Supplement_Creatif

Congratulations on winning the steam category! An absolutely stunning model! And what a beautiful shot of your locomotive on that layout!

Fantastic looking locomotive. It is so captivating seeing the engine run and preform switching in your video. Steam modelling has so much life to it with the connecting rods moving. I am sure it's not an easy undertaking getting to work. cheers,

@Paperinik77pk Thank you for the kind words! Much appreciated cheers,

Thanks everybody for the kind wishes and words. Much appreciated. Ouuufff that doesn't sound the least bit pleasant! Definitely a day you won't forget, hopefully the photographer either for next time they planned on doing a shoot! cheers,

Not 2, but 3 iterations! Absolutely incredible models and great reading about the history of the transitions. Every time I see a steam engine such as this it boggles my mind. That running gear is beautiful! cheers,

A very interesting discussion about the viability of TRAIN as a theme for LEGO. Being new to the hobby I don't have too much to add to the discussion. However from what I have seen so far of the AFOL TRAIN scene is that most Train specific parts that LEGO produces are not used besides a few such as 55423c01 and the other sizes of both flanged and non flanged wheels. The magnetic couplers which are no longer separable and the plastic independent wheels for wagons are not readily used either as options such as wheel bearing sets and 3rd couplers exists. I may be very wrong however most Train AFOL's strive for accuracy in their models drives them to purchase 3rd party parts. The train parts that LEGO produces are more for their cargo and passenger train releases every couple years or so. That being said. I do remember when the EM was released and my brother was peering over at the screen over my shoulder and told me that I should buy it. I didn't and now somewhat regret that a little. My thinking is along the same lines as most I beleive. If the Orient Express is L-Gauge and not a kin to the Hogwarts express I definitely might consider buying it. However the cost of such a model is most likely going to be around 250 and up and therefore I may instead rather invest in another piece of rolling stock which fits the current layout that I am working towards. cheers,

Hello Hello, Here we are, the 24th of October and I am calling it done! I had a busy last week and over the weekend I was able to work through some solid hours and get it to a stage where I am happy to call it done. Just in time too before starting the move back across the Atlantic. So without further ado here we are, the St. Boniface Golf Course Bridge. It's the middle of January and all the rivers in the Peg have frozen over. Serge has taken his shovel, sticks, pucks, and his skates down to the river. After clearing the ice, he skates around and works on his stick handling. Something has caught his eye and he stops for a little break. It's Susie the Squirrel who's come to say hello to Steve the Snowman that proudly stands about. It's not uncommon to catch a glimpse of deer or foxes wandering about the forests that snake around the rivers bends. A quick overall view of the winter scene before spring comes along and breathes new life to the area. Ah it's summer time and everybody is enjoying the warmth and sunshine. Bernard and Melissa, the newly married couple are taking photos before they let their hair down at the reception and tear up the dance floor after a lovely meal. But what's this?! the Fernando the Photographer does not look the least bit happy. Has he broken his camera?! Is the sun not right for the shot?! What is he trying to say?! Golf... Cart... a Golf Cart?! Oh no!!! Looks like Garry the Golfer didn't get the memo and has careened off the ramp of the East bank and is headed straight for the married couple. They haven't a clew that their special day is going to end badly. Hopefully the Garry the Golfer can stop his cart in time... A quick look at the summer fiasco. And the reason we're all here to begin with, the old flatcar. It's looking a little less shiny since the day it proudly rolled off in its bright red paint. But it's still carrying a wide array of freight from beautiful weeding vows, to the local golfers, and the heavy weight of winters cold coat of snow. And there it is! the final transformation of the flatcar as a local pedestrian bridge at the golf course. I hope you enjoyed the WIP of this build, the final two models, and the little narrative I weaved together for this build. Cheers,

I saw your model first on Instagram and wow! It looks very much organic and captures the original photographs perfectly. Fantastic!

