Hod Carrier

@Daedalus304 Thanks for updating us. Hoping that an announcement of the results will follow very shortly.

Nearly there. I've had to move and redesign some of the switches, which necessitated a few other changes to the board itself, but I'm now at the stage of fine tuning things to make sure it all operates nice and smoothly. I'm hoping to be finished some time next week. Thank you everyone for your patience.

It’s been three months since the OcTRAINber 2021 contest closed. Has anyone heard anything about the judging? I know that the judging generally takes a while, but this year it’s starting to get a bit crazy.

A little update as the project progresses. The puzzle is coming along nicely. From design to build has been a fairly smooth process and, even though the construction is primarily plates and tiles, the resulting build remains quite sturdy. I'm currently in the process of testing and have already identified a few small teething problems. The operation of the points/switches and the way that the train moves around the board has meant that a few details have had to be changed. I have also identified a need to secure the points/switches in position to prevent them being moved by the train. To that end I'm now just waiting for what I'm hoping will be the last two small parts orders before the build is complete. Once that has been done I can upload the final design to the Bricklink gallery and folk will be able to download the design from there.

I think it’s unavoidable that you end up blocking some of the switches when running around. You’d just have to make sure that you don’t block any switch that you need to use to complete the move. Precisely where you need to leave them is otherwise up to you. The important thing is that any run-round move must be completed in one move. You can run-around any number of wagons but you cannot spot one and then go back to spot another one until the first one has been shunted into a siding.

There's no such thing as a stupid question. I don't want to get too far involved in answering questions about running-round wagons, as that starts to get into the heart of the tactics and strategy of the puzzle. By playing the game, or by using a bit of mental gymnastics, you will see how shunting wagons from one side of the board to the other is best done, and what impact certain strategies will have on how you can then proceed with solving the puzzle. What I will do, however, is to point you back towards the origins of this particular design and to the rules of the Inglenook puzzle on which it is based. The idea behind the Inglenook puzzle is to shunt a train of five wagons from a total of eight within a constrained track plan. The layout consists of three sidings and a headshunt, each of which can only hold a certain number of vehicles as shown below (image from Inglenook Sidings Shunting Puzzle - Track Plan & Layout Size (wymann.info)). As can be clearly seen, this track plan does not permit running-round and, to ensure no blockages to shunting movements, all wagons must be fully accommodated in their sidings with none left foul of the points/switches, as would be the case when shunting wagons in the real world. The Doublenook design expands on the original idea by taking two Inglenook plans and laying them back-to-back with a little bit of overlay such that the headshunt now overlaps with one of the sidings on each side of the board. However, as you can see the Inglenook track-plans are still there and visible. When shunting each end of the board the intention is that you would follow the rules and constraints imposed by the Inglenook track-plan. Use of the other diagonal as an additional siding to place wagons in order to make shunting easier would not be permitted, as this makes use of space on the board that is not contained within the Inglenook plan (in other words, if you're shunting the blue sidings you may only use the blue diagonal as that forms part of the same Inglenook, whereas the yellow diagonal does not). However, you may place wagons on a diagonal in order to run the loco around so that the wagons may be moved from one side of the board to the other but, as leaving a wagon on a diagonal means that it is not accommodated within a siding, it must be moved immediately into a siding before shunting any other wagon. I'm unsure if this answers your question fully, but I hope it helps to clarify the rules. It's a fabulous and interesting website. Sadly it doesn't get many updates and has remained largely unchanged for many years, but it does do a great job of explaining how these puzzles work. I did put the rules for the additional levels in the opening post way back in whenever it was I started this thread, but am happy to expand on them if folk wish me to do so.

Just a quick update to show a couple of renders of the revised playing board. The original version of the puzzle was built sideways but this new version is being built studs up. The advantage of this different orientation is that the movement of the playing pieces should be smoother because the diagonals no longer have a serrated edge to them. Other changes made to the playing board is the inclusion of sliding sections (in orange) that act as rudimentary points/switches so that routes can be set for the pieces to move more easily around the board.

