SavaTheAggie

Well, since I'm broke I decided to do some Ldrawing. Here's my work in progress attempt at mimicing the 20th Century Limited Observation car in the Tequila Sunrise livery. Whaddy'all think? --Tony

LEGO has repeated ad nauseum whenever they've been asked, at Brickfest, online, etc., that the molds for the monorail system have been destroyed or otherwise ruined to the point that they cannot and will not provide any more support for the system. This includes replacement parts and legend rereleases. LEGO has also stated, if I recall correctly, that the Legends rerelease program has also been dropped. This, of course, does not prevent LEGO from coming up with a brand new monorail system, but the old system is over with. As far as the RC motors are concerned - I seriously doubt a *stronger* motor is needed. I would imagine that the RC train motor (the actual motor inside the unit) is identical to the 9v motor (the actual motor inside the unit). The 9v motor is a linear electric motor, meaning the more electricity you pump into it, the more power you get out of it. So in my opinion gathered from my limited knowledge on the subject, the problem with the RC trains is *NOT* the motor, but the power source, and you're really not going to get the same kind of electrical output from a consumer-level battery system as you are from a wall outlet. --Tony

As long as you fix the passenger wagons to prevent them from scraping the rails, one 9v motor has very little problem pulling the 5 unique wagons. My personal Santa Fe is 7 cars long with two 'A' units with one motor each (I'm working on an unpowered 'B' unit just for kicks), and it runs very nicely. With all that weight moving down the tracks, the sound of the train passing is really great and nearly authentic. It takes a little real estate for the whole train to come to a sudden stop, too. May I ask why you feel the motor ruins the looks of the Santa Fe? There's very little detail lost if you replace the rear wheel truck on the locomotive with a 9v motor. --Tony

I'll echo replacing lights with LEDs. Heck, that would allow the train headlights to be bright no matter what speed you ran them. Most of the buildings I'd wish for could never be made as sets, as they'd be too big. And most of the train MOCs I'd like to see as sets I've either already built, have a good idea on how to build them, or have seen someone's design that I plan to outright steal... err... copy. That said I would love to see some "real" steam engines as official sets. By real I mean pistons attached to wheels, instead of the fake steam in the MOT series. However in order to have "real" steam engines, LEGO would have to come up with some sort of steam engine driver wheel, which is in direct competition with Ben Fleskes' Big Ben Bricks steam engine driver wheels. I consider Ben a friend, so I would hate to see his business suffer because LEGO started undermining his sales, unless LEGO bought his designs in which case I'd be all for it. :) That said, having LEGO build a steam engine driver might open up the possibility of boxpok drivers... and man would I love to have a set of those for my streamlined hudson... mmm... boxpok. I wouldn't complain if LEGO bought a few of my designs either, but that's just wishful thinking. ;) --Tony

Wow, you're the first person to ever tell me they didn't like my locomotive. :) The yellow was out of necessity (I couldn't build it out of grey without mixing old and new grey), but I've grown to like it. I am tempted, however, to build one in a dark grey/light grey combo someday, but that'll have to wait till I have money to spend on LEGO again. --Tony

Thank you everyone for all the input. I've finally made a decision as to what I'm going to do about the color scheme. Now I just gotta figure out how I'm going to build the train's nifty observation car. http://www.urhs.org/pictures/hickory_creek.jpg --Tony

A complete yellow car using yellow grill bricks would be more expensive. Yellow grill bricks are over twice the price of the new light grey grill bricks I would use to make the grey design. However, as I've recently been informed, the grey fluting on the sides of the passenger cars were almost never painted, usually left chrome or flat silver. So using the yellow grill bricks would be unrealistic anyway, not that my locomotive is all that realistic, but still. --Tony

Well, I think I've narrowed my choices down to these three designs, which will probably be altered only slightly in the final product: 1) My original idea, uses Swoofty's original color scheme design (was dark blue). Pro: No editing the tender to make the design line up and uses grill bricks. Con: Doesn't really match the design of the tender and locomotive. 2) The tender's striping on the cars. Pro: Uses grill bricks Con: Must edit the tender pretty signifigantly (visually) to bring the design to line up. 3) "Authentic" 20th Century Limited color scheme design. Band of light grey between the white bands is one plate taller so the windows line up. Pro: without grill bricks I can shorten the walls under the windows to line the design up with the tender, editing the tender (to match the added band height) won't be as visually signifigant. No grill bricks = cheaper build. Con: no grill bricks - too expensive in yellow, though the flat walls would match the flat walls of the tender. Thoughts? --Tony

