mikka says

wow, that was a stunning peice. everyone telling edmond he's ugly had me and my sister in stitches watching the movie. loved it, every single moment. thankyou

i really am looking forward to this set, because of the parts. it's nice to see lego trying to get as much use out of those large locomotive wheel toolings, and the black cowcatcher one thing that would really top lego off in the way of trains, is a city park with a plinthed steam loco on it. like a 2-8-0.

mining train..... seems like something thats rarely touched by the train community

Okay question one, Yes. i totally cant wait, im planning on buying tickets in the next week. and Question 2,the fact with LDD, i find it easier with larger models as i honestly dislike some of the Mlcad interface. the fact you cannot lock bricks in position and the model even though losing some parts through the export, the model is mostly pre-built to finish off in ML. EDIT- @Brickster, all images are under the image size, apologies for my ignorance of rules

UPdate- the locomotive has successfully been completed in ML cad, and on bricklink purchasing parts...

oh ha! another melbournian, yup, im joining M>ltc this year. just working on rebuilding the model in MLcad, one thing that does annoy me somewat about the exporting progress is that you loose some bricks... but apart from that im happy with my progress :)

Hi all, ive been not around for a bit (due to pressures with finishing school ) but, i'd like to show you all of something that i am working on at the current time. using 6 wide, i found it impossible to get the lage chunky look to the model. so to counter this, i used a 7 wide body to get the look. the widening also inadvertently gives a lot of extra room to mount a motor and Power functions equpiment. Although there is more room, im still looking at the possibility at adding 2 9v batteries, intead of a batery box to cram more in. also i dislike the the "blocky" look of smokebox, so it has been modified to make it look more like the emerald night's boiler. seeing as when i can get my brick lists on bricklink, i hope to make this and hopefully will be rubbing shoulders with an EN. next render will be on mlcad with some BBB wheels.... till then, Mikk

that is....wow....i truly am in awe of your ingenuity, most people would go with a system of using metal wheels (not sure where) and obtain pick up from there. you my friend, wow, its just amazing that resource and sagacity arises from the lack of a marketable 9v train motor...

My absolute favourites would have to be the my own train large tender and tank engines... they got me into the lego trains and i still have one. wow...lego train nostalgia

How about the power functions motor block? I've seen one of the chaps on brick shelf do an 08/09 shunter with one. And with the medium BBB wheels, just add another pair of blind wheels to the front. Cheers - Mikka EDIT. my deepest apologies for the misread of the last several posts...im so impertinent. well the guy who made the class 08 is Sekiyama found here sekiyamas 08 and "f1963" has sort of adapted it to his br80. BR80 f1963 so.. i will have a bit of a muck about with mlcad tonight to see if the use of the motor is possible for a larger loco... my thoughts are pinned on a NSWGR 19 class 0-6-0 tender loco or an LNER E4, which is a 2-4-0 but its pretty british

well, im going to put my 2cents on the topic of these, i purchased some of the stock in april, and have had some time to look at it and find the problems for a ref, here are the numbers i got... #637 (4 wheeled box van) #633 X2 ("entan thanker wagons) #634 X2 (MoT hopper cars) #627 (Derwent grange loco) #628 X3 (enclosed red coaches) #638 (MoT-esque loco) the only pure knock offs are the entan tanker and the hopper cars, the my own train like loco has a fair bit of difference in the locomotive itself while the tender is an exact clone. with the my own train original, the 2x2x2/65deg slopes only have a 2 stud gap inbetween each slope and a 4 stud gap between the rear slope and the front of the cab. The enlighten appropriation, theres a 3 stud gap between slopes and a two stud between the last slope and the cab. also enlighen have incorporated a lage door into the sides of the cab, this means the whole cab has had to be modified to suit the new door ways. the detailed sides on the loco have also been moved back 1 stud, and then you have their prints and funnel.One thing that irritated me about the loco is that the front bogey does not have the extra detail at the front (bricklink fixed that up :) ), all in all a good cheap loco. all of the stuff in its construction is like lego. and the discolouration in the bricks themselves is at a minimum. so not bad quaulity...untill.. i decided on doing a drop test.... the loco seems to fall apart like the lego my own train loco, just a word of warning though, the couplers and the bogie connector plates are a little easier to break, so if passing to a smaller child, make sure you have some backup parts just in case ;) also it may seem biassed, but the red coaches fit absolutely fine with my rolling stock, the design harks back to the 9v and the coach itself is very much like the ones on the metro liner. i paid $12 for each of the sets and they seem to be worth the money. when i join M>LTC next year, hopefully they'll get a run. P.S. i have been on a forum where one of the reasons it closed was because of knock offs like these, (anyone know of g scale mad?)and honestly, i hope not to see a repeat.. Cheers Mikka