You're very welcome. Just so that you don't think that I've forgotten you, I just wanted to let you know that my efforts to improve the game has turned into a ground-up redesign. I'm hoping to introduce some new features, including a rudimentary way of coupling the loco and wagons and also a form of working switch to help select each road. Consequently, I need to design and test build it first before I release it to the world. I'll post news here, so watch this space.

Too many others far more deserving of that accolade, but thank you. I think there was an issue with how big the file is which means that it can no longer be linked to directly here. I'll have a look at saving it as a Stud.io file (with a .io file extension) and put it on the Bricklink gallery for download from there. I suspect that it won't be immediately available as I believe it has to pass a moderation stage first, but I'll put a link to it when it's done. Hope this helps. **EDIT** Actually, would you mind if I hold fire on this for the time being while I have a look and see if there's a more parts-efficient and robust way of building the board before offering it for download?

Ooo!! Now that's a bit clever. Bit of a shame that it's come too late for OcTRAINber, as I'm sure the novel motor arrangement would have netted you good points.

Well done, Laurie. That's an excellent rendition of the ubiquitous Mk1 coach. The technique for the lower bodyside if very good and gives a nice gentle curve very reminiscent of the real thing. If I had to nit-pick it would just be that the size of the LEGO train window is perhaps a wee bit small at this scale. A brick-and-plate alternative may look a bit rough and ready close up, but I wonder if it might be acceptable at normal viewing distances and yield better proportions.

Oh right!! Sorry. When you mentioned the fingernail groove you get from using a tile I thought you were referring to the cab front over the headlight. Apologies for the misunderstanding.

LOL!!! Can't imagine that a LEGO tube sock would be very warm or comfortable. Thank you, gentlemen. That is very nice of you to say. It's a good idea. Features like doors do sometimes have a habit of disappearing in designs and sometimes you need to do something to bring them out, whether it's by indenting them, making them a different colour or using tape/stickers to pick out the edges. My own personal view is to be lead by the prototype and see what the original designer did. Sometimes the doors really do disappear, as with this train, which makes it OK to follow that principle too. That's a very good idea, thank you. I shall make the necessary change. **EDIT** Argh!! Not available in red. Looks like I'll have to pony up for tiles without grooves. Thank you for these thoughts too. I shall have a little tinker and see how it looks. **EDIT** I've had a play but I keep hitting a wall on the headlight side. The problem is that the binoculars are too big inside the cab to permit anything other than a panel at the lowest half of the door. That in itself isn't a major issue except that it creates a half plate step in the blue band and is a problem to attach to the rest of the model. With enough time and coffee I'm sure I could come up with a solution better than colouring the lower part of the door with blue vinyl. But if I was going to build any of these liveries I don't think it would have been this one anyway.

Thank you, gentlemen. It's always nice to get such positive feedback. That is kind of how the trains looked in real life when they carried that livery. 1959 Tube Stock at Finchley Central by bowroaduk, on Flickr I think the idea was that public doors should be obvious and are therefore painted a contrasting colour (something that has later become a requirement under equality legislation to aid visually impaired users) whereas the non-public cab doors could be blended with the rest of the livery. I have hinted at the shape of the door by the arrangement of the bricks, the different shape of the window and the dark bley tiles showing the treadplates, but I don't want to indent it when this was not a feature of the real trains. If anything, the improvement that I perhaps should make is to tone-down (or even do away with) the handrails on the cab front as these are waaaaay too heavy.

