Legoless

I used to have a mixture of 12v grey and 4.5v blue when I was a kid. I didn't have enough 12v to motorise more than a small section of temporary layout so I pretty much resorted to building push trains. I only had one motor and transformer also- my points were 4.5 volts and I had none of the other accessories. But 12v really does have a sense of magic for me- I remember the sheer quality of the engineering- even the cardboard boxes were well made! 9v seems to have been a little bit of a step backwards in regard to playability. And from what I can tell from forum posts, TLG don't appear to have made it particularly easy to motorise 9v and later points, which seems a shame. My fantasy Lego train layout (to go in my fantasy Lego house!) would probably be a hybrid 9v-PF DCC system- assuming its possible to kit-bash some kind of pickup system. 12v though- back in the day this system was far and above anything else in the toyshop in terms of desirability and quality as far as I was concerned. Apart from playability everything else looked cheap and tacky by comparison- a bit like comparing a 1980s Mercedes S Class (back when Mercedes quality was unimpeachable) to a Russian Lada!

I do like that- interesting prototype by British standards as we've never had any electric loco here that looks anything like that (although there are a few obsolete diesels). Nice build. I notice the PF lead coming out of the back- I wonder if it would be possible to power a pf loco of that size by using an internal PP3 9v battery (or is the battery box interlinked with the IR controller)? Obviously, if you were able to go down that route, it wouldn't run very long or with many carriages with such a small battery!

Hello all, I've been lurking on this and other similar sites for many months now- I was doomed to become hooked on what for me has to be a 'virtual hobby' for the time being- until I find a job anyway and can start building up a collection again! I am 41 years old and from the West Country in England. I was an avid Lego fan for all of my childhood- despite the fact that I am dyspraxic- most dyspraxic kids shun construction toys like the plague but I loved the fact that even with somewhat limited manual dexterity, I could clip together pieces of Lego to really let my imagination soar. Of course, that was back in the 70's and 80's when the Lego colour palette and parts catalogue was far more limited to how it is now. I had quite a lot of Lego, much of it old even at the time, so I had to use my imagination to overcome the lack of parts to produce more ambitious models- a great way to learn and develop lateral thinking skills. I had bits of blue 4.5volt train and some 12v grey- but of course I couldn't motorise the whole track system so I built push trains and townscapes, as well as some Technic models. Bet that 12v stuff with the motor and transformer are worth a bit now! I played with Lego surreptitiously until I was about 16 (by then I was embarrassed to be seen playing with toys), and then I had to move out without the Lego- so that was the end of my Lego playing days. Really missed the Lego- it was perhaps the ultimate escapism for me. Almost a year ago, I stumbled upon a YouTube of a Lego meet in America- where members of various Lugs had combined to make a super-sized layout- and I was absolutely blown away by what I saw! Thereafter, I've been lurking on sites like this, downloading Railbricks, etc, but since I don't own any Lego (and I don't get on with LDD), I haven't joined up until now. Guess I don't want to miss out any longer! As soon as I get back into employment (not easy at the moment) and cleared some bills I intend to start building up my collection. I do look out for Lego in charity shops (which was where much of my childhood collection came from- Lego should always be recycled methinks). I've cetainly picked up a hell of a lot of inspiration from you guys and will be looking to raise my game far above the standard of models I was producing as a kid. Real life interests- transport, current affairs, literature, film and music.

It never ceases to amaze me how a toy building system originating in Denmark in the 1950's has evolved to such an extent that it can be used to model buildings of absolutely any culture so beautifully. This model is outstanding- makes me wish I could shrink myself to minifig size and walk around it. Love the details- such as the lighter and darker browns used on the fishing jetty to suggest wet wood. Very clever. The other colours work really well too- that yellow would ordinarily be too 'loud' to be used for a building but it really works well here.

Absolutely love this! Clever use of angles- I really like the floor tiles in the courtyard- very imaginative and great techniques on display. What really impresses is that it is very well 'layered'- even the grass isn't flat. This adds greatly to the sense of texture and realism.