HERE COMES THE AZURITE AQUILA

A bright blue streak races across the country side, spouting out steam, smoke, and a din of mechanical noise. This is a remarkable breed of iron horse designed to pull express passenger trains at the most extreme speeds. Its wedge-shaped streamlining cuts through the air like an arrow, an engineering concept that is still present on modern high-speed trains. At the hands of a skillful locomotive driver, the Azurite Aquila is destined for record sprints wherever it goes.

DESIGN PROCESS

This locomotive is based on the famous LNER A4, one of the fastest steam locomotives ever built, with one individual still holding the world speed record for steam traction. In order to make a reasonably-proportioned model with existing wheel parts, I took inspiration from early O-gauge model trains and some older official train sets. I was particularly inspired by the Emerald Night, which resembles the A4's predecessor, the LNER A3. Such toys often had truncated proportions compared the real prototype instead of being scale models, but they were still quite detailed and accurately captured the appearance of the real thing.

While stickers were inevitable for some finer details, I chose to make the lettering on the tender brick-built instead. I think it's a fun and interesting challenge to see if it's possible to create recognizable letters from tiles. This also makes it a bit easier to swap out letters should you desire the lettering for a different rail company.

I chose to omit minifigures and carriages and used a very simple display base to keep the parts count as low as possible.

The name Azurite Aquila was based on the naming convention used for the Emerald Night and Sapphire Star, consisting of a precious mineral or metal to describe the color of the locomotive and an object related to the sky. "Aquila" was chosen because it is the Latin word for Eagle, referring to both the constellation bearing the same name and fact that most real A4s were named after birds. The LRTS lettering on the tender is based on the LRTS lettering on the Emerald Night's tender.

BUILD STATS:

Parts:
- Engine = 523
- Tender = 275
- Display Base = 84
Lengths:
- Engine = 37.3 studs
- Tender = 18 studs
- Engine + Tender = 54.3 studs
- Display Base = 70 studs
Widths: Mostly 8 studs, 8.4 studs at the handlebars
Heights: 11 studs from rail to chimney, 13.6 studs from rail to steam cloud, 14 studs overall
Functions and Features:
- Working driving wheels and motion
- Runs on R40 curves
- Fully decorated interior for engine cab
- Removable tender top and coal load for battery access
- Steam cloud can be removed for low tunnels and bridges
- Powered-Up Requirements: 1 Hub + 1 Large Motor