SavaTheAggie

Texas & Pacific - Texas Eagle by Tony Sava, on Flickr Full Gallery: Truth be told, when I designed my Santa Fe Warbonnet EMD F7A, it was actually with the end goal of building the engines to this train. Sisters from another mister by Tony Sava, on Flickr In the first picture, the train was not yet complete. In all, there are 12 pieces - an F7A&B, a baggage combine, 4 sleepers, 1 coach, 1 lounge, 1 diner, 1 planetarium dome, and 1 observation car. All in all some 46 track lengths long. Texas Eagle - a little bit longer than I expected by Tony Sava, on Flickr The coaches are running with BMR wheel bearings, and are boringly hollow. However they could be easily modified to include interiors. Texas Eagle - Planetarium Dome - Ed "Babyface" Chang by Tony Sava, on Flickr Additionally each car has been named after a person or group that has had an impact on my time as an AFOL in the train universe. --Tony

Santa Claus is on his Fe by Tony Sava, on Flickr --Tony

Instructions now available for purchase: https://store.bricklink.com/AggieSava --Tony

Exciting news, Ben. I eagerly anticipate what will come. --Tony

Understand that putting the large wheels on the LEGO train motor is going to rob you of pulling power. It's a viable option but only for small trains. --Tony

Chides others for not backing the BrickTracks Kickstarter, didn't actually back the Kickstarter himself. As Backer #1 of the BrickTracks Kickstarter (yes, the very first, and have the email to prove it), I am very willing to give Scott my money. In the meantime, I'm dealing with what I have available to me. I can't use a product I can't buy because it doesn't exist, and we don't know how long that will be. Since the injection molds do not yet exist, it could be years. --Tony

There's a video on my Flickr that illustrates the clutch. TL;DR: the top studs aren't bad, the bottom anti-studs only work in specific orientations. --Tony

Take a look at the inside of the rail on the right side of the image, near the joint. That might help illustrate what I'm trying to say regarding the tape. --Tony

I think 9v is dead and it isn't worth the effort. There have been 3 different LEGO train systems since 9v died. I think any manufacturer considering 9v is asking to lose money. And without new motors, power regulators, and track power connectors, having new 9v track is an exceedingly short term solution. Beyond that, the texture of the 3D print, I would imagine, would interfere with the tape. The top of the rails are smooth no doubt, but the 9v motor picks up power off the inside of the rail, and there are several places where the inside of the rails are not smooth in the least, covered in grooves and artifacts of the 3D printing process. --Tony

I've posted a review of my experience with a few Trix Brix products on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHskM3uSFy There are a few videos, plus pictures of my attempt to ballast them. The main review write-up is here: I can't say if I'll buy more, I'd much prefer injection molding. But my builds are very club and display oriented, and my views are colored by that. --Tony

Thank you all for the kind words. It was a fun build, but admittedly she was a proof of concept, allowing me to move forward with my plans to build a full Texas & Pacific Texas Eagle consist. The windshields are held in by grill tiles, which are held together by magic, force of will, and the magic of friendship (and a hefty dose of work by Nate Brill). Instructions will be soon found in my Bricklink shop. My goal is before December. --Tony

Well done indeed. --Tony

This looks good, well done. The Empire State Express has been on my list, though I've been thinking of building it more recently for reasons I won't get into here. I hope to see yours in real brick someday. --Tony

There is a flaw in the power function all plastic switch design. The curve turnout doesn't quite match up (a mm or two off) with standard geometry. --Tony

SantaFe_F7_315-01 by Tony Sava, on Flickr I have finally finished my F7A locomotive, just in time for the NMRA National Train Show in Kansas City. Full Gallery SantaFe_F7_315-18 by Tony Sava, on Flickr My design started with modifying the windscreen design pioneered by Nate Brill, working it around the Technic element I chose for the headlight shroud. She runs well, powered by two standard PF train motors. Building the Santa Fe version was actually more of a proof of.concept, my ultimate goal is to build a full Texas and Pacific "Texas Eagle" consist. I may also build a Texas and Pacific freight F7, as they were painted differently. Video of the Warbonnet in action may be found here: --Tony

