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In my fictional universe, the train starts at Chicago (Illinois), with stops at Springfield (Illinois), St. Louis (Missouri), Memphis (Tennessee) before terminating at New Orleans (Louisiana). The 2-6-0 "Mogul" steam engine & it's four car train is painted in dark green, thus giving the train it's name the "Emerald Express". The train consists of 1 baggage / passenger car (also known as a "combine"), two passenger coaches, and one observation car. These train cars were inspired heavily by instructions made by @TJJohn12 for his Retlaw Combine car and passenger coach, as seen here. The model has been remade by me to be four studs shorter, six studs wide (instead of eight), and no longer for use in a Disney theme-park setup, as it instead plies the rails of my 1920's - to 1950's setup. These cars now come with new inter-car connections and inset entryway doors. (plus the rear platform on the observation car) This Mogul type loco was originally made from set 79111, (Constitution Train Chase), with some features of TJJohn12's MOC of the E. P. Ripley locomotive (seen here) from Disneyland and set 10194 (Emerald Night) for good measure. This model has been through many versions since it was first built in 2013, but I think it's as close to perfection as I will get with the chosen brick-based medium. It pulls the Emerald Express of dark green - colored train coaches as seen in the other pictures. The sides of the steam engine's tender features the letters BRS, standing for Brick Railway Systems in printed 1 x 1 tiles, while the number 6437 goes on the cab walls. This combination baggage and passenger car (known as a combine) relies heavily on techniques taken from Retlaw baggage car built by TJJohn12. The two identical day coaches have inset doors I designed myself. The observation car of the Emerald Express. The rear deck isn't the best, but it works using the parts available in dark green... a not too common color in some brick varieties! EDIT 11/5/16: Added newer engine pics and ldd file for engine and tender as (removed) EDIT 12/9/16: Put in pictures of version three of the engine, with the placement of the domes on the boiler revised and the headlight moved to atop the boiler. EDIT 7/23/18: Added revised pictures of the locomotive to the thread, although I have by this point taken a wheel set off the engine to make into a 4-6-2, not a 4-8-2. Alas, I need to take the pictures again, and update the thread. It should only take another year or two... EDIT 6/25/2020: Added newly revised coaches, engine and comments on said models to first post. Real world pics coming soon(ish)! Comments, questions, and complaints are always welcome, so please give feedback!

These Baldwin diesel RF-16-like locos were inspired by set 10020, (Santa Fe Super Chief) for most of the basic body work and and fellow Eurobricks user @Legownz for the knife-like Sharknose front end. (Thank you for that ingenious design!) The cab and booster units feature no interior details because I have no need for such items on my layout.. that and retrofitting all my trains with inside details would be quite costly. NOTE: I had to shorten the front A-unit by four studs because it wouldn't fit in my storage box anymore with the longer front-end. Thus I had to order a shorter 24 stud train baseplate to get it to fit, the results of which you can see when comparing the two diesel units. (the B unit is noticeably longer) The rear of each of the locos feature doorways to the next engine compartment, and / or the passenger train itself. The name of this train is a play off the Missouri River Runner, a real train that Amtrak runs from Kansas City to St. Louis. The Meramec River is a body of water that runs next to the 12-inch gauge Wabash Frisco & Pacific, so I switched the name to the Meramec River Runner. Never mind the fact the Missouri Pacific used to run on the roadbed the WFP now uses up from the 1850's until about the 1940's, when it was rerouted to it's current, alignment and abandoned the old one to the eventual WFP use from the late '50's to today. ...and In case you were wondering, WFP stands for Wabash Frisco and Pacific in both the real world 12-inch gauge RR that is located in my hometown and my fictional take on their railway. Combination baggage and passenger car three identical passenger coaches for the train The observation car of the Meramec River Runner. The real Sharknose diesel's looked like this (picture from Wikipedia). All 109 "A" cab units, 51 "B" booster units, or 160 total locomotives were built between 1950 and 1953, and almost all were scrapped. Only two A units survive, hidden away since 1981 in a railway warehouse in Michigan due to thievery by supposed rail-fans. (Items such as instruction manuals and builders plates were stolen.) Anyway, on January 10th, 2020, Trains Magazine reported that the two surviving units will be going to a museum for preservation. (Yay!) You can read more on Wikipedia here about the class type. Any thoughts, comments, or complaints? EDIT 5/5/2020: The locomotives are finished in real life, and new pictures have been uploaded for everything. Enjoy!

This modular Victorian-era train station was inspired by set 71044, Disney train and Station. It now has a chimney flue featuring two fireplaces, freight area with dual sliding doors, and a loading platform five tracks long. The large clock on the tower is gone, replaced by a double sided, smaller version above the main door to the platform, while the word GLENNCOE (a slight misspelling of a real Missouri town... the real town only has one "N" in it's name.) goes above the right hand door, as this is the name of the station and the town it serves. Also in that general area of the model, you can see I removed the second floor balcony, as I thought it looked better being replaced by a window. The street facing portion of the station should have the year 1891 on the studs above the two main doors. (This was the year the 100% fictional station was built.) The upper floor features the station master's office with desk and telephone, along with a much later addition than 1891, a computer to track train movements. The lower floor features the cargo depot with opening mailbox, and passenger waiting room with ticket desk. Six public waiting chairs are also included on this level. The station comes in several large, easy-to-take-apart sections: -tower roof -second floor hallway roof -second floor -first floor NOTES: There probably was a station in Glencoe (the real Missouri town, not my idealistic version of it) at one point for the Missouri Pacific RR, though I doubt it was this fancy if it was there. The rail line passed through there from the mid-1850's to the mid-1940's, when it was moved to it's current alignment, and the old one abandoned to nature. However, a little 12-inch gauge ride on railway now calls Glencoe home, as it has since the late 1950's. This station (and any of my LEGO trains lettered for the Wabash Frisco and Pacific, the name of the small 12-inch gauge line) are a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the rail line that has had such an impact on me growing up.. and still inspires me today! EDIT 5/17/2020: Added real world pictures! As usual, comments, questions, and complaints are always welcome!