Hello Everyone, Thanks @zephyr1934 for the kind words. Also quite hilarious as well, who knew right! Funny enough, my brother and his wife, and my cousin and his wife!, had their wedding reception at this golf course... I'll have to ask them where they took their photos. here's a quick little update. Been busy looking at museums for the last little while therefore didn't get as much work done as I expected but hey, still a couple weeks left... right? I started work on the first river bank of the bridge. Hashed out a little scenery and took a render to see how it was shaping. So far I am quite happy with it. Just need to keep on trucking along now. cheers,

Hello everybody, Time for part two! But first! Thanks for the welcome Hod Carrier and the kind words. I am sure you will score highly as well on the "change factor", I've been following you model since the start and it's fantastic! Also thank you for reminding me of the platform of the contest. I was planning on taking a look at the BMR Flickr page and you friendly reminder definitely helped me out of procrastinating much longer. Time for an update! My initial plan was to have the bridge and all its surroundings well underway by the end of today but yesterday I got quite frustrated with the railings and seeing as it was such a sunny day (I nice break from the liquid sunshine this part of the UK is getting) I had to go for a brisk walk. So the progress, although slower than I thought is still no too bad. The overall shape, and structure of the bridge is complete. Now the next step is to add the river under the bridge, and the two banks it connects. The skeleton holding the ramps and the bridge columns have been masked in the renders. I have added a screenshot of some of the wedding promo photos *highly detailed engineering reference photos* to give an ideal of what this thing is supposed to look like. Just in case I need it: Disclaimer: ***these photos belong solely to Chris Jensen Photography and are not my own***. In the following days I will try to get some nice photos taken from the folks back home. As always any and all feedback are more than welcome. cheers,

Hello everybody, I decided to try my hand at ocTRAINber this year. Let me start with a quick anecdote first. A few winters ago I was cross country skiing on the Seine River in St. Boniface when I passed under a foot bridge at the St. Boniface golf course. I can't remember why I decided to stop under the bridge, must of been to warm up with a cup of tea or something, but I stopped and had a look under the bridge. I noticed that the bridge had some strange linkages under it and what appeared to be air tanks and such here and there. Puzzled by it, the answer finally hit me, holy smokes this used to be a flat car! I couldn't believe it and next time I went skiing with my cousin I had to show him what I found. And here we come to my shock when I saw the theme for this year's ocTRAINber. I learned that this was somewhat of a practice not only relegated to this golf course's foot bridge. Other such uses of cars as bridges are a thing! So here we go. I find myself on the other side of the Atlantic for a month, however with access to a Laptop, so a quick download of studio and we're off! Now the first problem solved we get to the second problem. Besides from what I remember, I don't have any personal photos of the bridge, and all that I can find online are a few promo photos for wedding shoots, which unsurprisingly, has a focus on the bride and groom, and less about the underneath of the bridge. So from the one wedding promo photo reference photo I have, I cross referenced it to other flat car bridges and looked up older flat cars as well. Therefore this flatcar is not based on any one prototype, rather it is based on similar looking flatcars. I was able to bang out this flat car in an afternoon as everything seemed to line up the way I wanted it to. In the next couple of days I plan on tackling the second part, the whole bridge part of the build, and ideally by next week I have two models which I can slowly pick away at and refine. Things I want to do are: 1-get some brake lines and linkages under the flatcar to flesh it out more. After all without those linkages I would of never known! 2-get the feel of how the bridge is currently used in a couple of seasons in one diorama 3-make the deadline So without further anecdotes and to make a long story short, here's the first couple of renders: cheers,

@Murdoch17, @Toastie, and @JopieK, thank you for the replies in terms of the question I had about thread posting. I appreciate the information and will try to keep such questions to the TRAIN TECH Help, General Questions & Talk to the Staff thread in the future. Thanks for the comments Freebee, definitely didn't take any of it in a bad way, it's always great having more eyes looking at things. In terms of the "cowcatcher", the reference photos that I found of the prototype seem to have multiple different front ends, some with cowcatcher, some with snow plow, some without anything at all. I decided to model based on the second photo which I posted with the model in the first post. I opted for that version as the cowcatcher seemed a bit too daunting of a task. You're absolutely right that there is a horn, I omitted the detail my first go around but might add it in later. Same with the red and yellow dots allow the base. In terms of the stickers, I find it mind boggling the brick built solutions people on this forum come up with for stripes. I'l stick to stickers for now, maybe one day I'l get there. Thanks again for the comments everybody. cheers,

What a beautiful locomotives! The stilling looks almost more European than North American. I also love the brick built stripe, fantastic!

