MusicaRibelle

Very nice build, congrats. It's great to see it running so smoothly around the track. How is the front truck connected, and how many studs between the wheels and the turning piece, and between that and the first driver wheel? I keep having problem with mine, but possibly because I had the dubious fortune of using XL wheels I found by almost chance.

Holy smokes, that's a long train, with detailed and long cars. It must have kept you buys for a while :) Looks very good, it is hard to capture the curvy front of the locomotive. It's that 60's train look that is not quite going for the pointy aerodynamic nose like nowadays. Good job!

Thanks for sharing the videos, very cool. I liked the long banked curve and the tunnel. If I was there, I would have spent hours walking around the layout, so many interesting details, buildings, trains, that we can only glance at from the videos. In fact, is there a flickr stream or other site to find more pictures of the layout? You guys did an excellent job -- and you had a large space to fill :)

More pictures, please. It's massive, and looks very detailed, great work. Let's see more when you have time!

I second that. I used the second technique, and while it makes it easier to connect strongly the two sides, it requires more work and more precision work. Follow technique #1.

Is it just me or pictures in this thread don't work?

Do you mean having two loops that connect with a pair of switches? The gap between sides would be 8 studs, flex or not doesn't matter. The problem with your available space is the 3ft width. If I see correctly from the picture, you have 5 sections of flex track between curves, or 1 + 1/4 of straight, or ~20 studs. That may be barely enough for an outer loop -- the width of rail is 8 studs, you need one on each side. The inner loop can use curves or flexi to become narrower in the middle, leaving enough space from the outer loop to connect to it via switches.. especially if you cut them. You can try, but it may not look good. As suggested before, download bluebrick and try it there first. A base plate is 10", so 6x3 ft is 7 x 3.5 plates.

Your videos are always super fun! I just watched also the one about the toilet paper dispenser. LOL. Congrats, you're a mad genius!

Here are pictures of mine. You can play a game of finding diffs with Maersk set and "missing" pieces. Sorry, I have no LDD file. I used the one in the thread ref'd above to get a list of pieces, and then improvised. I got the stickers here: http://www.thestickybrick.com/train-instructions I am not 100% happy with them, colors don't match closely enough Lego colors, so if you look at the locomotive up close in bright light, it shows. If you run it fast enough on the track, it's more than fine :) :)

I've almost completed mine, in CN livery, with stickers bought online. I reused base and wheels as well as PF components from 7939. After using common pieces I already had, it cost me another $30 via bricklink. I'll add a couple of pictures to the thread tomorrow.

It's all a compromise... I honestly couldn't afford the extra space that larger radius curves would take, but that means controlling the speed of the train. Just add more cars to it, and it will slow down :) Question: how much does the nose 'lean out' in a curve? If you have both this one and the horizon express, how do they compare? (I'm just talking about space needed around a curve, not anything else) I love the HE, but just like the wonderful Emerald Night, it requires more careful planning of side tracks, tunnel entrances, platforms and so on to avoid a mess. Cargo trains, including the Maersk, are more 'standard' in the space they take, even when they happen to have an 8-wide section.

Fantastic. Now, unlike the 424, I've been on this kind of train many times. You captured it beautifully. Great job again :-) Is there any lego or model train show in late spring or summer?

Awesome job. I remember those, but just barely. You did a very good job on the passenger cars. By building them seven wide, you have space to render the 'indented' doors just like in the original. Very nice. Any picture of the interior?

Hmm.. yes, Sava, when I clicked on the link I thought it looked like one I had seen before... Well, at least he's not selling just the instructions -- that would be worse.

Congratulations! Well, now you have a very special alarm clock to get you up bright and early... ;)

The standard pf train motor will have no problem pulling this train. If you notice considerable slippage, you can always add a second one (there are many posts exaplaining how to reverse one of them, in case your configuration needs that). The rechargeable battery box is nice but comes at a premium price. If you only run the train for 15-30 minutes each time/day, the standard box is fine, i.e. batteries may last months, at least in my experience. You can also buy pf L motors, and use gears to do your own custom motorization of loco or wagons, but that honestly requires lots more time to experiment, as you can no longer use the standad train base and now you have to fit a motor in the body in addition to the other pf coonents. It's worth doing for steam engines, to some extent, if it's something you enjoy. If you don't enjoy that, then even for a steam engine, don't do it: make your tender car contain all or almost all pf components and motor, and be free of doing whatever you want to the engine. Ps, nice train ;)

nice work. The emerald night will be slower since its xl motor is geared differently from the train pf motor that the horizon express uses.

Based on the other engine in the background , on the right, I guess either USA or Canada. Of course I could be completely wrong ;)

The sled train would work well with the new arctic theme. Get the 'base camp' set and them moc it into the loco-sled from the picture.

7939: my first set as an AFOL. I like the loco, the rest I reused for parts and created my own freight cars. For example, used inspiration from 60020 cargo truck to build a container car that opens and can be loaded by forklift. Bricklink more, the city sets are not that great, and the creator sets are on the market for a brief time and then quickly get super expensive on the collector market.

This is your first modular after 20 years of 'dark age'? Congratulations, stunning work. Looking forward then to see your next creation.

wow, I was so wrong! Sorry.. last time I played with a 4.5v it was almost three decades ago. But I know where to find mine... it's a few thousand miles away, but after reading the last few posts, I think it's gonna be worth bringing it over in a few months. I always learn something new on eurobricks :)

4.5V motors take DC from the battery, not rails, just like the new PF systems, so they can use any rail, 4.5v era, 12v era, 9v era, PF. The series 'my own train' from the early 90s is probably a good starting point -- shorter and hence lighter wagons with a 0-4-0 steam locomotive that doesn't strain the 4.5v motor.

more pictures, please, let's see the inside. where are the Ferrari cars? :) BTW, last weekend I passed the local Ferrari dealer and they had last year's F1 car in the window. I immediately had to find parking and go take a look. So, which models are in your store window? :)

Congratulations on your purchase :) Inspired by this thread, I've downloaded instructions and part set for the Maersk locomotive. I have a little over half the pieces needed, and I've just ordered the rest on bricklink. Lego trains are so much more fun than 'classic' model trains....