Named for nearby Fort Legoredo, the town of Legoredo City was first settled in 1867 by the people following the Union Pacific railroad through the West on towards the Central Pacific to create the First Transcontinental Railroad. Usually these towns die off once the construction teams move on, but this town didn't because of one crucial fact: Valuable veins of silver were discovered by the Construction crews in a attempt to tunnel through the side of Raindance Ridge. This new wealth happened to be right up the tracks (about a mile or two) from the City. The town continues to have a booming industry in the 21st century, with tourists flocking to the Wild West town and more recently, the reopening of the silver mines because of advances in mining techniques. The railroad still stops at Legoredo City, with a Native American reservation and the preserved Army Fort nearby. US 1880's LEGOREDO MODULAR TRAIN DEPOT I originally got this basic model from a page on Bricksafe by user @sed6 as seen here. I revised the freight door to be movable, changed the roof color to dark red from black, building color to sand green from tan, plus I added a "cast iron" heating stove and it's chimney flue to the model for late-1800's period look. I have named the Fort Legoredo passenger depot after the famous set number 6761. (Fort Legoredo)  The model features the separate entry doors to the station premises for cargo and people on the both the street and track sides. There is also plenty of outside seating on both the left and right sides, yet they are still under the roof awning to be protected from rain. (three seats per side) Inside we have the freight area (on the left) and the passenger area (on the right) with a connecting door between the two. The passenger section also has the heating stove which currently is keeping the coffee hot. (or is it boiling the water for tea?) This part of the station also has three inside seats for weary passengers and a cash register for ticket dispensing. The station is modular, and comes apart in four sections: - Left platform end - Right platform end - Station roof - Station building 1870's LEGOREDO CITY This bank was partially inspired by set 10255 (Assembly Square). The rear of the bank also has a modified safe from set 10217. (Diagon Alley) along with two bank teller's windows and a desk. This barber shop was inspired by set 6765. (Gold City Junction). The barber shop features two chairs taken from set 10246, (Detective's Office) along with a sink and cash register. This general store is supposed to be modeled after the one in set 6765 (Gold City Junction), but with updated parts and expanded collection of items for sale. Inside, we have a cash register and a not-yet-finished interior. Hank Haystack from the LEGO Movie owns and operates this store. This saloon was inspired by the bank in set 79109. (Colby City Showdown) It features a typical saloon swing-open door, a cash register, and several spots to sit down and order a drink and is owned by Doc Brown from Back to the Future. (Hey, he can't drink it, doesn't mean he can't sell it!) Being on a corner, much of the building is left to the imagination as I wanted to avoid lift away floors to keep with the vintage 1990's Western feel. This sheriff's office was taken almost wholly from set 79109. (Colby city Showdown) The rooftop cannon has been removed, and a sticker-based sign from set 7954 (Woody's Roundup) has been placed up there instead. The floor of the building has also been redone, and most of the odd colored part removed. The rear of the building features the sheriff's office and his armory, plus the jail cell with it's exploding front wall. This blacksmith's store was heavily inspired by 2011 Ninjago set 2508. (Blacksmith Shop) I revised the colors scheme, removed the rotating rear wall, and added a holder for the sign. The roof still folds open like the original set. The post office was mostly taken from set 40305 (LEGO brand store), which has been reworked into a post office. There is a hanging sign out front in the shape of an envelope, and the sign on the top of the building clearly defines the building's purpose. (though the inside is empty at this point!) This spooky boneyard was made from sets 70420 (Graveyard Mystery), and set 75965 (The Rise of Voldemort) put together, end to end. I disabled the Voldemort "rising from the grave" function, although I did keep some caskets open-able as a feature because grave robbers were a thing back then! I also threw in a Doctor Who weeping angel to guard the place as it it seemed fitting (I am having this as a bit on a bit of a science-fiction / slight steampunk bent after all anyway, right?) US 1870's MILITARY TRAIN & 4-2-4 STEAM LOCO Let's start with the newest train: the 4-2-4 and the US Army train. This is a more realistic version of set 10254 (Winter Village holiday train) for all the train fans who don't like the engine. I added working pistons, and a more cohesive color scheme plus two more sets of wheels on the engine. This is a tank engine, and as such does not have a tender. The rotating Gatling gun you see here was taken from set 79111. (Constitution Train Chase) This horse car was originally a cattle car from set 60052, (2014 Cargo Train) but I've re-purposed it for my Army officer horses. These cannons are from set 79106 (Calvary Builder Set) and were placed on a generic flatcar. for transport by rail. This coach was inspired by set 10015 (Passenger Wagon), and features no interior. The jail car you see was originally from set 79111. (Constitution Train Chase) while gaining the styling of set 10015. (Passenger Wagon) This car has one play feature that is sure to blow you away: the back wall can be removed to get at the jail cell via the "dynamite" on the outside of the back wall. When pushed back towards the other end of the car, the rear wall pops out and the bad guys can escape! Here is the whole military train all put together. US 1870's PASSENGER TRAIN & 4-6-0 STEAM LOCO Next up, the modified passenger train which I have shown before on these forums, but has received a bit of a face-lift. This engine was originally modeled after set 7597 (Western Train Chase) with some design inspiration from the Disney train 4-4-0 (set 71044). The engine also features a piston set copied from my version of set 79111 (Constitution Train Chase) to keep it inline with the rest of my steam locomotives. The rear of the loco features a ladder to the tender-top, where the hatch to the water tank is found and also where the neatly stacked wood pile is located . These passenger cars were mostly inspired by set 10014 (Passenger wagon) but repainted red instead of green and with fancy part 30613 "Brick, Arch 3 x 6 x 5 Ornamented" on the end of the cars. I might be mistaken, but Ben Shuber may have been the one to inspire these coaches with his own red versions of set 10014. The end of my passenger train features this little four wheel caboose. It was designed after set 10015 (Caboose) with some features taken from set 7597 (Western Train Chase) The whole passenger train was inspired by sets 7597, 10014, 10015 and 71044. US 1870's FREIGHT TRAIN & 4-4-0 STEAM LOCO Since I turned the red 4-4-0 into a 4-6-0, the slot has been opened up for another "American"-type. Thus, I created Yellow 4-4-0 number 2, to go along with red 4-6-0 number 3 and green 4-2-4 number 1. As the red one before it, this engine was originally modeled after set 7597 (Western Train Chase) with some design inspiration from TF Twitch's "Humble Sapphire" 4-4-0. The engine also features a boiler copied from set 79111 (Constitution Train Chase) to keep it inline with the rest of my steam locomotives. This log car was also designed by my brother, and is quite ingenious for using set 60059 (Logging Truck) but on a train base. The logs are floating place, as they would be resting on the bottom of the car in real life. It was quite a pain to position them into place as seen here. The coal-filled gondola was inspired by a sub-model from set 10183, Hobby train. This vintage water tanker is a modified set 2126 (Train Cars) design with four wheels on the two bogies instead of two wheels stuck to the frame. I've had this model built since 2008, and finally used it for something other than a shelf-warmer. It was originally a gift from my father to go with my black-and-red class 7715 style train and is now at home on my Wild West layout. This caboose was inspired by set 10014 (Caboose) except this versions cupola (that's the roof top thing) is centered and is a bit bigger. Here is the whole train together. US 1870's WESTERN MILITARY - FORT LEGOREDO This is an updated and enlarged form of sets 6769 / 6762, (Fort Legoredo) with new parts and some modifications to the original set. These new parts include two cannons which oddly are missing in the original sets. I have heavily modified this model by adding Technic pins to hold the sections together, and by filling in the gaps in the wooden walls. The jail cell has also been enlarged and opened up for play-ability, plus a train platform had bee placed at the secondary gate for loading and unloading soldiers and equipment. The yellow flag is supposed to have this print: http://www.bricklink...35pb107#T=C&C=3 while the tan plates above the main gate are to have printed 1 x 1 tiles spelling out "Fort Legoredo". (which are sadly not in LDD) The back of the fort features the commander's office and jail cell below. I removed the originals set's trap door and enlarged the cell. The main gate has been greatly enlarged to allow for wagons to enter the fort. The secondary gate allows for rapid deployment of artillery and troops off of trains and into the fort. The commander's office is above the jail. I plan on adding a custom Confederate officer into the cell. Not much to say about this part... US 1870's WILD WEST MINI-FIGURES Commanded by General Buford Armstrong, the garrison at Fort Legoredo is ready for anything... or so they think! Just some local folks, including retired sheriff Woody, Jessie the cowgirl, the current sheriff (Rodger Walker, top row in black) two deputies (lower row), two ladies, and two citizens. Just some local folks, including a old miner 49er, a couple ladies, the honorable Mayor Peter Johnston (with white beard, lower row) and three citizens. The Blackheart gang is led by the genius gunslinger the "Man in Black" whose name is not known by anyone still living. Also he plays harmonica during raids, giving clues and help to gang members in code as he does not speak much. (lower, center) This gang features other criminals such as (top row from left to right:) "Sister" Sarah: she infiltrates the train at a previous station sometimes disguised as a Catholic nun. She then makes mental notes of where the valuables and safe are kept, and how many guards their are Tuco "the rat": This man puts ties on the tracks to stop the train, then blows the track behind it. He also can blow the safe door easily, no matter how thick the metal. He also knows most locks better than most locksmiths (just in case), and keeps a running table in his head of how much dynamite he has left to use. "Hot-Lead" Luke: He takes care of any guards (permanently) and relives the passengers of their watches, gold and and cash, with help from Sarah. "Smiley" Feared sociopath, and is said to kill the train men of each train they rob, though the bodies have never been found. he also makes sure no-one looks at the robbers as they leave or tries to be a hero. These hardened railroad men are as follows: Top: Tom Hardy; senior locomotive engineer and perpetually two weeks from retiring (or so he says) Joseph Barbara; station master of the Fort Legoredo depot, always punctual and runs through life like a well oiled machine Middle: E.S. Hawkins; division manager and a bit of a eccentric. Stops by the Legoredo station every now and then and demands a train be chartered to a fictional / impossible place (such as the ghost town of Grave Stone). He says he's serious, but in actuality he just likes to keep people guessing on his next sentence! Lower: Sidney Flattery, junior fireman of engine Number 3 and is very proud of keeping the girl running like clockwork. Alex; locomotive engineer of engine 3 and sometimes old No.1 when Tom Hardy is busy or unavailable. These Native Americans are of the tribe displaced by the US Army and the silver miners in the Raindance Ridge area back in the 1880s. They went onto reservations, which they then left under cover of darkness for their even older ancestral burial grounds: known only to their lone elder, the much revered Chief Big Bear. When they arrived, they found two people already there: Doctor Emmett Brown and his wife Clara, who had decided to take a 20th-century shortcut through an 19th century world and got lost. Chief Big Bear could somehow tell that Doc Brown was a man "from many sunrises from now" (aka the future), and offered to help him if he could help them. So, Doc drew up the plans for the time train, and, with the help from his inventions and the native americans, worked to keep the hidden valley a secret for ten years, all while getting parts for the engine from opening a saloon in the nearby town of Legoredo City. (He can't drink it, but he can sure sell it!) US 1870's MODULAR EADS TRAIN BRIDGE Here is my final design of the St. Louis bridge, commonly known as the Eads bridge because of it's designer, James B. Eads. It uses Indiana Jones roller-coaster ramps for the arches, which looks pretty cool. The bridge is nine tracks total in length and 19 bricks high from base to track. (this means about fourteen brick of clearance between arch top and floor, so some ships could pass through!) First, a little background info from Wikipedia (which is also where this picture came from): "The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois. The bridge is named for its designer and builder, James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet (1,964 m). The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material: it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project. The Eads Bridge, which became an iconic image of the city of St. Louis, from the time of its erection until 1965 when the Gateway Arch was constructed, is still in use. The bridge crosses the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing, to the north, and the grounds of the Gateway Arch, to the south. Today the road deck has been restored, allowing vehicular and pedestrian traffic to cross the river. The St. Louis MetroLink light rail line has used the rail deck since 1993." This is a rough representation, as it is missing a lot, (I.E. no car deck, missing tunnel under downtown, and lack of the East St Louis ramp approach.) Here is the modular component, of which three of these big sections together via eight Technic pins (four per section) to make the whole bridge. The modular component of the bridge's design also makes it a LOT easier to carry as the whole bridge with the three sections weighs about 10 pounds total. US 1870's WESTERN STAGECOACH, TOWN CARTS, SNAKE-OIL SALESMAN VEHICLE, US ARMY CANNON CART + AMMUNITION WAGON "Come one, Come all! Gather 'round for a cure to end the all-too-common cold!" It may say "bait shop" on the side, but it really is a patent "medicine" store, where Anton Dewey Cheatum makes his own brand of lethal cures using rattlesnake venom, whiskey and his special addictive ingredient... one or two tastes, and you'll come back for more until you drop (dead). Usually this happens after he has fled town in his red wagon with the citizens hard-earned cash. This Express Stagecoach model was mostly taken from set 79108 (Stagecoach Escape) from the 2013 Lone Ranger theme. I removed some of the random colors to give it a more unified look, and replaced red with yellow as the main color for this stage while the rear baggage ejection feature still works as originally designed. Here we see inside the stage, with the roof removed and doors opened. The brown box on the roof is the safe hauling the silver miner's pay, disguised as a steamer trunk to fool bandits. These wagons are for my townsfolk and their businesses. The yellow crates hold various liquor bottles for the Saloon, and the other wagon is headed for the mine with TNT and a barrel full of Whiskey. This 1860's US Army covered ammunition wagon with cannon is inspired by set 6716 (covered wagon) from 1996's Western theme. The cannon can come detached from the wagon, and become ready for action very quickly. Revered among the west are the lawmen, the get-it-done type of folk, like Wyatt Earp, for example. This is the ride of not a single one of those type of men. The wagon you see here is the official Mayor's carriage of the town of Fort Legoredo. This wagon was used for the second though fifth mayors, with the first (the one who died before this wagon was delivered) being the only truly honest and good one in the bunch. He was pushed off of Boulder Cliff Canyon in 1872 by cattle ranchers for giving the Native Americans a fair share of the land they were owed in a treaty that was signed by all involved.... unfortunately, this mattered not to the ranchers. The next eight years and four mayors were full of lust, greed, bullets, and backstabbing. It wasn't until 1880 that a real era of economic boom and social change began in the Fort Legoredo area. (The snake oil delivery wagon, mayor's wagon and the two town wagons were designed by Baskerville bricks (seen at this Bricklink store here.) with some added flourishes by me.) WILD WESTERN STERN-WHEEL STEAMBOAT The captain of the Proud Mary is Thaddeus Sweeney, better known as "Old Man Sweet-tooth", for his habit of chewing saltwater taffy when the going gets tough and and giving candy out to the little children whenever he lands at small towns and native american villages such as Lone Tree, Nebraska, or Fort Legoredo, Colorado. He usually plies his brand-new-for-1872 stern-wheel steamboat up and down the Rapid River, with the Missouri River in Iowa at one end, and the the mighty cliff face of Showdown Canyon Springs at the other end in the middle of Colorado. Thaddeus is the only one he trusts to handle his ship, as he says the Rapid River is too treacherous for many newer pilots, as the wrecks that litter the shoreline prove. However, even Captain Sweeney admits from time to time that age is catching up to him, and he has been looking for a suitable first mate for the Proud Mary for some time. The name of the ship is the Proud Mary, after the Creedence Clearwater Revival song of the same name, as I figured it would be appropriate. The rear paddle moves around 360 degrees and simultaneously slides the gray piston parts in and out on both sides. WILD WESTERN RAILROAD TRUSS BRIDGE This through-truss bridge design was originally downloaded by me (I don't remember the name of the original designer who created the bridge) from the LEGO Factory / Design By ME page in 2010-ish and was never built in real life due to questions about it's strength. I came across it again while looking at my MOCpage account's older files and made it into the version seen above using newer parts and a longer frame quite a while ago. (and as to those original questions about it's strength: It's built like a safe, as I can pick it up with a single finger by the top..... just don't drop it, because the reddish brown parts won't survive the landing!) More recently, I revised the deck where the track goes to be able to take the RC track up and be able to put down 9V down more easily. (We run 9V trains at shows in Gateway LUG.) In short, the track is now more easily removable to become 9V, 12V, or even a road bridge. The bridge fits any of my trains, and should fit all official LEGO trains except for double stack containers such as sets 10219 (Maersk Train) and 10170 (TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car). WILD WEST RAILROAD WATER TOWER This model was inspired by fellow builder @Pdaitabird and his water tower, as seen here on his Flickr page. I have re-purposed the model for my Wild Western town / railroad. The tower top rotates a full 360 degrees with the water pipe, allowing the engineer to pull up, get his loco full of (imaginary) water, shove the pipe away, and move on. US 1860's WESTERN SILVER MINE AT SKULL ROCK This Wild West model was originally LEGO set 79110 (Silver Mine Shootout) from the 2013 Lone Ranger theme. I added a more reinforced right wall and a real base-plate to support the model, as I know from experience it can be pretty flimsy if handed wrong. I also added the collapsing water tower from set 79111 (Constitution Train Chase) to the front corner as another action play feature. The model has also been heightened by five bricks to allow for regular train cars to pass through, but unfortunately it still isn't wide enough for custom locomotives with side-rods to fit through. (yet!) The natural rock formation (the skull) on top of the mine gives it it's name, and features a carved out section for two cannons to protect the mine, either from Native Americans wanting their sacred mountain back, or desperadoes looking to cash in on the (supposedly cursed) silver. You can see many more details on the mine can be seen in this topic. NOTES ON THE POST EDIT 3/19/2020 added revised building pictures, with a new post office, graveyard, and new back-story / description for the Native Americans. As usual, comments, Questions, and complaints are always welcome!

