snowvictim

Looks sweet! Must be nice to ride one of those on the tracks. I've never seen such a machine, as in a car-looking track-dedicated vehicle.

MEC contest? So Middle Earth Contest contest?

Ok, I'm gonna convert... :S

It'll be a steam loco, trust me ;)

It's a beautiful model, but because of the details and sophistication it has a lot of problems when powered up... Guess you can't have everything. Anyway, I've continued to work on the cargo car. I found some black 2x4 curved slope pieces and I rebuilt the cabin so that it would fit better visually with the rest of the model.

TLG could've at least kept on making the 9V motors...

As for the cost-related comments - the whole PF assembly (motor, IR receiver, battery box) costs almost the same as a 9V motor. Where the real cost difference lies is with the tracks. It makes sense if you're doing a big layout. I got a discount on straight 9V track pieces from around $3 a piece to $1.7 because I bought A LOT. Overall, I think 9V is better. - looks more like hobby railroad - greater freedom in building custom trains (no battery box to conceal, etc.) - absolutely no problem converting PF to 9V, whereas problems may arise when going the other way - more power - sell for more money Plus, ME Models are releasing their 9V-compatible track. The motors can be changed. I'd say 9V is well and alive.

Yes, that's a shame. But it's just because the driving mechanism is so complicated. I removed everything gear-related and the rods before putting the 9V motor on. Works great now. True, it doesn't look nice. You've got this huge cylinder in the driver's place with the XL motor. 9V allows you to have the driver in there, and potentially a few pieces of decoration. I definitely recommend running the EN as a 9V model.

Hi, folks! I recently changed my Emerald Night to 9V. The reason being that I mostly use the 9V system (most of my trains are 9V), and I also don't have any PF/RC track set up. I think it runs better on 9V, although I only had it powered with an M-motor as I don't have an XL motor... Here are the pics! Waiting for passengers at the train station. So majestic... In my opinion this is the most beautiful Lego set released. I was stupid enough to throw it away and I had a lot of problems rebuilding it (as you can see with the "chimney" and lantern). I added the "coal" to the tender to hide the pieces of lead that I use as weights. Obviously the tender is very light and without any additional balast it wouldn't provide the necessary thrust to power this badboy. 9V motor on the tender with an additional train wheel assembly. It looked quite bare without it so I added the extra wheels. I'm expanding the tender anyway so that it will support 2x 9V Motor for additional power. I'm happy with the speed it's going now, it can outrun my Super Chief on a straight track segment, but I don't want to strain the motor. This is my custom "cargo" car. I wanted something similar to the 10173 Holiday Train so I ended up with this. It's a shame I didn't have any 2x4 Light Bluish Gray Curved Slope 2/3 for the roof - got these ordered yesterday, but with Christmas and the holidays I'll probably get them next week earliest... So the black slopes will have to do for now. The undercarriage is the same as on the stock car, but I made it in reddish brown to match the barriers. Back view. I got another car ordered but it's parted. The prices for original set ones were ridiculous - especially the tan windows. 10 Tan Windows cost 54 Euros!!! I'll just use the non-train ones. Also, I don't have the counterparts (reddish brown bricks with "LRTS" and "First" on them), but I don't think that's much of a problem. Mind you, the parted car costs a quarter of the original one. Scam... Hope you liked it!

I found my Kingdoms minifigs so I got a crossbowman to do the king's job! :) Make your browser window wider. ;) TK421 experienced that first-hand haha!

Evolution seems to work, doesn't it?

Hiya, folks! Just wanted to share a small MOC I made for my layout. Thought it needed a decent station at least. I'm making a massive one in LDD, so this one is just temporary. I went for something with a medieval look to it. It's not great, but I'm happy with it. Front view. Bit of a side view. Brings out the dynamics. Inside. Since the medieval theme I put a Kingdoms king in there along with Godric Gryffindor's sword and some chrome gold shield. View from the track. King getting his gold out. I like the hanging platform sign. Platform 9 3/4. I have a lot of Harry Potter and Star Wars minifigs so I'll probably build separate terminals for them. Chap in the Sorting Hat, Hagrid, some bloke, Snape, Gandalf, guy with a robot-arm, Kit Fisto, Greedo, policeman and some lad. This was my original station. I still have it because I like it. I wanted to make all of the stations across the tracks look like this one, but I ran out of parts... The gravedigger is taking care of some... business. Some of my Star Wars minifigs. They usually hop on the Metroliner since it's the only train I have capable of fitting all of them! Extension to the train station. There's an Orient Expedition figure (by far my favourite Lego sets back in the good ol' days...), a Kingdoms horseman scared crapless by the Dementor, Filch, Flitwick, McGonnagal and Moody. Plus the two Ewoks and Norbert. I wanted to have more of the chain-bound tracks here. I had 4, but I could only find 1. Shame. And then there's this... and that's not even half of it. Word of advice, folks. Don't move your collection unless you really have to. Feedback and hints welcome. I'm building this now so any help is appreciated.

I just buy cars/wagons. Makes more sense. I'd rather throw $70 into buying the cars for the Horizon Express than buy the whole set for $120 and be stuck with the engine that I wouldn't be able to do nothing with...

Everytime I try to buy a Maersk train I find some excellent bargain for a TTX Intermodal, a Santa Fe Car, a Metroliner Club Car, Santa Fe Super Chief... Maybe one day I will resist the temptation and finally get it...

I don't even...

Two years?

Looks quite naked. It'd look better if you used tiles, not plates, for the roof in my opinion.

How did the PF conversion on the 10133 go? Could you post a pic?

Yeah. 2 are the normal ones, one is 28 long.

Pictures of some of my latest trains:

That looks sick, mate! Good work!

Made an 8-wide sleeping carriage. Sorry for the highlight on the screenshot, don't know how that came about... Modest interior. Three cabins. Each has a bunk-bed and "toilet facilities". Overview.

I've already got the couplers and wheels. You're right, they are quite expensive. On average I figured about 3 times the price of the black ones. But I still decided to stick with them, I want the cars to be as much a replica of the original ones as possible.

Hi folks! I've been planning to expand my 2003 HST. Since the 10158 cars cost 150 Euro on average, I figured it'll just be cheaper to part them. But the thing is, I didn't like the general design of the cars. The 4511 set, which they expand, has a car that also carries cargo. I figured the expansions should be just passenger cars without any cargo. This is why I've designed my own version of the 10158. It's practically the same, but doesn't have the cargo box and I gave the interior a little update. I currently have parts to build 3 of those, but I won't be doing so till Sunday when I'll finally get home. These are my current plans. I was also thinking of making a 40+ stud length car, or even a few cars. What do you guys think about that? When I build the 3 cars I will have a total of 6 cars on my HST, +2 engines (one on the front, one on the back). I'll keep you posted. Pictures for comparison (original 10158):

Meh, retail can be such a pain at times... I almost always buy second hand. The beauty of Poland is that people here have no idea what value the stuff they're selling has in the international market. Picked up the Metroliner Club Car in near mint condition for 30 Euro, some bloke had it for sale saying he found it whilst clearing the attic. Unbelievable...