greenmtvince

Thanks for the info roamingstudio! This gives me a few more options for my little Porter engine. I'm also excited about the fact that the rails are aluminum as opposed to ABS. They'll be easier to throw in a mill to make custom bits of track like switches.

It's 2536 on Peeron or on Bricklink

Well here's someone who went about doing a LEGO garden railway: http://outsidebricks.blogspot.com/ Many Garden Railway enthusiasts handlay their own track. You could buy your rails, ties, and spikes and gauge it to LEGO wheelsets. You could use ME models new aluminum rails. The ties are still ABS, so they're not sun durable though. Alternately, if space is at a premium, have you considered doing a small/micro layout? When I was in Afghanistan, I did a 2x4' layout based on a real world location. The idea is doing switching (shunting where you are) rather than running trains around loops. An Inglenook Setup especially if you're doing small european frieght carriages would fit into a small space and provide a lot of fun.

Well if we're talking scale, your calculations are based on a "6-wide train" scale. It means minifigs are a scale 7-8 feet tall, but the proportions of the train itself short of the track widths are spot on. Here's the alternate ways of looking at scale in LEGO trains: From this LUGNET Post

VR! Yay. Riding from Helsinki to Kokkola was the first time I'd been on a train outside of the US. Growing up, I loved LEGO trains but the models didn't look like anything I recognized. Then seeing the designs of frieght carriages and the architecture of train stations, it all made sense to me.

Unfortunately, there was only one Maersk painted SD40-2 (the other Maersk painted loco was an SDF40-2 which looks very disimilar to the set released,) so it actually isn't very realistic to lash up two of these together unlike BNSF which operated several GP38's and similar looking EMD and GE locomotives or the ATSF Super Chief locomotives. Something like this or this would be a better match to the Maersk loco since it was operated by Norfolk Southern and you'll see several photos online of NS 3329 lashed up with other NS locomotives. There's a photo of it in between some Canadian National units too.

Ever since the indiana jones track was released, I've been inspired to build my own narrow gauge railroad. I was a huge fan of Carl Arendt's Micro/Small Layout Scrapbook and looked forward to his twice a month updates for inspiring small layout designs. He inspired my 2' by 4' rendition of the Claremont Concord Railroad while I was in Afghanistan. My dream was to build a pizza layout with the narrow gauge track and have it featured in one of the Pizza Layout Specials among traditional modeller's railroads. Unfortunately Carl passed away earlier this month and my dreams of him featuring my layout are no more. However, I'm still moving ahead with my plans in his memory. I settled on the smallest and one of the most widely produced locomotives for narrow gauge industrial railroads, H.K. Porter's 0-4-0. With a saddle tank of course to help me hide some of the troubly bits. The trick of this was figuring out how to fit a power source and motor into such a small chassis. It turns out that a Micromotor on full with a 5:3 gear ratio from the bezel gears moves at a pretty respectable speed with some decent torque. The 9V power supply was a bit of a challenge, but the mechanics of which I'd already worked out withmy Alco S4 for my layout in Afghanistan. Big Ben's Medium drivers seemed a bit too big for this project. So I threw a set of lego train wheels onto a bridgeport end mill, did a few calculations, and had my own custom small drivers. While some purists might consider this cheating, I don't consider it any different than using BBB's custom wheels. After that, it was just a matter of making it all look right. Several hours with Lego Digital Designer and here's my work: Let me know what you think and how I could improve. I'll be turning to brickshelf tomorrow to order the remainder of my needed parts.

Alright, based on Tony's nitpicking. Here's my revision: And here's a couple detail shots of the chassis and transmission.

Thanks for being nitpicky. I followed your suggestion and it looks much better! Thanks for being nitpicky where I wasn't. Hmmm, I'll have to see how you use this. I don't think it would work for my application if the locomotive drive wheels are motorized. Maybe by changing my transmission, possibly to something using a worm gear it would work. The crankshaft might push the drive rods and pistons out a little far out for such a small model, whereas I have them mounted flush right now. Thanks for bringing that up. It does make me concerned for the motor. I'd really like to avoid using powered rolling stock if at all possible since I didn't plan on building anything that could hide another motor any better. Is there a way to not burn out the motor but still use it in this application? My understanding of motor burnout was that it occurs when insulation melts from either high currents at stalled torque, normal wear and tear, and motors that produce a lot of heat by design. Looking at Philo's page. It seems like the micromotor produces a good amount of torque, a little less at the wheels with my transmission but for a higher RPM. My assumption is that I can keep wear on the motor down by not running it constantly at shows and keeping it away from stall torque. I'd love to hear from anyone with some expertise on the motor. Failing that, is there a close commercial substitute that I could crack the case open and replace the actual motor should it burn out? Thanks for your thoughts, I wish I'd known Carl other than through his articles. The wheels on the Porter are small anyway though. I think I need smaller siderods! Space's work was really inspirational to me, especially his narrow gauge switch track. I'll post a picture tomorrow of the chassis and drive mechanism I've worked out for this train. It's less complex and far less elegant than his design.

