Elysiumfountain

Thank you! I hadn't thought about a Poirot spin too, maybe I could have one ride the train as it winds through my city!

Well, here it is! My first train MOC that I've ever made, the Orient Express! Including a large Pacific class style locomotive similar to the Emerald Night, a tender, and a passenger car, I cobbled this together from several Bricklink orders and the LEGO Constitution Train Chase. ( I was very sad to take it apart, but it was for the greater good!) The passenger coach features opening doors, and I was able to put two lights into the roof, so it can light up at night! Here's the official story on this MOC: -Oh no! There's a Mummy on the Orient Express! Join dashing, adventurous Arthur Rutledge as he travels across Europe with several priceless artifacts to be delivered to the Louvre Museum in Paris. But be careful, his evil nemesis Cad Goldwater is also aboard, and will stop at nothing to acquire the relics. Will Rutledge be successful, or will the Orient Express be stopped by the nefarious plans of Cad? It's up to you! You can also see more photos of this MOC on the Orient Express Thriller page on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/150692089@N03/albums/72157676895085431/with/31865151642/ This project is also on LEGO Ideas to support! https://ideas.lego.com/projects/162979 We would really appreciate the support! Thank you. :) A couple extra pictures!

Most definitely, other people are good! Especially if you can find other people who share your love of building.

That would be sad though, I've always looked forward to whatever year held the next modular! I do agree though it seems like they were running out of ideas. Either that or the design team planned to make it only a certain length run of years that they released new things? I know they seem to have crammed a lot into the Assembly Square. The dentist's office and the bakery by themselves could be full-scale modulars, TLG probably just wanted them to be in one floor to wrap them up maybe? Apart from that, I may have to start saving up! Although I've spent so much money already on the Orient Express it doesn't look like it's in my budget for a while! :)

I can't say that I've ever suffered from depression, but I've found sometimes that it is indeed hard to start building again when there's been a long time between. I have a box of bricks under my bed that I'll take out every once in a while to build with, just random little things or add to some of my projects every once in a while. Or you could find some way to use bricks that sparks your interest? I'm not the most qualified person to answer this question, I would think.

All of these are so incredibly detailed! I like some of the smaller detailing on the Institute of France, how did you get those statue mini figures to lean forward like that?

I would say I just buy stuff I like. I haven't bought a large set in many years though, mainly it's been Bricklink orders that are my source of new pieces. I don't think any of the sets I originally had are in one piece anymore, they've all been applied to be used for MOCs.

The brickwork on the front of the building is phenomenal, and it's also a good choice to put the elevator gears on the front of the building for easy access, and to wow visitors! Beautiful design and gorgeous MOC!

Wow! Super intricate! I think the picture that was the coolest was the interior of the tanker cars, I would have never guessed so many pieces fit inside in that configuration to hold it together. And they look very realistic.

Well, here's my first MOC train that I've built in a while...the others succumbed to the ravages of the storage container. Unfortunately I'm away from my home and piece collection at the moment, so I only have the pictures from LDD, but in a few weeks I shall have pictures of the real version once it's made! :) (I feel bad because I'm cannibalizing my Constitution Train Chase for the large wheels, but it's for a noble cause!) I'm a big Doctor Who fan, and because I love trains, Mummy On the Orient Express has to be my favorite episode, so here's my own Orient Express! The engine is similar to the Emerald Night, based on the Pacific class of locomotives, and the passenger coach design is loosely based on the Venice-Simplon Orient Express. Other pictures won't fit sadly but that's the main picture! I had no idea designing trains was so hard! (At least, doing it without physical pieces in my hands, that is.) It's a 6-wide train technically, but the engine cab is 8 and so is the coach if you count the enormous decorations hanging off the sides! (I know the real VSOE looks slightly different, so some of the parts might be slightly exaggerated, I didn't have much space to work with). As for a (LEGO) backstory, on a snowy night in 1935 the Orient Express steams towards Paris, carrying the famous archaeologist Dr. Arthur Rutledge, along with a sarcophagus and crates of priceless artifacts bound for the Louvre. But the nefarious Cad Goldwater is also on board with plans to prevent the artifacts from ever reaching their destination! How will our hero ever escape? I'm sure he's thought of something! Please tell me what you think of it! I also uploaded it to the Ideas site, there are some more pictures, especially of the coach (which is my favorite) on there. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/160753 But don't just look at that! I'd like to know if there's anything I should improve to make this train as a MOC better? A second car, make it 8 wide? Power functions? Tell us below in the comments! Thank you. :)

I agree the stealing of MOCers designs with no credit given is wrong and disgusting! Also interesting to note, when some people buy the LEPIN sets for old discontinued sets like Green Grocer and Cafe Corner, in their collections these rip-off pieces might eventually get mixed up with regular LEGO pieces. Then the people sell a bulk box of pieces or give it to a thrift store, and then the fakes are mixed with the real pieces and no one knows which is which anymore! (Obviously the difference in quality is there, but on an Ebay thumbnail how could you tell unless it was in the description?) Scary thought...

Okay, that sounds good! Thank you so much, now I have a better sense of what to do, so it's all good to know.

What annoys EB members the most, for example what are the things that are frowned upon here, and how can I avoid them? I've read the posting guidelines, but I don't really know if there are unspoken rules, common courtesy things, and the like.

Yikes! Very post-apocalyptic indeed. I remember a time I left one of my old Creator houses on the shelf once and someone turned the heater on. It melted half of the back side bricks. A very sad day for me, and I must say the bricks looked very much like those.

It seemed to be down for quite a long time this time! I couldn't access it for the past week, until about two days ago or so! I wonder why?

Hi! Elysiumfountain here from the US! I've been building with LEGO bricks for such a long time, but I haven't actually joined many online forums before, so this is quite new to me! I enjoy creating MOCs, especially trains and overly large, heavy buildings (believe me, they're hard to carry through a door!) So happy to join this forum, I've always enjoyed reading the posts here and seeing what all's new!