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a new toy train for my son

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one 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.