Redimus

Very cool.

I wish I'd gotten into Lego trains when 9v was still a thing too, it looks like it was a *lot* easier to fit everything in when all you needed was one powered bogie.

Isn't that a slight update of the ICE set? Also, I'm all over that freight set, why are the freight sets generally more interesting than the passenger sets?

Don't worry about it, if you know a lot about one country's railways, you tend to assume that others do the same even if they don't. Personally I'm still of the opinion that the whole of North America uses exactly one design of loco... :P

What's the passenger train look like? I don't think I've seen it yet.

Yeah, most steam era trains had a guard's and baggage section somewhere, and it was often at the back, but there was nothing stopping it being in the middle, if the rest of the set had corridors, so did the coach that had the guard's section. The second coach was an observation coach which would normally be used for board meetings and special journeys, not regular services, although there were a few loco/coach special sets (almost all in the late 20s/30s), most trains were made of regular stock with no special end coach.

Cheers. Yeah, I looked at the doors and windows I had available and it was a right miss-match of 70s, 80s and 90s stuff, most of which was in someway broken. As for my existing motive power, I'm not too fussed about modding at the moment, it's actually a rather nice design as it is.

So, I've already introduced myself in another thread, where I have been designing a steam engine from scratch (which hopefully I'll still use in some aspect at a later date) but I was kind of struggling to make progress on it, so decided with some encouragement from members of this board, to try and modify someone else's design for a first MOC steamer. The main loco is largely the same as the original (Murdock17's 2-6-0) although significant changes were made to the front, minor changes made to the cab/firebox area and footboards added, all to make the engine look more British-ish. In order to fit the RC electronics in, the tender had to be built from scratch, and in fact I built a real rough one, because I simply couldn't work out how best to do it with the less than accurate electronics available on LDD. This proved to really help when I came to implement it on the design, and although it's a little bigger and more modern looking than I had hoped, I'm pretty happy with the final result. (Orange bits are the RC power stuff, some of which had to be made using normal bricks as a makeshift place holder (seriously couldn't find the battery pack anywhere). As well as that, I have also constructed my first actual physical MOC. Much less impressive or particularly well planned, this was more an exercise in seeing what I could fumble together from my ancient Legos (some of it is 30+ years old, most of it has been chewed by multiple children, then all of it has sat gathering dust for most of a decade). Considering the ramshackle collection I have, it isn't terrible (really wish I could find enough flat peices to make the doors look better), but I suspect the wheels/buffer beams will be sacrificed for something better sooner rather than later.

I've decided to do both, one official train (in my case the current freight set), and the second train will be some form of MOC steam passenger train (once I've designed something I'm suitably happy enough with to buy the bits and build). Not entirely convinced own design trains are a lot cheaper mind, especially if you're building a whole train, likely to be a lot (if not all) of the bits you'll need to order in.

Cheers. I'm kinda attacking this from two angles, order an existing set (the current freight one, plus an additional set of wagons) offa ebay, while also ordering bits I know I'll need (second motor/IR unit/battery pack, wheels, buffers) alongside trying to design something of steam outline. I've now got enough bits to make another wagon and/or 'modern' loco (probably a shunter initially, using the old fashioned method of sitting next to a box of Lego and seeing what I come up with) while I continue to design something on LDD. As for using someone else's designs, I kinda landed on the same conclusion myself last night, in fact, I'm working on Anglicising and motorising one of Murdoch17's designs (the Mogul design, dunno why I seem to be so obsessed with Moguls at the moment!). Although I intend to finish the first design eventually, my aim will be to finish that redesign first. The few individual bits I've ordered have mostly been from the Lego shop or ebay if Lego don't have em. Is Bricklink any cheaper than Lego, or just a good way to find those hard to find bricks?

Heh, I think that just makes the engine look a little bit more old fashioned (as do most of the other differences) and in the case of steam engines, there's no problem with looking a little old fashioned.

I hadn't, but thanks for the link. ------------------------------------------------- Moved the joint back, should be able to pivot enough despite the pistons. Also, started to add detail to the front end.

My only complaint would be the complete lack of running board running along the side of the boiler (especially as you've gone to the trouble of modeling handrails), but I'd be lying if I said I had any idea how you could achieve that. Otherwise really nice build!

Ahh, I see! Cool, I'll give it a go. In other news, I've tried to put the beginnings of a boiler on it, had hoped to get away with a 4 stud width boiler, but with running boards 2 studs wide either side of it (total width 8 studs) it looks far too small, and with running boards one stud wide, the cylinders and some of the running gear just stick out horribly. Next job, research decent larger boiler construction (I'm determined to have a nice and round one so I can have a squarer, more defined firebox than a lot of generic Lego steamers have).

Ahh, OK. I think if I move the pony truck any further back it'll start hitting the cylinders. Although I'm in no way trying to model it, I'm using a Bachmann K3 for inspiration (largely because it was the closest 6 coupled engine to hand) which has a similer spacing of front driving wheel/cylinder/pony truck.

Hey all, Redimus here, Transformers, Star Wars and railway fan who's been staring at Lego trains most of his life and has finally decided to do something about it! I never seem to have the time for 'proper' railway modeling, and we don't currently have an operational railway (several in the early stages, none usable), so Lego trains seems a simple and effective way to scratch that itch. Still haven't built up the courage to try and make *actually transforming* Lego Transformers yet though (no, Kreo, you don't count).

Cheers, I'll look into that! Hmm, the redesign is 11 by my reckoning, still, without a motor in the way, it's not too hard to squeeze the wheels together later on if needed. Test 2:

The problem with the old motor is it uses a different cable, the contacts are in normal shaped studs rather than a special contact thing the modern stuff uses. Anyway, I've decided to put the motor in the tender as suggested, and am currently redesigning the frames for the new setup (shaving a couple of studs only so I have plenty of room to fit whatever details I can come up with), and trying to find a way of fitting the cylinders as close to the first driving wheel as possible so the pony truck is uninterrupted in front of that.

Good to see I'm not the only one with the double affliction of Transformers and Lego Trains. The reissue of G1 Fort Max is still on of my most prized possessions.

Cheers guys. I have been considering the tender mounted motor option. For now I'll stick to the standard train motor, partly because I have neither the track, rolling stock nor spare parts to allow for particularly big trains, but mostly because I will have a spare train motor and no access to any other (unless there's a way to connect an old '90s Technic motor to a modern IR receiver or powerpack). As for the pony truck, is there a generally considered 'standard' way to connect pony trucks, or is it very much down to individual tastes/circumstances?

Hi, I've just decided to finally jump onto the Lego train bandwagon, and really wanted something of steam outline. With the only half decent official steam engine being horrifyingly expensive I realised I needed to design my own, and have ordered several generic bits I know I'll need to do so, but they have yet to arrive. While I'm waiting, I've been using LDD to start the design work (and to stop me listlessly search eBay for expensive things I don't yet need), but I've come to a bit of an impasse. I've got a half decent set of frames designed, but I don;'t know if they'll fit round Lego curves, and until the physical bits arrive, have no way of finding out. I really don't want to go much further with the design until I know it'll actually work in real life, so I was hoping you guys could let me know if I need to rethink it, of if it's just the limitations of LDD that are stopping me placing it on curved track. The big orange block is the stand in for the motor, and the random colours are to help me differentiate between different bits/make out detail better from below. I'm almost certain the pony truck or the cylinders will need moving, but I'm also worried that the driving wheels, even with the dumb central wheelset, are too far apart to allow for decent navigation of the curves whilst still coupled to other wagons/the pony truck. Any ideas/suggestions/methods very much appreciated. EDIT: Attempt number 2: