Tips for Lego steam trains??

I have been trying to make an American styled steam locomotive out of Lego for a long time now (on and off for over a year or 2) and I can’t seem to get it right at all. I am a perfectionist so that might play a part in it but I look online and see trains that look almost like model trains and I am just wondering how they make them? Anyone have any tips and or instructions for any? My goal is to make a realistic looking 4-8-2 NYC locomotive 2933 submitted by /u/Treex98462 [link] ...