And just for the sake of completeness, here's what the 'authentic' car would look like, abandoning the grill bricks entirely. The reason I've been going with mostly grey cars is because I had such a good result with this photo, my Tequila Sunrise pulling Super Chief cars: What are the generators you're referring to? --Tony

Here are a few alternate color schemes I decided to contemplate. If I were to make the cars mimic the color scheme of the source train like I did with my locomotive, then the fifth design there would be closest, except the entire car would be yellow (with the white, grey, and white stripe where it is) and the roof would be light grey. If I did this I would have to abandon the grill bricks entirely (and use normal yellow bricks instead) because yellow grill bricks are just too expensive. --Tony

I'm currently in the process of (mentally and digitally) designing a set of four passenger cars to go with my Tequila Sunrise locomotive. I've found a design of a passenger car that I really think will look fantastic with it, Swoofty's Hummingbird cars, but I'm really struggling with the color scheme. I've photoshopped up what I think the cars might look like compared to the locomotive (I not only changed the colors but I also edited the car to reflect some of the design changes I plan to make). I'd would love some feedback. --Tony

I would also caution equating lack of sets to the idea of new sets coming soon. Remember, LEGO has discussed eliminating 9v trains altogether. And on LEGO's website, in the train FAQ, it explicitly says that LEGO recommends only pulling two wagons with the RC Passenger Train and 4 cars with the RC Freight train, the same number of cars included in those respective sets. And LEGO has made the decision, so far, that 9v sets are now under the jurisdiction of the (incredibly overpriced) LEGO Factory. No, I won't be expecting any future 9v cars, locomotives, or sets once S@H sells out of what they have to offer. Not that I wouldn't welcome them, of course. --Tony

Unfortunately several parts of the Metroliner broke in that crash. A coupler, a bogie plate, and at least one other part but I don't remember exactly what it was. Falling at that speed off a table onto a concrete exibit hall floor will do that. Fortunately it wasn't *MY* Metroliner. X-D --Tony

Does it look like this? http://www.b-o-a.de/01.jpg If so, I'm afraid that catalog is over 5 years old. --Tony

Was the booklet that said 10022 would be available in September in the box of the Super Chief set, or in the box the set was shipped to you in? If it was in the set box, it probably is a very old booklet and is out of date. If it does come available for you, and you plan on building the dining and observation car (10022 x 2), then I HIGHLY suggest you get yourself a third 10022 to have the passenger car. You'll kick yourself in a few years if you pass on that opportunity, plus a train of one of each set looks really great (10020, 10022 x 3, 10025 x 2). http://www.flickr.com/photos/savatheaggie/847226717/ As for being top heavy and falling over in curves, that's true with all trains. As an added bonus, when you build steam engines like I do, not only do you have to worry about them tipping over in curves, but going too fast can also cause a steam engine to derail in a curve or worse shatter, sending parts everywhere and at least one car is going to go flying off the track. At the TexLUG event where the above picture was taken, we decided to have a little fun with the Metroliner. We put two regulators on one loop of track, and set up the Metroliner (#4558, #10001). Since the Metroliner, compared to the Santa Fe, weighs almost nothing, it accellerates very quickly. We let it go into the long straightaway and cranked up both regulators on full. The electricity surged into the 9v motor and the train flew. Literally. Right off the table when it hit that turn. http://www.flickr.com/photos/savatheaggie/848098042/ Medic! --Tony

All my train pics, including pictures of the yellow locomotive "The Tequila Sunrise", can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/savatheaggie/...57600864043419/ I only have three 'finished' pics of the Tequila Sunrise, though (many pics of it during construction), as I wait to save up money to buy the parts to build four matching passenger wagons (as well as print decals for the locomotive). When that time comes, I shall take many pictures of both the cars and the locomotive. --Tony

I've strived for 'realism' when it comes to my steam engine MOCs, but it has come at a price. One such trade off is that because I refused to take the 'easy way' and have the whole front part of my locomotives attached to the pony truck, I could never run my steam engines in tandem. With the cow catcher and front of the locomotive fixed to the body, as they are in most all american steam designs, LEGO track geometry prevents the used of couplers on the front of the locomotives. The train would derail otherwise. On top of that, most of my steam engines can only accept one 9v motor, which really limits how much they can pull, and I'm really not fond of backing up a steam engine with a diesel (blasphemy!). So I came up with this little quickchange mod that allows my #300 TSRR locomotive to run as a secondary engine to any of my other locomotives (I could do the same for my #500 as well). There's no rocket science involved, but I'm just really proud of the fact that it not only works, but its a non-permanent, easily swapped out solution, so at shows I can decide what to do on the fly. That's assuming I remember to pack the alternate parts. :-P Anywhere, here are some pics: And here's a stupid little "action" shot just for fun: --Tony