Thanks for all the positive comments and advice with regards to solving my switch problem. Since July I have been away from my collection and therefore could not look into it further however once back home in mid November I should be able to take a look and apply all the feedback received. I have a few projects on the go right now which will need some decals and will get a new set with proper spelling. I was so excited to get these when it came to checking them over I didn't take that good a look. Thank for the advice, I will definitely look into putting some bushings to prevent the bevel gears from going anywhere as well as taking a close look at eye level to see any areas which could cause the friction. In terms of getting a city train pack, I definitely have my eye out on second hand markets (kijiji and market place) to hopefully get something. I recently ordered another half circle of 104 to go around the Christmas tree this winter. I am still new to this but forgot how much fun it is to watch a little train go around something, or for now at least for myself, go back and forth a straight piece of track ahaha. Thanks for the heads up icemorons. I will look at the interference with those plates... as I said earlier I am away from my home therefore I'm not sure how much those plates are holding up... hopefully if they are the problem my trucks are going to start falling apart Lastly I just wanted to ask a question with regards to old threads. I imagine this isn't the ideal place but it is topical seeing that I am answering to this a few months after the last reply. How long would a thread be considered "dead". I imagine with big projects which last a couple years there would be time periods of possible months were no reply is made. Is there a certain amount of time where it is no longer deemed acceptable to post a reply to a post? thanks and cheers,

Thanks for the kind words everybody! Nice spot! Funny that after looking over these decals for so long I hadn't even realised! Well atleast it's spelt like its pronounced haha. Your absolutely right that a little slice would rectify it, but I have to admit I'am a little scared to mark up the bricks underneath, to slice or not to slice, that is the question. Thanks bogieman. When modeling the hood there was definitely a back and forth whether or not to make it 5 wide to have the grille tiles. The front shape was definitely something that I was going back and worth on for a long time. The prototype having that slight angled front was a cause of many a headache. Ultimately I went for a the curved piece on the model which I think approximates it and keeps the feel of the locomotive. I am quite new to this hobby and I was wondering if anybody could give a suggestion at all for running this loco. Since up until recently I only owned some straight sections of track for display, and that I figured I am probably a good 5-7 years down the line of actually ever making a layout, I never really designed this loco to run. I did design a few alternatives to make it more runnable as seen in the UP livery render. But I definitely designed this the wrong way around for it to run, very much more designed as a display. The addition of the circuit cubes was for me to run it eventually and to go back and forth on my display stand. Also the size on the cube made it the perfect fit, although looking at some of the creations here, its incredible the even tighter spaces people end up fitting it in. Recently I bought some R104 curves and switches. I would like to eventually run a train around the Christmas tree and so that my nieces can play with it, instead of going back and forth on my display stand as fun as that is. I tested it out and it runs very nicely around the curves however I can't seem to make it through the switch. I definitely have more testing and observing to do to see where the wheels might rub on the undercarriage and ladders, but I was wondering if I was missing something obvious with my Drive Train that would make it difficult to navigate the switch. I will be doing more research looking at the various drive trains on this forum but I was wondering if there was a quick spot that would be obvious. For loco's this scale, do I need a diff? Is the fact that all 4 axles are driven are creating rubbing which makes it harder to navigate? Should I be only powering the wheels on one side? The attached photo shows one of the bogies. Both are identical and are powered directly each with its separate motor. Thanks for any comments, and suggestions. cheers,

