Day 10: Mooser's Train

Theme: Representational/One piece

Today we revisit a landmark work of origami originally produced sixty years ago: a complete train folded from a single sheet of paper. This remarkable design pioneered the use of grid-based crease patterns and pointed the way to what became a new design technique known as box pleating.
The unusual appearance of the model is matched by what was, at the time of its creation, an unusual folding method. Mooser’s Train cannot be folded flat on a table with a step-by-step sequence. The strategy commonly promoted is to draw the crease pattern directly on the paper, precrease the pattern entirely, hold the model in the air above the table, and collapse it, more or less, all at once.
In his book Mooser’s Train: The Origami Train Set, JC Nolan has provided an excellent guide to folding this model, and we will employ his suggestion to collapse the model in a sequence, working from the rear of the train to the front. Nolan further suggests that one learn to fold the train one car at a time from separate sheets of paper, and only to attempt the entire train from a single sheet after the individual collapses have become familiar. This is the method we will use for this class, assembling the train at the end.
In preparation for this class, download the folding template file from http://tinyurl.com/gamitrain. Print two copies of page 1 (boxcar/caboose) and one copy of page 2 (locomotive) directly on a paper of your choice. The file prints full size on US Letter sized paper. Ordinary printer paper is adequate, but a slightly thicker paper is preferable. Fully precrease all three sheets along the creases marked. Blue lines are valley and red lines are mountain. You might find it easier to precrease all mountain (so that the printed lines remain visible during creasing) and then reverse the valleys.