Toastie

A very warm welcome back - I missed your comments, forum moderation, organizing skills, ideas, so many things! That makes my day. No - no one minds what so ever. In contrast. Warmly, Thorsten

Good evening Sal, I believe you mean a modified 9V train motor for power pickup, right? That one feeds your remote control gadget which in turn operates the motor, correct? Very nice find! $80 is not that cheap, but you have one remote for each train. And it appears to be RF not IR. Sounds all good to me. I am doing the same thing with all LEGO elements but the RF bit. When you modify the 9V motor, you can go almost "all LEGO". But as said before: That is really up to everyone! Thanks a lot for sharing! Best Thorsten

Same here ... double track around walls of 6 x 4 m2 - through book shelves, tunnels along supports, with elevations where required. All mounted to the walls. PF and 9V mixed track, mostly 9V There is a second level, but that is not relevant. And: This is all about 50 cm above ground, elevated track about 70 cm above ground. I like to see things happening. Nevertheless, there are many areas without line of sight ... Regards, Thorsten. P.S. Hope that picture is not too large - it says below 1000 pixel wide - but ...

This is so cool!!! I will use this model in my Thermodynamics classes! First law and that. Thank you very much. I guess I have even a pull back motor somewhere in the shelves. Best Thorsten

Oh, absolutely! But as said: I am nowhere near that knowledge. I sort of know how to drill holes in plastic, solder wires from here to there and that's it. RF makes me always a little nervous, as I never managed to understand what "impedance" really means and so on and so forth. This approach allows me to just solder three socket pins to the receiver PCB and then cover it up again. I don't even need to use any RF plug-in; it still works fine without. But if I want to do RF, then I can ... But you are right: Even Playmobil (come on!) does 2.4 GHz remote control of their cars nowadays. I never got why TLC did not jump on that. It may be the price: The IR receiver part cost as much as a couple of screws in bulk; RF stuff at least 10 times that. I would pay for it but that does not mean anything. And then: LEGO is for kids who want to see what is happening and not for adults who don't happen to have the space to run their trains always in line-of-sight. This RF stuff is just for me working very well, that is all there is. Best regards, Thorsten

LT - I know - forgive me - I am always confused ... Now in that case: See post currently below your post, Mads824a. Best, Thorsten

Hi there, welcome to TrainTech! It is hard to tell what you mean: 9V trains = 9V metal rails + 9V train motor? Or is it 9V train motor on RC/PF plastic rails? Or is it 9V trains controlled wirelessly on 9V metal rails? Or ... other things you have in mind? Once that becomes clear there will be a much clear reply. Best Thorsten

Tell them, your kids made your post a lovely post! Best Thorsten

Hi LT12V, very nice interpretation. The changes and additions you made to your inspiring model are nicely standing out! And the light is - as always - just beautiful. Now: What type is the bot (is it a bot? One from the coal age?) assembling the German flag? All the best! Thorsten

