Stefanwest

This is way better than the first picture. Thought the red on the front did not look right but this is impressive to me. Thanks for sharing.

The city scene in the video was my part of an exhibit for a Science Fiction convention that my local Lego club was participating in. The city was being invaded by aliens. I got the ghost train couple days before the exhibit so I wondered if I could get it to run. Just took me about 3 hours to come up with a design. Basically I took some other bogies from an extra Maresk set I have and put the large train wheels on it. Then I took a standard 9V motor to replace the front bogie of the train. Had to add couple of plates for the rear train wheels to be even with the motor. Our club will be participating in a Lego convention coming to our city this coming January. I am thinking of displaying my alien invasion city but also creating another display with the motorized ghost train along with the new haunted house coming out in September. I might add some of the other Monster Fighter sets in the mix. Either way I think the kids that will come should get a big kick out of it.

Got this set yesterday.

I have one word to say. SWEET!!!

This looks great. Was wondering if you had issues with the trucks like I did with the C30-7 Northern Burlington I made from Dan's design. For me the wheels will not turn.

I tried that before on my Santa Fe, but I found the yellow to be translucent on the sticker paper I used. The yellow lettering placed on red brick would show up with a red tint to the yellow. Mine telling us what brand of printer you used?

This is really nice MOC. Based on the pictures you provided, these MOC's are spot on. Great Job !

Very nice indeed. Was wondering how you did the decals?

Yes I do. Check out top of the post.

These new pictures are way better. I like the design of the nose on this one.

I went to a website called www.uscutter.com. There in the craft and hobbby section is the cutter I bought. It is called Silhoutte SD. I order the beginning bundle kit with extra vinyl and tools for around $250.00. I got the idea from my wife because she is starting scrapbooking. Normally the cutter is used to cut paper shapes and letters for scrapbooking but I saw that they made vinyl for the machine. That is when it hit me. I could make simple designs and logos from vinyl for my trains. The stickers in lego sets are vinyl so this should look good on my models. I have to say that this model turned out better than the Santa Fe. For more complex logos with multiple colors, I use normal label paper. But the good thing is that the software that comes with the cutter will let you print designs to a normal ink jet printer and then you put the paper in the cutter and the software will cut the design off for you. You will need some computer skill with the software but the company provides training vidoes free on their website.

All of the white decals you see that are in white vinyl. Basically I cut strips and force it around the corners. The logos and the text are also vinyl. I use a vinyl cutting machine. It works like a printer but instead of ink, it has a cutting blade. Machine can also double has a plotter printer.

I tested the train out on the track and it will need some more modification to work correctly. Problem is everything is tightly spaced together below the train. The wheels on the trucks do spin but they rub against the rods holding the lego pieces that cover the side of the trucks. The trucks are of the type with 3 sets of wheels and the middle set does slide side to side to work on curves. Also, powering the train would be challenge. That would be something to figure out.

Hello Everyone. Here is my newest creation. The modification I had to do was to slightly change the design of the trucks. Let me know what yall think. Thanks

Now that looks cool. Adding the car really makes this look good.

I can tell this is going to be good. Cannot wait till the rest is done.

Very nice and I like the clean look of this MOC. Plus, it is a blue train. :)

New pictures. See my original post. Thanks

I believe from the post on railbricks that this is 7 wide.

Here is how I fixed issue one. Take a look at the image. The black brick is 52107 1 x 2 brick with sides. The pins in the back are blocking the red 1 x 2 plate that has the center technic pin. What I did was replace the red 1 x 2 plate with another 1 x 1 red plate just like the one sitting next to it. So instead of 3 red 1 x 2 plates with the center technic pin followed by a 1 x 1 red plate, I did two 1 x 2 red plates with the center technic pin and two 1 x 1 red plates. That fix the issue. The red 1 x 4 plate that goes on top of the technic pins is now held by just two pins instead of three. To solve the lack of 1 x 2 red slopes I just used more 1 x 1 red slopes.

Thanks. I cannot take full credit. I download the plans from www.railbricks.com. But I did do the decals and I had to do some slight modifications. Some of the issues I ran into were related to this being designed by Dan Aubin and a bug in LDraw. 1. I encountered one instance of a piece being used as designed in LDraw but in reality that piece blocks the use of pieces around it. I do not think LDraw can see this conflick. I solved the issue by replacing couple pieces that surrond the blocking piece while maintaining the look as indended. 2. The parts list include an important piece that does not exist in the Lego inventory in the color required. The in the 2/3 slope brick 1 x 2 in red. Bricklink does not show it their list of valid pieces nor does Lego pick a brick. So I had to order double the number of 2/3 slope brick 1 x 1 in red.

Looking over the model, there is no room to put the battery box inside unless you remove the inside of the cab and place it in there. Also, the train is pretty heavy. I figure it weights the same as the Emerald Night. Of course, making this a 9V train would work. BTW, here are some photos of the inside of the cab.

Another Update: I was asked on this post if I had pictures of the Santa Fe pulling cars. I do. I recently bought my first set of 9V track and motors. I modified the engine to use the 9V motor. I added a closeup of the modified truck. I had to use some different color plate but I have new pieces ordered to fix that. Here is a small movie I shot with my iPhone. Here are some new pictures. Update: Train is complete except couple railing pieces. Waiting on final railing parts. I reworked the decals. The "Santa Fe" decal and the yellow train number are cut from vinyl using a cutter machine. The logo on the front was printed on white label paper but cut from same machine that cut the vinyl decals. I am still learning how to use my new toy. I really like how they turned out. The difference is that you do not see the clear film of the clear label paper. You can see the difference from the new set of pics below and the original pics. Here are new pics. This is not quite completed. I am missing couple new parts and I also need to replace some parts. I did some minor modifications because of lack of parts available and for fitting issues. Also, I might try some other modifications to the model. Overall this turned out pretty good I think. This is so far my favorite model I have built. Hope everyone likes it.

I was curious what would people think the next release of a train or rolling stock could possibly be released next or maybe wishing what would be released. Personally I would like to see individual cars or track equipment. But I am afraid that we might not see anything new for a year or two.

Picked up my copy of the freight train today in Birmingam, Alabama Lego Store. Since there is a Lego Master Builder doing a master build of Buzz Lightyear here this weekend, the store got permission to go ahead and put train on sale today. Now I have something to do this weekend. Btw. Price of the train was $159.99.