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a new toy train for my son

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

The Boy has many of the same "Thomas" trains for his wooden track set. These all look like the little weirdo at left.

Deciding that enough was enough, I ordered a tender from China ($2 including delivery!) and turned one of the Thomas tank engines into a new design: perhaps a 2-4-4 or 2-4-0 +4? A tank engine has its side tanks on its shoulders next to the firebox/boiler. To make the new model, I cut these back and included various pipes and pieces. I also took off the front wheels, whittled these down to a relatively small set of unpowered wheels. I then re-mounted these using some of the wood I'd cut off below the axel hole to fill the axel. I then painted the whole thing.

The Boy didn't seem particularly impressed. But I had fun.