As a kid, I was lucky to own several sets of greyera LEGO trains, including 7710, 7740, and 7834. One set I never had though was the 7750 Steam Engine, and I certainly never had the parts to complete the big steam locomotive of ideas book 7777. My dad got me the big red wheels service pack 1143, but due to lack of parts, that's as far as I got.

Now in recent years, I've started collecting the 12v grey era trains, and so the 7750 and 7777 steam engines regained my interest. I have however started noticing how both engines look a bit clunky and perhaps are not the best recreations of the great German steam engines from the first half of the 20th century.

And so I started designing a big steam engine of my own. Starting point was the general LEGO steam engine design of the 1980s, of course like sets 7750 and 7777, but also 7710 and 7810. With the bricks available in 1980, what could set 7750 have looked like if Lego had taken a better look at those big German steam engines?

As a reallife prototype, I settled on the DB BR 41. The main elements that I wanted to incorporate include the 282 wheel arrangement, the fact that the top of the main tank is almost at the same level as the top of the cab, the location of the plateau underneath the main tank (which is way higher than the base of the cab), the design of the leading bogie, the closeness of the cab and the tender, and the size and location of the steam domes and chimney.

But above all, I wanted to retain that 1980s LEGO trains look and feel. The final result combines the design features of the 7750 (the tubes on the main tank, the use of all those very specific and expensive 7750 parts, the stickers), the 7777 (the tender, the smoke deflectors, the lights in the tender and locomotive), the 7810 (the 2x2x3 slopes and the design of the cab with the open back) and the 7710 (general design of the main tank). The steam engine has exactly the same length as the 7740 locomotive.

One of the more challenging areas of the design is the wheels and bogies. It took several attempts to arrange the wheels in such a way that the engine never hits other trains or the points control box (as does 7750) and the wheels run freely without friction or derailing. I think it worked out just fine, and so despite its size, the steam engine is able to navigate tight corners and busy marshaling yards.

In the end, this MOC contains 5 or 6 parts that were only available in the second half of the 1980s: 2357, 2431, 3039px6, 32001, 4150, and 4592/4593. If you really want, you can redesign these easily. This MOC really could have been going around your tracks in 1980.

So here it is, my 1980sgreyerastyle MOC of a big German steam engine, 35+ years in the making. What do you think?