Something a little bit different from me. This my design for London Underground's 1959 tube stock which could be found operating on many of the Underground's deep tube lines. 1959 Tube Stock by bowroaduk, on Flickr The train on the left is in original condition. Admittedly these trains were delivered in unpainted aluminium finish, but that's a difficult colour to replicate in LEGO so I've opted to design it in white. Next to it is a train in London Underground's corporate red, white and blue livery which some trains received towards the end of their operating lives. The train on the right is the "Heritage Train" in the red and cream livery of London Transport which would have adorned the older Standard Stock but was a livery never previously used on the 1959 stock. The face of the tube showing some of the detail incorporated into the cab. Building the cab doors studs forward does create a livery issue as it means that I cannot carry the blue band forward across the bottom of the door. This can be easily corrected on one side of the car though, as only the top half of the door needs to be studs forward and the bottom half can be studs up which would correct the problem. The problem persists on the other side due to the need to use a panel piece to accommodate the larger end of the binocular part, though. I guess you can't win them all.

Unsure what is meant by “Native Multiple Unit Control”, but if this means that you can control more than one hub via the official app then you should enter “Yes” under Circuit Cubes as you can control two hubs at the same time.

Weirdly the loco is quite stable. I haven’t noticed it wobbling much at all, and certainly no worse than the rest of the train, so I don’t feel it needs anything much adding to it. As you rightly observe, the train is very symmetrical in terms of weight and layout which means it runs just as well in either direction. The first video shows the train running in both directions. LOL!! What was the problem? Was it the gaps in the boards or did get think it was going to fall through?

So true!! Not sure that anything with a Trabant engine could ever be called "sporty", but it does give that wind-in-your-hair thrill. That said, seating for three burly blokes...? That's still quite a sizeable conveyance.

Yup. It's all gone down the pan. Thank you. That's very kind of you to say.

Thank you. That's very kind of you to say. This is an update that I never thought I'd ever make. When folk spend so much time and effort trying to make their creations better, I've just spent an afternoon trying to make mine worse. I had already been aware of the motor coach's tendency to wobble even before posting the first video. I had been content to allow this issue to pass, but clearly the wobbles were worse than I imagined for them to have drawn comment. I spent a little bit of time trying to see if there was anything I could do to try and make the model more stable. The issue seems to be a combination of the motor coach having a long fixed wheelbase and the axles being supported only in the middle and not at the ends which seems to make it very picky about indifferent track quality. Unfortunately, there isn't enough space inside to make any changes to tune out the wobbles, so I've had to take the opposite approach instead. Try and make the other coaches equally wobbly. I have redesigned the bogie pivots and changed them from 2x2 turntable plates to a pin and hole pivot. With the modifications complete, the train went out for another little spin. Well, the coaches do wobble more than before but perhaps not quite as much as the motor coach. Certainly on bends the motor coach seems to lurch and shake more, which is almost certainly a consequence of the fixed wheelbase, but then piers are normally mercifully straight. However, on the straights the behaviour of the motor coach no longer seems to stick out like a sore thumb. Thoughts...?

Nah. Waaaaaay too big. Try this instead. Rail Taxi by Down to nowhere, on Flickr I did say we liked to do "weird" here in the UK.

We do like to do "weird" here in the UK. But you're right. I never expected there to be a 100 year old train still in commercial service working at it's original task and not specifically a subject of preservation. There can't be very many of those in the world. I'm pleased you like this model too. I'm lucky that, apart from the loco, it's basically square which is a shape I can do in LEGO.

I think it helps that the builds are all small and modestly detailed. Plus I've had quite a bit of time off work to be able to devote to projects such as this. Earlier this year I was starting to worry that I'd lost the gift because I couldn't seem to get started on much, but I think this contest has given me some drive to get things done. The standard of my builds is not on the same level as other entries, but I don't really mind. I've extracted a huge amount of enjoyment out of the process, learned a lot of new things and, most importantly, laughed a lot along the way. For me, this has probably been the most enjoyable OcTRAINber yet, and if that's all I get out of the contest this year I shall still be very satisfied.

Lets hope the guys over at BMR are listening-in to your thoughts.

LOL!!! We could drift a very long way off-topic if we're not careful, but I wanted to just reassure @Paperinik77pk that I'm not just having a pop at Italian engineering. In the UK, Ford can mean "Fix or repair daily". Even one of our most beloved sports car manufacturers doesn't get away scot-free, as Lotus can mean "Lots of trouble, usually serious".