Builder: Karle Mahler
Region: Americas
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 Milwaukee Road, EF-4, “Little Joe” by Karle Mahler
This is a model of an Alco-General Electric locomotive originally built for the USSR in the late 1940's. With the beginning of the Cold War the US government declared them to be of strategic importance and refused to allow them to be exported to Russia. Ultimately 12 were sold to the Milwaukee Road, 2 went to the South Shore Line, and the rest to the Paulista Railroad of Brazil. The nickname refers to the premier of the USSR, Joesph Stalin.
The model is 72 studs long and 11.7 studs tall at the cab roof line. Electrical power is supplied by 8 metal-hydride rechargeable batteries through a V-2 power function IR receiver and then to the 2 L-motors located in the body. The nose and cab assemblies are a mix of Lego plates, bricks, curved slops, and sheet plastic.