Tube Map Central
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Ha! A train that goes on track round corners, not a given any more in the TLG world!
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Although in the UK this also corresponded with the demise of loco haulage for passenger trains. Not much you can do with an Inter-City 125 set once it reaches the wires, and once the East Coast Main Line was electrified BR had plenty of them to deploy on all sorts of services.
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Dark green? Hmmm, description makes it sound like 10157, that was an ugly train ...
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Yes, but the Underground had lots of steam exits. Any station roof would have needed to be vented in steam days. My problem with Studgate is not a dome, it's a glass dome on top of a glass train shed roof. Find me dome-on-a-roof at St Pancras https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_railway_station#/media/File%3AStPancrasInternational-PS02.JPG Or at York https://beyondthewindowbox.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/iron-and-glass/ Architecturally, glass-dome-on-top-of-glass-trainshed-roof is nuts. It's hard enough as it is to keep a glass roof standing up without adding on weird stuff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_roof_collapse
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Disney Station is really really nice, love the detail inside, but to me, despite its size it looks like a big country station. 4554 looks like a real city station. It would be fun to mod two Disney stations together to get something more like a grand terminus. The platform from the Harry Potter train is a great representation of a historic structure. There is a plentiful supply of them on eBay at reasonable prices and they combine well. The winter village station looks half-finished to me, doesn't appeal, but even the Hidden Side train gets a better station than the current city train. From the dedicated stations, 7997 is a nice interesting structure but you look at it and think "where is the main station building". 4513 "grand central station" is anything but, all panels and no building, and I agree 60050 is uninspiring, it just looks unfinished, like the builders gave up and went home early. 7937 is a bus shelter, 4556 and 7824 look a bit random, 7822 is grim: imagine it covered in graffiti being stuck there at night in the winter. 148 has old-lego-style charm but the faceless minifigures are terrifying. Over on Ideas, Studgate doesn't look like a real station to me, a dome on a roof is just silly, imagine passing steam trains filling it up with smoke, so I will be giving it a miss (Eastgate from the same designer is much better) and it's this one that should have got into the BDP https://ideas.lego.com/projects/879f2041-22ea-4b06-9e34-ed074c4ce83a For the price, we might be getting a more interesting station in 2022 than we have seen for years but it will have stiff completion, this one under review in Ideas is fantastic and so it will have no chance! https://ideas.lego.com/projects/d877ae63-11e8-4e20-ac19-97c72ebe25c6
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Does anyone disagree that 4554 was the best ever TLG station? It was playable and stylish, is it too much to hope for something just as good?
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That would be one of the best candidates, this one didn't get there: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/13c1077e-0e6a-4488-8f0a-af2702516a82 Would such a set need to follow a particular film?
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Thinking some more about this, where might an aspiring designer go for a winning IP-tied Ideas train? The Hogwarts express is incidental to the plots but benefits from up to (I'm not going to rewatch them) seven films of exposure. For many films, a train features somewhere, but is not a major component of the plot - "by the way, there was a train in the film too, here it is" - will have a hard time exciting the TLG marketing people. Perhaps you need Back to the Future III level train involvement or better to have a chance. Most films in which the train is the film are very adult in themes and content, not necessarily a deal breaker, you don't actually see Patrick McGoohan being beheaded on Silverstreak and this is no worse than many gory ends condoned, however indirectly, by TLG IP tie ins. I think the big problem is one-offs, IP needs to happen twice before TLG will try and grab it, which is a problem for any train film if the spectacular destruction of the train at the end is the finale. Where does that leave us? Thomas the Tank Engine and Polar Express? Anything else remotely possible?
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Not remotely intending to trigger a debate on studded verses no-stud Technic ... On Bricklink, and elsewhere, certain types of Lego bricks are named/classified as 'Technic Bricks'. But, with a quick bit of random sampling, I observed that these days, the one type of modern set you can be almost certain won't contain Technic Bricks is Technic sets! That's not a surprise, Technic has evolved its own way, and these types of bricks (and plates) have many unique uses in System. There must be people here who have never seen a Technic set containing Technic bricks. Time for a new name?
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Crocodile is not linked to licensable IP. Lego trains are either (1) linked to their own themes (hidden side, winter village) (2) linked to IP that is HUGE (Harry Potter, Disneyland, Spiderman) or (3) heavily inspired but don't give credit (emerald night, horizon express, current city train set). The only exception I can think of is the Maersk cargo train, I would like to know more about that arrangement, who paid who, or was there no payment because both parties saw this as mutually beneficial? I can't see it happening, this is just a one-off film (see above) and it is not aging well. Do an internet search for "polar express creepy" and see pages and pages, this is not "creepy" in a good way.
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One can only get real, the one that achieved support a year ago was rejected, and this one will be too. To the untrained eye it is basically the same model. The only IP tie-in that TLG will consider for trains is for a huge franchise such as Disney or Harry Potter, and they have already done those.
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Pearl gold and flat gold are different colours, not colour variants. Green and bright green are different colours, not colour variants. Yes, I know, if I contact sellers I can get these sorts of issues fixed ... eventually .... but I can see this instantly, and I don't take money to provide people with bricks as a source of income.
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The shift from creativity to consumer fan base?
