JBucy

Very cool. Really makes me want to get my layout built!

Hi there. I have been working on a 4-8-4 Northern (the Chessie Steam Special) since January and it has certainly been a challenge since It is my first big steam engine. The biggest thing I have learned so far is that there is nothing like good old trial and error to get everything to work smoothly. I don't think anything that I tried worked correctly the first time... I experienced issues with my pilot truck, the front "4", also. I ended up having to spread the wheels apart further than I would have liked to get them to clear the cylinders.

Excellent. You captured the look of the real thing perfectly.

I think that there is enough play in the running gear that it will handle uneven track okay, but I won't know for sure until I can test it. I did set up a R40 1/2 loop to try and it does make it around it okay while be pushed from the tender. The initial way that I connected the trailing truck was by using 2 technic beams connected together with just one technic pin between them so that the trailing truck would not be pulled off the track going around the curve. That worked until I started on the tender and realized that I needed to connect it to the trailing bogey due to the overhang of the body. Then on top of that I realized that the tender has to to push the engine. Try to push on the bogey that is loosely connected like that and it does not work. I had to redesign it so that it was just connected with one beam.

It makes it through standard R40 curves. The main part I am worried/concerned about is that I am going to put all of the PF in the tender so the engine will pushed around the track. I had some major problems with that initially because of how the trailing truck was attached. I think I have it working okay now, I can hand push it from the tender and it seems okay. I should do some more thorough testing... Yeah, plus it is not like I worked on it all of the time. I had years in between some of the rebuilds. Life certainly got in the way a lot!! Thanks! Absolutely, my goal is for it be as studless as possible. I just ran out of yellow tiles. It went back and forth many times about how to do the running boards to get the color correct and to be able to connect them to the boiler. My biggest problem is that on the prototype the color is only on the side, the top, the walkway, is just black. I was really trying to replicate that look, but I just couldn't do it in the space that I had. I haven't completely decided yet, but I am thinking about putting a black sticker on the top of the tile. We will see. Thank you. One good thing about it taking so long is that there are a lot more dark blue parts available now! It is still adds a little bit of a challenge, but not nearly as much as it originally did.

Thanks guys! Yes, lots of detailing to do. I really haven't started doing that yet. I've been working on the big stuff and making sure it can go around curves...

I have been wanting to build this locomotive for almost 8 years. It is a Reading T-1 Northern 4-8-4. It ran excursions for the Chessie System in 1977 and 1978. I first started designing it in MLCAD in late 2007. Since then I have redesigned it several times and even started building it in brick in 2011. However, I got stuck, became discouraged and didn't get too far. I have never built a large steam engine before so the thought of it was quite overwhelming because I knew it wouldn't be easy. On top of that, because all of the other great LEGO steam locomotives out there, I set my expectations very high for what I wanted it to look like. I am still far from being done after about two months work, but I am far enough along that I am finally ready to share. I have started working on the tender also, but it is a very rough draft right now. I don't claim very many techniques used as my own. I took inspiration from many other MOC's. Mostly Tony Sava for his #4449 Northern. A lot of the pilot truck and cylinder construction is based on his model. After serveral failed attempts trying to figure it out on my own, it was time for help. Here is picture of the real thing For fun I started a blog where I am going to document my LEGO builds. Right now there is a little history of the first 8 years I spent on this engine: John's Blog Thanks, John

Yes, a 2x2 brick fits on a Duplo stud. I have done that many times to make hill, mountains, etc. So the good thing about 4 bricks high is that it is 2 Duplo bricks. However plates don't fit on Duplo...

Thanks. I have thought about the wood risers. I did something similiar to that a few years ago that with a layout that was a little too ambitious and never got finished. I think using bricks and plate to raise up everything is just asking for the layout to never be completed. I do like the possibilities it gives as far as terrain, but it is just too brick intensive. I would color code the switches probably slmiliar to what you did in the pictures I saw of yours on brickshelf. Since the axle is sticking up pretty far right now, that works as a manual override. I could put a longer axle in there if necessary.