Dear All, here is another thing that was for long on my mind: Extend the range of the IR light based one-way communication for controlling the PF receiver without line-of-sight. There are many ways to do this; one would be to install IR repeaters all over the place; this has been realized by others in many different ways. An alternative is to access the PF receiver via radio frequency (RF). This again was done over and over again – my solution is a little minimalistic and simple but works very well. Executive summary (for those not interested in the details of this post) Motivation: Access to PF receivers without line-of-sight, particularly for PF trains. How to add a power/data 3 pin socket to the PF receiver (#8884). How to reversibly plug in a single LINX RXM 433 (or 315 or 418) MHz RF receiver chip into the modified PF receiver and use RF for communication. Result: With RF receiver plugged in, the PF receiver is accessed via RF, with RF receiver removed it works as before with IR control. Benefits: PF operation without line-of-sight Using all three available RF frequencies (315, 418, 433 MHz), 3 x 8 = 28 PF devices are independently controllable. When running newer PF receivers using the 1.2 PF protocol and knowing how operate the address bit in the 1.2 PF bit protocol, 3 x 16 = 48 PF devices are independently controllable. You may want to skip the remaining part of this post ... On to the details Upfront: It works perfectly well, I am very happy. However, I believe Philo’s superb knowledge is needed to explain why. Maybe you can help out, Philo … see further below. My approach builds on stone-old RF receivers from LINX. I bet there are tons of other devices out there, which outperform the LINX chips by far. I simply had these in bulk from China and I knew they behave well, when non-electronics people like me play with RF … The principle is as simple as it gets: The LINX RXM 433 chip constantly listens for a 433 MHz signal, once it finds one in that RF space it pulls its output from ground (= no such signal present) to VCC. A LINX TXM 433 chip does the opposite: It constantly monitors it’s logical input pin to go to VCC and then sends out a 433 MHz signal. This way a simple on-off-keyed (OOK) communication becomes possible. No encoding - no nothing, just OOK. These chips are just that: 433 MHz receivers and transmitters. I have already used them in this LEGO project.. Hacking the PF receiver Here is the part purists will hate though: We need to tap into the LEGO PF receiver electronics to get straight access to the PF receiver’s micro-controller data input line. This line should be directly connected to the IR receiver’s chip data out pin. Steps 1 to 3 Disassembly of the PF receiver as shown on Philo’s pages here. Details in 3), right, suggest to push the PF pins with a small screwdriver out of the socket – this way all 4 stay connected to the wire. It is then easier to get them back in place: Step 4 and 5 4) White arrow indicates the three pins we want to get access to. 5) Bending back the TL/VS/OS-type(?) IR receiver – there are so many of them. The one built into the PF receiver could be an OS 1638 (Philo – help!) – this one has a metal shield and voltage range of 2.7 – 5.5 V which fits nicely. The detail shows the 3 pin socket to be soldered with cut pins and solder applied. Step 6: Soldering a 3 pin socket terminal strip (2,54 mm) as shown here to the soldering side of the printed circuit board. Right: 4.15 V between VCC and GND with fully charged batteries, see volt meter reading. Step 7 and 8 7) Bending the IR receiver back into position. 8) A little drilling is necessary to widen the opening in the translucent plastic part – you may well use more sophisticated tools though. Steps 9 to 11 9) This is how it looks like after drilling (3 mm drill). 10) After cutting/filing the modified PCP goes back into the housing. Before we do that, we need to ply off one side of the yellow cover of the sliding switch, otherwise it will cover the 3 pin socket when in the channel 1 or 2 position. 11) Put the receiver back together. It now still works fine with IR control, nothing has changed so far. But we do have access to the micro controller’s data input as well as a nice power supply of about 4 V. Again, the power scheme on the receiver is shown. IN = logical data in. What makes life rather easy is that all the IR receivers (I know) have an open collector output, pulled up internally to VCC with 10 … 50 kOhm. Which means that you can simply put them “in parallel”. TLC did that in their RC trains #7897 and #7898, which has such detectors mounted on both sides. I looked into the RC electronics built into the casing permanently attached to the base plate, and indeed both IR receivers are hooked up in parallel to the micro controller. So in principle, one can now hook up further IR detectors to the PF receiver. A little test setup confirms that: But that’s is not what I wanted – radio control was the goal. The LINX RXM RF receiver assembled further above works with up to 4.2 V VCC which is a perfect match. And now it comes. As far as I am concerned, we need to invert the output of the RXM chip, which is VCC for a 433 MHz signal present – the IR receiver pulls its output to ground when 38 kHz IR light is present. I tried that: DATA out from the RXM via 1 kOhm resistor into a standard NPN transistor which should result in an inverted open collector output. The pull-up resistor to VCC is not required as there is one in the IR receiver. It works – but not robustly enough. I don’t know why – IR always works, RF “sometimes” not. Which means: Out with it. What works though is: Directly connecting the RXM output to the PF receiver input. IR is then not working anymore, but RF works flawlessly! This is what I wanted to ask Philo: Why on earth is that??? Here is the data sheet: https://www.linxtechnologies.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/rxm-fff-lr.pdf - and here is a sketch of the circuit I tried to use: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/ThorstenB/9VTrain/PFgoesRF/inverter_for_rxm.jpg This is how the PF receiver looks like, when the RF module is plugged in. In this configuration, IR does not work anymore, as mentioned above. Which is (accidentally, to be honest) very nice, as the receiver is not caring about any IR commands - and does not get confused. Upon unplugging the RF module, IR is operational again. Making the "RF receiver" Here is how I got it to work ... This is the "circuit diagram" (it is not, it is just how to solder the wires to the LINX RXM device. There are two chip versions shown: The one on the left (LINX RFM 433 LC-S) reached it's end of life longer ago, the one on the right (LINX RFM 433 LR-S) is the one currently sold. Pin-out is identical, the LR-S type has one additional output (RSSI), which I do not use at all. The LC-S chip is available from China dead-cheap, the newer for example from Mouser and many more suppliers of RF stuff. Step 1 to 3: 1) Tie both ground pads to ground and get the ground wire out. 2) Get VCC, DATA, and Antenna out. The Antenna should be 16.5 cm long. 3) Apply some heat shrink tubing around VCC, GND, and DATA wire. Step 4 and 5: 4) Solder the three wires to the 2,54 mm 3 pin connector in the right order (VCC right marked in white, GND center, DATA left. 5) Covering up with wider heat shrink tube – and done. A little white dot on both the receiver and the RF “module” helps to get the right connection. Both devices suffer from no damage at all though when hooked up in the wrong way (extensively tested). On the RF transmitting side the PF IR remote control (#8885 or #8879), an IR receiver chip and a RF transmitter is needed. For simplicity I used a LINX 433 TX LC/LR transmitter in combination with a TSOP 34838 IR receiver. Any 1738 or the like would do as well. In fact the IR RF transceiver referenced already above works fine. So what do we do with all this? First, communication without line-of-sight works very well – a video should be available soon demonstrating that (a train behind a bookshelf or in a tunnel). Second, the LINX chips are rather small and more importantly very robust in operation. The power consumption is reasonable and is readily available from the modified PF receiver. Third: The LINX chips also come as 315 MHz and 418 MHz versions. Which means that 3 x 8 = 24 PF channels are readily available. As the PF receivers don’t “see” the IR light anymore when the RF chip is plugged in, there is no IR trouble at the receiver side. On the transmitting side one has to make sure that the PF remotes do only shine their IR light onto the corresponding RF transmitter. Fourth - and most importantly for me: I got hold of an NXT IRLink sensor from HiTechnic. The IRLink natively “speaks” the RCX message protocol, the PF protocol, and the RC train protocol. It is some kind of C3PO – uniting the LEGO IR world. With the exception of Manas, I believe. I wrote a little NXT-G program that listens for RCX messages (in RF space that is), captures the ones that are of interest, interprets the data content of these messages and sends out PF or RC train commands into RF space. Any RC or PF controlled train equipped with the RF receiver will do what it was told. I am running 8 PF trains and 1 RC train using this scheme. And this is up next: Controlling PF trains with NXT + HiTechnic IRLink via RF communication. Requires certainly a little time though ... Thanks for reading. Regards, Thorsten