First off: I did not design this steam engine! I modified it heavily to suit my tastes from this Eurobricks post (link here) from user @damangos. I did, however, rework my original 7 wide Emerald Night tender from 2014 instead of the 6 wide tender used by damangos in the original model, and I also reworked his model to suit my tastes and be cheaper on BrickLink. The engine in question is modeled in LNER dark green, and is numbered one higher than the A3 engine series ever went, though it is still called the the Emerald Knight. (just the set 10194's name with an added K, as you may have noticed.).... and yes, it's a bit dusty. I just noticed, and it's too late to retake the pictures now. (It's been sitting in a open-top bin waiting for the coaches to be built for a while, and I thought I dusted it thoroughly.) LNER is the name of the railroad that built the locomotive (like it's real-world inspiration, the Flying Scotsman, 4472), and it stands for London North Eastern Railway. The number 2509 was chosen because the A3 class of engines never went that high in numbering. (2508 was the highest, and was the last one built in the mid-1930's.) These four regular coaches, (and one guard's coach, seen below) are inspired by the recent Hogwarts Express cars, to save money on wheels and train car bodies / frames. They don't have any of the interior details the Hogwarts Express has, though. I based the colors of the coaches on a inverted set 10194 (Emerald Night) coach color scheme. I always thought the colors looked better like this, and it avoids the problems of the tan 1 x 4 x 3 train windows used in the original set. (which are very expensive!!) Fictional locomotive backstory: Fictional locomotive backstory: This is loco 2509, built January 1936 as the very last A3 to roll out of the factory for London North Eastern Railways (LNER). It was given the name Emerald Knight, a name which, while being the name of a wining racehorse from the mid-1800's also matched it's dark green paint job. The engine was usually assigned the the Kings Cross to Scarborough line, hauling the Scarborough Flyer until being withdrawn in 1965. The engine survived WWII in remarkable shape of maintenance during those hard years due to the heroic actions of it's engine and shed crews who were said to have taken a shine to "well-riding" and "good tempered" engine. Steaming never was an issue, and the fire was always roaring right when you wanted it according to a fair amount of it's crews from 1940 to 1947. British Railways (BR) took over in 1948 and the engine was painted "Express dark blue". Loco 2509 soldiered on for 17 more years until 1965 when it was deemed unnecessary for future use and sold for scrapping. Thankfully, unlike 99% of the rest of it's class (except for the Flying Scotsman, which was also saved), it was not condemned to the scrap line for very long, as it was saved in 1966 by the Lego Rail Transportation Society (LRTS), a preservation group with aims to restore the trusty engine to it's former glory. LRTS backdated the loco to it's original 1936 exterior specifications, while keeping abreast of any interior improvements made to it's sister loco "the Flying Scotsman" (loco number 4472) over the next forty years. In early 2018, the engine was rolled into the shop for it's new boiler ticket tear-down, when it was announced it would wear LNER dark green again instead of the BR dark blue. The engine rolled out of the LRTS shops on December 26th, 2019, just in time for the engine's 84th birthday celebration in January 2020. Well, that's all I got for now... just need to get my layout up and running again! Comments, questions, and complaints are welcome as usual!

