#4-4-0

[whirligig-girl]

I think Ican--I think I can--I think I can--I think I can--I think I can--I thinkIcanIthinkIcan--I think I can

Commission for Idran commemorating the 1930 edition of The Little Engine That Could entering the public domain.

The two main references for the drawing.

The two locomotives are freelance designs based upon two different 4-4-0s. The "Damsel in Distress" locomotive needed to be fairly large and high-drivered, and so is based upon this:

and the "Titular Engine That Could" is a hybrid of a few different locos with long thin boilers:

Despite being illustrated as a 4-4-0, normally a passenger engine, the text says the titular engine says "they only use me for switching the yard," so I replaced the cowcatcher style pilot with a switching footboard pilot.

I drew a thumbnail sketch

Then worked out a full sketch

Detailed it

Played with the proportions and perspective a little

And began work on the line art.

Then came environment and colors. The tender on the titular engine was left black, but with blue trucks, as per the illustrations. Perhaps her tender cistern came from another engine?

And finally shading. I'd normally render a piece like this, but the client specified cartoon shading.

Weathering was then added as well to complete the image. The weathering was based on the premise that the engine had been kept in serviceable condition, but hadn't been repainted in the years since she had entered switching service.

[hazel-of-sodor]

Presenting the Chester and Holyhead Class 2 4-4-0! One of the first purpose built and designed locomotives for the line following the merger with the Seagull Line in 1856. Debuting in the 1870s, these 4-4-0 were the Railway's first Express Locomotives designed specifically for the C&HR.

[afflicted-astra]

What's that American 4-4-0 steamer with the big feckhin funnel that's like iconic for the Wild West era?

you will not BELIEVE the name that these have.

they're literally just called "Americans". I'm not fucking with you.

And the big fuckoff funnel also has a name, that's a spark arrestor, for stopping sparks from coming out as most of these from the wild west period ran on wood, which made sparks, in turn that does not mix well with a desert.

[angryskarloey]

The Great Western 3521 Class - that most wayward of locomotives:

Their first form was an 0-4-2T - with a short coupled wheelbase and and exceedingly long one overall. They displayed a marked reluctance to remain on the rails and were later modified...

Into 0-4-4Ts, with short-wheelbase rear bogies - this did little to aid matters and the class were still apt to sway alarmingly at speed - they were in this form used to work West Country expresses after the end of Broad Gauge and were the cause of a bad accident.

They were then rebuilt again - back to front! As 4-4-0 tender engines they at once became far more attractive as well as more stable - they continued in their work for many more years, reformed characters - they lasted into the 30s, with several receiving larger, tapered boilers and superheaters - while this was an obvious improvement on power it was however the end of their good looks:

[the-orient-express]

Ever since my interest in steam locos and railways in general was rekindled back in 2012, I’ve come across a truck load full of spriters on DeviantArt. Needless to say most of them are a bunch of whiny crybabies who only upload recolour after recolour of the same base loco and then complain when someone dares to give them criticism.

Well, several of said people offered to make a sprite of my main OC Sandy and reversed back out of the idea once I showed them pictures of her class. They stuck with the long outdated and failed idea of a red Mogul hybrid as that apparently was “a lot easier to make”.

Tell ya’ll what, guys, they’re a bunch of lazy asses as this here proves very well how easy a 306 in fact is to make as a sprite, or side view digital art as I prefer to call it. At least the whining will stop now as I proved them wrong in every possible way with any of their statements that “it’s not possible/too hard”.

I’m still working on a face for each version as that will be pre-drawn with a pencil and then digitalized and fitted.

Sandy (c) Me Artwork (c) Me Watermark (c) Me

[whirligig-girl]

Misty Island Logging Company No.4 "Ethel"

Mr. Logan Miller --the owner-- saw a great deal, but when he returned from overseas with a 4-4-0, the mechanical engineer put his head in his hands. "How are we gonna run that," he said, and then he pointed to the 70 ft radius curve leading out of the dockyard, "on that?" "Very carefully, I expect," Mr. Miller said. Ethel's was too fast for her own good. She, Ferdinand, and Gladys have perhaps the same tractive effort, but Ferdinand and Gladys can output that tractive effort at 2 or 3 miles per hour slogging up a grade. Ethel can not run 2 or 3 miles per hour. She'll stall, or she'll go faster, but she won't run that slowly. and with a comfortable speed of 40 or 50 miles per hour on tracks where you'd be very lucky to go 20 mph, she is definitely struggling. "hoist her boiler up on some trucks and run her number one driver as a flywheel. We need another geared engine," Logan said. "No, please," begged Ethel, "I'll try harder!" "I wonder if we could just make your wheels smaller," said the mechanical engineer. "Or maybe we could use a booster truck on your pilot or tender. That rickety old yarding crane might have some cylinders we could use."

---

"How have you been?" Edward said, kindly. "I've enjoyed running your branch line an awful lot. Y'all really know how to treat locomotives here on Sodor. I'm almost... sorry to go back home," Ethel said. "I'm sure Bernard and David have missed you. I know Bill and Ben missed me when I was away," Edward said. "Bash and Dash are quite the handful these days," Ethel said. "And rumor has it you're expecting a new one?" Boco said. "A new one, an old one, it's not clear. Before I came to the Company, there was Alice and Belle, and now the Scenic Railway wants to make a new engine from their leftover parts. I don't think they'll have finished building them by the time I get back." Ethel was quiet for a minute, and pensive. Edward quietly trundled forward to get a better angle on her face. BoCo respectfully reversed away to give the steam engines some privacy. "Ethel, is something the matter?" "I don't want to go back. I'm scared, Edward." "Ethel, my dear, whyever not? Does the Scenic Railway not take good care of you? I'm sure The Fat Controller can--" "No, no, it's not that. The Scenic Railway people have been wonderful. But it's the Misty Islands. It's like, I think of all the places I used to go, all the things that happened, and it's like my firebox turns into a block of ice and my lubricant turns to grit."

[hazel-of-sodor]

Presenting the LBSCR B4! Including @mean-scarlet-deceiver's OC Linda!