Laura Beinbrech

Actually it is because the Federal Republic Military's uniforms prime colors are Red, Black and Blue (depending on branch)... The Special Operations command is mostly Red and Black, the Federal Marine Corps' are Red and White (except the officers, which are blue and white) and the Naval uniforms are Blue and White (officers are black), so the train being primarily Red and Black with brass trim (a practical solution since brass is about the most economically feasible corrosion-resistant metal available) is basically like advertising in 10-ft tall letters that this train is owned by the Federal Dragoons (a division of the Special Operations Command or SOCom tasked with patrolling the Wastes). I.e. it serves the same purpose that the bold coloring of a Monarch Butterfly or Coral Snake does.... The second set of doors is for a generic Box Car... The idea is to have the locomotive & tender, the Armored baggage car, three passenger cars (first class and two economy class), three freight cars (one box car and two flatbeds/intermodal cars) and the caboose, which serves as a rolling barracks/armory for the Dragoons crewing the train. Yeah, that's basically the idea. I just placed an order for the parts I'll need to finish up the Locomotive... Trying to get a working piston/running gear scheme that would work with my pilot truck was a pure nightmare... It took the better part of last weekend to figure it out...

Well, in case anybody is interested I've got the First Class Coach and Armored Baggage Car done. I'll be adding the Tender to the first post when it is finished, and all other rolling stock here. The Armored Baggage Car: Baggage Car Side (Finished) by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The Armored Baggage Car is used for transporting money and high security raw materials (I.e. Unobtainium or Mithril ingots) to the Free State, and finished Weapons and munitions from it. Baggage Car Interior (Finished) by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The design of the car is based on European Mail Cars (namely the one from 7722, my first ever LEGO Train ), and is manned by an armed Federal Dragoon guard 24/7. The First Class Passenger Coach/Dining Car: First Class Coach Side by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The First Class car is a comfortable dining car with good accomodations and a chef available to cook food to order whenever the high-rolling riders wish to order some (needless to say, first class tickets on this train are VERY Expensive). The Wasteland Express policy of giving free rides to registered mercenaries and Wasteland City State military personnel (in exchange for protecting the train if it comes under attack) normally only applies to Economy class seating. The exception is the Airborne Demolitions Unit (ADU) commandos who are descendents of a North American Union special forces unit of the same name. The reason for this exception is that these particular mercenaries have a rigid code of honor and a high level of training that is considered by the Federal Dragoons to be equal to their own. First Class Coach Interior by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr And now some technical detials: Coach Ends by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr This is how I finally figured out how to connect the doors to the car so I could use Emerald Night style functioning doors, and this is how I have the seats connected so I can seat two minifigs side by side in a 6-wide space. Coach Seating Technique by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Coming soon: Economy Class coach and Caboose... I already have a 6-wide version of both done, but will have to redesign them to account for the new 8-wide plan. EDIT: Added Pics of the completed Baggage Car (9/14)

Nice compact and very realistic tank loco. I like your cleverly disguised switch in the coal bunker. Am I correct in assuming that the wheels are Big Ben Bricks' medium drivers?

