Bricklink Designer Program Trains Sets | 2024 & Beyond

[Murdoch17]

On 5/12/2026 at 4:34 PM, L-Gauger said:

Might be worth mentioning here - based on the spotting features, the "Iconic American Prototype" of the Brick Railroad Locomotive is the F7A diesel-electric locomotive produced by the Electro-Motive Division (EMD for short) of General Motors (yes, the American car manufacturer.) The color scheme of the BDP model is based on the blue/yellow livery of the ATSF (AKA Santa Fe) Ry. The F7A and  F7B (the cab-less "booster" unit counterpart to the F7A) were built during the 1950s, and many served until the 1980s in the US and Canada (not sure if any were used in other countries.)

Just in case anyone was wondering. 

I thought most (99.9%) Santa Fe F-units were turned into the ugly home-built CF7 series by the '80s?  If that's the case, I wonder who is gonna make the first CF7 -inspired MOD of this set? 

[LL1982]

This one is attractive to get. It may be an US locomotive but the colours match up to local stuff. 

[CDM]

Here is a good look at the Santa Fe "Yellowbonnet" inspiration:

 

Edited May 14 by CDM

[L-Gauger]

5 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

I thought most (99.9%) Santa Fe F-units were turned into the ugly home-built CF7 series by the '80s? 

I think that's correct, I was referring to the general lifespan of the F7 on American railroads. I think a few ATSF F7s might be preserved in their non-rebuilt condition, but I'm not 100% sure. 

 

4 hours ago, LL1982 said:

This one is attractive to get. It may be an US locomotive but the colours match up to local stuff. 

How cool! It also might be a good candidate to MOD into another cab unit (you might call them covered wagon) type diesel - I know there are some Australian diesels that are basically F7s with A1A trucks and a second cab on the back. 

1 hour ago, CDM said:

Here is a good look at the Santa Fe "Yellowbonnet" inspiration:

Thanks for this! That's a great photo. 

[CDM]

2 hours ago, L-Gauger said:

Thanks for this! That's a great photo. 

I should note it's not my photo but one I found online. It is great though!

[Murdoch17]

11 hours ago, L-Gauger said:

I think that's correct, I was referring to the general lifespan of the F7 on American railroads. I think a few ATSF F7s might be preserved in their non-rebuilt condition, but I'm not 100% sure. 

Just one is left from the Santa Fe. (It survives in runnable condition at the California State RR museum.) Any others you see are repaints from other railroads.

[CDM]

New comment from TRBricks, designer of the Brick Railroad Locomotive:

Quote

B Unit The building instructions for the B Unit will be released free of charge immediately after the publication of the Brick Railroad Locomotive instructions (Set 910066). This process has been coordinated with BrickLink. You will then find the instructions on both Rebrickable and in Studio. A short update will also be posted on Instagram ( TRBricks.de) and BrickLink. If you would like to take an early look at the parts list, you’ll find the link further down. As you can see in the photos, the lower section of the B Unit is almost identical to the A Unit. This makes the Brick Railroad Locomotive set (910066) a very practical parts donor. The B Unit consists of 1,064 parts (excluding the display platform), 811 of which are already included in the Brick Railroad Locomotive set (910066). That means you only need 253 additional parts. In terms of price, both options are quite similar (in Germany). However, if you plan to expand the display platform, the option with two sets is significantly more cost effective. Purchasing two sets also gives you the sticker sheet for the B Unit and more than 530 extra parts, including the parts for the display platform — and you would be supporting me as the designer. To make planning easier, I’ve prepared two parts lists: a) the supplementary list with the 253 parts you’ll need if you use the Brick Railroad Locomotive (910066) as a parts donor b) the complete parts list with all 1,064 parts (excluding the display platform) When uploading the lists to Pick a Brick, you may receive a notification—depending on the list—that one or two parts are not available (as of May 30th, in Germany). These refer to the 8 black Train Wheels (65629) and the 4 black Bricks (32807). The parts do exist, but for some reason they are not detected by the system. You will need to add them manually by searching for their part numbers. Availability may vary depending on your country and the time of your request, so please check accordingly. Whichever option you choose, I’m sure you’ll enjoy building the locomotive just as much as I enjoyed the entire development process. Thank you so much in advance for your fantastic support! Parts lists: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JAR9WDuENLDq95gzuLob-3UVBityp1dg?usp=sharing

 

[LL1982]

 

Movie showing the assembly. Very solid. Looks like 2 studs deep walls. I have no experience building 8w, but that will add some weight. Reviewer does not motorize it sadly. He even sounded clueless on the motor option to me, bit surprised there. You get that stuff for free might as well do some background check.

Looking at the movie and the b unit part list it does seem there is a motor option in the b unit too. Proper booster thus. But also an option to reduce part cost.

 

[Space78]

Thanks for posting that video.  I did not realize this was going to be 8 wide.  A bit disappointing to me, as I prefer the traditional 6 wide to fit in with my other Lego trains from 1990s - 2010s.  Actually, it surprises me this is 8 wide.  I don't think it had to be to be a good model/set.  I'm now less likely to get more than one, since this will be a static display model for me rather than something I run on my Lego layout.  Also did not know motorization was going to be via gears.  I just don't think this runs as well as using a Lego train motor.  

Glad I saw this before Monday, very informative and will affect my purchase.