Yes, replacing one truck with a motor works perfectly, and 10020 even comes with instructions on how to do it. However, you'll want to replace the rear wheels instead of the front (as per the instructions), as the front wheels have a decorative side that helps complete the rounded look on the nose of the locomotive. Yes, the wheel trucks rotate independantly of the rail cars and locomotive when in curves. --Tony

I had no problems with 10020, the problems I had motorizing was with 10022. If you're going to motorize your Super Chief, you NEED to replace the lowest upside-down plates under the passenger wagons with tiles. The cars can lean in turns, especially if the curves are not perfectly level, and the studs of those plates will drag against the rails and put unnecessary stress on your motor. This isn't very important with 10025, but if you plan to convert any of your 10025s to 10022s, it's very important. I had this very thing happen to me and I ended up burning out a motor at a TexLUG event. When I finally found the problem, after the motor burned out, I saw that the outermost studs on the plates under the cars were missing half of the plastic; the studs were no longer circles but half circles or less. I was fortunate to have an extra motor on hand, as well as tiles to modify the design, and I've not had a problem since. --Tony

10020 is the set that was responsible for getting me started in trains, and while it is no steam engine, it remains to be my favorite official LEGO train set. That would probably explain why my Super Chief is 9 cars long and I'm working on a "B" engine unit. I'm of the opinion that every AFOL should have/must have a copy of 10020 simply because of it's incredible design and display value. --Tony

'Cause not everyone found the John Deere tractor as amusing as I did. --Tony

It probably won't be very inspirational to most, but I find it so. The Grim Hotel in Texarkana, Texas (and Texarkana, Arkansas): http://www.flickr.com/photos/umbo/247723505/ It's dilapidated and abandonned now, but back in the 30's it was *THE* place to be if you were in town. It's been the source of a lot of jokes, but Mr. Grim was very proud of his hotel and his name, so he prominantly displayed it for all to see. There's a pretty good writeup of some of the hotel's history involving Bonnie and Clyde here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98988282@N00/535340832/ I really want to build this building (my family has deep roots in Texarkana), but I'm not sure how I'll do it. The building is at the intersection of two roads, but the roads don't meet at a perfect 90 degrees to each other, so the building isn't square, either. I don't know if I want to build it true to life and make it hard to include in a display, or warp the design so it would fit in one. --Tony

Ain't that the truth. Not counting my Santa Fe Super Chief cars (since they're stock LEGO sets), my locomotives only recently no longer outnumber my rolling stock. As for me and my future plans, I've got a lot of projects in the que. I recently aquired a third Santa Fe Super Chief engine set which I plan to rebuild as a 'B' unit (found a 'source' for those 1x2x2 porthole decorated panels in light grey). That'll make my Super Chief 10 'units' long (3 locomotives, 7 wagons). I also stumbled across someone's design for a streamlined passenger car that I plan to emulate to create two coaches, one tavern/bar coach, and one observation/lounge coach so my streamlined Dreyfuss Hudson will finally have something to pull. I'm not particularly fond of studless building, but because my streamlined Dreyfuss is studless, the wagons will be too, to keep with the theme. My TSRR #300 needs passenger wagons to pull, too (if I go authentic I'll have to seriously invest in dark red), but I'm putting that on the very back burner. I have already in Ldraw redesigned my Polar Express passenger wagons and hopefully I'll be able to get some money together to implement the redesign so they look more in proportion to themselves and the locomotive. I also have two steam engines still in the mental design phase, one small (2-6-0 or 4-6-0, haven't decided) and one very large duplex (4-4-4-4). And of course I need to build more rolling stock. At the moment I'm looking into some open hoppers and boxcars, as well as some more 'silly' train cars like the ones I posted a week or so ago. Whew... not sure if I'll ever make it though all that. --Tony

Here's our dog, Sienna Rita: We named her Sienna because we were struggling with a name, but given her color was a reddish brown, 'Sienna' fit. She got the name 'Rita' because only a week or so after we got her, we had to evacuate Houston because of Hurricane Rita, and spent 46 hours non-stop in the car with her. (I'll save the story of the 46 hours in the car for another time, perhaps) She's been through a lot, not only the horrible evacuation from the hurricane, but also getting lost for a week in the back-woods of Arkansas. You can read more about that HERE. --Tony