icemorons

Looks great!!

Don't forget about the Ford Anglia... It would have seats.

I think they've replaced the batteries with some sort of "power receiver" element, which then generates the necessary electrical power from the infrared, radio, microwave, whatever - beam that is embedded in the light above. Shut off that power transmitter, and I'd imagine all trains stop immediately. At least that's what I've gleaned from watching the videos. I share those concerns, as it's not inherently clear HOW they are conveying the power...

Has anyone seen this? Apparently it's been shown at the 2018 CES. The example used at the show was several 60051 trains, WITHOUT batteries. This could be a liberating technology for us train aficionados, if it proves to work reliably, and without side-effects... I'm not an advocate, nor do I have any vested interest in Wi-Charge. I merely saw the video on YouTube and it intrigued me. Thoughts, anyone? Here's another video... I'd love to have something like this above my future layout. Imagine not having to swap out, or even charge, batteries any longer.

@sheo Really nice work! I'd like to see how you synchronized all those doors! Good show!

Is there anything you build that I don't want to steal for my own collection?! This looks great! I've thought about doing a MOW train, and what car types I might want to have, but you've taken it to the next level! I'm not sure there was ever a bay window AND cupola on the same caboose, usually they are either-or, but I love it! It just works... (No pun intended, since it's a work train...)

That's quite the nice fleet you have there! They all look great! There's just something about the curving of the nose on the blue streamlined engine that makes it look best to me. You should be very proud.

Love the look of the streamlined locomotive! Nice job on that observation car with the rear platform, too!

@Steamdemon I think I misinterpreted slightly what you were asking, but I based on @ColletArrow's clarification, I believe you'll have a much easier time with the build if both sets of drivers are on swiveling bogies, as opposed to fixed to the frame. If you intend to power the MOC, you should make sure all the main drivers are powered, otherwise you'll likely end up with slipping axles as the weight will be spread out over so many axles and large a distance.

This looks great!! Much prefer it with the extensions.

Although it's undoubtedly more complex, I would make both sets of driving wheels powered. Using the large lego wheels with flange for the outer and inner axles of each segment, and the flangeless driver for the center axle of each segment, you should be able to power all the wheels in each segment via connecting rods. This assumes that you'll articulate the model in between segments. If it's rigid, use flangeless drivers on the outer and center axles and only use the flanged wheels on the innermost axles. So long as the distance between each of the segments is relatively close, it should still negotiate curves. But look out for the overhangs at each end if that's the route you intend to go...

Nice! I like them! The flight of three of them together look great!

Hoppers are usually drab and boring. Personally, I like the orange, green and blue ones best. Add a splash of color to your rolling stock!

Personally, I prefer 4204, in almost every respect, compared with 60188. The train is much nicer. The drill is much more believable compared with the behemoth in 60188. There's a much better truck, and even a crane. The only areas where 60188 may be better is the inclusion of a tipper, the shape of the gold nuggets themselves, and perhaps the minifig selection. I do have 4204 in my collection. However, I won't purchase 60188 unless I find it heavily discounted. Who knows, they may both work well together in a rocky, mountainous corner of my eventual city some day...

Is it still possible to get a free sample to review?

Looks like TLG may inadvertently sell a lot more of the 60188 Mining Experts Site then they may have bargained... Just from people wanting to accumulate (or part-out) the LBG straight rollercoaster track. That set has the highest amount of straight pieces that we've seen so far, I believe.

I haven't been able to find them... Any assistance you can provide? Thanks!

The biggest issue with the IR receiver is that it needs to be placed at the top (or facing the outside, if used sideways) of the entity, in order to maintain line of sight. Without the line of sight restriction, it could be buried deep inside whatever you've created. With this consideration, its size becomes less of an issue. Unless the creation is some kind of small shunting locomotive, also wanting to employ a train motor and battery box in a minuscule package, where every surplus brick is a concern, a separate BT receiver "brick" should be fine.

From what I read on (translated) zusammengebaut today, "The trains can also be controlled by tablet or smartphone - Old trains are "convertible", how exactly this is done, but we were not betrayed yesterday." This makes it seem like there's going to be backwards compatibility, in some manner. Perhaps, if the connectors do change, TLG will release a new "extension cable" similar to the 8886 / 8871 which incorporated both 9V and PF connectors. I've posted the source link below. I had google translate the page to English, so the wording may be somewhat lacking context. For instance, I interpret "betrayed" as "told". http://zusammengebaut.com/lego-city-gueterzug-60198-und-passagierzug-60197-mit-power-functions-2-0-43773/

...and a new Bluetooth transmitter. Either LEGO's own, or an app through your smartphone/tablet. This is the best case scenario. The battery box and train motor and connectors would all remain the same. FYI, I contacted TLG customer service yesterday to inquire about the currently "out of stock" 88002 train motors on shop.lego.com. They said it is "temporarily out of stock", meaning that there is no known date yet for replenishment, but that they will be getting them back in. The CSR said there is no indication that part 88002 is retiring anytime soon.

Absolutely love the "raw, industrial" look of this ideas submission. It's earned my support!!! Mine was vote 2452, for the record. If this were to be approved as an ideas set, I would definitely buy one.

Are you sure you don't live at my house?? I've got a similar situation with my dining room, which I'm trying to "reclaim" by creating a layout in the attic and moving all the LEGO up there... WIP is an understatement!

Trying your suggestion, @ColletArrow Ha, sideways!! I'll have to check them on my computer. Maybe I need to fix the orientation and re-upload to Bricksafe. Orientations look correct on my PC. I sent an email to bricksafe. We'll see what they say.

Thanks, @ColletArrow! I've created a Bricksafe account and will post the link shortly. Here is a link to the Bricksafe page where I have stored the images. The first two images are the Version 1 rendition. The following 6 are from Version 2. https://bricksafe.com/pages/icemorons/moc_ge_65t_switcher Bricksafe seems to have the images stored upside down. Although they display properly in the overview page, when you click to view the individual files, they are mostly upside down! I've checked to see if they can be edited, but there's no "rotate" option.

Last night, I created version 2.0 of this MOC. I completely rebuilt the front hood, moving the IR receiver toward the cab by one stud. It still shows too much LBG for my liking, but the other radical idea I had of turning it 90 degrees and sharing space inside the cab with the driver was a non-starter. I had forgotten that the end of the IR receiver that I was going to use as the cab wall also contained the channel selector switch. That would have been even more of an eyesore. Upgrades: The front hood is now 8870 headlight ready -- although I still don't have one to install. The brackets on that end were replaced by Erlang headlight bricks. I used a hidden bracket structure to mount the front panel grille, which also had to be redesigned to accommodate the headlight design. The base of the cab now has the angle which was present on the source GE 65T design. Initially I used DBG for the angle bricks, maintaining only the single-plate red line underneath. But, I felt that the DBG made things too drab, obscuring this detail, so I swapped red for that first line of bricks on the lowest part of the cab. It presents as a bolder thickening of the red throughout the cab base. I like it slightly better, some others may not. The battery box has been made extremely easy to remove for battery maintenance. Simply remove the cab canopy, then the entire battery box can be lifted -- it's only secured by 4 studs now. The remainder of the red stripe base is tiled. I was able to achieve symmetry on the exhaust stacks on both hoods. They are both offset from center, slightly to the left, to aid visibility to the minifig, who is offset slightly to the right. I have more pictures to post, but am being thwarted by the draconian size limitations. Initially I was able to post up to 60k, now I'm limited to only 40k. Is there a way to get around this?