Coal Fired Bricks

Thanks for the credit. Coffie stirrers don't bend well and aren't always the correct diameter so I like to use them for anything that needs to be straight or if I want to use flex tube I experiment with those to find the correct size. NOTE a dab of hot glue may help hold them in place. -Coal Fired

Looking good

I am a PF person same with my brother but you can always put conductive tape on the rails to do something "like DCC where you can power lights through the rails so you know where your trains are. Also if you took electrical engineering course you would know how to create your own power pickups so you can power PF motors from the rails(I believe @Shupp did something like that on his empire state express).

Thank you for that. It is a sturdy loco, that was a priority because for the last 3 years I have made 4 versions of that same loco. The first was build in six wide and the detailing was poor(there was nothing covering the back side of the battery box) but it was a good runner(mostly), the second version had better detailing and was 8-wide, but still not the best detail(not all aspects were captured correctly) and it was not a great runner. The third version had nice detail but still not the best proportioned like the last 2 because I didn't make use for the mechanical drawings I had. And still the detail wasn't the best. But all three suffered the same fate, going around r40 the back half was two heavy and unsupported so it would fall off and be dragged along the track. And all 3 had a vertical drive motors which made it hard to support the rear end. This is a sturdy loco I even can hang the back end unsupported off a table with no problems. Thank you. Believe it or not, the loco is motorized with a M motor. Yes true $40 for 6 wheels isn't cheap. But the LEGO wheels are a bit small, the true wheel size is between an L and XL so I rounded and went with an L. Not sure what this means. I would love to see one of the B&A's 2-6-6 locos as those are rarely modeled and the smaller wheels would be more to scale. Lastly, there are many differnt classes I have been thinking about modeling a D-3 or D-3a and some of the measurements are here https://sites.google.com/site/bostonalbanyrailroad/home/0-6-0/0-8-0/2-8-0/2-8-2/2-8-4/4-4-0/4-6-0/tank. Bye Bye Everybody Coal Fired Bricks(not my real name)

Some more updates. B&A 4-6-6 WIP by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr B&A 4-6-6 WIP by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr B&A 4-6-6 WIP by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr Thoughts, Comments, Demands

Conner why did you have to post this. BT, Trix, and BTD have done a lot of hard work, and yes you have seen my work for NEBW where even task 11 is only $0.45 a section of track(but molds cost $3 so I need to get the cost way down) but 3d printing is not that cheap and even though bulk ABS is less expensive than potting soil you have to know how much Scot has put a ton of time, effort and money to get this idea off the ground. Yes, Europe may have more $$$ in prizes but at least US companies are giving away valuable products during a time where they may not have a ton of revenue. These companies are giving away their paycheck when they don't have much of it when they most need it. I'm sorry what you are building is not in one of the 5 categories that get the $25 and FRED that is life. -Coal Fired Bricks

Yes, I agree, many have failed but one reason I believe this is caused by is COST COST COST COST there are not a ton of people who want to pay $120 for one lop of track, I'm proposing to slash those prices in 1/2 to open the hobby up for many more people. And yes I will be doing "new products" including r72 switches, true curved switches, higher radii, and some high radii(r88) narrow gauge. Yes, I will do them for r72-r136. They should look like this: So you can use them as a curve. Also, I was thinking of doing track packages as ATLAS does. And also a "small flange" So there is Hi rail and scale. Have fun in the sun, -Conner

I wish TLG went through with the "Advanced" train line with true flex track and high radii curves. But what would be great if we had an advanced 9v system is that we could use model railroader tools such as, digitrax, DCC, Blocks, Scale speed controllers(mth has one so you can make you trains go 50 scale miles per hour). And with DCC and all of the nice hardware, we could've just used 2rail O gauge stuff and slightly modify it for L-Gauge. -Conner

I was fiddling around because I was bored and started some switches. r104 switches which one by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr Left or right. I will get the r72 and 56 pics up soon. Also, it would be funny if someone made train tracks out of gallium so they work for 9 volters but the tracks would melt in your hand. -Conner PS I know that looks like tinkercad, I DO NOT USE TINKERCAD, I use Sketchup and export the designs into tinkercad because the photos look better.

Sorry about all of the confusion, I posted the wrong photo. I took screenshots of the whole prossess and a must have chosen a "no no" photo. Will get a correct one up tomorrow when Flickr is working faster. Also about the r56 I went off of the tie #'s for 4dbrix you want the tie numbers for trix and bt I'll do them. 4d brix r56 track About the gap between r104 and r40 switches I will do some r72 switches. And also 1/2 tracks for r120-r56 I will get some higher radii out soon.

To me it is sad TLG didn't go through with this plan. It would have saved us from a lot of work. Think about it, people are willing to spend $120 on 1 loop of track when a loop of r40 is $10. We would kill for r120 that cheap. And this would have been a great setup. 12v could have been the equvalent of pre war lional O/STD gauge trains. 9v could've been our modern 2 rail O gauge trains with dcc, sound, sick speed control and amazing relism. But now we are stuck with the equvalent of a lional Cheapo RTR set that looks like a box with a boiler and wheels. 2 rail O gauge- what this hobby could've been. 12v- it's equvalent What we have. -Conner PS if this has bad grammer spell check wasn't working.

Congrats on the front page

I nearly finished all of the rails r56-120 just have to but the holes in for the pins? for storage. All the tracks in the house! by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr I did the math and I will just be doing everything in one piece. After waste is accounted for they are the same price. I may not do the rails just because they look a bit less realistic/ugly. After some requests, I will do r56 switches but no r120 (compatibility to other brands). One last announcement, I will be doing r136 switches as a "Serius Modler"(***Caugh Caugh @Cale's Y6b and others***). Bye Bye EveryBody Conner

Look if you can find a few mechanical drawings. Here is one for the rs23 but it has no mesuremets One for an ALCO s2 which is a similer loco. Also you may be able tell dimensions/proportions are correct better in a render(I like stud.io). BTW your pilot truck looks great Bye Bye EveryBody Conner(yes I have a name)

Can we post video?

