic-Edits]

im suprised on how little of an audience youtube is reaching your channel to. I love this type of content! also I swear that yesterday you had 5k and now you have 12k

[@LarrysLego]

Haha, well, I'm surprised how much of an audience I AM reaching! I'm glad you love it :)

[@BoxtankEngine]

With your narrow gauge models it looks right at home

[@Infinitybal1233]

The lowered bufferbeam is actually what the Thomas crew had to do to many wagons in S1 to be compatible with Thomas, including Annie. Quite funny you had to do the same lmao

[@LarrysLego]

I thought so too! haha

[@JustPlayerDE]

6:20 its not really an issue related to tourqe, the motor and wheel spins without issue which is ironically the issue you can have as much tourqe as you want, as long as the wheel has not enough friction it will just waste the energy while spinning freely, wheels with rubber would have fixed the issue already but adding more wheels will also work by just increasing the contact points (increasing friction a bit), rubber wheels would still help a lot better though

[@ganaraminukshuk0]

The motorized car may be easier to disguise (or possibly harder if using brick-built livery) on a Stadler FLIRT as the PowerPack (EG, the small car on the Greater Anglia class 755 train), which is fitting as it supplies power to the whole train (if not powered by overhead wires).

[@LarrysLego]

Of course! That is such a cool idea in theory. Unfortunately it would be way bigger than the rest of the train and the way the wheels work on it would mess it up. Neat idea though

[@johnscarsandstuff]

That was a lovely video. It looks like you learned a lot from the process. The final (for now) powered van is very neat. I wonder if there's scope to move the wheels closer, which would help with points.

[@LarrysLego]

Thank you! I sure did I should have more directly mentioned in the video that I didn't *want* the wheels to be so far apart, it's just that putting the components between them seemed to be the only way to fit it all in and that forced them to be exactly that far apart.

[@AW.Dry_and_Co.]

A second idea, for if you want it to blend in passenger stock, try making one that looks like a luggage coach :D

[@gamingwithlukeJToH]

that must've been quite the engineering headache to design! (also thanks for giving me direct inspiration to design some 4 stud wide Lego trains of my own!)

[@LarrysLego]

Indeed it was! And no problem - I'm happy to have inspired you :)

[@ondrejuher3931]

Very nice build, maybe you can try to build it into big steam engine locomotive which have different wheel sized IRL like Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive.

[@aterxter3437]

If pushing train cars becomes an issue in corners, just make it pull the whole train backwards ans reverse the video

[@kalybnielsen4183]

The original train used a complete self contained motor and gearset, they can pull a lot of weight, it was a 4.5v set, the battery box had to be used on a separate unit, it used 3 C battery. That little Bluetooth cube would work on the original motor

[@aterxter3437]

I would love to see a motorised version of the hst type lego creator passenger train. By making it TGV/AVE/former eurostar style (two locomotives with carriages in beetween instead of having traction spread along the train like the german ICE 3). You could keep a homogenous appearance while hiding the traction inside.

[@360Production.Services]

Great design! Love it.

[@LarrysLego]

Thanks! :)