Precisely! I know you pointed out decent price. I just meant the second hand market for 4.5V rails will be the benchmark for those of us who don't rely on powered track. However, if there's different radius curves, than the whole pricing idea is out the window. Wider radius turns (particularly powered ones) are something that every club and most train AFOLs have wanted for a long time.

Don't listen to Toastie. Power functions are a great system for anything other than big club layouts simply because they run trains longer than the 1-2 hours the battery is expected to last. I think the 7939 is one of the nicest lego train sets in quite some time. That aside my club tested out the locomotive, hitching up as many heavy cars as we could including metroliner coaches, club cars, and some heavy 7-wide boxcars. I think it still pulled about two dozen cars on the 9V track until it experienced slipping in the turns. I really need to get one before it supposedly disappears. I'm only a fan of the 7938 when it's modded to look more like the Bombardier Talent trains, like some members have done. The Emerald Night is a very fun build and impressive looking train. I don't know if you'll have as much fun with that as you would the cargo train. However, you may want to snap one up on the off chance that it is discontinued as the Maersk Diesel loco goes on sale. The best part about PF though is for the MOCer. You can build more prototypical powered bogies than you could with the 9V system. That is, if you can figure out where to hide everything. ^_^

For that to be true, it will have to be cost competitive with prices on second hand 4.5V track. Other than that, we're paying extra for a feature we'll never use. I have a large 9V collection, but I've made the switch to power functions.

The only question I have left is: "How do I preorder?" I want this in my mailbox on the day it's released.

There's really only 2 ways to do this with a North American Hood unit. You can use the modified tiles for the sides like in the new Maersk SD40-2 or you gut the powerfunctions system like I did in the picture below for this Alco S4. I used a 9V LiPo battery as my power source since it's only 16mm (2 studs) wide and relatively cheap. Just solder on the leads from a 9V battery connector right to the IR reciever board and it works perfectly. I removed the PF IR reciever from its casing removed the IR reciever itself from the circuit board to make it much easier to fit in the tight 6 wide cab. I've taken the most extreme ways of doing it. There's ways where you can create a 9V battery connector to PF cable so you don't have to mess with the IR reciever (there's a tutorial on MOC pages,) and if you make the cab 5 studs long you can probably fit the whole IR reciever in there.

Nice job, Elroy. I always look forward to the releases, and it looks like you've got the magazine on a regular schedule now.

From my experiences, you'd have a hard time finding a gainfully employed architect that has time to play with LEGOs.

Well the crux of the issue is that the hood unit is THE North American frieght locomotive design since the 1950s. You get some variation though. There's high short noses like the GP-9, Canadian Comfort Cabs, C-C instead of B-B like the SD-60, and all manner of fans and detailing on the long hood. To say that LEGO is being unoriginal is a little harsh. If you want to blame anyone, blame it on GE or GM.

Dan, how do you do a GP-38/40 in 7 wide? I've always wanted to model in 7 wide, to get some more realistic proportions, but still keep things relatively small and cheap enough to keep operation. Unfortunately slopes and other bits don't really lend themselves to being an odd dimension. I'd appreciate you sharing some techniques or pics.

I'm looking for broken pieces of 4.5V and 12V track. I'm looking to do some brick mods, but I can stand to waste a perfectly good piece of track that will never be made again. Broken track however gives me the opportunity to breathe new life into a vintage piece of ABS that may otherwise end up in the trash. If anyone has any that they're hanging onto and would like to get rid of, please contact me via PM.

So is anyone aside from me wondering where they get those green modified tiles on the side for that one? I checked the Bricklink catalog and they don't appear to exist.

I say sell if you're not that interested in the coaches. For what they fetch on bricklink and eBay you can almost pay for your locomotive with what you get for the coach.

That's why lego has Fire and Hospital subthemes, and I remember in the early 90s, TV reporters.

This is a really great article/post! I'm less interested in pretty trains running around ovals and more interested in railroad operations, so this fit the bill. I also loved seeing that you were able to achieve such amazing operational possibilities with the vintage 4.5V trains, as I thought these were especially limited to just running around ovals. I loved that the operators were visually seperated too and that the waybill system travels with the cars. Absolutely brilliant and looks like a lot of fun. It totally motivates me to want to implement a track signalling system on my future layout! Thanks!

What's the radius of the Indiana Jones track?

It's the airport shuttle monorail redone as a train... I'm with you. While I appreciate the brick built front like the reviewer, I think the overall design and color choice are severely underwhelming. Nothing about this set makes me want to rush out and buy it. I'm sure the target demographic will like the design and color. BTW, is there a close prototype to this one out there?