rday1982

It's looking pretty impossible to get it right with six flanged drivers. Then again, even using a blind driver in the middle, I'm still having problems getting it to work as a 7-wide body. Every time I get the bricks to line up right, it looks wrong. Every time it looks right, bricks don't line up. This might have to be scrapped as a project. I should move on to something simpler, like trying to replicate the USS Enterprise. :p I used blind drivers for this Sierra No. 3 (the train from back to the future) and don't like the fact that it's noticable. However, the length of the vehicle pretty much forced my hand.

I'm working on a couple of steam locos at the moment. Just finished refining the valve gear design for an Olton Hall (Hogwarts Express) I'm building in LDD (waiting for the parts to turn it into a reality). Currently struggling with the chassis and wheel arrangement for a Pannier Tank. Even in LDD, there's something very satisfying about putting together a steam locomotive. My current design is something I'm very pleased with. There's a lot of detail missing, as I built the digital version just to test the valve gear design, and so it's a fairly crude model compared to the actual plastic one so far (which is sitting on the tracks minus the front four wheels on that articulated truck and the steam cylinders on the side. They're the bits I still need to get the parts to build properly). Here it is: I might post a picture once I've got it finished, but that could be a while. Parts are expensive and I'm broke.

I want to use six flanged drivers because the wheels have that sort of spacing on the real train. They're not meant to be packed next to each other, and it's not going to look right with a blind driver in the middle. As for what I have so far, it's a pile of bricks and a sense of frustration. I've not actually saved my designs so far in LDD, because they haven't worked. I've gotten about as far as putting six driving wheels together in various ways and realising that they just won't turn a corner. I'm not simply asking "where can I find instructions?". I realise that there probably aren't any out there. I'm just asking for perhaps a starting point. Tips. Advice. General ideas to help get me going in the right direction.

It would be nice to see Lego doing packs of mixed train parts. Buffers, wheels, doors, windows, the bricks with the lines in them and the bricks with the handles on them. The curved roof pieces, the big driving wheels, the cowcatchers. A few of those in a bag with a bunch of regular bricks would be something I'd buy whenever I had a few pounds spare... and I could do so much to my existing Lego train collection with those parts. Picking up one or two on eBay or bricklink when they're available is frustrating. If I could get a bag of assorted train parts (in assorted colours. Red, yellow, black, blue, white, brown, green and grey in every single bag!) I'd do it as often as I could afford, as a way to build up the parts I need to create the locomotives and rolling stock that I want. Of course, this is a pipe-dream. Lego won't ever do that. I'd settle for a steam engine that has working valve gear which is nicer and more authentic looking than that on the Emerald Night (which tends to stick anyway). It'd be nice to have a Black Five or a Princess Class style loco, with the associated valve gear. Of course, part of that would be producing a "half-thick" beam for the connecting rods, or producing a spacer for using with the half-thick beams and friction pegs. These are two of the issues which make valve gear and track rods look ugly at the moment. For me, at least. Your mileage may vary. I'm getting back into Lego trains after having put them away for a while - I'd gotten them out of storage whilst at a bit of a low point, and needing something to occupy myself with, then put them away due to the high cost of getting the parts I wanted for the locomotive fleet that I would have liked to have built. Now I'm either going to end up putting them back into storage or simply putting them in a box again for another couple of years due to the difficulty of using Lego to create the trains that I want. There are some truly talented people out there with impressive collections of parts. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. It's taken a lot of effort just to assemble the parts I needed for a better Hogwarts Express than the official set, and now that I've got a locomotive and tender I'm happy with, I find myself hunting for parts to finish the two carriages I'm trying to put together. Who am I trying to kid? It's all about money. Lego don't see any profit in putting out detailed steam locomotives when the AFOL community's got people throwing together stunning models from their old parts buckets, and I don't have the money to assemble the parts I need right now. So, ranting aside, I'd like to see an affordable way to purchase train parts in quantity, and some better parts from which to manufacture valve gear and track rods. If those come along, I'll be very happy. It'll result in me putting aside OO and N gauge model trains, and using Lego instead. There is something very satisfying about Lego, after all. I can't quite put it into words, but I suspect it's the indefinable reason that sites like this exist in the first place.

