2017 Lego Trains

[lanesteele240]

Sence lego seems to be killing off trains, some of the better builders should share moc instructons.  

[Duq]

26 minutes ago, lanesteele240 said:

Sence lego seems to be killing off trains, some of the better builders should share moc instructons.  

What exactly makes you think Lego are killing off trains?

There already are instructions available, why do you think people should create instructions for their MOCs and make them available for free? Do you know how much work is involved in creating those instructions?

[Redimus]

I's long been my intention to do just that. Unfortunately, I don't feel that all of my mocs are worth it yet, and there are elements of instruction making I just don't know how to do. Sure, it's possible to just release the LDD instructions, but those are both rather counter intuitive, and can't show everything.

I know how I felt when I first started dabbling, so many things I wanted to do, no idea how I could do them. I *really* wanted some high level instructions for really good UK based mocs. Sadly, those don't exist, but if you try yourself, either on LDD on in the bricks, and get this lot to help you when you're stuck, you'll be amazed what you can come up with.

Edited February 5, 2017 by Redimus

[dr_spock]

Making instructions can be a double edged sword.  On one side you're helping the community.  On the other it can make it easier for unscrupulous individuals and companies to steal and profit off your work.

 

 

[ElectroDiva]

On 04/02/2017 at 0:14 AM, Tragic Banjo said:

I think that's mostly due to S@H still catching up with higher than expected sales of 10254. I'm sure they'll come back soon enough.

10254 sold well? That surprises me. 

 

I must admit, I didn't pick it up because it was too basic for my tastes and I already had a few other steam trains.

[Redimus]

18 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Making instructions can be a double edged sword.  On one side you're helping the community.  On the other it can make it easier for unscrupulous individuals and companies to steal and profit off your work.

 

 

I couldn't care less. Considering the sheer mass of custom designs out there, I'd be rather flattered if they found it and thought it was worth something. And the fact the Lego ideas community simply doesn't care about my area of interest, it's not like I'd ever expect to earn a penny on them anyway.

 

3 hours ago, ElectroDiva said:

10254 sold well? That surprises me. 

 

I must admit, I didn't pick it up because it was too basic for my tastes and I already had a few other steam trains.

That surprises me too. The thing looked pretty rubbish, and has the worst attempt at including PF ever.

[ElectroDiva]

20 hours ago, Redimus said:

That surprises me too. The thing looked pretty rubbish, and has the worst attempt at including PF ever.

 

Looking on the bright side, if 10254 did well, it might increase our chances of actually getting a decent holiday train at some point. 

 

I bet something like a recoloured "festive" Emerald Night would sell like hot cakes

[Redimus]

58 minutes ago, ElectroDiva said:

 

Looking on the bright side, if 10254 did well, it might increase our chances of actually getting a decent holiday train at some point. 

 

I bet something like a recoloured "festive" Emerald Night would sell like hot cakes

Urgh, there are some great and not too complex steam locos on Lego Ideas, can we use them instead of recycling the extremely flawed Emerald Night...

[Elysiumfountain]

^ That is true, I just wish that some of them got more support, they look like really decent projects! But then again, some people would only look at it and think "train" and only go for it if it has fantastic colors? And then others would overanalyze and expect that a model train be exactly like the real one down to the last detail.

[M_slug357]

12 hours ago, Redimus said:

Urgh, there are some great and not too complex steam locos on Lego Ideas, can we use them instead of recycling the extremely flawed Emerald Night...

I agree- while the EN undoubtedly reinvigorated Lego trains, there are definitely more avenues of interest that deserve to be explored/expanded.

I think it'd be great to have the next 1-2 sets feature smaller engines, such as trams or switchers. I'd bankrupt myself for some 12V era throwbacks of sets like 7730 & 7735.

After seeing pics of the upcoming "cargo terminal" set from the German toy fair, I'd wager that we'll most likely get a frieght train set (diesel?) to compliment it. If I'm right, it'll most likely be green to match the "CARGO" brand. Also, it's been awhile since the last green engine.

[Carefree_Dude]

13 hours ago, ElectroDiva said:

 

Looking on the bright side, if 10254 did well, it might increase our chances of actually getting a decent holiday train at some point. 