I realize that I've been inactive around these parts for quite some time, but I've been busy with other things, as well as out of inspiration for train-based MOCs.... The basis of this project has also been sitting around since sometime late last year, when I bought the Toy Story Train Chase set with the intentions of turning it into an awesome train for my Post-Apocalyptic dieselpunk setting. After partially designing the Locomotive tender, the armored mail car, a Passenger car and the caboose, I ran into a brick wall concerning the locomotive. However, recently, due to a number of things, not the least of which was seeing the new Monster Fighters Ghost Train (which I plan on acquiring and turning into a Chaos battle train called the "Doomtrain"), I finally got a working design for the locomotive finalized and partially built (I shall be making a bricklink order this weekend for the few remaining parts I need... Mainly glass for some of the windows, 9m black technic liftarms and the 4x4 radar dish I'm using for the smokestack screen). Part of what got me moving again was deciding to go with an 8-wide design instead of the standard 6-wide design. This, of course, will require me to re-design the caboose and other rolling stock, but so be it. I'm nearly done re-vamping the first class passenger car anyways. Well, enough talking, here's the Locomotive and Backstory: The year was 2100, ten years had passed since the Final War, and the Federal Republic of America (as the remnant of the legitimate North American Union calls itself) had just made contact with the Free State Redmond, an independent republic on the West Coast that, despite being surrounded by the undead Tomb Kings to the south, the Chaos Wastes to the north and the wild and wooly Wasteland to the east, had managed to survive and maintain civilization. What made this possible was an alliance between BrickArms Heavy Industries (a prime military contractor for the NA Union), the Microsoft business empire, as well as a coalition of Native American nations led by the Haida and Klamath peoples. It wasn't long after contact was reestablished and trade began that the Free State applied for admission into the Federal Republic of America. The agreement was beneficial to both parties, since it would give the Federal Republic a safe port on the Pacific Ocean and access to BrickArms Heavy Industries knowledge base, while the Free State would benefit from the Federal Republic's resources and industrial capabilities. The only problem was how to get raw materials, money and consumer goods into the Free State and Weapons and Munitions out, since the Free State was separated from the Federal Republic and the nearest friendly territory (the Republic of Lakotah) by about 1200 miles of barren, bandit and monster-infested wasteland. The solution was the construction of the Wasteland express, a heavy-duty mixed freight/passenger train that would depart New Saint Lois, Missouri Border Region, and arrive in Seattle three days later, making stops in the Republic of Lakotah (Omaha, Porcupine and Pine Ridge) and other friendly Wasteland City-States along the line. Equipped with the most advanced steam engines designed by the Federal Republic's engineers and crewed by the Federal Special Operations Command Dragoon division commandos, this train, along with bi-weekly Dragoon-guarded caravans solved the problem of getting goods and people safely across the wastes, since only the most psychotic wasteland raider gangs or devout followers of Khorne would even think twice about messing with the elite Federal Dragoons. The Locomotive: WE Loco Front (Final) by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The Locomotive is a 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" tank engine built by BFG Heavy Industries, with an advanced, electronically controlled boiler designed by Frick Heating and Air Conditioning. The water tank is located parallel to the boiler in order to give the engineer a better view. In addition, the Locomotive has a large water tank in the tender as well. WE Locomotive Side (Final) by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The reason for so much water storage capacity is that, even with the steam recirculation system (so that instead of jetting the spent steam out the side of the pistons and into the smoke box to improve draft like most steam locomotives do, it sends it through a condenser and back into the water tank, much like the radiator of a car), there is about a 500 mile stretch of track with little or no water available, and the Locomotive needs to be able to clear that section of the route without having to stop for water. Train WIP by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The boiler is a high-pressure, high-efficiency flex-fuel type made from welded unobtainium, and capable of burning anything from wood, buffalo "chips" and wood pellets to biogas and biodiesel. WE Loco Rear (Finished) by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Inside the cab is enough room for the engineer and fireman (who are also fully trained Federal Dragoons) with large, opening windows made of armorplast so that they can take up their Cosmo Tanegashima laser rifles and fend off attack if need be. Coming soon: The First Class Coach/Dining car. Comments and critique appreciated. BTW, the white shields on the side are supposed to be Brick Forge "American Hero" printed knight shields, which are standard issue for the Dragoons, as well as their symbol. EDIT: Completed Locomotive Photos added.

$500?! OUCH! If you want to save some money, maybe you could change the Dark Red to Redish Brown or Green... Or even Light Bley (a lot of 1930's and 1940's passenger cars and interurban trains were painted silver/light blue-gray... A prime example would be the Zephyr). Granted, I know that the Brick Railways colors are red and black, but still, $500 could almost get you 5 Maersk trains... Also, I'm sorry if I seemed a bit pushy with my suggestion earlier, its just that, being a natural born engineer, I tend to get fussy about functionality, and I happen to be in the process of designing 8x28 stud (so I can use the long train base plate as a starting point) express coach for my Wasteland Express project, and I've tested the jumper plate thing on one of my ships (you only need four 12 jumper plates, one 1x2 flat tile and two 1x1 flat tiles per seat section)...

Nice set of passenger coaches, Murdoch! My only slight complaint is that in some of them, a minifig wouldn't actually be able to sit down because the seat is tight against the wall (you need about half a stud of clearance or so to seat minifigs)... While I haven't designed any 8-wide coaches YET (I'm going to be designing some as part of a soon to be unveiled secret project), I have used a technique where I use jumper plates (those ones that are 1x2, but with a single stud on top) to place the seating so that they take up a total of 5 studs worth of floor space, with 1/2 stud of clearance on either side. It worked pretty well with my FNS Inferno patrol craft bridge, so I'm going to see how it would work with train coaches.... Here's a pic of the technique I'm talking about: PT Bridge Interior by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr ...Of course a simpler method would be to have the chairs facing sideways, towards the windows or towards the center of the car (like some of the seats on the DC Metro). Just my $.02 though.

