Vilhelm22

A fine choice of loco and livery there @Andy Glascott! Choppers are fine locomotives (I may or may not have one vaguely in the works in a folder somewhere) and good choice of triple grey as a less commonly built livery (can't think what else I've seen beyond a gronk). Don't suppose you're planning on building a second since they usually run together?

In the UK, the hub, medium linear motor, remote, and train motor are all saying "Sold Out", as is the PU-powered Loop Coaster. The two trains currently available (at least in Europe still) are 60337 and 60198, both forecast by usual logic to be discontinued at the end of this year. Colour/distance sensor and large angular motor have completely disappeared from the PU page on LEGO.com. Taking into account success and timescale, I'd expect the Grand Piano, lighthouse, and Liebherr Crawler Crane all to be discontinued at the end of this year. This leaves only the Technic hub, Technic battery box, and large motor, and the Technic Audi RSQ e-Tron which uses only these components. Seems to me as though by the end of this year, Powered Up is dead. I never got round to motorising my copy of 10277 - hopefully it'll fit a PF motor, RC chip and 2S LiPo.

I don’t personally use SBrick, but in my train club (LUKR) a fair few people do use them, and from what I’ve heard this is what’s happened: As a small company, SBrick runs its manufacturing out of a larger factory or factories, sourcing parts externally, and the apparent “shut down” stems from part of the manufacturing process closing down, and consequently halting SBrick’s production. SBrick as a business I believe is very much still around and alive, but are currently in the process of finding a new manufacturer, which they are well on the way to doing. To my knowledge, SBrick has not been abandoned, but has run into some serious manufacturing issues outside their control, which they are striving to fix now before returning to business. As @XG BC says, BuWizz and Fx Bricks’ PFx Brick are alternatives, though I’ve heard the PFx Brick software is rather out of date since FxBricks turned its attention to their tracks. BuWizz I have no knowledge of, except that it’s expensive but gets positive reviews. I’ve myself gone to full radio control, which has a huge range (~90 metres) and has no problems of interruptions from phone signals and other bluetooth devices at shows with 1000s of people (I’ve got a show in a couple of weeks expecting several thousand people on both days). However, this does require soldering and an expensive “initial investment”, so I can see it’s not for everyone.

I’ve taken quite a different approach to most people in the LEGO trains community. Other than the motors, I’ve ditched LEGO’s systems completely. For control, I use a more traditional RC system first piloted by @garethjellis in the United States with Texas Brick Railroad, explained here: https://brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2019/03/07/deltang-an-alternative-to-standard-lego-control-systems/ And for batteries, I’ve gone with LiPos - far more powerful for their size and fast charging, and can run constantly at a show for extended periods of time. A good guide is here, by Monty Smith (also in the US): http://montystrains.net/workshop-blog/2020/6/1/using-lipo-batteries However in the UK in LUKR I know quite a few people who use LiPos as well and they’re very efficient - an excellent investment in my opinion. Both the RC system and LiPos require a larger spend at the beginning to get the remote, charger etc but well worth the money as the performance stats are exemplary. It also requires a bit of soldering in the process. However, I can now run trains at high speeds for long periods of time, and I have a range of 90 metres, plus there’s no interference to the signal - try using bluetooth at a huge convention with thousands of people in the room all with phones with bluetooth. The club layout is big as well - we need the range! At the other end I use PF motors with a spliced PF adapter cable with a JST socket. I can see the advantages of PU, but this has been amazing for me, and what’s more I can run it on the club layout which isn’t 9V, and uses a lot of Trixbrix R104 geometry. This probably isn’t for everyone, but it’s mine :) -William

Interesting….historically the new sets have entered production in summer, so that would give a six month gap with no City trains unless they release the predicted 2026 lot in January 2026 Not sure about the rest of 9V, 12V, and 4.5V (before my time), but since 2000 it’s certainly the longest, by a margin of just over 3 years.