i still am under the opinion of locomotive types they havent touched for a while, diesel and steam shunters. firstly would be to make an adaption the the allready existing small train wheel as made by TLG, with holes for con rods therefore utilising thinner technic bars as rods, and the use of a PF medium motor could do the trick for the engines' size. and a small 0-6-0 steam or diesel model could be a viable proposition. this type of set could be alot smaller than existing City train sets, with an oval and a siding. some 4-wheeled rolling stock (say 2-3) would make a brilliant entry into the train system, also giving us some more desperately needed rollingstock. have this as an updated style of the old 12v era, could make it into a classic-ised set like the 10001 metroliner. looks like when im done, you'll have more than 2 cents XD this is my take on such a model, all of the PF components fit neatly inside the model. i made a dummy 88000 AAA battery box to testsizing, and it should work okay

a couple of 2x4 bricks and a coupler with no magnet usually does the trick (thanks to the old couplers) but a PF one could lock the cars into place if you make it a siding ;)

Wow..im mean WOW! this is brilliant model and shows just how little space power functions can take up if used correctly :D nice work

looks like someone really caught the bug :D well not to be batting for enlighten brick at all, but all i can say is if you need a heap of straights, try the enlighten knockoffs, you know somewhere out of sight would be a rather cheap way to boost length while only paying about $10 for a box.

okay, lego track is not too hard to find, but i do think a trip to ebay or bricklink to be nesscessary in your case. with trains around outside...im not too sure, from what i can tell none of the track in production would be able to last outside for a definitive amount of time. so if you would like to run trains, your best bet would be to make your own wheatherproof track. apart from that, the trains should run just fine... in response to your last comment, making a track layout is something that can be done time and time again but does become a little irritating. maybe even a ceiling layout. from what ive heard, these are brilliant for running trains.. hope this helps Mikka

yes the town house has become a station :Dand his method is in railbricks magazine issue 6 the pdf link still, the emerald still is over 8 studs wide, the custom rods are there to make the motion more visually enticing. honestly you will need to widen the doors regardless....sorry bout that mate. i honesltly looked at tunnel portals and am leaving my line without a tunnel for the moment.

hi all, i guess yove seen me sort of pop up suddenly in the train tech forum. well i signed up straight after my eighteenth. well the parents were away and left an allowance of $150 Au for me to get myself a present with, and i got an emerald night on sale at my local myer store for $120! i must say its a far cry from the other two my own engines i used to own. its funny how fast you you can become re-addicted to a hobby :D well one thing just didnt add up to me...the technic rods. even though this is lego and TLG im talking about, it seems perfectly normal. but decided to have a try at Uli Meyers rod method.it slims the loco down alot. and it also gives room for a better buffer beam. and had a go at modifying a building into a low releif train station. i plan to use it on a shelf layout around my bedroom when time permits. :) so..yeah, thats about it from me. i just cant beleive how big "l" gauge is now... apologies to the images, quickly took them on a webcam and if you wanna see any extra detail... brickshelf gallery

well looking at the power functions issue, it isnt really one at all.i personally dislike the ugly receiver sticking out from the boiler of the emerald night, so i use 9v parts. the RC receiver is somewhat of a downfall for TLG, i remeber when you could power a loco by chucking a motor block underneath. but seeing as these days have passed, i came up with a rather ingenious solution.. if you can ge a short, spare PF extention cable, wiring the both ends up to a regular RC circuit chip may save some heartache in ruining the look of the Maersk. (try this on your own risk!)all you need it a wire receiver, which is less obtrusive than the one designed by Lego. -enjoy mikka

its funny how things work together, i didnt want miss out on the emerald night myself, and im now planning an L gauge layout around my room. butits nice to seepeople like me that are returning back to the lego and its train system. Cheers

well he has stated there will be further releases with buyer support and patronage so hey, im thinking its time to buy up :3

enlighten, reverse engineered their range of track. but really who cares we have new 9v stuff in the range. ME models really has the 9v community with a rope around their necks and i dare say will bring in a fair bit of sales for their new track.

just realised it will cost me only $30 to replace all my straights...and then the lego stuff can retired to the shelf :D thankyou so much for the release of this, it means i can get my motor brick to run than more than just a 9v battery box. it gives us hope for a range for Lgauge that will complement the existing lego sets. so raise your glass to new era. thankyou MEmodels.

well railbricks is true, salvation for 9v fan in the form of track is here... when i figure out paypal in next week, i will most certainly buy some :D

will we see some pickup metal wheels with it? im really chuffed about this!