CrispyBassist

I like this idea. Perhaps a celebration of all the trains Lego has made. Im not too keen on the idea of "standards" though, since I think there are so many different styles in the community. Maybe to embrace the individuality and different styles in the community builders could celebrate the lego train history by interpreting their own personal favorite train in their style of building. I think it'd be fun to see the reimaginations of the classic sets from everyone.

If you're using black lettering (or another dark color) I recommend transparent sticker paper. I've gotten it at the local office supply store and used it for black lettering on yellow brick before with great results.

Just picked up the BB today! Spotted one on the shelf at one of the stores near my parent's house in NY. I just finished disassembling and packing all my other modulars to be shipped back to Illinois, so I plan to rebuild them all in order they were released over the next few weeks.

Ha! Alright, points for that one!

In my opinion you're better off with the train motors (two if I'm seeing correct?). I switched my GP9 to train motors from m motors and drastically increased the speed and power. As for the rest of the trucks, I typically use flex tube to hold details on the sides of the train motors. Lots of bars and arms and clips can make a pretty good looking truck to match this fantastic looking locomotive!

The cars in England have wheels, even though the cops don't have guns. I think since at heard it's aimed at children the guns are not needed in the City theme.

That last freight house is pretty interesting, there's a whole website on it here: CNJ Bronx Terminal. It had all sorts of crazy special trackwork, including a removable diamond for access to the engine shed for the single engine they had there. Another interesting point is that it's entirely separate from the rest of the network. All cars got there via carfloat barge across New York Harbor. I think it'd be pretty impressive to see in Lego!

You could try removing the wheels and axles from the big holder piece (2878) too. Sticking the axles through headlight bricks or clip light plates (4081) will keep the axle from sliding back and forth. A side effect will be that the axle can twist in the holders, which may even allow you to lengthen it a bit.

There's a new one: L-Gauge.org Michael Gale's runs the site, and he may be interested in prototype instructions.

I'm not very familiar with 12V trains (I grew up with 9V) so out of curiosity, what about the track restricts trains to 6-wide?

For me it's more of the realistic than the playable. I like to challenge myself to build things as realistically as possible, which often involves a lot of head scratching and new techniques. The doors on most of my builds don't open, largely because of the way I had to build them to get them to look 'right.' Fitting the Power Functions elements in makes it hard to have detailed interiors on some MOCs, but I've been slowly progressing towards realistic interiors on others. Some MOCs are easier to make playable than others too. My wrecker is one of my most detailed builds, and by far the most playable in that the boom and hooks all lift and lower, and the body moves like the real thing. I think Redimus made a good point in that it all depends who you're building it for. The way I'd have the most fun playing with them is with a big yard, lots of cars, and a shunter.

http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/ Admittedly I don't know if they ship to the UK. This is where I got it from though.

I've got Bullfrog Snotted BBB medium drivers on my S Motor, and the snot works pretty great (even though the S Motor doesnt...) I looked at it just now and all I can see as far as dust is small lines where it contacts the rails, granted it hasn't been run as much as some of my other builds. I applied it close to a year ago and it's not tacky at this point. I remember it taking a bit of time to fully dry though. Overall I definitely agree with Tenderlok about recommending it!

You should try a Russian Ekranoplan next. One of them look very... Interesting.

My entry: a drag racing Christmas tree, with presents of course. The set of lights used to start a professional drag race is called a "Christmas tree." Fr those who are interested, this video explains it a bit more:

Like I said before I appreciate all the kind words! I'm pretty proud of the whole thing; a lot of work went into this one. I think it's one of my most realistic, for the first iteration at least. I added a few decals to it. Ones that wouldn't be wasted if I decide to paint it. It's certainly growing on me in lbg. The light gray parts are easy to spot, not necessarily easy to switch out. But I am planning on doing a second one and adding a full interior to this one, which would be a prime opportunity for more major rebuilds. If I could I would have built it entirely in metallic silver. The whole painting idea came about as a way to get the same effect, yet keep the price down. Hopefully I'll be able to get it to a show soon so some of y'all can see it in person!