Nice work, Murdoch! The GG-1 has always been one of my favorite locomotive designs, and my favorite electric locomotive of all time. The design you used is very accurate, but somewhat different than what I used for my GG-2 variant (basically an futuristic GG-1), but really nice. I like the Brick Railways color scheme.

I was kinda wondering when that cannon of yours would show up, Bob!

Sorry, but I think we'll be a bit too busy "playing" a different sort of "game", if you know what I mean.... I wish! My fiance's only interest in LEGO is to grab some of the LoTR, Harry Potter, PoTC, Toy Story and Spongebob Minifigs, and she's constantly telling me that I have "too many" LEGOs.... HOW THE HECK can you have too many LEGOs?!

Well, you see, I've already got the plane tickets, car rentals and hotel villa rented for the honeymoon, and those are all non-refundable.... I guess I'll just have to wait until the NEXT mafia school to try playing....

Oh, stop it, you! Rick and Pandora: I'd love to play, but unfortunately, you HAD to run this thing the month I'm getting Married/going on my honeymoon. (not to mention closing a deal on a house somewhere in that whole mess)

Oh yeah, that's right.... Speaking of which, well played Hinckley, well played indeed!

Ok, I know I've seen this "dead player resurrected as a tree stump" somewhere before.... Was it the Witch Hunt mafia?

The must-haves on my list are: Conquistador Shakespeare Pirate Captain Diver Alien Queen(?) Evil Robot Oktoberfest Guy Man-bat

...and I could of swore that the clock was one of the type that's only right twice a day.

Yes, those are the OLD Ninja series (from 1998-1999) Red Ninja Torsos that I was talking about... I had a few (from the Ninja Fire Fortress I bought in 2000), but was quite happy to be able to get some more for reasonably cheap (well, until they came out with the Red Ninja in Ninjago)...

I've just finished reading the entire day thread so far, and I'd like to thank Hinckley, Shadows, et. al. for what, thus far, has been one of the most entertaining Mafia Games I've had the pleasure to watch.... Seriously, some of Hinckley's antics (and Bob's pictures) brought me tears of laughter. And thanks to Bob for hosting it of course!

I've always made it a point to try and get at least one Build a Minifig thing whenever I go to the LEGO store in Arundel Mills. Not only have they had some of the Collectible Minifig parts that I didn't get or only got a few of (i.e. Series 1 Forestman and Tribal Hunter), but they have had other gems as well: I got about half a dozen of the "Blacktron III" torsos from the SP III line, some of the white ship captain's shirt with the anchor on the pocket, and even some ORIGINAL 1999 vintage Red Ninja torsos & headgear from the original Ninja line... I'm not kidding there, either: The guy working at the store told me that they were discovered, "Sitting around in some warehouse in Billund for the past 10 years." I also have used the Minifig Bar to acquire a fairly substantial collection of Black Kepi hats (which average about $0.75 each on BrickLink, not including shipping), Black Fedoras and other rare and unusual headgear. Unfortunately, the accessories are usually lacking (mostly just sabres, walkie-talkies, coffee mugs, goblets and other common minifig tools)....

Lessee... I do electronics of a retro-futuristic nature (a.k.a. Steampunk), including a PC I built the size of a Playstation 3 and a home made MP3 player. I also grow various interesting and exotic plants (I have 4 palm trees that have been planted outside in Central Pennsylvania for at least 4 years and survived our winters with no protection, among other things). I also like to mess around with modding and playing various video games, mainly Civilization III.

Wow! The Hinkmeister is on board as well now! I'm definitely going to be watching this one! Although your are just too much sometimes, Hinkley

Well, you can put me down for one, possibly two, then!

I would totally buy that! Oh, I just got the Dragula Vampire Hearse yesterday, and I LOVE it! I might see about getting one or two more of these sets, but the Hearse was definitely the "Must-have" for me.

I just got this set a couple days ago, and I love it! One of the main reasons I was excited about this set since I first saw some of the early pics here on EB is the fact that it seems to be heavily inspired by the Dragula car from an old TV show called "The Munsters", as well as the Hot-Rod Hearses that were mentioned before. I'm planning on modding mine for use as an Undead military transport, but I like the overall design quite well. It's definitely convinced me to give 8-wide cars a try.

This MOC brought me a good, hearty laugh. Who'd a thunk of actually living WITH the zombies in a peaceful coexistence.

I agree, but change the drop pod to one of the vehicles or spaceships.