cimddwc

Yay an XKCD fan! (Or you just found it randomly somewhere, still a good one). And here's the original link. (Bookmarked since I first saw it.) Yeah, the SIWOTI syndrome can be time-consuming, I know...

Really great! All those lovely details...

That might as well be two 16x16 plates connected with the tiles that are so conveniently placed in the middle. Well, with a bit more personnel – let's hope they were just late for the preliminary photo ;) –, this is a nice small hospital, I think. Mining doesn't look bad either, it's just not something I'll need.

Just scored a new SF Super Chief 10020 Limited Edition on ebay for a price that's about Bricklink's half-year average of a used non-limited version. (Confirming Sunday evening as a good time for buyers, it seems.) Now I'm wondering if I should really open and build it when it arrives, or just keep it closed... nah, not really. I'm buying Lego to use it. :)

Indeed a very nice house with nice architecture details and nice colors.

A little feature suggestion: How about shortcut keys for "bring to front" and "send to back"? Could be Page Up/Page Down by default.

Really great! And 7-wide seems to be the ideal width for this, too.

With Grand Emporium at £132.99 – assuming that's the regular price –, we might actually hope for 169.99 € (i.e. about 149.99 € * (£149.99/£132.99))...

Indeed! Significantly higher piece count than the previous buildings raises hopes of a bigger/wider building, as a town hall should be. Which kinda makes the higher price acceptable...

I got another 3 men thanks to the EB raffle, and they are placed on my container terminal area, of course: one operates the crane, one rides on a bike from one end to the other, one stands next to the track and waves hello to the train driver, and one stands on the building supervising everything. I think regulations everywhere require that at least half of the workers aren't actually working, but just "supervising".

Great and entertaining review, thanks! And just while I was reading it, my parcel with this set arrived, so guess what I'll do right away...

This is my solution: jbogies by cimddwc, on Flickr First version on the left, but (a) the rim at the bottom of the pin plates interfered with the cars lying flat, and (b) I wanted it to be as low as possible, so the version on the right is the one I used. The pins simply go into Technic plates that are part of the train's floor. (I didn't use the train base plates which were too short anyway.) Black paper (not as neatly folded as it should be) covers the passages – some day I'll make something nicer looking... curve2 by cimddwc, on Flickr

The switch looks the same shape to me (except for having 1-stud wide sleepers, of course). As for the curves, well, it may be a matter of perspective. If you look at the Lego curve images on a box like the 7939's, they don't look that much bent either. So my guess is they got the same radius. BanBao's 8228 train doesn't look that bad IMO, actually. Doesn't seem to be a copy of an original Lego set, or did I miss something here?

Looks really good – I like the architecture and the color combination.

Toys'R'Us Germany – not sure if just online or in the stores, but it doesn't say "online only" :) - now has 20% on all Lego CITY, 50€ minimum (and allegedly some reduced Star Wars sets, though I didn't check that). Especially noteworthy: the yellow cargo train 7939 which already had a reduced price of 140€, resulting in 112€ now. Probably sold out pretty soon... And you should get free shipping with code "NOV2011DE1" (40€ minimum).

Great building, and you captured the original's architecture very well. Though I'm not sure I like the green too much (including on the real building)...

Great! And also large, with lots of space used very well with nice details.

Thanks for that info! I always thought I'll get it when I find it for less than 120€. :) Also, they have 7938 for effectively 64€, so I just got another one. My poor bank account... As for the availability, well, with 3677 being limited – in Germany only at Kaufhof (and Lego stores, of course) –, I think 7939 will be in regular stores for a longer time. They basically need a cargo train to complement the passenger train there. On the other hand, they might just end the exclusiveness of 3677 after Christmas...

That the cylinders on the bottom side of regular Lego bricks fit inside the Duplo studs. :)

Wow, great! Many details, the overall scene, and nicely built around the raised baseplate...

Great! I like especially the tower, and the color combination looks really good too.

And you could add a mountain with a tunnel and a funicular, and a subway underneath, and... ... ... keep you busy another year or two. Kinda the goal of such large ambitious projects, I guess – in addition to having a large layout, of course. Looking forward to seeing it getting filled. An area equivalent to 315 baseplates (if I calculated correctly) is quite a lot... Similar with my plans (starting some time next year when my new apartment's done), but I'll build mine in my 6m x 4m basement room along 3 walls with a bigger part extending into the center, somewhat ŋ-shaped – makes the most space usable and reachable. (Yeah, being 6ft 3in too helps. ) Seems to be different in your room, though, with other stuff around the tables instead of only walls, from what I can see. And more space anyway. (With so many layouts and plans showing up recently, I guess I should show my plans soon, too...)

And you can also have a look at the Article, Topic, and MOC Index at the top of the Train Tech forum where you can find quite a few resourses. In your layout, several track sections and sidings are quite short, so that the trains (like the Emerald Night you included) stopping at the station block another track and no other train can pass – I think that will get annoying pretty soon when running the trains, so you might want to remove the two straight track pieces on the bottom left and left of the center in favor of the station.

I'd go for the second one – simply because a double track allows you to run two trains simultaneously. If this makes the space you want for buildings and roads too small, you still can put one side of the loops (on the bottom of the image) or a corner in a tunnel. And a double crossover track might be a good addition, too, but they have become a bit expensive nowadays...

Great houses and a nice scene, and in a pretty realistic size, too.