Thanks! Yes, the goal of the inside loop was to run 9v trains since I still have more of them than PF. The layout will be accessible from all sides. I have thought about the uncoupling but, honestly, I haven't put any thought into a solution! I do like the idea of the additional passing track at the bottom. I actually did buy an extra set of PF switches with the intent of modifying them. I just have not decided on which approach I am going to take to do it yet. Yeah the roundhouse takes up a LOT of room! Like I said the one I have designed fills another 4x8 sheet of plywood (and it is only has 3 stalls). The one problem I have with it is that it would sit on the other side of the mainline from the yard. Not sure if that is very ideal, but until I have another idea. I do not want to shorten my outside loop and run it on the inside of the yard. That I know. I have been trying to work through in my head how and if the yard would work correctly and I think you just confirmed what I was thinking :) I will have to think about that some more to see if I can come up with a better solution... Thanks for the input!

Hello. I know the topic of motorizing switches have been covered many times on the forum, but I would like to share a proof of concept that I have been working on. First, to give credit where it is due. Most of this design was inspired by others. Most notably the original PF mechanism and control ideas came from Duq and Benn. The ballasting inspiration came from numerous sources. Basically I didn't like the PF motor and the switching mechanism sitting on top of the switch and on top of the layout. It was too big, even though the design I found was pretty streamlined. So I decided to try to put the motor under ground level and see what I could come up with. I used the pieces that I had available while building this so there is a generous mixture of old and new dark gray and old and new light gray. Personally I don't really like mixing them, but for this test it is okay, My solution is 100% LEGO. It uses a PF M motor and is controlled with a PF Switch. I don't have any pictures of the mechanism that is under ground. I have to tear it apart to get to that. My original plan was to make the PF motor accessible with a lift out plate, but that idea did not work out in this version. The major down side is that the switch sits 4 bricks off of the baseplate. So do I have to raise my entire layout up?? That is going to be a LOT of bricks and plates. So that I am still trying to work out. Also, in case you didn't notice, there are 3 different types of track in this POC. The switch and curve are PF, the short straight is 9v and the long straight is ME-Models. I just wanted to see how they all looked together with the ballast. Here is a video (Sorry, not enough time to figure out how to embed video) Any comments or ideas welcome! Thanks, John

Hello, I am planning a somewhat large layout at home and thought that I would share my progress. I have been wanting to set up a layout at home for a while now since it has been a few years since I have had one. I was never ever to really finish any of the other ones for one reason or another so I am hoping this one will be different! (There are pictures of some of my past attempts in my Flickr stream). I am getting very close to starting to build this layout. My biggest hurdle right now is getting my basement cleaned up so that I have room for it. I have slowly been acquiring ideas and the parts that I need to pull this off. The good thing is that I have almost all of the track that I need and most of the tables. So after many iterations, this is the layout that am planning to build. I had a few different criteria that I was trying to meet and it was very difficult to fit everything in and make the size reasonable. The layout is 9' x 17'. The section that contains the yard is 4'x8'. 1) Yard for switching I absolutely wanted a yard that I could do some switching in. I took the design from the "Ten Commandants of Yard Design" article that I found on the web (then later found that it had been posted on Railbricks.com). I tried to incorporate everything that I could and I think that I mostly succeeded. I have a few tweaks that need made but I am mostly happy with the results. 2) Run multiple trains I wanted to be able to run multiple trains at the same time. I have two continuous loops but I would prefer more, However, I have no idea where to put more. 3) City Area Room for a small city scene 4) Industries A couple of siding for industries that can be used for switching 5) Room for scenery 6) Try not to have to buy more track. The only thing that I am missing right now are the ME R104 curves. I already have the R72 curves and I just bought 4 pairs of PF switches. Everything else I have in 9V. I can probably do without the R104's if I need to, I just thought they added some interest to the layout. 7) Roundhouse and Turntable This obviously is not there yet. I don't know if I have room for it. I have a draft of the layout that includes one, but it requires another 4x8 sheet of plywood. That might be pushing it... 8) Remote Points I really want to be able to stand in one place and be able to control my trains AND the switches. I have been researching what people have done to do this and I think that I found a solution that works for me in a way that I personally have not seen anyone else do. I am starting another thread about these. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome!! Thanks, John

