Blauwe Brabander

The Prototype

The “Blauwe Brabander” steam locomotives were a small series of express passenger locomotives ordered by the NBDS in 1908, and built by Beyer, Peacock and Company.
They were built to pull the long and heavy mailtrains between Boxtel (NL) and Wessel (DE), forming part of the larger route from London to Berlin.

These locomotives where the first of this wheel arrangement in the country, with similar locomotives being ordered by different railway companies a few years later. They had a short but successful service with the NBDS, but the start of the First World War meant that international rail traffic stopped almost entirely, and the engines became redundant. The NBDS (which main purpose was to run international trains between the Netherlands and Germany) was absorbed into the Stare Railways in 1919.

Unfortunately, none of these engines where preserved. The few engines that survived World War Two were used as reserves for a while, but the last ones where scrapped in 1947.

The LEGO Model

The model is built in 1:45 scale, but since the real locomotive was relatively small, the model ends up only being 7 studs wide.

Some of my favourite features of the model are the cab interior details, and the internal valve gear between the frame that actually moves as the model runs along.

The model has been test-built, and is fairly sturdy once complete. The boiler and cab are easily removable from the frame for maintenance or repairs, and the coal load of the tender is removable to access the power button and charge port.

The model is powered by a BuWizz 2.0 battery box in the tender, driving a power functions L motor underneath the firebox and a train motor under the tender. This combination gives the locomotive a lot of pulling power.

The locomotive uses custom XL wheels and the tender uses custom thin M wheels. The model is designed around the upcoming wheels from HA Bricks, but until those become available I’ve used a combination of BBB and self-made 3D printed wheels on my own model.