Thanks guys! A little background on the RDC: Budd Rail Diesel Car It actually can negotiate standard Lego curves and switches. I'll have to work on the steps a bit in order for it to be able to pull something else. The roof took some time to get right! I reverse-engineered the vents on Carl Greatrix's Class 55 Deltic and modified it a bit. I posted the technique on my Filckr as well, feel free to use it!

I've been working on this one for a while now and I'm finally done with the building phase of it. The next step would either be to put on decals, but I'm contemplating painting it metallic silver (the gray parts that is) to replicate the stainless steel exterior of the real cars. I want to hear opinions on painting it though. I don't think it looks 100% right unpainted, but I know most RDCs weren't too shiny in service. It's also a mix of light grey and light bluish grey bricks. As of now I'm thinking of holding off on paint til I've gotten a few opinions after people have seen it in person. It's powered by an Sbrick, which I do have a few gripes about (as everyone seems to). It works well for me, the biggest plus being that I don't have to rework the washboard roof so that the IR receiver can see out. I wanted to do directional lights, but Brickstuff lights don't seem to work that way with the Sbrick. Might have to modify the wiring a bit. I've started on an interior as well, only partially for now due to my short supply of blue chairs and the fact that the battery box and Sbrick need to sit in there for the time being. I'll probably be building a second, either an RDC-2 (combine) or RDC-3 (RPC combine). Then I'll put all the Power Functions bits in the baggage/post office compartment to hide them better. This one is going to be numbered after New Haven 47, or i may redo the colors of the front and make it New Haven 32. Both of these live at the Danbury Railway Museum, near my hometown in New York. More photos can be found in my Flickr album. Let me know what y'all think!

Any chance you could simply turn the truck around? Then it may want to jump the track going backwards is all...

Thanks for all the likes guys! I was pleasantly surprised too! I've got two of those arms and really wanted to put them to use somewhere. The hooklift truck was one iteration of this MOC that I didn't quite like though. Not a bad idea... I dunno where I could hide all the other Technic bits for it though. I do have one of the small pneumatic cylinders at home...

Typically trains are my thing, but those take a while so in between I like to build city vehicles. This one's been on the shelf for a while and it's finally reached an iteration that I'm happy with. The truck is the cab from 4203 modded a la 4434 into a roll off dumpster truck. I wanted to utilze the hook lift arm piece from 4564 and 6353, so I built a hooklift trailer to go with. Dumpster Truck with Trailer by Matt Csenge, on Flickr Roll Off Truck by Matt Csenge, on Flickr Hooklift Trailer by Matt Csenge, on Flickr More pics are on my Flickr. Comments and criticisms welcome!

I found them on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQOPWM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 You'll need a hacksaw to cut the tubes to size, and a small file to smooth over the ends after cutting. Also, in my experience, the brass tube doesn't quite fit in these: but works real well with these:

I like this idea! I'm currently working on a Budd RDC and a float bridge for loading cars onto barges. Next up I'm thinking a second RDC, an electric steeplecab switcher, and a few unique MOW pieces. Most of these are in the early stages of LDD design.

I think the issue comes in when adding curves and switches. In order to use 1x8 ties and keep spacing consistent there would need to be specific left and right curves and switches, otherwise there would be a 2x8 gap when aligned one of the two ways. That's not the end of the world to me. We'll still figure out how to ballast them and tile them like all the rest of the track!

One problem I see with this right away is that those individuals or groups that want to ballast their track will need to invest heavily in jumper plates to hold the ballast pieces between the crossties. Also, the half-stud offset in general would cause problems for ballasted track that connects to Lego track, as you'd need a half-plate where they connect. My thought would be to keep the ties aligned to the grid to best mesh with other types of track (Lego, ME Models). Except in high speed installations tie spacing seems to be an approximate number, so a two-stud gap in some places may not be too terrible. Or, if the ties were able to slide along the rail the gaps could be eliminated based on exactly how each user wants them.