ALCO

That's a really cool train shed! I've got one that I made in LDD too, though not quite as much interior detail. Mine is more modular so I can make it bigger if I want. Really the only interior detail mine has is an inspection pit... that that's about it.

While I would love to see some nice big north American steam engines the one reason we will not see any from TLG is R40. Those curves are just too small. I have built some of the biggest (while only in LDD at this point) and so much effort has to be taken to design something big that can tolerate the R40 curve. But, that is off topic. I'd love to see a Shay truck locomotive. That would be really cool! They could easily include a log car with it too!

oohhhh!! The Chessie T-1 looks really pretty!! THAT would be a fun build! I'm working on an 8-wide Northern 4-8-4 in LDD that could easily be altered to the Chessie I'm thinking. Some of the others...I couldn't find any photos of those locomotives after a quick Google search. I agree with THRIZE and Duq though. First, you have to be more specific in what you want, and second, if you are interested in buying a big steam MOC from another builder... well, commissioning a project of that scale takes some financial backing and commitment. Currently I do most of my building in LDD so I don't have to worry about parts but converting an LDD model into bricks is a lot of work I am discovering as I am doing that for my 4-4-0 American. I am open to exploring taking a commission if you want to talk about it. The worst that can happen is that we might discover it is not feasible. You can see some of my projects in my Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsknDng5z

I really like the EN boiler design...though I have modified it a bit for my builds. I mostly build North American Steam and need something a little more like an oval. Boiler 1 by Lego American Locomotive Company, on Flickr I like this design because I can put a lot of detail on it like the hand rail and walk way and even steps on the side or clip extra pipes along the side and it still looks nice and round. boiler 2 by Lego American Locomotive Company, on Flickr Exploded view. boiler 3 by Lego American Locomotive Company, on Flickr

I got promoted by a moderator who wanted to send me a privet message. I guess you can only get those at the "Citizen" level.

Great! Thanks!

hello! So I have finally realized I need larger driver wheels than the standard TLG size. I know BBB has XL drivers but in order for me to model that in LDD I need to know the dimensions of them (in Lego) ie. how many suds in diameter. The standard TLG wheels that come with Emerald Night are 4 Studs and on a Technic brick there are 3 wholes between each axle. How many wholes are between the axles on BBB XL driver? I can't seem to find that info on his site or anywhere else. I'm working on an 8-wide FEF-3 and the standard wheels are just too small... :-( If I plan to use BBB XL wheels I need to figure how how much longer it needs to be. https://flic.kr/p/D7gKeQ

I love the "Forgotten Daylight"! As I am really into North American Steam, it's beautiful!!

This is a great way of building a boiler! I will be borrowing this technique in the future! Nicely done!

Wow! Beautiful!!!

Wow!! Great question Electricsteam!! and thank you so much for the deluge of information Daedalus304! This question is one I have been pondering for quite a while since I got back into building and this is the answer that makes things so much easier!! thank you!!!!

https://www.flickr.c...128636628@N08/? - Posted. Sorry, I got busy severely modding an Emerald Night into the GWR 4900 Olton Hall that is the Hogwarts Express. As well as starting a 4-8-4 Northern that will be UP 844. UP 3985 challenger is done - very easy since it's just a shorter Big Boy which I already had done. Photos to come when I'm done with the Olton Hall and Northern. I have some LDD screenshots but I also created some photos in Bluerender. This version of the Big Boy is about the 4th major rebuild I've done. It started as a 12-wide, then rebuilt as a 10-wide. Then rebuilt as an 8-wide. Then rebuilt to have an XL motor power each set of drivers... I still have some revisions I need to do. The u-joints in the steam pipes from the 2nd drivers do not come in black. I either need to create my own livery colors or figure out a different way of doing that part of the build. I'm definitely open to other ideas too! Thanks Kyle! I'd love to see some of your creations!

Oh wow! Your red engine looks great! Are you going to brick that out? I would be great to see photos of that in real bricks! Like you, I've just got into bluerender...its amazing how real your LDD files look! Good work!!

Ecmo47 I did figure it out! The link to the tender/third truck is not as pretty as I would like it to be but it doesn't stick out too bad. I'll upload some screenshots of the Shay, and my rolling stock to my Flickr tomorrow.

All, thanks for the great comments and feedback! Stash, PM sent. Zephyr, haha, yes! I must be! I had the John Bull at the Pennsylvania Railway museum in mind when I built it. I needed a way to hide the battery and IR receiver and the fully enclosed tender in this display was the best way to do it. My rules for building are that the locomotives I build need to be just that...locomotives. They must provide their own motive power to their driver wheels and carry their own fuel supply (battery) in a tender/on board and NOT in a tender disguised as a freight/passenger/other manifest type car. I agree with you that steamers with more than 6 drivers do best on ME curves but since at this time the only switches are the tight small ones, then I have to build with the tightest radius in mind. Hopefully, when I brick the Big Boy it will do just fine on the tight curves. I build all my trains with hope of one day bricking them so I try to adhere to the size standards set forth by the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club (the club closest to me) as stated on their website as well as keeping practical things like curved track, power, wires, and details. I'll post some of my rolling stock soon.

Thanks! Me too!

