Redimus

I'm looking for ideas for bogie details that use more than the standard side plates. I'm looking to build a rake of 7 wide BR Mk1s. At least one will have powered bogies using the standard train motor*, so it needs to be a solution that can be used with powered and none power bogies. I've tried several ideas in Studio and I'm drawing a blank at the moment, so any ideas will be gratefully received. *I might consider a Technic motor option, but I'd need a compelling reason to do so.

I think the simple solution is to bring out a better choice of the half thickness technic bars. Sure the holes are not great, but they have millions of other uses as well as making out job a lot easier. And honestly, the black technic bars they did use on EN look OK to me. My biggest criticism of Megablocs is that too many of their sets include a bit or two that has 100% no use outside of the set it was designed for, I would rather Lego avoided going down that path. I'm not arguing trains make some money. But they clearly don't have as good a ratio of money in to money out as the rest of the city line, or the many franchise lines. Otherwise Lego would make more of them. Lego wants as much money for as little money spent, and they're not stupid, if trains was a gold mine, they'd be pumping a lot more out. And please don't confuse localised demand and large demand amongst your personal group of friends as an indication of mass appeal. 1) because trains are just not that popular anymore and 2) because just because people want them (and having displayed mine at a Lego show recently, it's certainly true that some do), they are not willing to spend the relatively high start up cost trainsets have. The Creator sets were not very successful because they were squarely aimed at adults (who don't tend to lie on the floor pushing a train and going 'choo choo' had no track, no form of power, not enough stock to form a decent train and were relatively expensive. I can't speak for sets before then, because I wasn't paying attention through that period, but it was a period where a lot of Lego's decisions were less than great, which probably played a part too.

I've always loved how the British and American 'Southern Railways' used exactly the same font and colour for their logo.

It does, because it relied on a power system that no longer exists. Even if they do it unpowered, it really should be designed in a way to allow those less used to modding their trains an easy way to power it (this is my biggest complaint about the most recent Hogwarts Express, it's lack of planned power options). There's enough demand for 2 trainsets (one freight, one passenger) and maybe one more freight in a 4 year period. They're too expensive for much more than that. Lego tried to go balls deep into trains, and it cost them a lot of money for little return. They stopped making Creator train sets because they just weren't selling well enough (despite how much the small but vocal Lego train community fawned over them, and with the exception of EN, I surely have fawned over them). It isn't even that pretty. It drives me round the bend that they'd make it 8 wide, then give it a 6 wide tender and coach. The powering solution makes the already rubbish tender look even uglier too.

I hope not. It's a garbage set. Would much rather see the Mearsk or Super Chief re-released, hell even an updated metroliner. Doubt we'll ever see that though, trains just don't make enough money.

Man, I love the monorail system you guys have come up with. If I ever manage to construct all the steam locos I want (or finally get fed up with how fiddly they are), I'm totally gonna give this a try too!

I love that track layout display.

What's the clutch power on those studs, they don't look all too reliable either.

It is dead. It is also the only reasonable way of fitting some form of power into the smaller British locos, and even then it's not always flexible enough. Admittedly, the new system, with no IR receiver, has made things easier, but I'd still be left with a lot of stationary plastic without 9v. ---- Hmm, that's what I feared. Ahh well, thanks for the info. :)

Has there been any noise by TrixBrix about covering 9v? How well do you think the rails would take metal tape to convert these into 9v?

I love the look of this loco, you've really captured it well. How much freedom of movement do the leading and trailing bogies have, they look pretty limited? You may want to give em some more clearance.

It's just an unwritten law of upgrading standard Lego sets. Just like every Emerald Night for some reason needs an American style caboose. It makes no bloody sense, it's just what Lego train fans do. I used to get riled up by people doing this, now I just don't bother, as long as my own MoCs make sense to me, I'm happy.

That is one hell of a layout!

Grill tiles for me.

The prototype doesn't make it easy with such high handrails, lol. If it wasn't for the necessary boiler spoilage caused by the hand rails, I'd really like this, not sure there's much you can do about that though (Megablocks might have a useful piece, but it's guaranteed not to be in flat black).