I couldn't decide if I should start a new topic, but since I don't have a large number of pics, I concluded here was best. I have finished my EMD F7A, complete with stickers by Okbrickworks. EMD F7A Santa Fe Warbonnet by Tony Sava, on Flickr EMD F7A Santa Fe Warbonnet by Tony Sava, on Flickr I currently have no plans to make a matching B unit for this locomotive, this was more of a proof of concept. However I am planning A+B locomotives and a full passenger consist in the Texas & Pacific "Texas Eagle" livery. --Tony

Real world progress. Santa Fe F7A WiP#4 by Tony Sava, on Flickr --Tony

The best place to start, in my opinion, would be the Emerald Night. On it's tender it gives us the name of the LEGO railway that operates it - LRTS So now what does that stand for? Obviously "L" is for LEGO. "R" maybe railway or railroad. Maybe rail? I'm guessing "S" is system. "T" could be train, but that seems superfluous if "R" is railway, etc. Maybe "LEGO Railway Transit System". --Tony

I backed the project as soon as I saw it. --Tony

I'd buy a set with a steam engine in it, but I have little interest in buying a box on wheels. --Tony

I'm grasping at straws here, but is it all possible they aren't going slower, but they don't have enough grip? Is it possible the o-rings on he new motors are more slippery than the older motors? Maybe try swapping wheels and see if that makes and difference. --Tony EDIT: I reread the original post and realized my answer doesn't really make much sense. Sorry. Have you attempted to power the motors with a traditional IR receiver? Do you still have the issues?

Thanks all, I appreciate it. Not for a Super Chief, but definitely for the Texas & Pacific version I have designed. I may build a Super Chief version, but it may be just to do it. My original design had a front coupler, but then I recalculated my scale and noticed my engine was one plate too short. Adding the extra plate changed how the nose worked with itself and I had to change it up - the shortcut being to remove the coupler. However, I've come up with an idea that may allow a coupler after all, but will require working with real bricks to see if it works. --Tony

This design is heavily based on Nathaniel Brill's 20th Century Limited EMD E7 locomotive. I've built it here in the Santa Fe Warbonnet livery, but I'll most likely be building it in another. Santa Fe Super Chief EMD F7A by Tony Sava, on Flickr But why build it in the Warbonnet livery if you don't compare it to #10020? 10020 vs MOC by Tony Sava, on Flickr Hopefully I can start putting bricks together soon so I can iron out the unknowns. --Tony

Photos from the event: Full Gallery The Town TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Ed's brand new Princess Jubilee, a larger locomotive to replace the smaller one on the ever growing, award winning Princess Train. TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Ed's brand new Canadian National Jubilee - I'm not sure which was built first, this or the Princess version. Either way they're more or less identical. TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Ed's Tank Rack and my Life Saver's tanker. TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Because we could. TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Some more town. TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Tim's ladder yard with 3D Printed switches. TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Poor Daisy TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr Superman cheats TBRR @ WGH Houston 2018 by Tony Sava, on Flickr --Tony As I said earlier, they truly are going that fast. The Dreyfuss and the Daylight are powered by two standard LEGO motors. The Dreyfuss had brand new Duracell Alkaline batteries, so it was getting the full 9vs, instead of the ~7.2v you would get with rechargeables. The trains are able to go so fast because of that, plus the large radius curves, and years of design experience. None of the cars running had the aftermarket bearings. There was... a rope. We own stanchions but they live up in Austin and down in Houston all we had was a rope that we strung between chairs at the corners of the layout. Sadly the rope only went around three of the four sides, so we had to station people to watch the layout on that one side. Fortunately there were no major accidents, a few trees down and one small fire truck, but no train derailments. --Tony

Believe it or not, the video clips are not sped up. They truly are going that fast. --Tony