Hello all - new to Eurobricks and Lego Trains, I just wanted to share with you my rise from the Dark Ages and what I have been building. Last Christmas time I went to my first ever Lego Train Show hosted by the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club. I had been slowly getting back into Legos at that time since my sister introduced me to LDD. After the show I was hooked. I did not ask for, but was given the Emerald Night for Christmas and was so struck by how awesome it is and how it connected my love for trains to my love for Lego's. Then later in the year I got the Maersk Train for my birthday then the Blue Cargo train. I have been building in a fury!! I am most interested in North American Steam but have built some diesels as well. The flickr link is to a gallery of my steam collection I have a whole bunch of rail cars and some buildings and MOW vehicles as well. I am hoping one day to build these with real bricks and have a layout (really a big yard, engine shed, and round-house) and be a part of a train club. But until I have the space and funds, these LDD creations are the only way I can express my passion at this time. Anyway, enjoy the North American Steam! I did build a Class C Shay truck but since I borrowed so much from the original creator Stephen Pakbaz I decided not to share it. https://flic.kr/s/aHsknDng5z ALCO

Frederic, Having recently come out of the Dark Ages, my passion is also for steam locomotives. Since I do not have the space to store a Lego collection, I do most of my building using Lego Digital Designer (LDD). While I do have the Emerald Night set and have learned a lot from building it, I have also really enjoyed looking at photos of other people creations to see how they built some particularly challenging part. A lot of my creations I have rebuilt several times to get them just right. As for buying parts...my strategy is to build it first in LDD, even test to see if it will clear the tight corners, then order the parts from Bricklink. Just my thoughts. I'm glad you are interested in building steam locomotives! I think they are the coolest and most challenging! ALCO

Almost as long as I can remember I have played with Lego's. I mostly had airplanes and pirates but I have always loved trains and had many model trains and toys just no Lego trains. My best friend had all the trains and I thought they were cool but I wasn't that interested in them because they were all European trains and nothing North American so I didn't find them very interesting. Then last year, (15 or so years later) my older sister introduced me to LDD and that was my "awakening." I began building trains in LDD, mostly North American steam. I also went to a couple Lego Train shows presented by the local Lego train club in my area and thought I didn't ask for it, I was given the Emerald Night for Christmas and I was totally hooked!! Since then I was given the Maerks train for my birthday and bought the blue cargo train 60052. I'm really into North American Steam, but I have built a couple diesels too. I've loved following the forum here and learning new techniques and tricks! My latest is a Class C Shay in which I learned from and borrowed from Steven Pakbaz. here: http://rebrickable.com/mocs/StephenPakbaz/shay-engine

wow! Those are beautiful! I love to boggies! You mentioned the square blocks in the middle of the car... It appears the square blocks on the model cars are storage compartments. You might want to take a look at the 2x3x2 cabinets....Like the ones I used here. https://flic.kr/p/pMnvXG

Hello all! New here to Eurobricks and the whole AFOL Trains community in general. I have noticed that there there are essentially two different train systems the 9v (runs on metal rails using a DC current from a transformer like a normal model railroad) and then Power Functions. I unfortunately don't have any of either to experiment with but I was just thinking would it be possible to merge the two and create a kind of DCC system? (Digital Command Control - current standard for powering and controlling model railroads) What I mean is this, you have the PF system that uses a battery pack, IR or RF receiver to power either a "train motor" or another motor that uses Technick gears etc, to power the wheels. Could not one remove the actual motor from the 9v train motor housing and use the metal wheels as contacts to pass the current through from the metal track to your PF control system? This way you would not have to break your layout into Power Districts and you would be able to run multiple trains on the same line under completely different control. Each train would be controlled by it's unique PF controller yet pulling the same current from the rails. Essentially moving the battery pack from a pack of batteries in the locomotive or tender and placing it in the rails where you no longer have to worry about charging or bringing extra batteries. I haven't been around long enough to see of you guys are doing this yet or not, but just thought I'd throw it out there. As I stated, I unfortunately don't have either system (or trains) to experiment with but will as soon as I have the coin. I recently downloaded LDD and built an MOC that I designed to run in either system or both. I've always been an FOL and trains but never have been able to bring the two together until I downloaded LDD. Let me know what you think of combining both 9v and PF and I'd love some feedback on my MOC in the link below. I went for detail so it turned out to be about to scale so wider and I'm sure taller than the standard size, though still on the Lego standard gauge track. Cheers! https://www.flickr.com/photos/128636628@N08/

Hello all! I'm totally new here and have always loved Legos and trains. Unfortunately, I never had a Lego train but after recently learning of LDD I have made one in the program that I would like to share with you guys. I went for realism and detail and it ended up being pretty close to scale so it's massive! Its and ALCO (American Locomotive Company) Type 4-8-8-4 Union Pacific Big Boy. I have found several Lego creations of this locomotive which I found helpful in building this one. I tried to make it real, yet playable. It's got a working Walschaerts Valve Gear PF motor in the firebox which powers all 16 driver wheels, battery box in the tender, and a differential in the boiler to allow the powered driver trucks to pivot so she can negotiate the tight Lego radius curved tracks. I'm going to start on a matching caboose but I would love your feedback on my creation. I've got a link here to my flickr album for you to take a look at. If you'd like, I'd be happy to take more screenshots and upload them if you have a specific view in mind. Also, I built it to easily install 9v train motors in the loco's trailing truck and the tender's lead truck. If you are doing that, you can disengage the drive wheels from the PF motor by lifting the middle dome and rotating it 180 degrees. I'm currently in transition so I don't have the coin to physically build this thing as it's over 2,600 bricks! Here is the Flickr link. https://www.flickr.com/photos/128636628@N08/sets/72157648203745607/ ALCO