Of course. My intent with this layout was to make it modular. It is, but I am not sure if it is modular enough to change it up much. The problem is that my wife has requested a smaller layout next year :) Thanks Benn! Yeah, it survived okay, but it was very bland since I couldn't leave any of the detailing there. I tried to top my 2011 layout, but I don't think I succeeded for that reason. Thank you. I debated if they would look okay, but it was too plain without them. Thank you! I spent a bunch time on that. I used Tony (or was it Cale's) curve ballasting as inspiration. Yeah, I got to run trains on it a lot less than I wanted to. I used the Holiday Train engine because I never got the time to build a toddler proof engine. It mostly was okay. I few pieces coming off here and there. I made a couple of basic passenger cars to go with it that were based on the Holiday Train version. I then had a flat car full of PF gear that I was intended to conceal in a boxcar, but that never happened. I didn't want to use the PF Train motor because it would run too fast. I wanted the 3 yr old to be able to run it without me around and he tends to just crank it up all the way! So most trains just go flying off the curve! I uploaded the WIP pictures so Brickshelf here: http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=551542 Here are a couple of them since I don't know how long it take pictures to be moderated by brickshelf these days:

Hello everyone. I haven't posted anything in quite a while so I thought I would share my layout I put under my tree this year. (and I hope I am doing the pictures correctly) I put a LEGO train under the Christmas tree every year, but the last couple of years have been pretty basic. Just some track to run a train and that is all. This year I wanted to get back to making more of a layout and I mostly suceeded. I was just a little too ambitious for the time that I had to spend on it. It looks like a ghost town because it never got detailed. For the photos, I had to add the trees, plants, lights and anything that could easily be removed to the layout. I made the scenery as strong as I could to withstand my 14 month old and my 2 year old (who is almost 3 actually). What I didn't anticipate was the 2 year old taking it apart and then the 14 month year old trying to eat everything. So anything loose had to go. It was walked on and crawled on with very little damage so that goal was reached... There are no trains in the pictures because, honestly, I forgot to put it on there while I took the pictures. Nothing special though, I made a quick simple train that could withstand the kids. It didn't, but it was easy to reassemble. The transition between the snow and the grass is not as good as it was originally. If you look there are some chunks missing in the back. I also built everything to face the other direction, but when I went to set it all up, I ended up having to reverse everything. Luckily it is LEGO so I could change it, but it didn't end up as nice as it was due to the time that I had to change it. I had some nice lines with the banks of snow and grass that I really liked. I will post some WIP shots that show it. The building is old (around 10yrs old) that I had sitting around in a box from my COLTC days. I needed something sturdy and didn't time to build a new one. At one point the 14 month old climbed on the building and was sitting on it...luckily the roof didn't collapse! I probably spent the most time on the 2 curves and I am really happy how they came out although I think that they would look a whole lot better with bigger radius curves!! Overall I am pretty happy with how it came out, it is just not as finished as I would have liked. Enjoy, John

Thank you, and yep, it is amazing how long it can take when life gets in the way! I for one would be interesting in the non-LEGO layout. I love to look at other scales for inspiration! I did take some video of this layout, so I guess I will have to prepare it and post it too... I didn't have any problem with traction, although honestly, I didn't run have the train running for very long periods of time to really notice many problems. Thanks for the comment about the passenger car. For Christmas this year I plan to add a couple more along with a caboose. Thank you, it is the top of a wooden table that the LEGO Train Club that I used to belong to used to use. Thanks about the snow. I know I spent way too much time placing white bricks and plates everywhere!! Yes, thank you. You're comment on Flikr is what finally got me to join! I used a fair amount of bricks on the base. Most of it is Duplo though :) Around the village I used a lot of 8x8 and 8x16 bricks on Duplo to raise the track.