Phil B

Tom, What about the "set" names for these motors (e.g. 88013) .. will you include those on your labels as well?

Love it. You might have to fix your tag if you want it to participate in the competition though - I think the tag should read "EBFS", not "[EBFS]"

The BL Price Guide shows the price development over the last months: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=bb0892c01&colorID=1&viewExclude=Y&v=D&cID=N Looking at US$ prices, sold prices for new hubs went from $15-$20 a few months ago, to just one seller at $35 right now. The situation in Europe is much better with quite some inventory still available at the sub eur20 price point.

Hmm .. just checked and all the cheap PUp Hubs in the US have disappeared from BL (in both listings, 88009 as well as bb0892c01 (will those listings merge at some point?)). PU Technic Large motors are still available, bought one for $15 earlier today.

I still have 20 Batmen from all the Dimensions Starter Packs I picked up at deep discounts......

There are lights available for PU, part 88005: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/light-88005

Are those the same as these? https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=bb0959c01&idColor=85#T=S&C=85&O={"color":85,"ss":"US","rpp":"500","iconly":0} https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=bb0960c01&idColor=85#T=S&C=85&O={"color":85,"ss":"US","rpp":"500","iconly":0} It feels to me LEGO is spreading themselves too thin with all the motor and hub options in PUp. PF was so much simpler in that regard (except for the V2 IR Receiver).

It is EXTREMELY unlikely LEGO will produce a new Train motor. They already produce a Train motor for PUp, and making a new version of an already specialized piece is not likely. I'm putting my money on one of the missing PUp sizes (L or XL). That would be the best use of their money as it would appeal to non-Train enthusiasts as well.

No matter how many copies you need or want of this set, with the current supply chain issues (at least in North America), this will be hard limit 1 on LEGO.com, and it will go to Back Order on the first day it is available, and to Temporarily Out of Stock for the next 2 months on day 3. Just look at Pirate Bay and Haunted House .....

Now try to purchase a brick .... there is no option to view all sellers, you get one pre-selected. It takes some digging before you can even see other purchase options.

If you take a look at the Beta BrickLink XP experience you’ll see exactly how LEGO is planning to ruin the platform.

See my picture a couple of posts earlier. There is a better picture on Facebook that shows more detail, from which I copied my image. Fits regular track, seems to be 7-wide, but the display track is made out of plates and plain rail tracks (the 1x16 part with the toothed surface).

So there is little point of them putting PAB on BL if they are not competitive. The new XP interface has already shown that they are favouring some sellers over others via whatever algorithm they use to highlight stores, and they do not make that algorithm public. The new XP interface gave me the suspicion that LEGO is going to mold BrickLink into an Amazon-style interface, where LEGO is the preferred seller of anything they currently have in stock (parts-wise) - thus eliminating B&P and PaB from their website - and 3rd party sellers get the "buy box" for all the other parts. You can still buy the current parts from LEGO, but someone looking for "Red Brick 2x4" will get to LEGO's store first, and might never see that another seller sells the same brick for 50% cheaper. I have already sent Lawrence @ BrickOwl my sincerest hopes that he will not cave and stay independent. He can double the commission for all I care.

This is how the track is made:

According to a better picture posted on Facebook, the track is normal 6-wide but made out of 8x?? plates with rails consisting of a single plate with the rail piece 3228c on top of it to raise it above the sleepers. Looks very legit and beautiful.

That is super clever! Love how the retracting tile/plate piece holds up the slide for just a second or two.

EPIC! Love it. The only thing that's missing is flanges on the wheels :)

That looks awesome! You could even consider adding a "Y" shaped crane arm support in there. since it's pretty close to the boom anyways. Excellent model! One more suggestion: perhaps you can use trans-black 1x2 bricks next to the receiver to allow for better signal reception? Looks like you have LBG 1x2 bricks there now.

I know that the scale is prototypical, but the height difference between the coaches and the engine is not doing it for me ... looks off. They are faithful renditions of the originals though (seen quite a few as I used to live in Toronto).

Excellent work! Love how you did the motors under the carriage, and how you detailed the build process. Could you mount the main IR receiver face-down instead of straight up? So with the channel switch lying flat on the train base? It would require some serious SNOT work, but might make it look like a bit of machinery or just some structural support, and make it less of a stand-out?

It was the Spring one from several years back (with the bumble bee). No need to restore, just leave it at the current one - but point me to how we can submit a more Train appropriate background and I'll coordinate within Train Tech to get a design nominated. Many people have been asking for a Train specific background for years.

Not back to its old self, but the new self is very much acceptable (if only we had a LEGO Trains header background!). Thanks @Darkdragon!

And important information fields and links such as the date of the last post and the number of posts are rendered in a color that is the same as the background color, rendering them invisible until hovered over. Very unusable! EDIT: And going to the Theme selector at the bottom of the page shows a whole bunch of other themes available, with "The New Shadowlands" selected. Selecting any other theme does absolutely nothing, it remains on "The New Shadowlands". Has EB been hacked?

Those Keenstone ones look similar (Btw, your link is not complete, this is the full link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rechargeable-Keenstone-Lithium-ion-Self-Discharge-High-Energy-Density-3-Pack/dp/B083J2G1NN/) but they are outputting slightly less voltage (8.4V vs 8.7V in mine). This listing is for an 8.7V 9V PP3 block: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kratax-Rechargeable-Multimeter-Microphone-Protection-battery-charger/dp/B082CQSZ86/ Here is a picture of how I am using the 9V block: I wrapped it in black electrical tape so its garish colors don't shine through gaps in the body of my engine. The great thing is that these 9V blocks have nice LEGO proportions, they are almost exactly 7 x 3 x 2 studs (if you include the battery connector).

I picked these specifically because the Amazon feedback indicated they provided the power they stated they would provide, and their claims about upgraded voltage (8.7V) seem correct. I have used the battery in my tiny DB Class V 36 engine and it works very well there combined with an old 9V motor. That said, the engine has issues pulling more than 2-3 large heavy carriages, but I attribute this more to the 9V motor and the gearing than to the battery. Battery is still on its first charge and has put in several hours of work. No endurance testing done however. I might switch it over to my Maersk and let it run for a while ... once I take my trains back out of their boxes (I just packed them up). That won't be for another few weeks.