idlemarvel

Hi there. I completed your survey yesterday. There is a bug in the question about what kind of sets do you buy, listing 4 or 5 themes and "other". It would not accept me just selecting "other" so I had to select one if the themes that I don't normally buy. That's going to invalidate the results of that question.

No, take another look, you're referring to Small Hub Battery which is for the SPIKE Education small hub. The City Hub used in trains has a revised retirement date of 2030.

Clever use of the 1x2 grille piece for the keys and strings. Excellent model.

Thanks @Blacktron2 that's very interesting and makes a lot of sense. One anomoly is set 88005 (PUP lights) which it says has a new retirement date end of 2030, but is still marked as retired on lego.com, although it continues to be shipped as a part in non-retired sets. Are sets ever "unretired"?

Amazing work. Not sure what is more impressive, the trains or the scenary. The abandoned buildings are superb. I love the broken windows and the vegetation creeping through the ruins. Top job.

Good news about a new PU set, and an exciting one to get kids into trains, assuming the reddit leak is true. It would also mean the Powered up app would get an update for the new set. Maybe they'll be able to incorporate a fix for new Fire HD 10 devices that version 4.1.1 introduced. Saving my pennies for June 1!

May I ask where you heard this information? Thanks.

So it now exists IRL. I got all the bricks to complete the model. I had to adjust the coupling between the tender and the loco as it was causing the rear wheels to derail (not enough play) and also the fireman platform on the tender had to be made narrowed so to to interfere with the rear yellow handrails on the loco when travelling around bends. Otherwise it runs very well. I also made the cylinders a bit bigger and added some superheater piping to the side of the boiler. Here's the latest rendering: Here's a picture of the model: And a video of it running:

Well done. A very recognisable model. You have captured the colours and details of the prototype very well.

Wonderful model almost perfect. Would make a great Icons set or similar theme.

Very clever piece of micro engineering. It would look great as a moving part of a mining or other industrial diorama

I echo all the above, great model!

That is my intention. I have already built the powered chassis and tender to test it on my layout. I need more blue slopes and inverted slopes and black weight bricks. I'll update the post when I've built it.

Here you go: Note: these are just LDD screenshots not POV-Ray renders. Here's the model in alternative livery.

The kkStB (kaiserlich-königlichen Staatsbahnen or Imperial and Royal Austrian State Railways) ran from 1873 to the end of the first world war, when the monarchy collapsed. The steam loco behind this model was built in 1910. The last in this class ran until 1959. The 4-4-0 class 306 pulled express trains and had a top speed of 100 km/h. Their usual livery was black with red lining but some were occasionally given a blue livery when pulling state trains or the Orient Express. The 3-axle tender is based on Tender series 156. I did consider pivoting one of the axles to give a longer wheel base to the tender but it doesn't look too bad as is. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/KkStB_306 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/KkStB-Tenderreihe_156 Here is my LDD model. There is a standard train motor forming the front bogie. I thought this would be an interesting alternative to either a Technic motor in the loco (not sure there would be room?) or motorizing the tender. To give the front bogie some traction there are two 2x6x2 weight bricks supporting the boiler. The "drivers" (which idle) are also on a bogie. They could probably be fixed rather than pivoting but I think this reduces the friction. The driving wheels are connected by gears to keep the wheels in sync. I have built the chassis to check it runs okay and I'm just waiting to compile a few bricklink orders to build it IRL. The hub is in the tender. The top of the tender lifts off for access to the hub.

This is another Austrian oddity. They were built in the 50's and decommissioned in 1993. Some still exist in museums and heritage lines. Prototype info here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÖBB_2045 Here is my LDD model rendered with POV-Ray. The green angled train windows pieces are too tall (2924bpb02 Train Front 2 x 6 x 5 1/3) so I went with 2x2 45 degree slope on its side. I also considered 17454 Window 2 x 6 x 2 Train Front but that is only available in black, white, blue or brown. The loco would be better in dark green I guess but standard green will do. Makes a change from all my other red white and black locos! The white railings are not 1980s pieces but they look much better than the alternatives. I have modelled a red version with the 17454 angled train front pieces (in white) which makes room for a City Hub inside the cab, should I wish to motorize this.

Nice unusual model. You have captured the feel of the prototype very well. I'm trying to figure out where the diesel engine(s) was/were in the prototype. Are they mounted under-floor?

Thanks for all the suggestions, some of which I have incorporated. Latest render version. Bricklink order arriving tomorrow.

Thanks @zephyr1934 I am always open to suggestions especially from veterans like yourself! (Experience not age!). I did succomb to the temptations of the 1991 profile brick in my recent Crocodile model, but for this I wanted to try the ladder. To be honest I am not after great accuracy any longer. If I was there are a great many improvements I could make, not least of which making it wider. I'm happy if it is recognisable and portrays most of the key features.

The hub in the Audi model is not a new hub, it is the Technic hub that has been around for years. It does support the PU train motor.

All good ideas, thanks @Daiman . I have used SNOT to get the black stripes, I can just extend that to have the ladder vents vertical. Not sure about the 1x1x2 windows but it does need something to represent those lower view windows. I'd like to try and represent those yellow centre dropdown coupling links but they will need some modern pieces.

More dabbling with LDD to extend my Austrian railway fleet with another retro style 6-wide loco. As you can see from the Wikipedia picture I had to indulge in more modern slopes, but otherwise mostly 1980s bricks. Here is a picture and information about the prototype, followed by a rendering of my LDD model. I have actually built it, but I don't have the red inverted slopes yet. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÖBB_2068 I should have added there is room in the cab for a City hub, filling it completely!

Here is the passenger car IRL.

Thanks @Man with a hat I have been working on a suitable 12V style passenger coach, in OBB Jaffa livery, like these: https://trainspo.com/photo/62329/ Here's a stud.io rendering of the coach. I don't have enough red train windows to complete a build, they are on order from bricklink. I can't seem to find any red 1x2x3 train windows in the UK, so I am going to substitute with 1x2x2 instead. Another view being pulled by the loco:

Waddya mean, they don't actually operate! Joking. Excellent little models. I think i prefer the last version.