After a little big short absence, I would like to present my first completed (for now at least) MOC. This is a GE 44-ton switcher which is quite close to home. Before going over the model, here’s a little back-story. The city of Winnipeg, in building the aqueduct which would supply fresh water to the city, built the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway, the GWWD. This would be a 164 kilometer long railway to assist in the construction and maintenance of the aqueduct. The railway was built between 1914 and 1916. The aqueduct was completed in 1919. After the completion of the aqueduct, the railway continued to operate, providing passenger service for workers and carried freight to and from Shoal Lake, the lake from which the aqueduct draws its water. Mixed train service stopped in 1981, and today the railway still operates as freight only and continues maintaining the aqueduct. I came to know this little railway one day driving through St. Boniface in Winnipeg and thought it was such a cool thing. After buying the book ‘’The Muskeg Limited’’ which describes the life of the railway, its locomotives and more, I decided I had to try my hand at modeling something of this railway. I settled on the GE 44-ton locomotives, 4 of which were in service from around 1946 to as late 1994 when they were mostly sold to the Ontario Southland Railway. The railway operated a couple RS23’s, and an MS13 and MS10 however in the present day, the railway still operates a restored GE 44-ton locomotive as well as its RS23’s. A bit of story on the GE 44-ton locomotives. These were produced by General Electric in direct response to new union laws trying to protect fireman jobs in the transition days from steam to diesel. The new union laws made it so any locomotive weighing above 45 tons would require both an engineer and a fireman. Therefore these switchers were produced at 44 tons, therefore not requiring a fireman to operate, reducing operating costs. The locomotive I decided to model is number 101. Purchased new in 1946, it was retired in 1990 and sold to the Ontario and Southland Railway in 1994. It sports a great black, yellow and grey livery. I started modeling this prototype in the fall of 2020. Colour availability for some of the parts and not knowing how to fit in internals to make it move stopped me and I decided to try and model other things. A few WIP’s projects later, I was perusing bricklink, and the parts I needed in the colours I needed were now available. At the same time articles on this forum started to appear about circuit cubes. I had everything I needed now. The parts ordered and arrived, I assembled the model in the early summer of 2021. At this point my Sudio file was sent to Andy at OKBrickworks and I started hunting for suitable tubing to make the railings. At this time I also started attended a Seamanship School in the east coast and was only able to get back to the model when I’d be back home in the prairies in December. Back home for the holidays, I eagerly applied the decals and the hunt for railings began again. I finally found electrical wire of the colour I needed, however its diameter is a little shy and therefore the railings are too flimsy for my taste, however for now they do the job. I hope you enjoy the photos and my ramblings. I have also added some renders of a Union Pacific Livery with the normal hood which is seen on all but the Greater Winnipeg Water District units. Lastly big thanks to Andy at OKBrickWorks. Having seen his other work I knew I wanted him to make the decals I needed and they look absolutely fantastic. They take a pretty square looking model and elevates it incredibly! Any and all comments and suggestions (especially for a rigid 3mm tube substitute in yellow) are always welcome. Cheers,

Beautiful locomotive. The colours are great!

Beautiful looking Caboose and as many have said before the interior looks just as great as the exterior. cheers,

Such a beautiful locomotive. I don`t know much about German Loco`s (or any loco`s for that matter) but the red under carriage with the black body is such a slick look. Is this typical of german, or european, locomotives? As many have commented before the use of those roller skates are great! In terms of getting the lights going, did you have to bore a hole through that red 1x6 tile to get those wires through or are the wires cleverly routed somewhere else? cheers,

Just got my bluetooth kit earlier this week. Wow what an easy thing to use!. Just plug and play and you`re off the races. Prototyping is such a breeze! I am really excited to see what people come up with with this line of products. cheers,

What a great review and a great product. This is exactly the thing that I was looking for a project of mine that got stalled. Now I have something to fit into a little diesel shunter. Also really liking the way your elephant is looking so far, such a cool prototype. It`s too bad you don`t have some type of affiliate link since I already have a kit on order! cheers,

Thanks for all the comments everybody! @zephyr1934 Thanks for the info with regards to the welded on signs. Looking into it more it seems that a lot of them are welded on by the first owners. In Manitoba at least it seems that in the late 70`s and early 80`s, the provincial government leased a whole variety of different hoppers to free up space in grain elevators to help the farmers move grain. Found a really neat article about it, can read up on it here: http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2012/05/manitoba-covered-hoppers.html. But this is leading me to design this as a leased hopper from this time period. Plus this would align great with the RS-18 I started designing back in November (the RS-18 is a little on pause after I lost a lot of progress, somehow my file just went missing...very strange...) Talking about different hoppers, oh boy is there a whole bunch that look very similar but are just different in the wrong places for designing into brick. So here`s the scoop. Started off with designing the PS 4740 hopper. Looking around I found hoppers that looked practically identical except that the roof was curved. Curved in such a way that would make the use of 2 x 2 curved slopes ideal. This is the roof that you can see in my model up to date. But alas this ends up being a different Pullman 4750 (latter version?) hopper with 18 side ribs instead of the 16 I had designed. The 16 side rib cars look exactly like the Milwaukee Car @zephyr1934 posted. So back to the drawing board. Here`s the new roof, let me know what you think. I think I am going to stick with the new one as it is flatter and more prototypical for the 16 rib car. Put this whole side rib story is causing me a real headache. The proportions seem to look real good and work themselves out with the technique I am using for 16 ribs. I feel like I am going crazy trying to iron some of these details out, am I pulling teeth here? Still getting sidetracked from the ends however, although I have added in diagonal supports which finishes the bottom center support quite well. Well enough ramble time for the renders. Included is the 16 rib pullman end and 18 rib other covered hopper with the curved roof. Link to photo of an 18 rib car: https://www.google.ca/search?q=Pullman-Standard+4750+18+rib&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiW7Mr4zuPuAhUMXqwKHTXmBu8Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Pullman-Standard+4750+18+rib&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzIECCMQJ1CPS1j-TGCcT2gAcAB4AIABeYgB6AGSAQMwLjKYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=dBImYJZijLyxBbXMm_gO&bih=969&biw=1920&hl=en#imgrc=dxKEiiacYX21eM Cheers,