I originally got this basic model from a page on Bricksafe by user @sed6 as seen here. I revised the freight door to be movable, changed the roof color to dark red from black, building color to sand green from tan, plus I added a "cast iron" heating stove and it's chimney flue to the model for late-1800's period look. This station will go along with my western stuff on my layout as seen in this topic here. The platform side of the station. There is plenty of outside seating on both the left and right sides, yet they are still under the roof awning to be protected from rain. (three seats per side) The model features the separate entry doors to the station premises for cargo and people on the both the street and track sides. Inside we have the freight area (on the left) and the passenger area (on the right) with a connecting door between the two. The passenger section also has the heating stove which currently is keeping the coffee hot. (or is it boiling the water for tea?) This part of the station also has three inside seats for weary passengers and a cash register for ticket dispensing. The station is modular, and comes apart in four sections: - Left platform end - Right platform end - Station roof - Station building I was originally going to build the Disney station in blue, but the projected price was out of my budget, so I settled for this one. This is is just as good, if not better, because everybody's got a Disney station now, but nobody but @sed6 has one of these custom depots. (and mine is different from his to boot!) - Real life pictures to come: December 25th, 2019.- Real life pictures added, 12-16-19! Thanks for stopping by, and if anyone needs bigger versions of these pictures, they are view-able at my flickr feed. Comments, questions, and suggestions welcome!

Here are all the pictures of my (and a few other members of Gateway Lego User Group) Wild West era-stuff on display at Our Lady of the Snows' Way of Lights display, in Belleville, Illinois until December 31st. (excluding Christmas and New-Years eve, they are closed those nights.) These only are some of models I have been making since 2014, more can be found in this thread here. There are a ton more tables (and themes!) at the show, so come on down to view them all, this is only a small inkling of what's there! (sorry mod's, had to do that last bit.) US army Fort Legoredo, circa mid-1885. The town of Legoredo, part 1: general store (in front, next to fort) Doc Brown's saloon, (corner lot) train station (obviously placed) The town of Legoredo, part 2. post office (in white with red flags) Sheriff Woody's lockup (next to the water tower) barber shop (with the deck on the second floor) Bank (the big impressive building) blacksmith's shop (small shack across from the bank) rear-wheel steamboat Proud Mary and the Boulder Cliff Canyon through-truss bridge. Also, Stinky Pete's house nearby. Rapid River Village, part 1. The posse is chasing down the escaping convicts on the handcar, while the train is making up for lost time and might beat both of them! (I was inspired by the 1990's LEGO Loco video game opening cinematic with the handcar being chased by the train, if you couldn't tell.) Rapid River Village - part 2, with skull butte and the village elder's tepee's on top. Also, see if you can spot the tail end of the Delorean time machine in the tunnel! NOTE: This is not all my stuff - the Indian village on the tan base-plates was designed by Gateway LUG member Chris Curtis, and the red stagecoach was brought in by a third member. My father designed the three elevated wooden box-risers next to the skull mountain, under the cubed tan felt. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions? Please leave them below!