Hi Boney_M (when I was decades younger I did not like their music that much, but today ... totally cool!) No you won't loose any noticeable power on the motors. 4 XL generating some torque won't work either. But the current going to PF lights (LEDs) is next to nothing compared to the current an XL motor draws. In fact, you can use the brightness of the PF lights to gauge the current that the motors draw. Best Thorsten

All this is entirely true for the train motors (all varieties), but if you intend to use technic motors for powering sour model (M, L, XL), I'd recommend to first read through this topic in the technic forum. They had issues with the V2 version and the L motor of some productions years. Best Thorsten

Wonderful discussion, even more so with regard to the various different versions presented. Make your own! This is what LEGO is about! I bet the version you'll create will be at least as appealing as the original one. Best Thorsten

Vilhelm, welcome to Eurobricks. I fully agree on what M_slug said before: It appears as you have the building instructions - make your own Emerald Night! Colors really don't matter that much. There are so many varieties you can build - make the appearance of that beautiful train as it suits you! Get the pieces from Bricklink in the color scheme >you< want - dark blue is cool, simply black would work for me ... Best Thorsten

This is very exciting - and I do like the ".95" bit. This is business - and really, really well planned, advertised and most importantly: very well though out. Solid. The things you are making are worth every cent. In contrast to what has happened in the past with "comparable" (it is not) stuff. All the best! Thorsten

Dear SpinX, this is a wonderful layout. It is so tough to get things "into place" on a rather restricted area. As it is with engines and rolling stock, track side items. You really managed to do that - not throwing everything in you have at hand - but even leaving some space to breath ... Very nice! All the best, Thorsten