 

I bet something like a recoloured "festive" Emerald Night would sell like hot cakes

Speaking of a recoloured "festive" emerald night, I'm almost done making this....

 

[ElectroDiva]

8 hours ago, M_slug357 said:

After seeing pics of the upcoming "cargo terminal" set from the German toy fair, I'd wager that we'll most likely get a frieght train set (diesel?) to compliment it. If I'm right, it'll most likely be green to match the "CARGO" brand. Also, it's been awhile since the last green engine.

 

We currently have 2 freight train sets on sale. Wouldn't it be nice to get something different ?

 

I've just googled 60169 btw and it looks like it would be a good accompaniment to 60052

8 hours ago, Goldenmasamune said:

Speaking of a recoloured "festive" emerald night, I'm almost done making this....

 

Nice work 

[M_slug357]

3 hours ago, ElectroDiva said:

We currently have 2 freight train sets on sale. Wouldn't it be nice to get something different ?

Of course it would! However, depending on how well the last "change-of-pace" train set sold will ultimately determine when&what the next "different" train set will occur. Also, if the previous iterations of freight sets are being phased out, then logically a new one or two will take their place-- this time with preferably less helicopters, half-***'d cattle cars, and flimsy flat cars. 

 

[Capparezza]

1 hour ago, M_slug357 said:

...this time with preferably less helicopters, half-***'d cattle cars, and flimsy flat cars.

Oh God, yes, please YES! Seems I'm not the only one having a problem with those poorly made cars. Even the flatcars from older Train sets, like ones from 2126, look better. But I'm afraid we won't see anything new on the Trains front this year, otherwise LEGO would've turned up something in London or the Nürnberg Toy Fair.

[BurkusCircus]

13 hours ago, Goldenmasamune said:

Speaking of a recoloured "festive" emerald night, I'm almost done making this....

Dang it man, you beat me to it! Any tips in retrospect if you were to do it again/for anyone else who wants to do that too?

As for 2017 trains, I don't know of anything, and I do doubt we will get anything due to the Holiday Train. I'm fine with a freight station

Edited February 8, 2017 by BurkusCircus

[Capparezza]

15 minutes ago, BurkusCircus said:

As for 2017 trains, I don't know of anything, and I do doubt we will get anything due to the Holiday Train. I'm fine with a freight station

Too many freight terminals and freight cranes in the past, no need for yet another freight station. Anyhow, am I right that the new bus from the 2017 Bus Station set has train doors in Black? Hmmmm... time for a parts order at S@H, then

[BurkusCircus]

8 hours ago, Capparezza said:

Too many freight terminals and freight cranes in the past, no need for yet another freight station. Anyhow, am I right that the new bus from the 2017 Bus Station set has train doors in Black? Hmmmm... time for a parts order at S@H, then

No, like a full out, big, devoted freight station. Almost the size of two of the new-and-now-retired passenger stations back to back...

Edited February 8, 2017 by BurkusCircus

[Carefree_Dude]

9 hours ago, BurkusCircus said:

Dang it man, you beat me to it! Any tips in retrospect if you were to do it again/for anyone else who wants to do that too?

As for 2017 trains, I don't know of anything, and I do doubt we will get anything due to the Holiday Train. I'm fine with a freight station

 

Honestly, if all you want is an Emerald Night turned into a holiday train, just take an emerald night, replace the dark green with green, and add a few little holiday frills here and there, and probably some red wheels. 

When I first started my project, I intended on something slightly larger than the official holiday train simply because the official one wasn't heavy enough to use the PF train motor. Eventually it evolved into me wanting to use the L motor, but I couldn't get a hold of one so I was stuck with an XL motor. My 4 wide boiler quickly turned into a 5 wide, and then a 6 wide, to make room for power functions. I almost had it going well as a 5 wide, but my gearing was poor and the train couldn't pull a full load, thus I had to rework the whole thing. Before I knew it the boiler was the same size as that on the emerald night. Also, trying to fit an XL motor in there made it extremely difficult to have the cab of the train in the same spot as the wheels. Plus, the very large size of the train now, though still smaller than the emerald night, looks way too large for the christmas train carriages with the train alone being longer than both of them combined. I've reworked the caboose to be larger, and I'm almost done with a large passenger car that is a hybrid between the passenger car in the original train set, and several other larger christmas themed train cars. I am very satisfied with the final gearing though. It's slightly faster than the emerald night, and it pulls 7 emerald night coaches with no issue. So if you want to build something yourself, here are some tips:

-If you want a smaller train, put everything into the tender. You'll have an easier time with the steam engine itself, and you don't have to work around power functions. 
-if you want to use an L or XL motor, test out the gearing first with a load. I was soooo disappointed when I thought I had a finished train, only to find it couldn't pull anything. 
-Use a cad program, like bricklink's stud.io. I probably would have done this, but I really just wanted to use spare parts I had laying around. 
-If you use a PF train motor, replace the O-rings with ones from an auto part store. This makes a HUGE difference. A while ago I turned the santa fe train and 5 cars into a power function train, and the wheels couldn't get grip with the stock O rings. By simply replacing the O rings, the santa fe train with a single PF train motor could pull all 5 cars (santa fe cars are really heavy), 4 emerald night carriages, 2 metroliner club cars, 3 metroliner regular cars, and a my own train caboose with only some issue, mainly going around half circles.  

[lanesteele240]

On 2/5/2017 at 10:51 AM, Duq said:What exactly makes you think Lego are killing off trains?

There already are instructions available, why do you think people should create instructions for their MOCs and make them available for free? Do you know how much work is involved in creating those instructions?

1. Im not the only one that feels that lego is killing off trains

2.  Lego is the only hobby that everyone has to make money off their ideas.  EVERY hobby that i have ever participated in other people kill theirselves to help you out and give support.  From ho/h/n/z scale trains, to model cars/plains, to warhamer 40k models, to sifi models.   They all want to help out to make the hobby better for everybody.  

But not lego.  Look at new build.  The instrctions are online for sale.  

[Daedalus304]

Not many other hobbies have people wanting step by step instructions that can easily take 40+ hours on top of the countless hours put into the design and testing, either. Good instructions for excellent models aren't as simple as taking progress pictures and writing up a blog post. Most of the huge and complex models people want instructions for are an enormous investment in time, so it is understandable for the people who spend the time doing so to want some degree of compensation. Also, a lot of that compensation generally goes towards the next project, which is a win-win for everyone!

[koalayummies]

One could just build it in LDD, share the file and then there is no instruction-creation time problem. 

[Elysiumfountain]

Unless LEPIN steals their idea, and then they end up with nothing! 

[koalayummies]

Even if one only posts photos it can be reverse engineered and then the same company, who we are not to mention, can still make it. Whats to stop someone from buying the instructions and then also selling them themselves, or that company from buying the instructions and making it, or just building it from the photos one shared online and then claiming it as their own. If one has a fear of their design being copied then don't post it at all, not even a photo. Some nice AFOL choose to share their digital files because they're already aware of all of this.  

[Capparezza]

2 hours ago, koalayummies said:

... the same company, who we are not to mention, ....

*snip*

If one has a fear of their design being copied then don't post it at all, not even a photo.

Harr harr !!!

 

And so true.... Dammit, guys & gals, this is a hobby. If you want to make a living out of it, then do it. But don't complain if you've invested tons of hours creating instructions no one buys. Or someone has seen and likes your ideas and implements it in his own creations. As long as no one makes a dumpload of money with my ideas, I couldn't care less if someone copies me (not that I would have such great ideas worth copying (and surely, any way of referencing the original creator would be nice)).

 

Copying is the highest form of compliment. And keep in mind that it is the only way evolution is done. You don't get ideas out of thin air, it's always based on some work someone else has done before you. Even the guy that invented the steam trains you are copying right now, even that guy uses wheels someone has invented before, way back in time.

[StukaRT]

On 8.2.2017 at 7:39 AM, ElectroDiva said:

I've just googled 60169 btw and it looks like it would be a good accompaniment to 60052

So container size goes down to 10 lenght :/ Not compatible with the container cars from 7939 :/