Show off of all that track, thats a lot of track maybe enough to take those r40s out and make some grand curves. Really nice video.

@dr_spock I chose task 11 because it is food grade(for all the little dogs who lick Legos) and semi rigid(so you can drop it) it is abrasion resistant(think of the stress on a side rod) and lastly because it has a longer cure time(molds last longer). Don't worries the molds will be able to produce a butt ton of couplers so these should be dirt cheap for 3rd party stuff maybe $1(us)-$2(us) not sure I will have to work the math out. I want most of this stuff to be at the ME models(**don't speak of the scamming devil***) prices so $30-$40(US) for a loop of r88 will be the norm for this. For something like the couplers they are so small and take up so little space on the mold(I can put more in one mold which make the cost go down that is why I want to do rails so I can keep the price not scary) Again with the rail thing I can try to do something more like the TLG track but to keep manufacturing costs down it will be 2 parts, the rails with slots for the ties and ties. If I don't do that it will cost $60(US) for one loop of r88 vs 20$

@Matt Dawson I will be using Task 11 food grade molding resin for all parts which are very similar to plastic and Task 11 is semi-rigid so it should have some flex. I hope this answers your concern.

@weeble1688 some thing like this with some nice detail. Not sure what you mean by Could you clarify.

I bet TLG is watching this forum, taking in our feedback, and changing nothing.

Looking good in the hood. Progress. Comment Y/N on the couplers. by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr For the couplers comment y/n. Or comment if you want a casing for neodymium magnets that has the look of a real knuckle and fits the old (9v) setup. Also, a TLG compatible version of this wouldn't be bad. And yes @LegoTrainDude9231 I will be using task 11 and silicone to mold with but I will be doing the normal TLG Track Shape (not the ME models look) and the ME models look. I could do a Bessemer rail but it would be pricy because the mold will not last as long due the stress put on it, even if it is a 2 part mold. Bye Bye EveryBody, Coal Fired PS if you use Kadee of other couplers I beg you to make them nice and glossy so they match the look of TLG bricks when they are matte and the bricks are glossy it annoys the (insert bad word that has the same meaning a poo) out of me.

I Sang this song out loud when I saw the new banner. For the first time in forever we have a new theme. Now we run our trains and gleem. Our Creations and Mocs look nice and clean, we get to break away from the pains of the easter bunnys and the strange city theme Now we have our own theme For the first time in forever Bye Bye EveryBody, Coal Fired Just finished up some Sculen Disk drivers and finalised the R88 will post pics soon.

Wow, wow, wow. This is the best compressed-air locomotive I've ever seen. Some amazing use on technic for the loco. The boiler is done perfectly so it looks round. The WORKING valve gear is perfect but would look better 3d printed. One thing, it would be fun to see the thing running on lego tracks around someone's yard pulling some kids on wagons. Internally how does it work? Coal Fired

Hate to double post but here is an update (I designed in CAD to fast). This is a draft for a logo. I'm not super happy with it so I may just scrap it and come up with something new and stand-alone. New England BrickWorks. LOGO by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr These are XXL drivers in the boxpok style, it should be easy to do Scullen-disk drivers because that is very similar to what these were made from. Simple spoked may take a bit longer because I will need to make cutouts for the spindles(no clue what they are called). These drivers have the flanges slightly set back so they will not bind on curves. *****THESE ARE FINAL UNLESS YOU HAVE COMPLAINTS**** Progress on XXL drivers by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr Here are some r88 rails based on the ME style, may try to do something more prototypical shape-wise. I will do whole piece tracks once I finish the line up of the rails. The whole piece are going to be more 'lego-like' and have a more prototypical shape. ****These are not final still need to do some polishing**** Progress on r88 rails by Coal Fired Bricks, on Flickr After the update, Based on feedback here is a simplified offering based on the survey results. r56 r72 r88 r104 r120 r136 r152 All the above will be in both rails and a single-piece track. r120 switches, crossovers, etc(will have to work on the geometry to know if I will need return curves or 1/2 straights) I may do a curved switch(example in the link) https://www.google.com/search?q=curved+switch+track&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjZ7cWz5sDpAhUNSN8KHZdbA0oQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=curved+switch+track&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoCCAA6BAgAEB46BggAEAgQHlC3DVj0G2CiH2gAcAB4AIAByAGIAYgGkgEFMi4zLjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=FkbEXtmKEY2Q_QaXt43QBA&bih=892&biw=1476&client=safari&safe=strict#imgrc=GP602tGv352jFM 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 straight track may be available High radii narrow-gauge curves and switches(r56ish, 72ish, and r88ish) still may have to work on the geometry so I may ask Michael Gale about narrow gauge geometries. S, M, L, Xl, XXL drivers will all be available in boxpok, Scullen disk, and spoked in blind and flanged. Custom side rods on request. ******THE SURVEY IS STILL OPEN IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE PLANNED CURRENT OFFERING OR YOU CAN POST BELLOW WITH COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS******* Thank you, everybody, for your opinions. Bye Bye EveryBody Coal Fired PS the driver in the logo was a moc-up drawing I made to see what a boxpok driver would look like on one of my trains

I will try to do some of that. Just not sure what the geometries are. I've been thinking but would anyone like rubber flextrack. Bye Bye EveryBody, Coal Fired