Tube Map Central replied to mikaelsol's topic in General LEGO Discussion
Botanical Gardens station has been completely stripped down for rebuilding. This time it will be right better -
The shift from creativity to consumer fan base?
Tube Map Central replied to mikaelsol's topic in General LEGO Discussion
I'm not sure about this, and if you shop around enough you will find an 'expert' psychologist to declare every possible version of reality as the truth. If we put our minds to it we can all be creative, if you just mean decorating a room nicely or putting some bricks together in a satisfying way. Do we really need to be taught to be able to do this at school? But if you mean the more motivated expressions of creativity, as per when a hobby gets out of control, then that needs some pre-requisites. 1) Mastery of basic technical skills. So much easier to express oneself with the necessary tools available 2) Passion. One has to love the domain of creativity, want to explore it, find out about it, understand it 3) Restlessness. There has to be a desire to go beyond what is already available, perhaps even some dissatisfaction with it We are all different, and I can easily understand someone never wanting to create a MoC or paint a landscape. For those who do, education can help with (1) and perhaps (2) by helping the desire to explore. (3) comes from the heart, it is either there or it isn't. Are (were?) teachers ever in a position to watch individuals closely enough to look for the seeds of passion and the restlessness? The best people to spot this are the parents, and there is so much that they can do to facilitate. Could talk about all of these for so much more, but will stop there. EDIT: I've always found the version of reality put forward by Dean Keith Simonton to be very well argued and make a lot of sense: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Simonton -
Isn't it ironic that TLG expects kids to have a smartphone in order to interact with Lego, complete with high power battery and USB plug-in recharge facility, but there is no sign of these conveniences on their own side of the equation.
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The obvious explanation for that is that the sets are disappointing for some reason. I would bet that the elephant in the room is Powered-Up which is a total not-fit-for-purpose screw-up. Hard to get at unrechargeable batteries. Once the train has gobbled up all the batteries in the house four o'clock Christmas afternoon, what are the parents supposed to do? Empty out the remote controls and hope for another couple of hours to get to bed time?
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Let's be clear, I'm not arguing for TLG to cater for the AFOL train market by splurging on a new range of advanced 2000 piece products. This market is far too fragmented and low volume for a company that works like TLG. I personally don't like steam trains or diesels, so I'm only in the market for electrics, and my own MOCs are eight wide. I'm not a set collector and I'm sure all of us would have reasons to only buy a fraction of what was offered. I'm suggesting that TLG just doesn't understand that if you set up your product range in the right way then that Christmas kids train set will get bigger and bigger and bigger as more and more is added to it. This means a second radius curve, perhaps a play mat (with spaces for buildings to be purchased), logical track packs, availability of individual already-designed train components (locomotives, coaches, trucks) to purchase in more than just one colour, appropriate buildings and minifigure passenger packs*. Then the kids who get hooked will become AFOLs, MOC their own trains and buildings and encourage the next generation to buy a train set and see where they can go. The London Transport Museum had a family day once, and one of the attractions was a giant 9v Lego Underground train layout. It was the star of the show: seeing these little trains charge round the layout was really exciting. Trains bring a static display to life like nothing else, surely a way to attract the attention of potential Christmas list compilers. *and a way of doing platforms that doesn't suck away precious plates and bricks! https://uk.hornby.com/catalogue/building-and-accessories/platforms-bridges-skaledale
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The track pack 60205 is rubbish, with that awful flexible track and curves that no one wants, not a great start. Toy train manufacturers know what to do: https://uk.hornby.com/catalogue/track-and-power/track-extension-packs Expansion packs that go with sets so that you can build the track up in a logical way. TLG has NEVER offered a 2nd radius curve, crippling all of this. Why not let people buy the trains/trucks from the sets separately so that they can make them longer or get second trains for extra play? Why not in different colours so that kids can add extra colours to their layout gradually without all the outlay of a full train set, which just gets you the same colour train again? This is the BS that you always get from marketing departments, how can you know that there is no demand for something you have never offered? And don't give me any rubbish about all-seeing all-knowing all-profitable TLG knowing what is best, for anyone who tries that argument, I have six letters in reply, VIDIYO!
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And when was the last time that TLG offered suitable accessories for people to purchase to supplement their train sets?
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5. Subway/Metro/Light rail train
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[MOC] The Milwaukee Road EP2 Bipolar E-2 - in 12V style
Tube Map Central replied to Paperinik77pk's topic in LEGO Train Tech
No, GG1 is one of the greatest locomotives ever created. -
Thanks, that's really helpful. Looking at the forthcoming space sets, looks as though 68013 half cylinder will be released in white but I guess I will have to wait until autumn for it to be on B&P, sigh!
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80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival has some plant pieces now in white, perfect for my current build, but how long is it likely to be before new parts make their way to Brucks & Pieces. Days, weeks or months?
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Definitely something like that, non-working, but how narrow can that pivot get?
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This is for my station currently under construction, so train tech seems a reasonable place to post ... I want to build a freely tipping seesaw that won't fall apart easily and with a pivot mechanism that is four plates wide at the most, and no more than two bricks high. I can think of ugly ways of doing this and precarious ways, but nothing elegant and robust. Thoughts?