Hi LT12V! What a beauty - as expected. Sorry, but it is as it is: A post from you means: Wonderful ideas, models, solutions ... and perfect soldering! Now with respect to "covering" the wheels of a 9V train motor: I tried this some time ago: Could that work for you? The assembly needs two studs more width - on the other hand you are using the inverted slopes for the center section. This could save one stud ... But that's not the point: I like you model very much! All the best Thorsten

Xon 67, please do so!!! I loosely followed the "Assembling Bricksburg" thread in the town forum - this is exactly what LEGO is about: Crazy enough to be judged as such, but so unbelievable accurate - and most importantly - breathtakingly motivating. And: There is absolutely nothing wrong with no bogies when there is only straight track. Keep on this really astounding work of recreating a virtual world - in "real" bricks! An LXF (or the like) file is just that: A direct route to the real thing. All the best, Thorsten

Holy Grail: For sure: The RCX. It changed everything in my LEGO life. Came back from the dark ages in 1996 - we then moved from Germany to the US and then the Mindstorms 1.0 set materialized at Target in Tustin/CA. The box said #9719. A dream came true. Then the Scout Discovery Set #9735 and the MicroScout Droid Developer Kit #9748 appeared ... all these sets are my all time favorites. Dream: The HiTechnic IR Link sensor (currently sold for half the original price) lets the NXT talk to/with RCX's/Scout's. The Scout talks natively to MicroScouts. I would love to see a sensor/interface to continue this continuations effort for upcoming PBricks including the EV varieties. LEGO is building across multiple themes, it is the heart of this "toy", as far as I am concerned. Why not trying this with the intelligent bricks as well. I know that there are some downsides with the link (range!) but that can be easily resolved. Regret(s): None. I am >very< happy that LEGO is "safely" around, as it was when I got my first set #323 ... I sure hope this will continue to be like that till the end of time! Regards, Thorsten

