Laura Beinbrech

I think this nice, narrow-gauge 4-4-2 locomotive looks lovely as well, and would certainly love to see it in actual bricks, if you decide to build it, that is. Your recent Narrow-gauge steam locomotive designs have inspired me to try working on making a motorized LEGO version of one of the East Broad Top RR's narrow-gauge Mikados in the near future (the first train I ever rode was one of the excursion trains that ran at Orbisonia, PA, pulled by EBT #12, back in 1982 or 83).

I'm thinking about using something along those lines when I tackle modeling the East Broad Top Railroad's 55-ton GE center-cab diesel unit (#M-7). Although I do have quite a few other train projects (including a few standard-gauge ones) that are currently ahead of it in the ol' project queue. I also want to possibly see about working on making a motorized version of one of the EBT's 2-8-2 Mikado locomotives, either #12 "Millie" or #15, using BBB's medium drivers (2 flanged & 2 blind, just like on the originals) & an M motor, with the Powered-up battery box/receiver inside the (fairly sizeable) tender. This is a nice video of #15 to give you an idea of what I'm talking about: You can thank ProvenceTristram and that rough version of the Mexican 2-8-0 narrow-gauge locomotive he posted earlier this week for getting me to thinking that doing one of the EBT "Mikes" might be more feasible in the short run than trying to build the diesel first. ...And I will admit that, since I'm finally getting a decent amount of rolling stock built up, it'll soon be time to work on expanding my narrow-gauge locomotive roster as well. I currently have the opposite problem with my standard-gauge trains: I have 3 more or less completed locomotives & only 3 more or less completed cars of any type (4, if you count the caboose I'm probably going to be tearing down & re-building as 8-wide when I get the time & parts), lol. My first motorized train project in over 20 years (I had the 4.5v battery train, 7722 when I was a kid), will be standard-gauge, however, and should be completed by the end of November if I have the time & money, that is: I AM buying the new City Cargo Train set sometime in November, come heck or high water... I'm determined to not keep putting off buying the train until it gets retired & I can't get it anymore, like I did with the previous 2 LEGO City cargo trains, the Emerald Night & the Maersk Train.

Just finished building the 2-bay, East Broad Top RR-inspired hopper car last night & finally got around to uploading pics today: Consist with Hopper & Intermodal Cars by Ben/Laura Bonebrake, on Flickr

That is one awesome (and awesomely huge) steam locomotive you made there, and some interesting history with the real one as well. I'm kinda curious what the custom driver wheels look like by themselves (they almost look like they'd be big enough for making the 4-2-2 Midland "Spinner" locomotives). That valve gear & push-rod action is smooth as silk, and I could almost just sit & watch that all day. :)

I think what ProvenceTristram means is that if you look at RL steam locomotive (and LEGO MOCs of steam locomotives), in most cases the driver wheels are spaced close enough that the flanges of the flanged drivers overlap with the blind drivers a bit, and apparently, due to the spacing of technic axle holes in various technic bricks, it's not possible to space the medium drives in such a way, if I understand his statement correctly...

That's a really nice narrow-gauge 2-8-0 & train you got there (and I see you went with a different solution for narrow-gauge train couplings than I did). I love the cow skull "hood ornament" you added to your train. I do have a few questions, though: Is that cab on the tender supposed to be some kind of Brakeman's Caboose or a shelter for the Fireman? Also is the cupola in your caboose actually functional or just for show? I've been wanting to make a caboose for my Balin & Sons Mining Co RR, but have never been able to make a caboose that had a cupola that actually worked & didn't look over-sized for the 16-20 stud length I usually use for my narrow gauge rolling stock (seriously thinking about making a cupola-less brake van-style "caboose" at this point)

Once again, another excellent WWI trench railway MOC, Greg3! I always love seeing you post these little gems here on the forums.

Nice find there, sed6. My dad has two similarly-sized small sections of old rail that he uses as workbench anvils, and they definitely work great for that.

Here's a short episode from the web series that prominently features the hut & Ever After High's version of Baba Yaga:

Really nicely done, Parsom! I would like to say that with a recolor (and removal of the bones on the outside), your version of Baba Yaga's hut would be a spot-on match for the version of Baba Yaga's hut in Ever After High, where she's the potions teacher...

Wow, that looks even more impressive in actual bricks! Excellent work, there, Hod Carrier!

That's a really nifty & cute little narrow-gauge locomotive you built there, and it looks really good in actual bricks & black. Looks like one of the ones I've seen pictures of on various Welsh & British narrow-gauge railways.

This is pretty much exactly how I feel: I'd personally go with the prototypical design if it works, ESPECIALLY since it's far less mechanically complex, which means there's far less to go wrong when you're running it. And this is me speaking as an engineer/technician. ;)

Nice little brew stand you built there, with the interesting mascots on the roof. I must say that the "legal disclaimer" and the bonus build had me laughing until I had tears coming out my eyes. Swanky indeed!

