THE POLAR EXPRESS | Custom Book-Accurate Train at an affordable Lionchief price??

[@DelHudson1]

Of course you picked this set up secondhand, or you'd have to change your name to "Firsthand Overland." lol. Awesome project to put a huge smile on your son's face. Love it, and you are well on your way to dad of the year.

[@Dadified86]

I dunno about that prestigious award but this train is something he’s asked about even before we got into Lionel. He’s gonna flip when he sees it!

[@cmilburn26]

That piece in front of the stack is the superheater… it’s used to dry out the steam and was common on Berkshire’s, but obviously not in the book or movie lol

[@Railfan105.]

Close, but not quite. That piece is the Feedwater Heater. It's used to heat up the water that will be put into the boiler, which makes heating said water in the boiler, and therefore generating steam, more efficient. Also, in case anyone is interested: Yes, there are different models of Feedwater Heaters applied to steam locomotives, the one the model had was a Worthington SA.

[@otakurailfan]

This is an awesome project! Cant wait to see the final results.

[@TheTrainboard]

Absolutely excellent endeavor. So you and your son get the fun of paging thru the book and the double fun of running that engine and cars on your trainboard, together.... you and your son. About those changes, you have god like patience. Imagination will run wild in your household. Gary

[@Dadified86]

Thank you very much! Looking forward to finishing but moreso just to see his reaction.

[@SCL3618]

Build looks good so far! If I may make a suggestion on lighting- If you'd like the stock LED to be a bit more yellow, pick up some Tamiya clear yellow + orange paint and brush it onto the front of headlight LED. Takes a few coats for fully tint, but I've used it on HO projects countless times and will warm up the headlight to something more mellow than the super bright Lionchief LED's. Looking forward to seeing final product!

[@Coreyt1976]

Cool , looking forward to the next update.

[@strasburgsteamproductions3302]

Cool! Awesome job! 🚂🚃

[@Dadified86]

Glad you liked it! I’ll have Part 2 up on Black Friday. Stay tuned!

[@spaceonix_5882]

Omg it’s the the guy with the badass #75 STI.

[@Dadified86]

Haha yep! It’s a pretty quick ride for daycare drop-offs 😂

[@mad_trains12]

Looking good!

[@stevenbullock9276]

I'm embarrassed to say I never knew there was a book that pre-dated the movie by almost twenty years. I'd be curious to read it. Great video- looks like a fun transformation.

[@redstonecommander5190]

4:12 that’s because lion chief is supposed to aim for this model being the movie accurate version instead of the book accurate version

[@thetoontrain473]

Have you listened to the audio disc that came with he book? I remember loading it up on our old PS3 and my mom walking in on me listening to it on almost full volume. Very good memories!

[@Dadified86]

They didn’t have an audio disc with the book when I got my copy in 1988… let alone an “old PS3” to play it on 😂

[@thetoontrain473]

@@Dadified86 yeah, I got my book so much later than you did…

[@redstonecommander5190]

2:31 well if you have a soldering iron Which I’m pretty sure you still do mainly for your laser gun projects but you use that soldering iron for that LED so instead of using hot glue you solder to keep it connected

[@Dadified86]

Hot glue wasn’t connecting the wires, it was holding the LED in place behind the smokebox. Got it better secured now.

[@LegendRails]

It looks very amazing, it looks like the original locomotive from the movie (I didn't like why Lionel made its tender so almost small)

[@ArtsModelTrains]

Awesome video, I've always watched the movie never read the book,i learned a ton. Was the "know it all" not really in the book? Also, those passenger cars are mpc era cars just repainted for the polar express. Both use those tab windows to hold the roof on, so same for the blue comet, southern Cresent and others. Just so impressed with the work you are doing on that engine, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[@Dadified86]

Yeah aside from his sister, the main kid is the only one they focus on in the book. No poor kid by himself in the observation car, no know it all, no Hobo, no Aerosmith.

[@redstonecommander5190]

So the Facebook marketplace saying the LED in the front burns out it’s actually not Burnt out incandescent steel but LEDs do not because mostly all LEDs so you see including the modern days don’t burn

[@africarocks_official]

Maybe you could add a bell to the front of the smoke box door so it can look more movie accurate

[@Dadified86]

So why would I call it a “book accurate” version if it looks like the one in the movie? 🤔

[@redstonecommander5190]

1:20 That movie was announced in 2004

[@Dadified86]

I was a freshman in college 😆

[@Manwholikestrains]

I have the book and the movie

[@NorfolkAndWestern611]

Next you should transform it into a mountain type like in the book

[@Dadified86]

I’m not sure going that far is gonna be worth the trouble! Just going for the general look up front. I’d have a lot more to change if I was truly going rivet-for-rivet for this.

[@NorfolkAndWestern611]

@@Dadified86yeah I understand because they probably don’t sell front trucks and back trucks for it lol

[@Dadified86]

@@NorfolkAndWestern611 I could swap some out from another engine. But then I’d be shaving more details off the sides, probably make the boiler larger in diameter, etc. It really could be an extensive project if I wanted it to be.

[@NorfolkAndWestern611]

@@Dadified86 yeah lol

[@Dadified86]

There are parts from other wheel arrangement engines I could swap on, but again that's more work than I'm looking to do. The look of the front end is the main goal of this little project.

[@colestrains1]

It also looks like it needs to be requatered🤔

[@Dadified86]

Got it running smoother in the second video if you haven’t already seen that.

[@JoseLopez-tk1qt]

The bell?

[@Dadified86]

The bell!