Dear All, it has been a very long time since my last “productive” post on EB – I have been lurking ever since from time to time - but no contributions from my side. It is time to share some of the stuff that has slowly accumulated over the recent years. These are some locomotive and rolling stock ideas/MODs/MOCs. Below is a short summary of what and why; the instructions were meant to go on the RailBricks repository but that seems to be no longer an option. Instead, I am using my cloud space at work; a click on the link below the images should get you to a corresponding folder with the MLCad/LDraw file(s) and the LPub instruction PDF(s). Note that there are 300DPI as well as low-res versions of the PDF files; the latter are much more bandwidth friendly. Also note that there may be numerous errors/faults – I am using these files as references and aid for my rather limited building capabilities. Generally, I am building in a rather weird way, I guess. Most of the parts I am using, particularly for rolling stock, are spare parts from LEGO sets I got as present or simply purchased for other parts. Rarely the sets I am buying survive as a whole. It may also be an excuse to regularly visit the local TrU or LEGO stores nearby … for some reason it is still very exciting to me to browse through their shelves – that is also the reason for not ordering sets or parts online that often. There are exceptions of course. BrickLink is more of a last (and beautiful) resort. I have simply more fun figuring out ways of using individual pieces that initially appeared to be useless even for a longer time. Also, I hardly use scaled schematics for building – it is just my personal look and feel that should be “right”. So all my models may well appear as inaccurate or unrealistic in some way or the other – but they are just that: LEGO MOCs and MODs … and I am sure, that many building ideas have already been shown – either here on EB, in the various BrickShelf galleries, or somewhere else. I have not checked thoroughly though – just let me know and I’ll add the references. There are currently no photographs of the real trains. I am planning on taking these along with some impressions of my expanded “home office layout” – hopefully sooner than in a couple of years from now. This a rather long post, I am sorry. But I simply did not want to open several threads on rather minor things. Locomotives/Trains 1) GP38 “BNSF” (#10133) MOD LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s) I personally believe that the BNSF GP38 is one of the most inspiring train models TLC ever made. It appears as if many builders have modded, extended, and (re)designed their models based – at least partly – on the layout of this engine. I have also merged some of the beautiful design elements from the SD40-2 “Maersk” train (set #10219; these are the cab lights, front section, truck elements with new discrete brick/plate pilot design) along with a new frame comprised of discrete plates, re-bricked the fuel tanks, and added front PF lights. The concept of powering the locomotive is either pure “9V” or “PF”. A PF version requires a controller of some sort; either custom approaches (e.g., Arduino) or plain vanilla PF controllers/batteries located in separate cars etc. When running on its own with onboard battery and controller, the color scheme suffers severely on the 4-wide body section of the locomotive, which could be covered by custom stickers of course. The modified SD40-2 “Maersk” train introduced further below may also serve for “controlling” purpose. On my layout an SD40-2/GP38 pair is hauling rather heavy loads: The SD40-2 as PF controller with onboard battery and two motors and the GP38 with just one additional motor hooked up to the SD40-2. The V2 version of the PF receiver is handling 3 motors rather flawlessly when fed with the rechargeable LEGO LiPo battery. The required building steps are included in the SD40-2 instruction section, see below. 2) SD40-2 “Maersk” (#10219) MOD LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s) The major SD40-2 changes are the discrete plate frame (this way it became possible to add the neat white stripes the original locomotive features), changes to the trucks (they are one stud shorter and have a discrete brick/plate pilot), changes to the main body behind the cab, which is now only 4 studs wide, and to the fuel tanks. The engine is PF controlled, runs on the LEGO LiPo rechargeable battery, which is in turn charged through power-pickup from the 9V rails using a modified 9V train motor, cf. this EuroBricks topic, PF V2 receiver, and second PF train motor, along with PF head lights. The additional second PF receiver output wired to the rear section may be optionally used to operate a third motor; the GP38 shown above is an example. The color scheme of the 4 studs wide section behind the cab is suffering from the dark/light grey sections of the PF elements; however, I pretty much like the “used look” that results from that though. I never really like the original LEGO design of the body, where the receiver etc. is covered by large plates – to me, it appeared simply too wide for an overall 6 studs wide model. Note: There is an additional PDF which shows the required modifications to pair the SD40-2 with the GP38 shown above 3) Cargo Train (#4512) MOD 1 (engine), 2 (battery car), 3 (box car), 4 (box car type2), whole set LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s) The “major” changes to this very classic 9V train are the addition of a PF “battery car” in the same color scheme of the original locomotive and box car, and some undercarriage changes to the latter. There is also a second version of the box car. I really do like the old-dark grey/green color scheme of this train. Fortunately, my father has given me his Sopwith Camel (set #3451) as “brick supply”; this way also the second box car version became reality in the grey/green color scheme. The front section of the locomotive is raised by one plate and the front handrail changed. 4) High Speed Passenger Train (#7897) MOD 1 (engine), 2 (coach A), 3 (coach B), whole set LDraw file(s) and PDF instruction(s) Ages ago the “real,-“ department store close by not necessarily well known for their LEGO set inventory had the RC high speed “ICE” like train set on sale … I got two for very little money. Well, the one-piece front cab of this train (part #55768) has been discussed “controversially” – carefully phrased – but nevertheless, as far as I am concerned, with some modding a more or less decent passenger train resulted from merging the two sets. Everything has become a little “longer”, particularly the coaches. Also, the coaches have discrete plate frames and their trucks are rather heavily modified – based on the design of James Mathis’ Santa Fe cars (sets #10022/#10025). The four additional white 6x8x4 cylinders with flattened upper half (part #45411) required for a train consisting of two engines and three coaches came from two City tank truck sets (set #60016) – I could not get hold of the white cylinders with flattened lower half (part #45410) so the third car has a modified lower section. [Note: Unfortunately the “RC train base” (part #55455c01) is not available as official LDraw part – and I guess it never will be. I simply assembled that part from bricks and plates for the instruction and treated it as part in LPub … no idea how to do it differently. Also the “ugly” front nose is not even an unofficial LDraw part, I found the LDraw.dat file at digital-bricks. Rolling Stock 1) 4 Axle Tank Car MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction The tank design is close to that of the #10016 tank car set; there are some additions to the top section. The frame is made rather conveniently mainly from Technic pieces. 2) 2 Axle Tank Car MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction This is a plain vanilla 2-axle tank car – I guess there were many similar designs posted in this forum. 3) TankTainer Car MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction This one is a result purchasing the #3368 Space Center set – I was looking for the #64448 support/fence part (or whatever it is called) in red for a bridge structure – and these were left overs – as were the (sloped) tank half shells … looks a little weird but this way the car is more or less 6 wide and the tanktainer is easily removable. The frame is again mostly comprised of Technic pieces 4) Flatbed Car MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction The flatbed car is entirely made-up … it started with the four #91176 support parts from the 2011 Red Cargo Train #3677 set – did not know what to do with them … the cargo is – hmmm – cylinders? Had too many of the round 2x2 bricks and round bright green 1x1 plates … 5) Spine Car (with girders) MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction I guess the 5 “Toy Story 3” sets I purchased one after another for €20 each at TrU. No idea why that was, they had them for more than a year somewhat hidden in the “bulk-brick” section and each time I was there I could not resist … lots of bley plates for another bridge and for a rather big train station … but also tons of the 2x2x10 girders … 6) Gondola Car MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction As already mentioned, for the high speed passenger car MOD shown above I needed extra white 6x8x4 cylinders. At that time, the original ICE-type high speed train set was gone for long; the City tank truck set #60016 featured two of these cylinders each though; white with flattened upper half and green with flattened lower half. The white ones were perfect for the passenger cars, the greens were “left overs”. Which brought me to the gondola car – again entirely made up and again with a Technic element frame. 7) Tipper Car MOC LDraw file and PDF instruction This car is the result of eight yellow tipper end sloped pieces (part #3436) from the #4565 Freight & Crane Railway set (which was my first train set after my Dark Ages). For long, I did not know what to do with those. Then I saw tipper cars on BrickShelf, looked them up on the internet and this is the result. I guess they are rather “European” if not “German” … small and compact. The yellow color is not appropriate at all, but that’s how it is. This is it for the moment. Thanks for reading! Regards, Thorsten

