BelValcor

Is it a toy train or a model train? Depends who you ask and who you are talking about really. From Wikipedia: Ever price out enough elements from bricklink to ballast 5 foot of track? This would be adding realism which would make it a model train. The point here is the realism of the train. I've seen fantastic O gauge layouts that looked very real and on the other end of the spectrum layouts that looked just plain cheesy to me. Ironicaly, the cheesy ones probably cost more with all the not-to-scale buildings layered everywhere (I'm remembering a layout I saw in an issue of Classic Trains magazine). From Wikipedia: This seems straight forward... L scale is model railroading. Sounds like everyone here in the train section of EB. I think, for me, it comes down to this... If you build your new set and play with it, never trying to mod it, then it's a toy. If you mod it, or better yet try and make a prototype train, then it's a model. I think we would gain more acceptance from the model train community if websites out there showed how WE view L scale and what we do with it. Not that I really care what others think... So which do you have? A toy train collection or a model train collection that happens to be in L scale?

This is exactly what I have been thinking about... Kadee couplers etc. I built this layout plan years ago in N-scale and of course wanted to do it again in L-gauge . You can imagine how much space that took up when I did a test lol. I modified my switches which ended up doing wonders for the size (not to mention helping reduce the S-bend issues) and I'm hopeful to have it running by the summer... I would be very interested to see pictures of your decoupling system.

As this appears to be an open discussion I`ll throw this on the table... I`m curious to know if many train people here design a layout for realistic operation. For some reason I`m fascinated with switching of cars to and from destinations and have been (slowly ) working on a layout with this in mind. Are others interested in realism?

After reading all the posts here it occurred to me that no one has mentioned that the marketing of the new theme may be directed at us. From an Uncle point of view I am looking for Christmas gifts for my two nieces. I see this new line and think "This would be a great way to introduce the girls to LEGO in a way that competes with the other 'girls' toys out there." Do the girls know what sexist is? Nope. Do they troll the net to see if LEGO is a boys toy or girls? Nope. When they have played with their brother's LEGOs do they care about colours or the minifigs? Not that I've seen. I am all for a LEGO theme designed for girls. The colours and figures makes it easier for the girls to move from the other toys out there to the best toy. This ( as others have pointed out ) makes it easier for them to move onto other themes such as Harry Potter, CITY, etc. Once the girls get older and have a few sets in their collection then THEY can decide what is a boys or girls set. I have seen the 'girls' block boxes before and didn't buy any. I was thinking they are nice enough but what goes with them? With a new theme aimed at girls, now those block boxes look worth while. Sorry that my thoughts are jumbled here but I think you can see my points.

The Toys-r-us in Hamilton, Ont has the Dino sets as well. And I found the Red Cargo Train which I paid $175 for. Guess it is a intro to the set sale? I didn't see the set on the website but there she was... 4 or 5 still there.

I'm a carpenter that has designed many homes for customers and then built them. Not quite an architect but close enough I guess. And after a long day of construction the last thing I want to do is build lego houses. So I hang out here and build trains. Bel

That's a nice engine to build Legoless. Looks like 42 studs long I can't wait to see pics of this when it's done. Maybe even a video of it passing through points Bel

My little guide on finding trains and cars to build and getting the scale right. Be gentle... I'm new. I have found it very handy to go to the Walthers model train site to find inspiration for new mocs. They have thousands and thousands of models with pictures and you can filter your search to get what you want. Walthers search page. Here I am looking for a tank car to model: I have found a nice unit that is the right time period for me: I go to the page for the green tanker to copy the image location: Now I can use Lego Model Scaler ( I originally read about it at RailBricks ). I paste the copied image link location in the box provided in step 1: And then following the simple directions I can find the scale of the tanker to build: To get the Lego Model Scaler started I entered 2 studs and then drew the first line on the wheel. After that it's easy to find any other measurements you need. Hopefully some of you may be inspired by this. Bel

I was wondering if you have tested the speeds of the LiPo (or a standard battery setup) against the 4 x AAA option you mentioned here. Does the 4.8v setup perform proportionally slower? By this I mean are ALL speed settings slower? I would like to make a switching layout (eventually) and find even the slowest speed a bit quick... more practice is needed I guess Bel

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Hello Jeff, I was just curious if the display would be open for visitors to tour? On the OBB blog page it looked to me like visitors could only view it through the store window. Thanks, Bel

I use the Stanley organizers too. The deep ones I use to do an initial sort then the shallow ones to break the types down. I should have mentioned that I work on trains so I don't actually need a million stickers... just about 300 trays worth lol I have been giving serious thought to using the Stanley organizers for all red, all black or whatever. The ability to pull out each tray as needed makes the cost of the units worth it. I suppose the system that a person decides to use for his/her sorting really depends on how or what they build. Perhaps that is what should be added by people that describe their system... what their building interest is. Bel

I finally got around to reading this thread fully and was surprised that no one has spent the time to make custom labels for their slideout part bin trays. What I am referring to can be found here by Mike Doyle. I've done almost the same thing for my bins... well... almost done... it's a process. I find it SO much easier to find parts very fast using this system. How I did it: Each part I wanted to make a label for was loaded up in SR 3D Builder (free). I screen captured it and then edited the the pic with Paint.net (free) then saved it. Then used Avery Design Pro (free) to print out the labels with Avery printer labels. Yes it is time consuming but worth it for me. Bel

Some experiences with shopping in stores for trains and track... A number of years ago when 9v was still around I made a trip to a store that only sold lego (although it was not an official lego store) to buy track. They had about 2 boxes of straight, 1 set of switches and a mountain of curved packs. So of course I bought everything except the curved packs. I recall wondering if the store had to buy an equal number of curved and straight packs. Seemed like customers were in the same position as me... too many curves already. I never did find out. Too far for me to drive there on a regular basis. Skip forward in time to last summer. I was in Ottawa and found a toy store that advertised having the largest lego stock in the city. Great I thought.. I can pick up more track while in town. Sure enough they had a massive selection. Sets I didn't even know about . I walked around and looked for a half hour till the owner approached me and asked if I needed help. Yes. Ummm... lego trains and track? Sorry Sir. We don't even have the option to order them. They are not in our order catalogue. At the present time I can only get whatever Toys-R-Us decides to stock which is hit and miss at the best of times. I can understand Lego wishing to work only with the bigger stores but to cut the trains option right out of the catalogue for smaller stores? I don't care for that much. I like to buy my sets in local stores where possible for various reasons but I guess those days are gone. As far as track selection I would agree with many that the different tracks should be sold as packs. Straight, curved and flex. I see so many games and tools on the lego site for visitors and I can't help but think why couldn't they set aside .5% of that energy to make a premade track pack page. 3 or 4 different layouts that could be chosen from. This helps the kids and the parents. We have pick a brick and design by me... seems to me that the tools are already in place to make this happen. Bel

Thanks for the great job AndyC. I have copies of the pdf files but they jusssst don't do the job (although they were better then nothing). Bel