As seen here on EuroBricks, user @Carefree_Dude tried his hand at making the new Disney train have working pistons and getting rid of the hideous no-metal-axle wheels. I was very much impressed with the results, and took the pictures and reverse engineered them to have a similar 4-6-0 of my very own. (If the tender looks familiar, it hasn't changed at all from the last version.) However, as you may have noticed, the pistons are different, as they gave me a ton of trouble figuring them out, so I imported a design of my own previous use that I know works. The rear of the loco features a ladder to the tender-top, where the hatch to the water tank is found and also where the neatly stacked wood pile is located . These passenger cars were mostly inspired by set 10014 (Passenger wagon) but repainted red instead of green and with fancy part 30613 "Brick, Arch 3 x 6 x 5 Ornamented" on the end of the cars. I might be mistaken, but Flickr user The Shubes (Isn't he on Eurobricks too?) may have been the one to inspire these coaches with his own red versions of set 10014 as seen here. The end of my passenger train features this little four wheel caboose. It was designed after set 10015 (Caboose) with some features taken from set 7597 (Western Train Chase) This design is now finished in real life, after a record six days from designing on 10 / 20, ordering on 10 / 21, to being built on 10 / 26. That's really fast service by my standards!

Since the 2018 Hogwarts Express (set 75955) is lacking in realism, (with the engine and tender in particular!) I decided to revise my custom version with ideas from the set, including printed 1x4 curve tiles with Hogwarts Castle printed on them. The locomotive is a heavily modified version of LDDModelmaker's Black 5 model with some parts from set 79111, Constitution Train Chase. The tender features a three wheeled bogie design modified from the one in Anthony Sava's ALCO MRS-1. The middle axle moves side to side, as to allow going through switches and curves without issue. The inside of the cab features two gauges and the firebox. In this false-color image, the red parts slide, the blue ones stay put to allow for the loco to go around curves and switches. (BTW: There are parts underneath that keep the sliding bogie from falling out.) The roof and side wall of each coach come off independently from each other, to reveal four seats for students and / or the occasional teacher. The Hogwarts Express is usually made up of four corridor BR MK I passenger coaches, although sometimes a special fifth coach is attached with an open floor plan. (however, in this Lego design, they are all open floor plan!) Also, the end car is not accurate to the films, but is what I prefer to the alternative: a gangway leading nowhere with no red light on the end. In-universe / Film History for the Hogwarts Express: Leaving from Kings Cross' Platform 9 & 3/4 to Hogsmeade Station at exactly 9 AM, the Hogwarts Express carries students (and sometimes faculty) to and from Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft & Wizardry in the Harry Potter series of books and movies. It has been seen in every Harry Potter film, from it's first appearance in the beginning of Philosophers Stone to it's (so far) last at the end of Deathly Hallows. (part two) The Hogwarts Express is usually only in the film for a short while, and it is generally a pleasant journey from Kings Cross to Hogsmeade, although Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and a certain Flying Ford Anglia might beg to differ! Hogsmeade station is the terminus for the Hogwarts Express on it's school-ward journey. This 100% fictional version of Hogsmeade station (as in, not based on any of the Harry Potter films) was inspired by several sets, chiefly sets 4554 (Metro Station) 41167, (Arendelle Castle) and 71044 (Disney Train and Station) from which I took the tower roof design, main floor general "look", and attic windows, respectively. (I was originally going to make this a generic European station, but then realized the Hogwarts crest 2 x 2 printed tile can fit just above what became the 1 x 4 Hogsmeade station sign on both the street and tracks sides.) The model is modular, and features a track side platform, ground floor, second floor, and tower roof. The street side features the same basic look as the other side, but in this case their is a staircase.... which could cause a problem for luggage trolleys as their is no ramp! Top floor features the Station master's office, which includes fixtures such as a desk, telephone, and some filing cabinets. This floor features the two ticket counters, indoor seating, and fireplace. Every floor & platform is grouped separately in LDD, as seen above. As usual, comments, questions, suggestions, and complaints are always welcome! EDIT 10/5/19: Hogsmeade station LDD model added. Real bricks coming eventually. (Hopefully soon!)

The 4-10-4 (four leading, ten driving, four trailing) "Rainhill" wheel arrangement was so named after the Rainhill Trials of October 1829 in Rainhill, England of which the famous Rocket was the only entrant to complete the Trials. The Rainhill type was designed in 1927 and built in early 1928, though it was originally called the "Gigantic" type, but the planned Centenary of Steam celebration sealed the deal on the naming of the type. (Unfortunately, the plans for the potential celebration were postponed in July 1928 and finally cancelled one day before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.) The steam locomotive prototype of the 4-10-4 Rainhill type was painted a dark red and gray color-scheme with a light gay box on the tender and was sold by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1928 to Brick Railway Systems, but due to technical teething troubles and because of it's unusual color scheme was nicknamed the Red Demon. The engine worked the trans-continental route on the "pan-American Limited" passenger train from New York to Los Angeles, with the Red Devil or one of it's type worked the portion west from St. Louis to Las Vegas. The Red Demon original engine (number 7957) worked this route from 1930 until being bumped to freight duties in early 1958. The engine then worked freights with it's thirty-nine brother's in diminishing numbers until this one was sidelined in 1971, the last of it's kind. The Red Demon was pulled out of the mothballs in 1973 for potential use on the 1976 American Bicentennial train but politics intervened and Texas and Pacific 2-10-4 number 610 got the job instead. After that, the engine's future looked bleak until the "Save the Red Demon 7957" Committee was formed which raised enough money to restore the engine to working order by 1978 and has kept the engine indoors and in tip-top shape ever since under the Red Demon Incorporated moniker. This company uses five former Brick Railway Systems-styled coaches on fan trips, but they are wholly owned by Red Demon Inc. The tender features the name of the railroad (Brick Railway Systems) on it's side, with a light at the rear and a ladder to the top deck. In reality, there was no 4-10-4 type of steam locomotive. It was strangely skipped over in the age of steam... none of this wheel arrangement were ever built. The name Red Demon was chosen because the 4-14-4 type of Soviet Russia was the closest analogy to my loco... except mine works fine, while the Russian one never did much as it spread the track, ruined switches and pulled the freight cars' couplings apart due to it's raw power. The second reason for the name is the Red Devil, a heavily modified South African 4-8-4 engine with a gas producing combustion system and many modern improvements. That cape gauge engine worked beautifully, but was mothballed in 2003. As of 2018, however, the Red Devil is again puling fan trip trains in South Africa! The three regular coaches, all in the same color scheme as the engine. The Pan-American Limited's observation car. The whole train. Comments, Questions, Complaints, and Suggestions for the future are always welcome! EDIT 4/2/19: main post reformatted, pictures replaced with new ones and text updated.

Welcome aboard the Astro-train! This stream-liner was a mix of the 1910's Earth train called the "Bipolar" built specifically for use by Classic Space forces as high-speed, high-security ground transports for senior level officers such as Benny. Unlike the Earth version, the Astro-train is super-streamlined, and can go up to speeds of up to 400 MPH on special track, with super-elevated curves and long straight-away's of tens of miles.\ BUILDER'S NOTES: In reality, I liked my original take on the Classic Space Aerotrain, but it can't be built due to design and motorization issues. thus, I stretched the design into the model you see here but with my Super Bipolar at the head. This will be able to allow the engine to pull freight cars, (such as Benny's road car on a flat car) too. This model was inspired by both a 1999 version of the original, real-world Bipolar engine built by user Legosteveb and by a digital-only design by @Sunder to create the Super Bipolar you see in my picture above. Note, the two 4 x 2 slopes should have this CS print while the four white 1 x 1 tiles should have this "60" print. Also, a bonus for this engine model is if I ever show off this train at a LEGO show, I can replace the middle wheel-set on the loco with another person's 9V motor swapped in to power the train. This is the baggage car, and like the rest of the train, all the doors open. (Although there are no interior details, so it can be whatever you want it to be inside!) These are the two passenger cars. The observation car. This is the complete train. I'm planning on building this in 2019 in real bricks, at some point, hopefully. Anyway, comments, questions, complaints, and suggestions are always welcome!