Relax, relax ... (non rechargeable) ready-to-go batteries are just that: Chemical energy carriers. I guess (and hope) we are teaching >just that< in any "Thermodynamics" or "Electrochemistry" class. The beauty is the equivalent of chemically stored energy vs. electrically available energy. It is not about "stepping up" or whatever means of manipulating the output characteristics of a battery is coming to mind: There is the first law of thermodynamics and there is the second law. And these leave us with: How do we chemically charge up a system so that we get a maximum of electrons moving downhill. >Within< these limits, we can step up/down (etc.) as we wish. And honestly, we do try to teach exactly this. Well, I do. All the best, Thorsten

Could it also be that we have all a little different taste of humor? Which - in my opinion - is just wonderful! It feels very good to be here. Talking about MOCs, building techniques, ideas, large buildings, entire train worlds, world records, steam punk, the list is endless. And there need to be funny things as well, I believe. I found this post hilarious - thought "YESSSS" tons of 9V compatible metal track - and than this. Spot on!!! I like this kind of humor ... And even further - you never know. When Bricksonwheels keeps making things as big as this EMD SD70 Ace locomotive he presented recently in the Technic Forum (http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=120736), that track may actually come in very handy! And most important I believe is what Stash2Sixx wrote in his very kind reply above: "Not all jokes transfer to everyone else when written out, especially between people of many different nations". And then this and that happens, someone reports something, then someone has to respond, then that irritates other people and then it all goes the wrong way. Have seen this sooo often ... I believe very professional way this is handled (as always on EB) just shows how responsible everyone is. I personally very much appreciate this approach. It makes we want to be here for the future. And now lets have some fun again ... Best wishes, Thorsten

First there were these BRs - and so many beautiful engines. Then you created this yellow UP dream train. And now this. And the 4-wide back section - it gives this beautiful engine the exact right proportion. As always: Masterful! With very best regards, Thorsten

No, you got it absolutely right! Both, PTFE as well as silicone based lubricants work very well without any damage to ABS - the silicone stuff tends to sneak everywhere though, whereas the PTFE stuff remains more local after drying. I would not spray the parts directly but rather spray into a "bucket" like thing and then quickly use a brush to apply the (still) liquid onto the parts. Done that, works fine. Regards, Thorsten

Tony, It may be discouraging seeing these small support numbers on LEGO Ideas - he heck - I truly believe that there are many, many more train folks not only interested in your ideas, builds, projects, efforts, beautiful models - they give it a try. I'd take it from another perspective: Train builders are simply good, smart, and skilled. Seeing your photos may inspire them so much that they take it from there. I believe that photos and instructions(!) is what LEGO train heads get going. And I believe that this is very encouraging. And I believe that you have inspired so many uncountable people with your MOCs - it is unbelievably encouraging. Regards, Thorsten