Builder: Mr_Kleinstein
Region: Europe & Middle East
Category entered:
Year entered: 2022
Brand of building bricks used:
LEGO
Since 2026, the Brick Train Awards have accepted models created with other LEGO®-compatible construction brick systems.
About Brunton’s Mechanical Traveller by Mr_Kleinstein
Very early steam locomotive with leg motion, 1813 design. Little original information is known besides William Brunton's patent drawing. Most details, like boiler design, valve gear, and tender had to be reimagined according to contemporary practice. The Loco seems to have been no complete failure, as it was capable of pulling trains up the Butterley Gang Road at some 3mph.
The single-cylinder engine would push itself forward by alternating steps of the right and left leg. The double-acting cylinder acts upon one leg only, the motion of the second leg is derived by a mechanism of gear racks and a cogwheel.
In 1814, a bigger prototype was commissioned, using a bigger boiler and possibly two cylinders. This engine caused the world's first major railway accident, as several people died in a boiler explosion in 1815.
Gauge 1 Lego model with working leg motion.
Video on flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_kleinstein/52339130746/in/album-72177720301912263/