Rail Co

Eurobricks Knights
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About Rail Co

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  1. Rail Co

    LEGO Trains 2022

    Anyone else notice the different track pieces at the end of the station? Maybe a place for that maintenance truck to get off at? It looks like that piece of track is on both ends... Interesting for sure.
  2. @michaelgale I appreciate your in depth reply. You are 100% right that you are producing this on a much smaller scale than Lego so your production costs will be higher. I did fail to take into account the very high quality box that can be used as storage for the tracks (an I assume sticking two S16 Lego tracks RC or 9V will also work in these for safe keeping when switching back from RC to 9V), so that is for sure a plus that I failed to remember. Which in that case puts the cost of one Fx S32 track at ~$4 which is a little better. Also @zephyr1934 you make a very good point of fair market price vs. what someone is willing to pay. I do think this is a fair price, regardless of whether I am willing to pay it at this time or not. However, what I don't want to see happen is see all Michael's countless hours of hard work go to waste and go in the direction that ME Models faced if not enough people will adopt these rails. I agree that I think the biggest hump is getting enough traction to convince the plastic track users to use 9V again. As you do have to have 9V motors to be able to run your trains on these rails and if you don't already have them getting them is pretty pricey and only rising. I agree with Michael that prioritizing the metal pickups first, should be done as that will allow people (hopefully) to use their PF and PUP motors directly with 9V track whether it is the official track or by Fx bricks. This would be greatly appreciated as while I think PF has it's advantages I much prefer running on metal rails as they mean no batteries! This will not only allow everyday users of 9V rails to easily convert over their PF trains, but open the door for people who only use PF trains to convert their models over if they want to adopt the metal rails. This post got a little longer than I expected so sorry for the long read. Just throwing my thoughts out -RailCo
  3. This is great news! Glad to see these finally making their way into train fans in the next couple of weeks. While looking at that price puts me off a little. I'll have to do some calculations in the morning, and I'll need to remind myself that you essentially get 16 standard Lego pieces. However, I am not sure it is really 33% cheaper than used rails. Doing some quick calculations $70 for 16 regular single length tracks, means you pay $4.375 per straight track. However, the average price of track actually sold on Bricklink is $4.22 in the last 6 months. Meaning that these tracks are 3.67% more than the used tracks, not 33% less as stated in the blog. If you look at the current average price of track on Bricklink that are listed but not sold at $5.43. That means Fx Tracks are still only ~19.43% cheaper than current listings, however, I prefer to look at sold listings as those are what people actually pay. For more reference a pack of 8 straight rails from Lego at $12.99 (MSRP) in 1991 would cost $24.95 today with inflation meaning 16 straight track would cost $50 if they were still sold today from Lego Looking at the review by @zephyr1934 has written these look to be high quality parts and I understand that these are not produced at a mass scale so the price will be a little higher. However, unless I am missing something I do not see these being 33% cheaper as claimed in the blog post. I am in no way trying to bash this product as I haven't gotten my hands on it yet. Just making an observation and giving some food for thought. I am still very excited about these tracks and would love to pick some up, but I might have to wait a little while before convincing myself that I can spend $70 on track. I am very excited to learn more about another 9V motor bogie coming out and more track options to add more flexibility in the geometry. Also, great quality and professional video @michaelgale! Thanks, -RailCo
  4. Thanks for this review. I have been waiting to get my hands on these straights for awhile now. Looks to be a good quality product with a lot of thought and effort into the design. I can't wait to see when these will be available!
  5. Hello everyone, Today I have something special for you all. I finally got the last couple of pieces in to finish my Lego 40316 Geoffrey Brickheadz which was slated to release in 2018 but was cancelled due to ToysRus filing for bankruptcy and eventually closing its stores in most regions. I was really bummed to see this set not make it into the hands of collectors and fans of Geoffrey the Giraffe. Therefore, I built him using all official Lego bricks and have finally finished him. I had put the project on hold about a year ago due to moving houses and starting a different job. Finally he is done, I hope you enjoy! Lego 40316 Geoffrey #57 Brickheadz by Railco1, on Flickr Lego 40316 Geoffrey #57 Brickheadz by Railco1, on Flickr Lego 40316 Geoffrey #57 Brickheadz by Railco1, on Flickr Lego 40316 Geoffrey #57 Brickheadz by Railco1, on Flickr Lego 40316 Geoffrey #57 Brickheadz by Railco1, on Flickr Here is a screenshot of the instructions for the model I was able to use from Lego's website at one point: LEGO 40316 BRiCKHeadZ 57 Geoffrey the Giraffe by Penciller Zero, on Flickr I hope you like my build of this unreleased set. Thanks, -RailCo
  6. So one of the eBay listings showed a case of 3 that he had (with the Lego manufacturing information label on it). The date on the box was May 2020. If they have been producing these since May, the hope is that on August 1st retailers will have a few. Trying to locate one in the U.S. isn't seeming very likely right now however. If anyone knows any information about U.S. stock please let me know here or PM me -RailCo
  7. Rail Co

    [MOC] LEGO KTMB 24 Class Narrow Gauge

    Beautiful model. Love the detail. I'm very impressed that it runs on the narrow gauge track! Great work! -RailCo
  8. Rail Co

    Teaser for Upcoming Train?

    Sure. This is purely for fun and who knows maybe in a year or two a steam train will come out and surprise us to be similar to the drawing. However, you are right it could be there as just a back drop. -RailCo
  9. Rail Co

    Teaser for Upcoming Train?

    Hello, just watched the designer video on the 10277 crocodile train. For a very short time you can see a drawing of another locomotive on a white board. I was thinking if this could be a teaser or just a mere coincidence. I have a screenshot from the video. The number on the loco is "1876" and looks to be more American in style. If people think it is possibly a teaser anyone know what train it could be? For anyone wondering this is about 3:05 minutes into the video. Wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this? Screenshot: Thanks, -RailCo
  10. Rail Co

    Lego 10277 - Crocodile Locomotive

    Was able to order mine last night at 11pm CST. A few hiccups but my order is shipped nonetheless. As of about 9am this morning it was backordered for July 17th. Now it is backordered for the standard 60 day message. Excited to have it arrive in a few days. Glad I was able to grab one as who knows when they will be in stock. -RailCo
  11. Rail Co

    Lego 10277 - Crocodile Locomotive

    @Toastie I can tell you right now that Lego is overpricing their electronics by quite a bit (as everyone has worked out). I can tell you right now that I could buy an arduino or any other similar microcontroller board and build my own train controller for cheaper than what they are asking. Will it have an app? No. Will it be in a fancy case? No. However, it could run a train around the track and I could even add bluetooth (while not as seemless as Lego's design) for an extra couple of bucks. I have looked at images from the powered up M motors and the PF M motors and can tell you there is very little difference between them. While I find the PuP M motor is still reasonably priced, I can't see why the L motor is 3x the price of the PF one. The only thing I can think of is if something was expensive to manufacture with these new motors, i.e. they had to create their own custom IC chip or component that they want to pay off. However, I find that unlikely as most of the parts are readily available for their purposes. For example the most expensive part of these hubs are the microcontrollers built into them. They can be bought for about $2.30, and that is only if you buy 1. The more you buy the more you save with a bulk rate. I do think Lego is being stingy here. While the system works fairly well and it is nice to be able to use your phone as a controller, it's hard to justify the price unless you can find a good way to get the motors or hubs cheaper. Like I have done on bricklink. Just my 2 cents, -RailCo
  12. Wow those renderings look great. He really is making me excited for these track pieces. I never had the chance to get my hand on the ME Models 9V track, so I'm really excited for these. They stay true to the look of the original 9V track. I am eagerly waiting to be able to get more straights as I started collecting 9V trains a little late in the game. I might not get their particular switch right off the bat as I don't necessarily "need" it but it would be nice to have. Awesome work Micheal! -RailCo
  13. Rail Co

    Lego 10277 - Crocodile Locomotive

    I think this was already mentioned, however, I want to remind people that they should probably order a PU Large Motor from bricklink before the price goes up. Lego has it listed for $40 USD. I ordered one from a U.S. seller for roughly $14 USD. I bought mine early before people notice the price that Lego is asking. While it will generally be cheaper to buy it from bricklink I could see sellers raising the price to $30 - $35. Just an FYI. I was hoping they would do a pre order so I could get an order in early as Lego sets seem scarce these days due to COVID. Can't wait for July 1st to order mine -RailCo
  14. Rail Co

    Lego 10277 - Crocodile Locomotive

    Awesome rendering of the Train model there @R0Sch, impressive work. This gets me thinking about running two motors for this train, one in the front section and one in the back section. It might be nice to have both ends motorized to allow it to pull more coaches or wagons. -RailCo
  15. Rail Co

    Lego 10277 - Crocodile Locomotive

    I think people read into my post too much. When I said we haven't had a creator expert trains since 2012/2013 (seems to be a debate on that and I certainly can't remember). What I meant was that we haven't seen a train that is part of what I consider the train theme altogether. I personally consider the Winter village train to be part of the winter village line, not the trains line. Furthermore, while the Disney train does look wonderful it doesn't really fit in with the AFOL trains that we had been getting like the 10183 Hobby train. the EN, the Maersk, and the HE. This is because I believe it is 8-wide and part of the Disney park line they seem to be having with the Disney castle and now the train. Basically, I consider this the first true "AFOL" train since the HE. For the fact that it isn't part of any other theme or line of products. On a different note, I think @zephyr1934 had a great idea of just providing additional instructions without the need to print them on paper. Lego has done this in the past with the 40th Anniversary of technic. While I don't find it likely that they will provide these as they will essentially be making no money off their time and effort to make the instructions. I think it would be a good middle ground for AFOLs. Lastly, @Duq makes a good point that they used to have alternate builds, but took them away since they were getting quite a few calls. While it's sad that those are gone, maybe Lego could produce another thick ideas book for not only trains but city, technic, friends, even brickheadz, etc. That could include various different ideas so people could try to either copy them or make their own. Again, I think Lego is beyond providing extra instructions or idea books at this point. Honestly, I am very happy with this set and might even buy a second model. Would I like coaches to go with this set? Yes. Am I upset they didn't provide them? No. I am happy they are trying out another Expert or AFOL oriented train. I hope this works out and we can get more! -RailCo