Ha! Just came to make this thread but I see @JopieK’s done it already! No problem about the list - I like formalities like that. Not sure about this Arctic train, though I guess we’ll have to see. I’ve seen a few MOCs of Arctic trains to go with previous Arctic city subthemes. If it’s under the Arctic subtheme as it appears, I’d expect it to be of similar livery and design

Excellent work as usual sir! I’ve watched this thread and your other channels on and off for a few years now, and this must surely be quite a large fleet of Hungarian stock at this point! And brilliant to see the new terminus creation - I’ve seen very few LEGO train termini quite like this on this scale! Interesting to see the new GySEV stock and something I was unaware of - admittedly with quite limited knowledge but I’m not sure how common these type coaches are. In Britain we call them Driving Van Trailers (DVTs), and the London terminus I commute into still uses these locomotive hauled trains with DVTs for its intercity services, although I think all other UK passenger services except the sleeper trains are now multiple units. A great job you’ve done on this one, and remarkable that you’ve obtained such rare pieces! Best, William P.S. my memory may deceive me but from my visit last year I seem to remember Budapest’s modern trams carry a green & yellow livery - is this GySEV, or just coincidence? It seems odd for city public transport to be run by a completely external company.

Mould King produces near-identical copies of many PF components, including those used in the Emerald Night. I don’t know the best source for buying them in Greece, though there’s probably an EU stockist. They should be fairly easily obtainable and are of decent quality - I’ve used a few to replace old broken PF components and some in custom stuff. Avoid the MK remotes though - if you have a PF remote that’s excellent; if you don’t, buy one second hand.

Interesting to hear. I just checked out LEGO Shop@home myself and both 60335 and 60336 say retiring soon, so we can be confident on those. I seem to remember people in the US and Canada saying they did not, but we still have 60198 with no signs of imminent retirement despite 60336’s apparent imminence. CITY-wise, I will say these things though: 1) The passenger train’s retirement would fit with relative consistency as we’re due another round in 2026 2) “Additional” sets have sometimes retired early in the past - take for example 7936 Level Crossing which retired 2 years early 3) Speaking from the perspective of someone in the UK for this one. On both the 2010 lot and the 2014 lot, a new freight train came out a year later - in other words, there was a year when there was only one freight train. With 60198 still available, is that happening now? The OE is an anomaly and I’m both surprised and not surprised that it’s staying on until Dec 2025 unless rumours are false.

To add to its fame, it was exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 (at which point Britain controlled roughly 27% of the world’s total land area) as the LNER’s finest engineering. Additionally, the Flying Scotsman is an express service between London and Edinburgh which has operated under that name for 100 years. For many, when they think of a steam locomotive, the picture that comes to mind is her, our beautiful Flying Scotsman.

I know the guy personally and it seems like he should be fine I think. None of his stuff is actual LEGO but is 3D-printed custom stuff TLG does not make itself. For legal purposes, he’s effectively just a 3D-printed parts producer of compatible pieces with the LEGO system. He’s said absolutely nothing in the way of how he’s being affected (yet). HA Bricks on Facebook has changed its cover photo from a custom locomotive (with presumably offending parts) to the company’s own 3D printed wheels in a way that suggests it’s not completely dead.

They should either actively produce expert type stuff themselves, or support these smaller businesses. Currently what they’re doing is destroying a hobby that they didn’t give much support to in the first place. Nice job there, LEGO. I can see company sales for Mould King and the like to be on the rapid increase in the future to LEGO’s own detriment through their greed at this one moment over a single company.

So our entire hobby is at threat of being shut down now? Thank you LEGO, I loathe you. People in my club are saying they will never buy anything direct from LEGO ever again, including buying new sets. Because LEGO has purchased BrickLink it’s inescapable that way, but they’ll be actively avoiding the company in the future. If it wasn’t banned on the forum I’d be using some extremely bad language right now.

Brilliant looking set this one. I wonder what we’ll get next…. Having now seen a portrait done I’d love Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring.

I was thinking an Alstom Citadis 302 actually - the Nottingham ones are like that as well as several other 302s around the world.