Hello everyone, I am back with a small update to this MOC. Got quite busy with the weeks leading up to the holidays and with the announcement of the Brick Train Awards in the past few weeks I figured its time to get back to studio, quite literally. This latest update came from looking at many photos of prototypes on the web. I noticed that many of these hoppers seem to have changed hands more than once and signs have been welded onto the side of the car. These signs vary a lot in size and placement, and some seem to have a fresh logo on them while others seem to be painted over. If anybody can fill me in on the specifics of this that would be great. My current guess is that its easier and cheaper to weld on a sign with the new company logo than to put on a fresh coat of paint? The renders I am posting have multiple variations of signs on them to test them out. All of them are only attached by a 2x2 plate which I find gives a nice effect of this sign being welded onto the side ribs of the cars, leaving space between the side of the car and the back of the sign. The other change I made was making the whole car 1 plate taller. This makes it so that the hoppers chutes and middle structural rib are more visible like the prototype. This also allowed me to put in another slope piece under the car making the underside much cleaner, more cleaning up under there is due however to properly finish it off. The increase in height also allowed me to change the stack of plates and bricks that made up the central rib to 2 brick high panel pieces. This allows me to keep rigidity and structure and making the model lighter as well. The ends of the car seems to be again an uphill battle. The plan in the next week is to try and find a clever solution to finish the ends up. Once that is done a bottom to top rebuild will ensure I am using pieces as efficiently as possible. Thank you again for the kind words and comments. I appreciate all the feedback. Cheers,

Really beautiful loco! Fantastic!

@zephyr1934 I entirely agree that getting a city train set would be extremely beneficial with regards to testing clearances but at this point in time I am so far away, both in terms of available disposable income and time, to invest in purchasing a city train. The Trains that Lego sells currently are also all European based. I have nothing against trains from Europe however they do not have the same appeal to me as North American freight trains. The parts such the trucks do not appeal to me and I would rather start slowly, very slowly, making a fleet or rolling stock and a locomotive which fits the style I want from the get go. The one thing which would be extremely useful would be a loop of track. I do not however have the space for a loop and would rather have a a small yard that doesn`t go anywhere but is more prototypical with rolling stock and locomotives that work more as display. I must say however I was so close from buying the crocodile locomotive. Very much fit in with the Saturn V, good price point and a great model but decided to make my own trains, figured it couldn't be that hard to get something looking half decent... oh boy didn't think of how much work was involved. In terms of the ladder my plan is to connect the bottom to the rest of the structure. And you are absolutely right on the brake wheel only being on one end. It was getting late when I got to this point therefore I decided to copy the first end onto the other just to get a look of how the ladders will shape up. But this is definitely a detail that will be getting some work next time I have a good couple hours to throw at it. @Feuer Zug and @zephyr1934 Your are both absolutely correct in that this car will be heavy. However I must say your suggestions are fantastic! The modified tile (don't know why this is a modified tile on Bricklink and not a Modified Plate?) with two studs on top is such as beautiful part! I had completely forgot to think about this one. This makes it so that the third row of bricks that are used to work around the tiles to connect the next section of plate and tiles can be removed. Making the entire section just 2 bricks wide. I will be working on retrofitting the rest of the model this coming weekend but here is a snipet of the heavier construction vs the new light one inspired by your comments! As always thank you all for the comments and feedback! cheers,