I recently finished getting hold of the parts I needed for a nicer-looking Hogwarts Express than Lego produced officially. This had been in my head for over a year. I got hold of big driving wheels from the Emerald Night via bricklink, and bought the loco and tender from the Hogwarts Express that came with the flying car, via eBay. This model is now sitting on my windowsill, awaiting just a few parts that I'll need in order to give it valve gear. The track rods don't look too bad on their own without valve gear, but it'll look much better once it's got the gear in place. Maybe I'll post a picture when that's done. The train isn't motorised, as I've decided to build a guard's van around one of my 9V motors, which will push it and the carriages around the track. I've been thinking that I could do with a tank engine to pull the various goods wagons I have, and decided I liked the look of the GWR 5700 Pannier tank loco. I decided to try and build this locomotive after seeing the gorgeous preserved L94 at the National Railway Museum earlier this month. Unfortunately, whilst there are various great examples made in Lego available on the internet, there are no building instructions. I can't quite see how it's been done, and I can't put together anything that looks quite right. Specifically, I want to put six flanged drivers on the locomotive, connected by track rods. How can I make it turn? I'm also having problems getting the wheel arch and toolbox at the right height relative to those driving wheels. Right now, I'm trying to model in LDD as I haven't gotten any more flanged drivers yet (and it might be a while before I can spend any more money on Lego). I can't find build instructions or photos that provide hints anywhere. All I've got is the vague idea that the long smooth 1x8 plates might be good to use on their sides, and that it might work best as a 7-wide model. These ideas are causing their own headaches. Does anybody have any useful tips or advice? I've looked high and low all over the internet (including these forums) for inspiration, but this seems to be a model that people either don't build well, or build pretty badly and then give up on. Lego steam trains seem to me to be a huge challenge in terms of creativity (based partially on the fact that they require a ton of specific parts that aren't common in a specific colour) and finances (getting hold of the parts needed is rather expensive). So, can anybody help me?

An amazing loco. I like the dual powered six-wheel trucks under the tender. They're similar to a design I'm trying to put together in LDD, which gives me confidence that the thing will work. :D Trying to get my head around the various ways to integrate PF into a nice big steam loco so I can buy the bits and build something to be proud of. Looking at what other people are doing is always a help.

If LEGO were to discontinue the powered bogies entirely, it would certainly make designing new sets for the train line somewhat challenging. To date, EN has been the only train with a wheelset using gears and axles. They like the powered bogies because they keep the construction of trains pretty simple, and thus make them more acessible to kids. If they start making all trains powered from the XL motor, for example, with gears and axles on every wheel pair instead of bearing elements, then they'll run into design problems when making bogies that can turn corners, and problems with too many parts in a very limited space. I think we'll see the PF/RC/whateverthehellitis bogie for a while.

Definitely. No question about it.

As a railfan, I'm offended that you don't know it's name, the Olton Hall. JK, but really, Olton Hall.

One of my neighbours has that train. She's going to dig it out and let me have it. :D

That in itself is impressive. I wish I could find one for that sort of price.

Moved house, aged 13. Never had the space to recreate my LEGO city, so it stayed packed away. Fast forward 25 years, and I start getting stuff out of storage to sell on eBay. I couldn't bear to part with the LEGO, and started playing with the train set. Now, a few months down the line, I'm obsessed with LEGO trains again.

Doctor Who. Large scale technic builds for Daleks and Cybermen would be awesome. Minifig scale: The TARDIS, dalek pack, 11 doctors pack, Dalek saucer, Satellite 5, the Tomb of the Cybermen, there were so many episodes that this theme could last forever. Ghostbusters. Large scale technic build for Ecto-1. Minifig scale: Ecto-1, the firehouse, Slimer's ballroom capture, Attack of Marshmallow man, Gozer's rooftop defeat, subway with regular and ghost trains, the showdown at the art gallery, the Statue of Liberty, and the iconic encounter in the library stacks. Plenty of opportunity to do New York buildings, cross-theme possibilities between this and town, cross-theme possibilities for trains (I love trains) with the ghost train in the subway (which was what got me thinking of this... saw Sava's Rail Zombie in Train Tech!), and plenty of cross-theme possibilities with skyscrapers for Batman. Terminator LEGO would be awesome. Technic builds of the T-800 would be literally the ultimate set. They could charge thousands if they figured out how to make a PF life-sized T-800. I would buy it even if it meant not eating for a year. I really want to see Ghostbusters and Doctor Who emerge as licensed themes, though I fear they never will. It'd be awesome though. Come to think of it, Ghostbusters isn't the only 80's film I'd love to see done in LEGO. Back to the Future would be amazing (the train would be the best bit, obviously), and... whilst typing this, I suddenly thought of Tremors. Has anybody even tried to MOC the town from Tremors? Anyhow, 80's films. The Karate Kid might make a decent set (probably couldn't carry a whole theme though) and Gremlins would make a kickass theme. LEGO gremlins would be so cool. There's so much stuff LEGO could release that would keep AFOL's flocking to stores... and intrigue kids who have *heard* of Ghostbusters and Gremlins, but never actually watched them until they saw the awesomeness that is them rendered in LEGO. Finally, I want a Futurama theme. A technic Bender, PX ship, and Nimbus with minifig scale PX building, ship, Nimbus, characters, and sets detailing various parts of New New York would be amazingly cool, but the crowning jewel would easily be Robot Hell. The concept art alone for Robot Hell seems MADE to be interpreted in LEGO. As does the Near Death Star, come to think of it. If I could pick any theme for LEGO to adopt, it would be Futurama. Spaceships, skyscrapers, and weird aliens... Futurama has so many things that LEGO designers, AFOLs and TFOLs would have immense fun with. Now I think I'll read back through this thread, see if there's anything anybody else wants that I agree with.