[LL1982]

I did not look into to much detail but being 8 wide I reckon you could put in a train motor and still use the suggested boogie greebling. Guess that overlays all trains have the same wheel width. You just need some skills at rebuilding and making a hole in the bottom for your cable. 

Personally I understand you. Though I see the huge benefits of 8w, I am still more 6w and now trying 7w because it just fits better. Next to the santa fe this model will be bulky I reckon. 

[Space78]

1 hour ago, LL1982 said:

Next to the santa fe this model will be bulky I reckon. 

Right, that will be my main issue.  This is going to look too big next to the Santa Fe passenger set, and the BNSF GP engine.  

I have the orient express.  It's a beautiful model, but it sits on the shelf.  It's just too big and heavy to actually run in on Lego track/layout.

[zephyr1934]

6 hours ago, Space78 said:

Right, that will be my main issue.  This is going to look too big next to the Santa Fe passenger set, and the BNSF GP engine.  

I have the orient express.  It's a beautiful model, but it sits on the shelf.  It's just too big and heavy to actually run in on Lego track/layout.

This locomotive plus the OE cars should make for a nice train that runs. Sure, never would have seen the two paired, but the colors work well together.

BTW, seeing the build, any unpowered units you would want to leave out the gearing on the trucks to reduce the drag. Or better, swap the techinc axles for ball bearing axles.

[idlemarvel]

It ought to be possible to re-jig this to 6 wide. I  might have a go myself. All those parts in those colours for about £100 is still tempting.

[JopieK]

Let the 6/7-wide modding begin ;) I also will modify it to better with with the other trains indeed.

[Space78]

Yeah, the issue is the two stud wide walls.  I just don't think that had to be done to make this a good model, and the challenge modding this to 6 wide will be a lack of appropriate parts in the set to make that happen.  There's a lot of SNOT building in those walls.

[zephyr1934]

There are several issues of MODding this to to 6/7 wide, but all of which can be surmounted.

The nose and windshield would need to be redesigned. Fortunately, there's a new part that helps, e.g., the 2x2 corner round curved slope

Also, on a narrower version the truck frames will stick out beyond the body of the locomotive. Easily fixed by changing to conventional train motors and normal train wheels though.

 

 

[LL1982]

As others say the price per piece looks like a very good deal. For my home layout it looks a bit big, but so does the Lego crocodile to be fair, that one is also huge. Still doubting on getting a double for the B unit. 

I (sadly) do not own the santa fe or other classics, so I will see in the end how it fits in or needs a modification maybe. Dutch trains are luckily also blue and yellow so I have spare parts :D. I like how he came to the brick solution of the colours and not resorting to stickers to make that split in yellow and blue. I am definitely leaving the stickers off this one. 

[CDM]

I'm pretty excited for this one and I think I'm going to pick up two copies for the B-unit. I have a bricklink list for the supplemental pieces and hope you have all those in hand by Nov when these things ship. This will be a static piece for me so I'm not at all concerned about 8-wide vs 6-wide. I also want to rebuild the base to look like the Croc base using the 16L individual rails.

[L-Gauger]

On 6/6/2026 at 3:03 PM, Space78 said:

Also did not know motorization was going to be via gears.  I just don't think this runs as well as using a Lego train motor.  

By my recollection, the designer planned for 4 different motorization options total - PUP L motor or PUP train motor, with the ability to use 1 motor or 2. I agree one train motor won't be that strong, but I suspect this is a locomotive that will be heavy enough to properly make use of 2 train motors to be a strong and decently fast locomotive. 

On 6/7/2026 at 2:26 AM, JopieK said:

Let the 6/7-wide modding begin ;)

Ever since first seeing the model I've wondered about the prospects of modding it to 10-wide with two PF train motors.  

[Shiva]

On 6/6/2026 at 11:34 PM, Space78 said:

Right, that will be my main issue.  This is going to look too big next to the Santa Fe passenger set, and the BNSF GP engine.  

I have the orient express.  It's a beautiful model, but it sits on the shelf.  It's just too big and heavy to actually run in on Lego track/layout.

There are those that has got the Orient Express to run well.

And 8 wide = I think I´ll order it in +15hours from now.

[samsz_3]

Ordered mine. No confirmation email yet, but money has gone (I've never ordered a BDP before)

[Narissis]

The first BDP set I've ordered two of!

[Space78]

In the past you could see how many orders had been placed on the BDP page, and thus how close a set was to selling out.  I'm not seeing that on the Lego order site or the BDP site.  Has that feature/information gone away?

[Darkkostas25]

Oh, I can only buy it from re-sellers:C 

 

[Mr Hobbles]

10 minutes ago, Space78 said:

In the past you could see how many orders had been placed on the BDP page, and thus how close a set was to selling out.  I'm not seeing that on the Lego order site or the BDP site.  Has that feature/information gone away?

Yes, they started hiding that info 2 or 3 series ago. Fortunately, they didn't hide it very well - they stopped showing it on the page, but didn't actually remove the data from the page's source code.

    Set#  Name                       Preorders  Current Max       %  Funded
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  910064  Dustmark Keep                 10,966  30,000   36.6%  yes
  910065  Coconut Cape                   7,481  30,000   24.9%  yes
  910068  University of Science          7,014  30,000   23.4%  yes
  910066  Brick Railroad Locomotive      6,822  30,000   22.7%  yes
  910067  Hot Air Balloon                5,984  30,000   19.9%  yes