mostlytechnic

Thanks, that's exactly the info I was looking for. We'll be staying by the airport and going downtown for some medical stuff on Monday, so none are particularly close (considering I can hit my local store in about 20 min from home) but we're planning to visit Harvest Bible Chapel on Sunday morning - and the Schaumburg store is close to that church, so we'll probably stop there on Sunday.

My wife and I will have a weekend in Chicago in mid-Sept. I know there are 3 Lego stores there - what's the best? We have a Lego store locally, so I'm mostly interested in the PAB wall... looking for interesting parts for a large train layout. The wall here is smallish and mostly 2x4 bricks. I want plants, curves, anything interesting like that. So if I can only hit 1 store, which should it be? We'd mostly likely visit on Sunday afternoon, if that makes any difference.

Current plan: Buy this shelf ($80 at home depot): Build as 2 pieces, half that height. Put them under the ends of the main table, with some 2x4s or similar going across first for support in the middle. That provides support, shelves for storage, and still most of the space underneath completely open for larger storage (large tubs). Get a smaller shelf to put the right-hand piece on, but around 6-8 inches lower and have that part of the track on a stone bridge that we'll have to design and build. Probable final layout is shown below. I also stuck the 7997 train station in the map - I have one still unopened that we'll put in the display somewhere, so I added it for a sense of scale for us as we plan. Another thing I like about this layout is that it leaves some space in the front between the track and the edge of the table for building/repairs/etc. Oh, and normally I'd agree that a fridge is mandatory - but we'll have to do without. The real fridge isn't very far away :)

I don't know about the rack you linked to, but the one I listed is I think the same thing as the "Gorilla Rack" shelves that I already have, and they're VERY sturdy.

To make the table build easier, I'm thinking about getting something like this shelving unit: (sears.com, can't link the photo) The vertical posts are in 2 pieces, so you can make it 2 units half that tall, or 36" each. Use those as supports under the plywood top - provides strong support AND storage :) I need to check the shelves in store though - I know they sell a ton of different ones that vary widely in how sturdy they are. I've got some that I wouldn't hesitate to park a car on top of, and some that are rickety junk :)

I'm not going to baseplate the whole table - don't have that in the budget. I do plan to do some facade buildings along the back wall (unless I raise the track there, in which case I'd probably put some facades between the tracks in the back so the rearmost track looks like an elevated line) Otherwise, buildings and scenery will come over time as we build stuff. I'm tentatively thinking about putting one siding inside the loop and one splitting off in the front center and going down into the bottom right loop to have a longer siding for parking stuff. With time, that one could then be split more (if I bought more points) to make a smallish switching yard. As for the table itself, I'm thinking cheap plywood on a frame with sturdy legs, and then cover the plywood with carpet tiles to make a decent surface. Gotta finish cleaning out the basement space first though, and then sell more stuff in my bricklink store to get the funding for the table :) Thanks for all the advice... I'll post a new layout when I get a chance to play with it a little more.

At this point the leader is a mod of pet's idea, replacing the siding on the back-right side with a pair of sidings. That should give a nice mix of long runs around the track with a couple of places to play and/or park trains that aren't running. I've got small kids, so most of the time I'll be far more likely to see how many cars we can pull at once (and how fast!) rather than pretend to do realistic train operations :) Heck, the kids won't even care if I use the Maersk, EN, and 7939 loco all together in one train!

bluebrick (http://bluebrick.lswproject.com/)

I really like that general idea - I'd probably move the pair of switches to give some sidings somewhere, but otherwise, that's pretty good idea. It'd keep the operator busy too since the 7996 can't work as two parallel tracks :)

Thanks for the input - this is all PF. I currently have the Maersk, Emerald Night, 7939 Cargo, the Toy Story train (not currently powered), and some MOC cars. I'm actually planning to pick an interesting/fun layout to operate, and then we'll add buildings and "purpose" from there since I don't have any buildings built yet. I do have a TON of bricks and lots of ideas though :) Right now, the unreachable switch in the back is mostly because I didn't see a better place to put it, since I have limited reachable space. And in the second layout, it's relatively reachable. That's only a 30" wide board there. And I have thought about some elevation changes - most likely along the back of the layout since that's the longest stretch of track. I've got the 7900 heavy hauler that I plan to mod into a bridge at some point...