The loco is really smart. Personally I'd look into lowering the tender a bit though. It was rare to have the tender sit higher than the loco's cab.

You can do that on the *HUGE* US designs, but European, especially British, nah, not a chance. For me, Sbrick was the perfect solution, now, I wanna try out the new system before I decided if I want more Sbricks or to move over to Lego's system.

D2C? I have more than enough PF tract that I don't use, and (at least with my current set up) plenty of spare 9v track too, so for me it's a plus point that I'm not being forced to buy track I neither want or need.

It's dark red. Which is a crying shame, as if they had done it dark red, I'd have some dark red train windows to use for other british coaches.

Believe it or not, the most expensive parts on the entire build were the 'reddish brown 1x1 modified plate with horizontal clip' used to hold the handrails on the doors.

Yeah, had I not got a fair amount of dark green bits for my failed attempt at a replacement loco, I wouldn't have been able to do the tender, which would have killed the main fix before it started! That said, part of the issue I had with my replacement attempt was it's tender, which was just way too boxy. My first thought was to still use it (because it was a better build than the one used for EN), but it had a completely different way of connecting, and was way too tall (and not easily modifiable to fit in with EN). It did however, have some details that were a lot more prototypical, so I may savage it for more parts (it's currently just a set of frames and wheels) to improve the tender further. Right now thought, I'm looking for ideas on how to fix my issue with the tender's shape that both tenders suffered from. As far as I'm concerned, it's a must, I really hate the way Lego 'integrated' power functions, and the Sbrick removes one of the glaring problems (and is a way better mechanism for controlling your trains anyway). I do wish there was a way to use the of controllers with bluetooth (I assume PF 2.0 will do just that).

OK, so I have never made any secret that I think Emerald Night is crap. Odd proportions, terrible tender, complete lack of understanding of what several parts actually represent, looking *nothing* like the source material,.... I also know (from bitter experience) how difficult (and expensive) making a decent replacement is. After having built some really nice Pullmans, and building a disappointing pacific (which was miles better than EN), taking it apart, starting again, running out of inspiration, then getting made jobless so I couldn't afford to buy bits had I come up with an improved design, I decided to finally do something about my Emerald Night that had been sat in a corner with no wheels for at least 2 years. Things that I wanted to change: Give the front a footplate. Use the cylinder fix. Do something about that god awful (lack of) dome. Raise the cab so it doesn't look too daft with my coaches. Build a completely new tender (seriously, f**k that tender, that city cattle wagon was less lazy). Add lights and S Brick (which I had done a long while ago). So here are the results: Loco The new footplate, added tiles to the front bogie, replaced the green 1x6 plate with a black one, and the improved cylinder innards. New dome with S Brick underneath. Slightly raised cab. Tender The tender was a complete rebuild, but used basically the same chassis. It was however, a little lazy, and relied heavily on what I happened to already have. New Tender Completed Engine with Train. I intend to replace it with an actually good loco one day, but until inspiration and funds allow, this is a vast improvement.

This is what I love about Lego Mocs. Those coaches are a completely different but fantastic take on the same basic kind of coach I made. I found myself thinking 'I wish I had thought of that' for a few of the features.

I'd argue that 7 wide can potentially be heavier than 8 wide, because it isn't a particularly natural width for standard Lego elements. I needed to use a lot of complex construction to get the (mostly) 7 wide Pullmans right. Hopefully this should work: Click me! In there was my city scale 6 wide proof of concept, and 7 wide standard coach and 7 wide break coach. Loose parts are: Tubes to form the underframes. 2x4 black tiles for the door windows. 2x2 turntables for the toilet windows. roof bogies (they are a tad long, it's not too bad, but it does cause some drag on sharp curves). Lemme know if it doesn't work.

My 7 wide Pullmans would make a good basis for those coaches (they're basically the British version of the same idea anyway). If you want the LDDs, lemme know.