For my first post I'd like to share something I built a few months back. This is my first actual post so please do be gentle :P I decided to design a much more fleshed out version of the 60051 High Speed Passenger Train by adding various types of new custom passenger cars and locomotives. I implemented some ideas from the 10233 Horizon Express, which is quite noticeable from the pictures below (such as the all-black 10233 inter-car bogey). Firstly I wanted the design to be much more detailed and to use more advanced building techniques such as those seen in 10233 than what is standard for a City set. For instance, I wanted my passenger cars to be intermodal articulated (cheers Duq :P) to really catch that high speed train vibe. Additionally, it had to have functioning doors and fairly detailed interiors. However, common limitations prevented me from doing particular designs such as a restaurant car as an interior four studs wide simply would not be enough for me to create a bar/lounge that didn't look like it was being choked by the walls of the car. If anyone wishes to build/use the designs, I'm more than happy to upload relevant .lxf files for you all :) just be sure to credit me properly. So without further ado, have at it! 1. Inter-car bogey (10233 design in all-black) Express2 - Bogey by Bartybum, on Flickr 2. Short end coach Express2 - Coach End Short by Bartybum, on Flickr 3. Short coach middle Express2 - Coach Short by Bartybum, on Flickr 4. Short locomotive Express2 - Engine by Bartybum, on Flickr 5. Long coach middle (No end coach as of yet, as I'm yet to design one) Express2 - Coach Long by Bartybum, on Flickr 6. Long locomotive Express2 - Engine Long by Bartybum, on Flickr 7. Super locomotive (uses inter-car bogey and is therefore inseparable from the rest of the consist) Express2 - Super Engine by Bartybum, on Flickr At this point I asked myself, why stop at one storey? Why not follow the footsteps of the Metroliner and go double decker? Naturally I did :) 8. Two storey coach Express2 - Two Storey Coach by Bartybum, on Flickr 9. Two storey transition coach Express2 - Two Storey Transition Coach by Bartybum, on Flickr Obviously since this is Lego, you can switch around cars if need be, so you can make whatever configuration you want. Two examples: Express2 by Bartybum, on Flickr Express2.1 by Bartybum, on Flickr Since LDD doesn't do stickers the abrupt disappearance of red and dark grey from the nose looks just a bit jarring. Keep in mind that these designs are built with the implication of the stickers on the nose already being there. Now that all's said and done, just hit me up in the replies if you'd like .lxf files, more than happy to give them out :) EDIT: .zip files in reply section

The Bureau of Unexplained Phenomenon's train does not officially exist and you never saw it. All photograph's taken of this train are mangled by some unknown force while still in the camera, and it never seems to stay still for long enough to get a glimpse at the engine crew. The passenger cars are are only marked with the Bureau's logo on the sides for a clue to their ownership. The 2-6-0+0-6-2 Garratt steam locomotive pulls a four car train, consisting of what seems to be a baggage car, a sleeper, diner, and observation car. All four cars (and the engine) are marked in a dark blue with light gray accents and the Bureau of Unexplained Phenomenon's logo on the sides (not shown). According to the scattered reports of varying age, the train's scientist crew catalogs the odd happenings around the USA since the Bureau's founding by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, such as un-dead uprisings in the 1970's, ex-confederate vampires in 1875, time travelers from the 1980's in the 1880's, attacks by mutant giant ants in the late-1940's, and an entire town being held hostage by a giant blob from outer space in the early 1960's, just to name a few of the more prolific cases that we know of. Other reports suggest the train is not merely cataloging the happenings, but tracking them via a rip in space-time continuum in the Pacific Northwest that is waiting to be opened to it's full inter-dimensional potential. This man on the far left is supposedly one of the senior operatives of the mysterious Bureau, a Mister Graves. Mr. Graves has more recently (as of 1926) been keeping tabs on Lord Sam Sinister (far right) Senor Palomar (second from left) and Alexis Sinister's (second from right) plans for the inter-dimensional portal that is located in the pacific northwest of the USA. Mr. Graves has ingratiated himself into the evil trio's inner circle but is keeping deep cover on his plans for the portal. Rumors suggest the three are looking for the portal to release a being of immense power into our world, a event that Mr. Graves is no doubt trying to secretly prevent at all costs. This steam locomotive was originally designed by Anthony Sava but with fake pistons and with small-size friction bearing wheels. I added working pistons and Big Ben Bricks medium flanged and blind driver wheels as see here at Ben's website. In my model, gear wheels are used as stand in for the custom wheels that are not in LDD. Even with the added pistons, the engine easily can go around corners and switches. The rear of the loco. The baggage car is supposed to contain all kinds of mobile equipment for tracking strange type of hyper-matter and ecto-plasmic energy fields, among other things. (In reality, all these cars are empty) The dining car and sleeper. This is where the on board crew sleeps in one car and eats in the other. This car is called the war room. In reality, it's a remodeled business car, turned into a room full of charts and chairs and devices for listening for Sasquatches and detecting dragon smoke. It also messes with enemy listening devices and destroys track-side cameras of passers-by. Can't be too careful with the future of the world on the line! NOTES: In reality, I just wanted to build a small passenger train out of dark blue pieces to match the engine I posted a couple months ago to Flickr. I thought at first about making it for the president of the railway line, but a fictional secret government agency from the 1920's works just as well. Comments, questions, and complaints are always welcome. This train could possibly be built in 2019, but I'll have to see.

A good friend of mine inspired me to build this loco after showing me a hover train from a TV show he watches. I changed it to reddish brown and then ran with the idea from futuristic hover mono-rail to 1930's streamlined Mountain-type steam loco. Other than the hover train from Legend of Korra, this model is not based on any specific prototype, though it bears resemblance to the South Australian Railway 520 class 4-8-4, and the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Duplex type. This 4-8-2 steam locomotive is actually mostly already built in real life from a disused streamlined model I have lying around, all I have to do is fix the tender and build the cars, since the original cars I had for the engine are being reassigned. The tender is supposed to have "WANDER LINES" as the railway name in printed 1 x 1 tiles and 6847 on the engine's cab walls... but these printed parts are sadly not in LDD. The Combination baggage and passenger car, which I call an "express baggage", though it is actually called a combine in real railroad slang. These three identical coaches were practically copied from my dark green Emerald Express train-set models, but are remade in brown, black, and tan to match the steam engine. This observation car features a rounded rear end, in a stylized homage to the Santa Fe Super Chief series of sets. Comments, Questions, and complaints welcome!

