izx

I'm aware of all those. That's why I said vanilla push trains wouldn't be attractive to today's 6-12 kids. The Winter Holiday train was technically Creator Expert/Christmas themed and the Hogwarts Express & Hidden Side trains are also themed. Hogwarts Express includes no track, IIRC, and only a few pieces of straight track with the Hidden Side train. The message appears to be that LEGO is confident that kids will play with these themed push trains--even without track--or they are good enough as static display pieces. That's reasonable for all three of these with the Christmas theme/rotating toy wagon, the Harry Potter theme & included station/platform 9 3/4 and the Hidden Side loco wings/AR features. But how many would put up a regular City train for static display? Or kids play with them on the bare floor? Even the Duplo trains--for a demographic that would happily play with push trains--are now permanently motorized (they use a specialized base for the loco).

Care to share where one might find these hints as to an elevated train set, other than the prominent featuring of the monorail in the first episode of the US Lego Masters show?

Yes, one motor per port. With the physical remote, you can rotate one "knob" to match the motor direction if necessary. If you use the Brick Automation Project (PC software) as an intermediary, I believe --- with some programming --- it will also let you control both motors via just one side of the physical remote.

I doubt even the lower end of the target demographic (6-12) would be enthused by a vanilla push train. Since Trains came under City, they have always been ready-to-run kits and I doubt that'll change. I suspect we also have that target age range to thank for the physical Powered Up remote; the 12+ Disney train omits it.

That's very true, but the linchpin is still the wheel holder (part 2878) and I doubt Lego will continue to produce them once the current City trains (60197/198) reach EOL. @coaster will you eventually consider making wheel holders to complement your wheels/metal axles?

You've hit the nail on the head and hammered it in. For there to be ANY chance of Lego considering a non-steam train, I think the design must be 6-wide and built on the 6x24/28 baseplates. Subway trains (including this one) are generally fairly boxy EMUs and should be doable 6-wide. Yes, there's always the paradox of how you would run one of these 'underground'. But a lot of subways run elevated/at grade once they get out of the metro area and into the suburbs though, so that's not insurmountable. Lego Ideas is just fine. It's not a direct democracy; getting to 10K isn't difficult with a bit of publicity, e.g. if you can get hold of even a mid-level celebrity Youtuber's endorsement. That's why Lego has the proprietary review process to cull unfeasible ideas, of which I'm sure the Toronto train will be one. I would love to see the station (Studgate) come to fruition. But, apart from its use of out-of-production large clear pieces as others have noted, there's also the fact that it has no cross-appeal beyond Lego train lovers. A station named after an iconic real-world counterpart (even if historical) would have a better chance even if the design necessarily took significant liberties with size and scale.

That's it, @weeble1688 Thank you so much! I figured it was a 'utensil' of some kind but didn't hit on 'wrench'. The newer 3-rib version also comes in pearl gold and medium azure!

Bravo...fantastic job! What number is that LBG piece with the hex hole fixed to the nose dish? Might come in handy for a few things and look better than the ol' 1L bar with round plate I've been using.

True, those are a decent option. Beware that their true usable capacity is usually closer to 550-600 mAh (review of similar batteries by a very well-known reviewer in the flashlight world). I'm thinking the ultimate power source, if you can fit it, would be one of these holders with 2x 18650 Li-ion batteries. High-quality Panasonic/Sanyo 18650s rated at 3500 mAh are $5 a pop and would last you for hours. All you need is 75mm of length to make sure the holder fits.

Lovely! Great details. Fascinated to discover that the originals are meter-gauge locos. I, too, wonder how this performs on a 9V alkaline battery. What kind of run-time do you get, as is? I would think that a generic 6-AAA holder (like this) would probably just squeeze into where the 9V battery sits and give you 750mAh of rechargeable capacity (9V batteries are nominally 200 mAh).

It's not--it would be up to Sbrick to update their firmware to make it compatible. Why not try the excellent Brickcontroller2 app along with any bluetooth Gamepad with your Sbrick?

Thanks a lot for the clarification! Light blay would be very nice, although I would probably paint (or even black Sharpie) the outwardly-exposed portion of the rigid fake third wheel. Edit: just noticed in the dedicated thread that V2 of the sides solves this problem by allowing a real LEGO wheel. Since I don't have any especially valuable 9V motors, I'll try this hard mod on a PUP motor before reaching out. Edit: Now that V2 allows a grey frame with a real black dummy wheel, I'll probably get one set soon. That's truly bizarre. The physical locomotive design can't be protected by copyright (although a blueprint can), and any design patents on the exterior of a classic diesel locomotive--if a model, let alone model instructions, could even infringe those--are certainly long expired. All that's left are owner/RR trademarks...from this 2004 article about UP suing Lionel and Athearn: (AFAIK UP withdrew the lawsuit after an uproar in the model railroading community.) It looks like your currently available instructions are free of references to any RR. Maybe ReBrickable's premium instruction service (with automated fulfillment) is of interest? (this would, IMO, also make your creations more accessible) Hmm, from the very recent Bricklink AMA with TLG's chief marketing officer Julia Goldin: This would suggest they intend to go beyond the letter of the TOS and disallow all custom parts.

Hmm, I thought TrainedBricks had escaped the banhammer. Really like the new site layout though! PS: I noticed the fake 3-axle train motor sides you have on Shapeways...do you plan to make those available yourself?

The stock 60197 locomotive is quite light (even with PUP battery box). I think adding a little weight in the empty space between the cabin and battery box mount would help it, especially at speed on R40 curves. 1x1 plate towers, perhaps?

Well, that may not strictly be true. It appears @Cosmik42 only recently reappeared on the FB group. The group is public, i.e. no account required to simply read posts/comments. As it's public, I can share what the author posted on FB a week ago (January 6, 2020): Hopefully he will reappear here too shortly!

Thank you for the quick response and the material science tidbit. They do slide very nicely with no wobble (definitely a finger saver). A slight downside of this is it's no longer possible to quickly test the bearings by holding the axle, giving the bearing a spin and holding it close to the ear to see if it spins smoothly. On to more testing! Has anyone tried (supposedly) higher quality bearings (~$1/bearing, e.g. Avid), or is it best to keep playing the AliExpress 50-for-$10 lottery?

I'm testing @coaster's axles with the generic MR52ZZ bearings and find that they seem to fit too easily in the bearings, e.g. put them on an axle, and if you turn the axle upright, the bearings will begin to slide off. Have others experienced good results without "tightening" up the BrickTracks axle-to-bearing-inner-ring connection? Maybe a loop or two of thin transparent tape to would help the bearings fit "tighter"?

1N4001s would work, but are large & probably too heavy-duty (can sustain 1A continuous forward current). With the 510R resistors, a 9V supply and a 1.4V diode drop, you're at less than 30mA. The standard small signal diodes (1N914/1N4148 -- 150-300 mA) are tiny and will work just as well. I think PuP PWM is at least 1 KHz? In that case the capacitors aren't strictly necessary.

As a fellow beginner in this area, I can heartily recommend HoMa's book ^^^ (Treni Lego - Ediz. a colori) as an EXCELLENT guide on how to start building train MOCs with LEGO.