Hrw-Amen

So what solutions have people come up with for the two motors in the front engine then? I've been trying to fit in all the wires but am finding it hard to find somewhere to put the switch for making the second motor run the same way and still being able to get the roof on. Any pictures of how you have done this?

Yes they are certainly available in the UK and have been since the new year. I plan on getting either this one or the recovery truck tomorrow, have not yet made up my mind which?

Hum, just seen that as well. I've been looking daily for when the prices would be announced. It is a bit disappointing news but I guess it would be worse to get something that was not up to scratch. Lets hope he can sort it out for us all.

Out of curiosity (Not the rover.) what is a Purdu Pete? Tried Google and got the LEGO version but then got links to some American looking steam engine built on a car chasis, which is nothing like the LEGO construct? Anyway, i hope which ever it is it does not knock out the Space Troopers although a Western train would be good, but are we not getting one with the Lone Rangers theme so surely that will not win? I really want these Space Troopers to get through to battle all the other factions and to get another cool alien race alongside.

That is a very good idea using those road plates and your video shows it working a treat. Edit. Have just supported it for you. (And the rest of us!)

Nice design for a platform there. I have mine incorporated onto a baseplate that covers two tracks but they are modular so that extra bits can be incorporated if needed. I have done the same with the goods yard I am building.

I have now finished building my trains (Apart from fitting the P/F bits.) and its is looking fine. I have modified the middle truck to be another Jacobs Bogie and altered the underside of both coaches to fit with that. I have even modified the 2nd dining car to be just an ordinary passenger coach. The thing that gets me with this as well as other passenger trains even with the EN, is the lack of passengers! I mean can you really believe that any train company would get far with coaches that seated three or maybe four at a push passengers? It just looks ridiculous, even my long 46 stud coaches I built myself only manage to carry about twenty two passengers, which is nowhere near as ,any as a real coach carries. I know it is because of the width, but come on LEGO, surely you can do batter than four seats per coach!

Whilst I do understand the concern that they may have and even maybe wonder at where you got the set from, it does seem a little over the top to accuse you of stealing it even in so many words. I think at the point that was mentioned or even suggested they have gone over what is reasonable in a phone conversation and I would have probably hung up and contacted my local police about malicious calls.

Well I have to say that reading the guidelines they have quoted none of them seem to fit with your female torso. They cannot claim that they depict sex as they are fully clothes and simply represent a female body which whilst i accept most kids of the target age will not themselves have they will certainly be familiar with it in the form of their mothers and other adults around in the general world as a whole. So not sure on what grounds they are saying it does not fit with the guidelines really?

I find that the very large cardboard boxes that TLG use to ship the sets in stores loads of train related items with the addition of bubble wrap in between and they are strong enough to be stacked one on top of another. Also and more importantly, TLG send them to us for free with each set.

I would like the arms to be able to swivel into more positions but I would not want to overall mini-fig to change in its appearance. So any changes they made would have to be done in such a way that was invisible when you place an old and new mini-fig next to one another in the standard standing pose. Not sure how easy that would be to do without compromising the integrity of the figure though? Other than that leave them be, they are small enough for it to not really matter.

My cat is also quite curious about trains when they are running but rather than knocking it off the track he seems to just sit there and let it run into him before sniffing at it and patting it with his paw. When I was much younger in the era of blue 4.5V, I had a rabbit that lived most of the time in the house. He used to hop on over and pick up a blue rail in his mouth and hide it behind the chairs. He would do this continually pulling up single bits of track here and there and taking them behind the chairs until he had a big stash of them.

I have painted some bricks black in the distant past in days before bricklink and the internet in general, (around 1992.) when I ran out and needed a few to finish off a project, but I had no other way of obtaining the parts I wanted. Nowadays I would not consider it, but it is at the end of the day up to you. If you think you can pull off what you want to do. It will be interesting to see the results though so make sure you post them on here.

How have those who have built the two trains put together the third carriage? I mean have you just built it as a buffet car as well or converted it to a normal passenger car? I am thinking of making mine as a normal passenger car as to have two buffet cars seems a bit odd? Have you also is the main built an extra Jacobs bogie to join them together? I have done that but found the the Jacobs Bogie as is out of the packet was a bit sticky prone to catching on the open studs, I have simply tiled all across the top which seems to have solved it, wondered if anyone else has had this issue?

This is interesting. I recall as a child that I had a number of wooden boxes that I kept various toys in, ie. one for cars, one for plastic soldiers and so on. I never really thought about where they came from, but looking at these boxes some of the images do look an awful lot like some of those boxes. I had LEGO bought for me by my parents from the age of two years up so that would be from 1970 onwards. I am now wondering if some of it came in wooden boxes, that were afterwards put to other uses? (I do not recall having LEGO in wooden boxes, but at two years old I don't suppose I would have.) These boxes as far as I know are still in my mother's attic. It would be interesting to look and see, if only I could access it easily. Still one day I am sure I will.

I have bought a couple from Bricklink of the series 1 that I missed at the time and they had sold out in the regular 'Real toy stores' in my town. I have never had any issues. True you may have to spend a bit more but then again when you buy them in a real toy store often you end up with a few duplicates and so have paid more anyway so it is not a big issue.

Interesting color scheme there. Do you have any more trains, I see you have an EN in the background?

I have had things opened by customs both that I have sent and received. They do it quite a bit in the UK. It has never happened with an actual LEGO set, but I did have a package of BBB wheels from the USA opened before they got to me

I don't actually like the look of those large engines that look as though they are suspended between two tenders myself. They just look odd to me, I have never really liked them at all. They look as though they have been propped up to have the wheels changed and then forgotten to put them back on. I realise that is what they are supposed to look like but I don't like it. Therefore I would say go for the first one.

Nice choice of colors not sure the space ports on Earth would be that bright but who knows what the future holds?

From what I have read most people nowadays use 1 plate per brick to start and end the incline and 2 plates per brick for the middle bits. I have not tried to build much of an incline recently myself so can not say if that is good or not. I would say thought that I'd of thought the old blue track would have given more traction as if I recall from my youth it has groves all along it? I also recall from my youth that I used to build inclines at one brick per track length and that it was not very successful, but that was back in the old 4.5V days so again I could not say how a PF engine would handle it. Sorry, not a lot of help really just waffle.

Those hopper cars are really good, I like good old wagons like these, they are the staple of so many railways but often get overlooked for more famous passenger trains.

Yes children do seem to enjoy pulling them around by hand for some reason? I noticed when my mate came round the other day with his toddler, even though we had set up the track and everything with power functions he seemed to want to push it around and when we showed him how to remotely do it he lost interest? No idea why! However you could modify it quite easily and then as the children get a bit older the addition of track and then a bit later power functions could keep your little train running for many a Christmas to come incorporating things to keep a growing child occupied as they age and desires change slightly.

Yes that is a good start and the river is nice, the solution of having the track at the same level and the river lower saves a lot of bother with slopes. Is it planned to be a countryside layout, as at the moment it looks rather country side like, or do you plane to add roads and buildings later? Looks like a good start though.

Been doing something similar but I have not mounted it on baseplates due to the cost. Also I only have one track. I have been trying to get enough done to go the whole way around the edge of my living room, at the moment I only have about half the way done. It can be a killer though on the curves as I have used tons of little tiles to try and break it up and look ballasty! They cost a fortune so only two curves done at the moment and one switch. Just have to do a little at a time as I can afford it. Good to see your solution to the curves though, I may have to look into those larger modified plates as an option.