Functional Coach Corridors (Technique)

[Aaron]

Hello everyone. Today I would like to share a technique that I had been developing over the past few years, and that is none other than a swiveling coach corridor.

Ever since I was a child and visited some of the numerous excursion trains in Pennsylvania, I was completely fascinated by their sheer size, and had always wished that I could somehow, someday replicate the coaches to scale using LEGO bricks. At the time it seemed like an impossible dream. Today that dream has come true.

One of the most fascinating aspects of passenger trains is the ability to walk between cars while they're in motion, and it's a feature that has always been missing from LEGO trains. Several years ago, I vowed that I would somehow find a way to make this work.

Through trial and error, and several different flimsy designs, I finally settled on my final version: the Ball Joint Coach Corridor (or BJCC I guess). Whatever you want to call it, the basic principle is that it's made possible by using the new(ish) modified plates with ball joints. You can sandwich 6-tall door frames between the 1x4 joint cup plates for extra support, 5-tall windows, or just leave them without a frame depending on how high you need them to be. Shown here are corridors on a pair of my 10-wide coaches. To simulate the rubber between the coaches and the diaphragms, I chose to wrap black rubber bands over the modified bricks with bars. I'm sure rubber tubing cut to size would be even more aesthetically pleasing, but I haven't tried it yet. 

Coaches by Aaron B, on Flickr

Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr

Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr

Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr

Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr

Ball Joint Coach Corridors by Aaron B, on Flickr

 

The best part? They'll work on anything, including 6-wide coaches. Feel free to use this technique at will. I'd love to see how these corridors work out for everyone! Just keep in mind that while they will work fully fine on all curves, including R40s, they'll shift around a bit on longer coaches, so the wider the curves, the more aesthetically pleasing they are. Enjoy! :)

Edited December 28, 2017 by Aaron

[Legopold]

Hi Aaron,

excellent idea! What I like best is that your soultion is quite simple and does not require rare parts.

Great job!

[Jeffinslaw]

This looks fantastic! Great solution on this.

-Jeffinslaw

[Zed_43]

Thisngives a reallynrealistic look to corrider. I wonder how does it moves while the train is taking curves. I guess in some cases coaches uncoupling can happen when the curve is too tight or depending on where the axle of the bogie is placed . But it looks really great. This is a good job! I will certainly try. Don't you have any video with your corridors in action?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

What an impressive solution!

I love it!

[Stefaneris]

An impressive yet simple solution

The longer I see MOCs with this new ball joint, the more I think I need to buy them in bulk. There are so many good applications for it.

[zephyr1934]

Oh wow! Fantastic technique... but that streamliner coach looks to be unbelievable. Please post a separate thread on that car.

[Man with a hat]

Very clever idea. The most elegant I have seen so far. And those cars look stunning as well.

[Aaron]

14 hours ago, Zed_43 said:

Thisngives a reallynrealistic look to corrider. I wonder how does it moves while the train is taking curves. I guess in some cases coaches uncoupling can happen when the curve is too tight or depending on where the axle of the bogie is placed . But it looks really great. This is a good job! I will certainly try. Don't you have any video with your corridors in action?

I'll try to get videos up as soon as I finish ballasting my layout and reworking one of my diesels for the PFXBrick. Here's a demonstration using BrickTracks R120 curves. Both coaches are around 80 studs long. 

Diaphragms Vs BrickTracks R120 Curves by Aaron B, on Flickr

Edited December 28, 2017 by Aaron

[harnbak]

Good work, excellent solution.
What coupling do you use? 

Edited January 3, 2018 by harnbak

[Zed_43]

So it seems to keep looking good even in curves!

[Mike S]

Awesome! I had a thought or two about this but I never came up with a solution. Now I won't have to...

[Duq]

I'd already spotted it on Flickr. Great solution, very clever.

[Aaron]

Thanks everyone! Sorry for the late response--I've been spending almost all of my free time building lately and forgot to check back on this topic. I'll eventually take more detailed, in-depth photos of the coaches, and possibly do a separate topic focusing on 10-wide streamliners and various techniques. This is just the beginning!

 

 

[Paperinik77pk]

Spectacular!!!

[Toastie]

I tried to find a solution for this "issue" for (no kidding!) >decades<.

This is it!

Marvelous.

Thank you very much for sharing!

Best
Thorsten

[icemorons]

On 12/28/2017 at 8:42 AM, Stefaneris said:

An impressive yet simple solution

The longer I see MOCs with this new ball joint, the more I think I need to buy them in bulk. There are so many good applications for it.

I've found some recently (both halves) on the Pick and Build wall at local Lego Stores.   Threw like 50 pairs of them in a PAB large cup, and still had room for loads of other parts.   Perhaps you can find some, too?

[Stefaneris]

22 hours ago, icemorons said:

I've found some recently (both halves) on the Pick and Build wall at local Lego Stores.   Threw like 50 pairs of them in a PAB large cup, and still had room for loads of other parts.   Perhaps you can find some, too?

Thanks for the info

Unfortunatly in Switzerland, there aren't any Lego Stores. So I buy them via Bricklink.