See the man blowing the whistle

I remember an article in Model Railroading magazine years ago about animating the engineer's head to look forward or backward. This was for an H0 diesel switcher, don't remember what type. Now that I think about it, I wonder why no one has scratchbuilt the same for 0.

Geez, I sure hope not!  I figure diminishing coal loads have pushed the envelope far enough.  

There was a guy some years ago that scratch built a O scale steam locomotive that had a moving engineer that moved its head and moved its arm on the throttle. I also think it had some kind of command control and this was before any kind of command was available.

WHOA! I might get really paranoid if I see these little folk looking at ME!  

Actually, it was a much modified Max Gray Burlington O5b.  I saw it perform at a train show in Arlington Heights back in the 90's.  It had smoke(stack, turbo, whistle and I think cylinder cocks,) sound, swinging bell and the reverse gear moved when changing directions, along with the engineer's arm moving with the throttle.  I'm not sure, but I think the brakes shoes also moved.

The boiler was chock full of speakers and servos and I believe the smoke fluid reservoir was in the tender.

Model Railroader had an article on it way back, but I haven't been able to locate which issue.

Rusty

One such model was built by John Armstrong, described in MR - November 1989.

He did it in a 2-rail O scale D&H RS3.

Jim

There was a plan for an animated engineer in the Lionel archives.......to see it you would have to see the TM video (Toy Trains Revue in VHS format, at least 20 yrs old)on the subject........and, if memory serves me, there is a picture of the mock-up in the old TM book that dealt with the archives........I'll check when I get home.

Peter

I disagree with Allan.  I hope the disappearing coal load feature is not the pinnacle of advancement for animated features for modern toy trains.  I hope Lionel continues to push the envelope.  I for one would enjoy an animated engineer and or fireman in the cab of a steamer.  

With the moving bell technology I don't see why not.

But there are so many other features I would like to see, and sounds that could be added, I rather see advances in those.

The animated engineer mock up was a simple feature.  It consisted as a figure on a lever connected to the locomotive drawbar that would poke out of the cab window when the locomotive entered a curve.  With this arrangement, I would assume this action only occurred when the engineer was on the inside of the curve.

Rusty

I hope not! The first thing I thought when I read this topic is of my experiences at the beach with the life guards, when I fly Kites, toss a football or play Frisbee. Jeeze, you give a guy a whistle and he turns into a beach Nazi.

Yeah, I remember that clearly, it was a O scale CB&Q O5 if memory serves. The engineer figure had a rubber arm connected to the throttle, which moved before the brakes released and the engine only then would roll. The engine itself was still unpainted, I wish I could see it today, especially running like that.

With DCC, I'm sure you could make a arm move on the hogger figure to make it look like he's doing something...

When I saw it, it was painted.  Wow, what a model.  If I recall correctly, you could even see the turbo generator shaft spinning.

He was running back and forth on an 8 or 12 foot module at the train show and you could really appreciate all the subtle movements up close and personal.  However, most of that stuff wasn't really visible if you were more than a couple of feet away.

Rusty

Does anyone have a clue where it is today?

Nope.  I saw it in the 90's (and that was the only time I saw it on display, he was there on Sunday for a 2 day show) and the gentleman who built it was up there in years.

Rusty

He started to make a big boy in the same fashion but I don't know if he ever completed it.

He was pretty old when I saw the Burlington engine and that I think took 7-8 years to complete. I hope he did but I have seen nothing since.

I wonder if the folks at MR might have a clue whatever happened to this? I'd love to see a video of it in action!

Found it.  The July 1985 issue of Model Railroader.  The Locomotive was modified by Howard Bixler:

Even nailed down the date when I saw the completed locomotive, March 8, 1998.  The day my video camera locked up on me.  Oh, the humanity...

Rusty

Here's a short video of an operating fireman on an On3 locomotive:

Rusty

Whoa!I am suprised by all the replys in a good way.Nice that I am not alone in this.Think about the looks on people faces.If you had a locomotive with this.That might get more people into the hobby.Thanks all to replyed to this.And the mr magzine showing the 05 northern.This just blows my mind that somebody had already done and it worked.

That operating fireman looks crazy good!

Animated figures would be neat - much more value than watching a coal load deplete. But first, Lionel has to step up and use some realistic looking figures, instead of the weeble engine cab crews.

I think this might be it:

Now that both Lionel and MTH have quill-able whistle (under command control) I'd think they could animate the arm to "pull" the rope proportional to the sound.  Extra credit if they synchronize the arm animation to the smoking steam-whistle effect in the higher-end engines.

I'd think if the engineer does move, perhaps he should also speak.  Reminds me of a train show a few years ago.  A kid was peering into the cab of a stopped engine.  The MTH rep turned on the Microphone feature in DCS and started talking to the kid - knocked his socks off!  What was interesting (after he put his socks back on and figured out what was going on) was he proceeded to have a conversation with the figure in the cab...not to the rep standing across the layout.  Imagination is a wonderful thing.

Yes, I think they should animate figures in the cabs of locos and in passenger cars.  Engineers that work the throttle, operate the whistle, etc., absolutely.