Historical background: The experimental Aerotrain was built by General Motors using hard riding Bus Bodies for coaches, a new untested (and quite complicated) air cushion suspension system, and an under-powered motor originally made for switching locomotives. Two of these trains were built in the 1950's as a way to entice passengers back onto the railroads and out of their automobiles. The hard-coupled unit had one engine and 10 cars attached, including the observation car. These low-slung units toured the United States as a test of it's abilities. Needless to say, it was a tremendous failure. It toured on four roads including the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, & Union Pacific before eventually being sold to the Rock Island for Chicago Commuter Service. In 1966, after less than a decade of service, one locomotive & two cars were sold to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, while the other locomotive and two cars were sold to The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. The train can come apart (unlike the prototype Aerotrain) into 6 sections: 1 engine, 4 coaches, 1 observation coach. Model Notes: The original train had ten cars, which would be hard to do in Lego (and it's kinda pointless as 9 of then are identical) I have five cars on my train, four identical coaches and one observation coach on the end. My Inspiration for this model came from this Brickshelf account here: http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=497396 and i give 99% of the credit for the model to Brickshelf user enquete-art. The other 1% comes from me, such as the reworked front bogie, front and back windshields, window work and using this numbered tile in red: http://www.bricklink...sp?P=3070bpb063 I used a lot of SNOT to hold the diagonal windows & front engine slopes in place. other than that, it's pretty straight-forward building. I found this picture on Google. It comes from a 1950's General Motors ad for the Aerotrain. It has been used by several different blogs and groups according to my search, so it should be okay to post here. Comments, questions and complaints welcome!

The model seen here is originally based upon the Brick City Depot "Winter Village Train Station", which can be seen here. I recently (2018) updated windows and doors to be white to give better contrast to the other chosen colors, and I extended the platform clock away from the wall and double-sided it so both ends of the station can see it. The following is a fictional backstory on Barretts station that I have written. (Their is a real Barretts station in Missouri, but it looks nothing like this an is not as old as my model is supposed to be. That station's history is nothing like this one!) This station was built in 1901 in Barretts, Missouri for use by Brick Railway Systems. It stands on the old Pacific Railway of Missouri right-of-way, which first ran through the area in the mid-1850's. The station is a wooden structure with a stone fireplace, indoor waiting area, and a freight storage room that was added to the station in 1928. The upper floor is for the telegraph operator, which as of 1977 the telegraph has been replaced with a computer for the dispatcher to locate any train in his sector at any time using advanced software. Here is the street side, with the date the depot was built proudly displayed. The upper floor has the computer for the dispatcher. In true Lego City style, their are no stairs to the top floor. (Though I still need to add the coffee machine up here.....) This is the lower floor, with a waiting room and ticket seller. The freight storage room off to the right was added later in the 1920's, and connects to the station via a door cut into the wall. Two sliding doors allow for cargo to be loaded onto the platform side, or out the street side for loading onto a truck. (This freight room also conveniently features a ramp for wheelchair-bound passengers to ascend into the building.) Here is the modular side of things: One left and one right platform, the station proper, the control room and it's roof are all connected by either pins or a very few studs. As usual, comments questions, and complaints are always welcome! EDITED 2/20/17: Updated the screenshots into real-life pictures. EDITED 7/24/18: Updated the model's real-world pictures and associated text.

I really liked the Winter Village train station when it came out, but it it is so small, with no back wall / roof. I tried for many months and multiple design changes to get it to work, and then I recently stripped away most of the basic framework underneath to give it a cleaner foundation. This last attempt finally gave me the needed inspiration for the model as shown below. This is the result, with the LDD file available here at Bricksafe. I added a freight office, a bathroom (the toilet design was stolen from the Modular Pet Shop set but the sink is my idea) and a "stone" fireplace. Their is a loading dock for the freight section, and two detachable platforms for added track-side length. Most of the rear wall opens up 90 degrees to allow access to the inside, and the roof comes off for viewing the passenger section. The tower should have three of this clock print, while the reddish brown 1 x 4 tile on the rooftop-sign should have this "Mount Clutchmore" print. The rear features a small truck loading platform with sliding door for the freight depot, plus the fireplace. (By the way: the window closest to the staircase is the ticket seller's window.) Here you can see all the many details of this model, including the removable roof, left and right sections of platform, swing open wall and the station itself. This new station might be built at some point in the future to replace my other rural station, of which about 60% of the older one's parts will be use to built this newer model. Fun Fact: This is my first building designed for my own personal LEGO town to include a bathroom! As usual, comments, questions, suggestions and complaints are always welcome!

From 1919 to 1962, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (known as the Milwaukee Road) had these five General Electric-made behemoths pulling trains under the wires from Chicago to Seattle. They were called the Bipolar's for each of the locomotive's 12 motors had only two field poles, mounted directly to the locomotive frame beside the axle. The motor armature was mounted directly on the axle, providing an entirely gear-less design. These locos were so powerful they could out-pull modern steam locos, and what used to take two steamers took just one bipolar. However, after a disastrous 1953 rebuilding by the railroad's company shops (who had no clue how to work on a electric loco) the engines were prone to failures and even fire. And so, in 1962, four of them were scrapped with the lone survivor, numbered E-2, towed to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis Missouri, where it has sat silent even since, as seen above. The slightly stylized LEGO version of the locomotive was inspired by a 1999 version of the Bipolar electric locomotive built by user legosteveb and by a digital-only design by @Sunder. With this updated, more curvy model, the classic orange and red scheme was impossible, and so as the yellow and red of the previous model type. Thus I was forced to invert the red and yellow to the fictional scheme seen. (The black number boards in front and rear should say "E2" in printed 1 x 1 tiles.0 The loco frame is split in three sections as per the original engine. The front and rear section can pivot slightly to make the engine go around curves. Since the last uploading of this model, the wheels have been re-arranged into two groups of seven (they are joined near the end of the frame, with the exact middle section floating freely between the two ends) and the body of the engine has been extended for a total magnet-to-magnet length of 70 studs. The model should perform well on R40 curves / switches, as this picture attests to it's flexibility.... though until it's built in real life, it will remain untested. The newer model is only 1 plate higher than the previous version, with the same length and width. As you can see, it's my longest single locomotive yet designed with 14 axles total. (I'm not 100% sure my articulation attempts in all the boogies and the frame were enough to work on standard LEGO track, but I guess I'll just have to see when it's built in real bricks latter this year!) The passenger train, and the rear car in particular, were inspired by the Milwaukee Road's Olympian Hiawatha service from Tacoma, Washington to with the rearmost car being a Beaver Tail observation car, which were out of service by 1961. (you can read more about these odd-looking cars here on this Wikipedia page.) Actually, I'm not sure the Beaver-tails were ever used all the way to the West Coast on the Olympian, but since it's LEGO, who really cares! That's all I have done for now, and as usual, questions, complaints, comments and suggestions are always welcome! (real life pictures coming to this topic as soon as possible, but the LDD file for the whole train is available here at Bricksafe)

This electric high speed passenger train was inspired by both 7745 (High-Speed City Express Passenger Train Set) from 1985 and 60051 (High-Speed Passenger train) from 2014. The train features two locomotives (with no motors in either), one club car and four coaches. The roof of each car comes off to get at the inside, and all but the locomotives have interior details such as tables and chairs. (The cab cars are supposed to have generators and mechanical details, but I couldn't make it look good so they were removed.) The cabs on the two locomotives have computer screens for the drivers, but the rest of the open space is empty. You can add in PF / or 9v motors to either (or both!) of the locos, but I did not due to my personal preference of hand pushing things around. This car is one of four identical ones that all have removable roof sections. The club car's top roof section is removable to get at the upper floor, but the lower section is not accessible at all. (I did try unsuccessfully to make it work. The LDD file for this model is at brick safe. Please note, the red of the train can be completely replaced by blue, if you wanted to give it some variety. Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome!