Awesome. The Rail Zombie obviously needs a Ghost Train to drive. Perhaps something like the Promontary Point locos in white... with lots of spiders, snakes, ghosts, and of course zombies in the carriages! Although, if you build a ghost train then you really will need to build a whole ghost railway to run it on, as well as a ghost engine shed to put it in, a ghost station for it to pick up the souls of the damned at, and a Hell station for it to deliver them to. Sounds like a lot of work.

Where can I view your Burtonmobile? Linkplz?

Yeah, Britain is criminally underrepresented in LEGO. Great British steam, specifically. Although my favourite LEGO train ever would have to be Sava's Big Boy. The sheer size alone makes it amazing, and I'd love to see the real thing in real life. Especially powering up a gradient under full steam.

I'm not going to email LEGO, causing problems for an innocent 9-year-old is the last thing I want to do... but I am going to stop uploading Olton Hall models to their gallery until I get a design that I'm truly happy with, and want to purchase. I like the idea that my designs are somewhat popular, but there's no way I want to see a bajillion custom Olton Halls that look exactly the same as mine. I want my model to be a true custom creation... otherwise I'd put my own website up with full instructions for stuff I've built. I'm just annoyed that somebody can take my design work (and the associated time, effort and attention to detail that went into it) and pass it off as their own. It stings a little. I guess I'm just being childish really. I suppose I should be flattered that somebody else wants the credit for it.

Having noticed that some guy called "Coredom", some 9 year old kid has stolen one of my Olton Hall designs and added a (horrible) coach to it without crediting me had me wondering if anybody else has experienced a sudden pang of irritation when flicking through the LDD gallery and seeing that somebody has stolen one of their designs. EDIT: Changed title to better reflect topic /Superkalle

An EN-style Hogwarts Express that can be motorised using 9v or PF would be the only way for LEGO to get me to buy HP sets - as much of an HP fan as I am, I just don't have much interest in stuff that's not train based right now.

Trying to build a better Olton Hall in LDD and becoming increasingly frustrated with the limited selection of bricks. I know what pieces I need, but some of them aren't even available in Universe Mode (which I dislike anyway, since it means the model is not buyable). LEGO need to expand the brick palette to include ALL the curved bricks, in ALL the colours. Either that, or they need to spend some time coming up with a PROPER Olton Hall model, using the EN wheels, plenty of bows and curves to eliminate studs, and of course, using the right buffer beam at the front, to name just three of the things that they've failed to do so far.

I'd love to see an Indiana Jones animated series on TV. Might be a boost for the LEGO theme, and would almost certainly have train action scenes, possibly leading to Indy's Emerald Night battle with Lord Voldemort being released, seeing as how TLG love to rehash elements from old sets. :p

No cab space for a driver. The battery box is still built in, and to be removed, the model will still have to be partially dismantled. I'd say the drawbacks I mentioned are prefectly cromulent. The back of the loco looks absolutely awful too. With the switch and the blue pins visible. I have to say, I'm impressed with the overall design, just not the integration of PF.

I like that design. Matches pretty closely with what I had in my head. I'm still playing around with concepts in LDD, but that seems to me the way to go for diesel or electric locos. Now I need to figure out how to put together a typical steam loco chassis that has the ability to navigate turns and be powered by an XL motor. Once I've got it all figured out how I want to do it, I'll be pretty much forced to get an XL motor and battery box to test it out.

Looking over some of SavaTheAggie's notes re: the advantages of PF, and looking at some of the MOC parts I've seen over the last few days on the interwebs, I've been thinking about how I would get power from the PF XL motor to the wheels. Obviously, technic parts and railway wheels would be needed to build bogies capable of transmitting the motion into movement, but what would be the best way to build these? I've had a couple of ideas but I'd be intrigued to see other solutions before I decide that this is what I'm going to end up doing. I mean, I probably will end up making the switch, but I like to have more than one plan in my head before I do something big like this.

Stronger motors, eh? Now that's going some way towards swaying me. As is longer track runs, and the idea of peak performance right until the battery dies. Might be worth investigating the possibilities of PF for myself rather than stocking up on 9v parts. Thanks, Tony. You've given me more than expected to think about.