Ok, I've gotten the wife's approval to make a large, pretty permanent layout in the basement. I'll be making/buying tables to put it on, as well as of course, laying track, adding trains and scenery, etc... So, I'm looking for the advice of the collective wisdom here. My space is going to be L-shaped, in a corner, so the back corner of the table is pretty inaccessible (I wouldn't want track back there, since it'd be a pain to fix derailed trains). In the pics below, I left a hole in the corner to remind myself - it may or may not really be a hole in the finished table. Here's 2 layouts I've come up with. Thoughts? If anyone wants to make a better layout, share away! I've got roughly 50 each straights and curves, a few feet of flex, a pair of points, and the 7996 double switch. I want to be able to run multiple trains, but not necessarily just a couple separate loops (I don't need to leave it running attended like at a train show; this is for playing with). Some sidings for train storage would be nice, but I don't want just a big switching yard either. And I can add more track too if needed... For space, I'm thinking about using a 4x8 foot sheet as the main section, with an extra 30" wide strip, 6 feet long, as the base of the L (in the layout below, I used the 30x48" table, leaving a 2'x2' hole in the corner. Both of these layouts would have the trains running clockwise, since the switch in the back is unreachable and I don't have immediate plans to motorize it. (oh, and I'm not worried about the breaks in the layout since I've got flex track to make it work... I just made these quickly in bluebrick without being too picky about spacing and such) Also, recommendations on how to make the table? I want it to be a comfortable height for an adult, and I'll add some stepstools or something for kids to look (my wife also uses part of the basement as a photo studio with small kids, so I don't want it too easily reached)

I love how you kept the flavor of the Lego Power Puller set (my review of that set here, like the battery box on the sled, the technic figure, the soft axles around the wheels, and of course, the yellow.

I'd be interested...

Are you sure those are Maersk blue and not medium blue?

It's been a while, so I can't swear how long. Wait, I've got a video in the review. OK. just watched the video. Looks like the pause is pretty short. I seem to remember sometimes it was longer though. Hm. I can't remember why...

A pause in the music is normal. Sure, adding another cam to hit the button more often would reduce it. It could also be the battery level in your motor - I seem to remember mine only having a very small pause between plays, but if the carousel was rotating slower due to weak batteries the pause would be longer.

Ah, the joys of color management - every printer, scanner, camera, monitor handle color a little differently. Unless you wanna go full-on color managed workflow (requiring hundreds of $$$ of calibration equipment), I'd recommend trying the low-tech method, since you just have a couple colors to match. Make a grid of various green blocks, all different shades, and print that. See which is closest, and then make a new grid of similar shades. Repeat until you're happy with the match. One caution - you have to do all your test prints on the same paper you'll print the final one on! Otherwise the colors will change again when you use new paper. This is ESPECIALLY true if you're making a major change (like if you were printing your tests on cheap copy paper, and then using glossy sticker sheets for the final. No way those would match...)

You are correct, wrong photo from me. I didn't even look at what kind of loco it was, just posting a color scheme reference.

or buy extra sets and sell the locomotive on ebay... the parts are hard to get.

Cool, glad to hear I was wrong. But is it known enough (especially a decade ago) to drive sales of a set in Europe? And I agree, the clear engine parts are dumb. I can only comment on the stickers on mine, which I bought second hand, so I don't know what the stickers went through before they got to me. However, they're overall pretty good. One of the smaller ones is peeling off badly, but the rest seem pretty well attached. Considering they're across multiple tiles, that's pretty good I'd say.

I think this is a very cool set, and the handle makes it massively swooshable, but man, was it a pain to build. That ring was just so boring and repetitive.

Where'd you get the pics of those fig display cases? Given that they don't say LEGO anywhere on them, I'm assuming they're not made by Lego but someone else. Probably not sold by Lego, just something random stores might carry.

What about Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats The teeth are blunt, but otherwise might work well if that's the scale you want.

Here in the USA it's common to see a tractor pulling several of these, so yeah, sort of a farm train :)