Please NOTE: There never was a Ohio Pacific railroad in the real world, but in my fictional universe, it never made it to the California coast, just to Denver, Colorado at it's western-most terminal with New York City being it's eastern-most point. As such, this locomotive is entirely fictional, with the paint scheme for the coaches inspired the real-world Missouri Pacific. This model was inspired by user @brickblues and his 4-6-2 Mallard-styled steam locomotive. My version of the engine is a 4-8-2, which means it has four leading, eight driving, and two trailing wheels, making it a Mountain type locomotive. The engine is streamlined with a blue shell around the boiler with tan and white stripes in places. The tender is supposed to say "Ohio Pacific" in printed 1 x 1 tiles, while the cab is supposed to say 6093 (also in printed tiles). The cab of the loco should features this print for the firebox door that is lacking in the LDD file. The baggage car features opening double doors for the baggage end and single doors for the passenger end. The three coach cars are identical with two opening doors at either end. The observation car features a open-air rear platform for looking at the passing scenery. This train is on the to-build list (which is getting longer all the time!) in real bricks. As usual, comments, questions, complaints, and suggestions are always welcome!

I don't see many 4-4-2 Atlantic types steam locos around in LEGO, and even less orange-colored trains besides the TGV-like Horizon Express and SP Daylight 4449. This should fix both problems at the same time, and yes, it's build-able in this color in real life. The Atlantic type 4-4-2 (4 leading, 4 driving, 2 trailing) was the top-of-the-line express train hauler in the middle 1890's to early 1910's. Some continued right up until the end of steam in the Fifties, with the Hiawatha's of the Milwaukee Road hitting 100 MPH speeds daily with this wheel arrangement. The engine should have "3110" printed on it's cab and "GREAT WEST" on it's tender in 1 x 1 tiles. The cab of the loco with four printed gauges and the firebox door. Four identical passenger cars in matching orange paint-scheme are pulled by the Atlantic-type steam locomotive. The words GREAT and WEST are supposed to be printed on the 2 x 4 tiles on either side of the cars. Here you can see the whole train at once. I'm not sure when or if this loco and it's consist will be built, but if it is I will update this post here with better, real-world photos. LDD file available at this link here. As usual, Comments, Suggestions, Questions, & Complaints are always welcome!

Well, here it is! My first train MOC that I've ever made, the Orient Express! Including a large Pacific class style locomotive similar to the Emerald Night, a tender, and a passenger car, I cobbled this together from several Bricklink orders and the LEGO Constitution Train Chase. ( I was very sad to take it apart, but it was for the greater good!) The passenger coach features opening doors, and I was able to put two lights into the roof, so it can light up at night! Here's the official story on this MOC: -Oh no! There's a Mummy on the Orient Express! Join dashing, adventurous Arthur Rutledge as he travels across Europe with several priceless artifacts to be delivered to the Louvre Museum in Paris. But be careful, his evil nemesis Cad Goldwater is also aboard, and will stop at nothing to acquire the relics. Will Rutledge be successful, or will the Orient Express be stopped by the nefarious plans of Cad? It's up to you! You can also see more photos of this MOC on the Orient Express Thriller page on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/150692089@N03/albums/72157676895085431/with/31865151642/ This project is also on LEGO Ideas to support! https://ideas.lego.com/projects/162979 We would really appreciate the support! Thank you. :) A couple extra pictures!

I'm still midway through my Santa Fe project, I need to get the files and everything uploaded to Rebrickable. I'm pretty sure I'm done with that, but I'm not sure what else to add to it before I get everything posted. For my new project, I thought I'd tackle the Polar Express! My collection is somewhat lacking in the train department, and given the difficulty of building steam in LDD, I decided I'd try to build the cars first. I had to sacrifice a few details for the sake of functionality, but besides that everything is pretty accurate and well proportioned IMHO. Some of these screenshots are slightly outdated, as I've moved the ladders to the bogies instead of the body, allowing for the couplers to be much closer since. This is the observation ending. This is the most recent screenshot of the car chassises, featuring the updated coupler and ladder positions. All the windows and doors are brick built, using transparent bricks, jumper plates, plates, and bricks. This allowed for the bodies to be much more accurate, with accurate window spacing and sizing. The base is also brick built, not using the standard train plates. One area I've always been self-conscious about is the rounded roofs on observation endings. I always experiment round for hours, playing with different combinations of tiles, curved plates, and cheese wedges. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the shape, but it seems to work for now. This is the interior. One of the biggest things I do when designing cars and locos is use jumper plates to put the seats, to give room for mini figures without using panels for windows and walls. This also allows for a larger corridor for mini figures and details. I tried to replicate the interior from the film, with the sideways facing seats, though there might be a table or two that I'm missing. I'll have to rematch the film for that detail. One of my favorite details is the SNOT for the back window, allowing for the three back windows present in the train car. I think this technique has merit for other prototypes, and you could modify it to make windows of most sizes while staying within the confines of 6 or 7 wide. There's also tiled floors, but you can easily delete the interior details to save cost if you decide to brick link them. If the maersk blue is a problem, it should be relatively easy to change to light blue, dark blue, or grey because it's all common bricks. Close up of the back windows, there's also jumper plates to stick figures in the back of the train. It's a bit short though, you may have to remove legs or only use short figs back there. Close up of the diaphragm. I used jumper plates and more SNOT to get them 3 wide, the correct width, without leaving gaps in the walls. I also added marker lights on the car ends, aside from the observation ending. The regular observation car. The interior of the regular observation car. I had trouble designing the seats, as I couldn't find dark red curved slopes, so I had to use cheese wedges and hinges to make the seats. Unfortunately, this means the seats are about a plate higher than I wanted them to be. If I could get some advice on that, it'd be awesome. My only complaint besides that would be that the observation ending platform is slightly delicate, as the floor and handrail is only held on by the tiles connecting it to the body. Files: polar_express_observation_car.lxf updated_polar_express_passenger_ending.lxf

I built this station with set the 2007 CITY set 7997 in mind. I got the original set in 2007, along with a double rail crossover for my Birthday that year. I wanted to make it a full building but didn't have the parts. By 2008, I had discovered Bricklink, but the station was in pieces by then and was not re-created until early 2012. The station was a stock set, while I searched for ideas. Eventually, I came across a build by a fellow Eurobricks user named Lazarus that incorporated a modular basis, a full building (street & track-sides) & a appealing design. I saved a picture of it and made my own design based on his. I included really neat features, (such as the arched lattice windows made with a fence) but I went too far and made it impossible to transport to train shows and LUG meetings. The platforms were very flimsy om the XL baseplates, and during the move to my families current house, it shattered into small chunks. So, I went back to the drawing board, scrapping everything but the building itself. Here is the end result, which is strangely near where I started with set 7997. It has one platform, plentiful outside seating on the platform, and is red instead of yellow. There are many changes from the set, (no stairs on the platform, for example.) but the heart and soul of that 2007 set is still there. The row of studs on both track and street sides should say the station name in printed 1 x 1 tiles. This sign currently says "IRONWOOD", as that's the name of my city layout. The model is now 8 studs deeper, allowing for more room for my hands when being worked on. Here we can see the street side of the station with it's new wheelchair access ramp. Here we can see the interior of the station, with blue ticket machines, seating, and snack bar on the first floor. The train tracking / switching controls are located on the second floor along with the employees - only coffee machine with paper cups.. This printed part here provides the computer display screen. Here you can see the modular breakdown of the model, which includes the following: -Station building (lower floor) -Station roof and Tower control room (upper floor) -Tower roof -left platform section -right platform section The LDD file is here, in case anyone wants to built their own version. (I will be building this version soon, most likely before Christmas.) Comments, Questions & Complaints welcome!