Another awesome WWI trench railway MOC! You definitely captured that photo in bricks as well as how the Decauville system used by the allies during WWI was made up of pre-fabbed track sections that were carted to the front for laying track quickly & easily. Interesting note is that the Decauville prefab track in 600mm was originally developed as an inexpensive way to lay mining & industrial railways that was adapted for trench warfare logistics when the war settled down into a stalemate on the Western Front. There are actually still a number of civilian Decauville system railroads in existence today, including many Hacienda trains in Mexico & at least one tourist train in Portugal. I also recently got some 4dBrix narrow-gauge straight track sections, and I'm equally pleased with them (I also showed them to Cale during today's PennLUG meeting, and he seemed reasonably impressed with them as well).

That looks really awesome so far, and extremely true to the original, lack of quarter dome pieces for the corners, nonwithstanding. I also like the fact that you've been able to successfully incorporate PF into this thing, which is difficult, at best, with narrow-gauge LEGO train projects.

Nice work on that little locomotive! I was just reading the Wikipedia article about the War Department Light Railways division that was in charge of British trench railways during the First World War, and it mentioned these very locomotives (and had a contemporary photo of one of the 40hp armored ones). I did a little digging on Wikipedia during my lunch break today, and there are actually quite a few of these little guys still around pulling excursion trains on various narrow-gauge heritage railways in the UK.

As a long-time Final Fantasy XIV player & can really relate to a lot of these, especially this one, which pretty much sums up the end-game content cycle every time a new patch comes out... Also, the female armor ones are good as well, but one of Final Fantasy XIV's saving graces is that if a set of gear looks like leather bondage gear on a female character, it's going to look like leather bondage gear on male characters as well (which is great for anyone who wants to cosplay in-game as Lord Humungus & his wasteland raiders from Mad Max: Road Warrior). ;) Also, I like it when the game lets the heroine get the girl as well as the hero, but that's probably because I tend to swing that way anyways....

The M-1 is literally a one of a kind unit that was made in-house by the East Broad Top RR, based on a set of scaled-down plans purchased from the J.G. Brill Co (famous for all the various street cars they've made over the years), so it, unfortunately hasn't worn any other liveries. However they also do have a smaller rail car designated as M-3 (which is more of a VIP/inspection car) that would be easier to make in LEGO, due to its paint scheme being essentially bright red & black.

Nice sub & underwater base! I've actually been planning on a similar re-sizing project for my Yellow Submarine kit I got last year (but keeping it as the Yellow Sub for John, Paul, Ringo & George to have various adventures & misadventures in my post-apocalyptic setting set 100 years from now). Also love the large freight car you made for hauling the sub overland.

Looking really good, Murdoch! I've always been a fan of your expanded Adventurer's projects, and these are a good addition to the line up.

Oh, nice choice of subject for MOCing, Hod Carrier! Due to my interest in Narrow-gauge trains, I, of course, also have a bit of a soft spot for the various narrow-gauge rail buses & rail cars used in various places, such as these ones, or the famous "Galloping Geese" used on the Denver, Rio Grande & Western's 3' gauge track. Heck, the East Broad Top RR (which I hope to be helping out with some volunteer work this weekend, if I can get over this darn head cold by then) has a Brill car-body rail car/rail bus known as the M-1 Doodlebug (I kind of want to make it in LEGO eventually, but they don't make the parts I'd need in Dark Red or Dark Green, which is what the original colors more or less are).

Nice job on your trench RR wagon there. I was actually thinking about making something similar based on the new roller coaster tracks & car bases for my post-apocalyptic setting (due to major frontline areas being heavily fortified & trench-intensive). The one British soldier in the bottom pics doesn't seem overly thrilled at the selection of food that just arrived, though.

That's good to know: I've not had issues, but then again, I've always based my bogie designs around the small train wheels....

Well, since this topic has been bumped up, I guess I might as well reply as well: Aside from some RL railroads that could likely have survived the Final War & the chaos that followed, such as the Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific & BNSF, I have the Balin & Sons Mining Co. RR, which is actually a subdivision of a large mineral conglomerate that involves several dozen non-connected narrow-gauge lines running up narrow valleys to mining operations for the original purpose of getting the ores & minerals mined to the standard-gauge main lines, but also eventually serving as transportation networks for small towns along the narrow-gauge lines & hauling other freight & passengers as well as ore trains. I also plan on modeling stock & locomotives of the RL narrow-gauge railroad known as the East Broad Top RR (Starting with their M-7 55-ton GE diesel switcher). In addition, I have a few other made-up standard-gauge railroads, mostly the Federal Republic of America Army Logistics Command RR locomotives & rolling stock.... The locomotives of the Army Logistics Command are Red & White, like most military vehicles of the Federal Republic of America. The main exception is the Wasteland Express, which has Red & Black colors for its locomotives, due to it being run entirely by the Federal Republic of America Special Operations Command (it goes through over 1000 miles of bandit & monster-infested wasteland on its trip fro New St. Lois, Compromised Missouri Territory to Seattle, in the Republic exclave of the Free State Redmond, on the West coast). Then you have certain evil factions like the Neo-Confederacy, which seized & nationalized all Norfolk-Southern & CSX property in its territory to form the Southern RR Corp (holding company for the government-owned railroads), and the Grand Duchy of New York did much the same thing with NS, CSX & CN properties in its territory, but instead the Grand Duke of New York, rather than nationalizing the railroads, handed them over to favored subordinates, who re-constituted the New York Central RR.... Map to give you an idea what I'm talking about. Wasteland Express runs from New St. Louis, Compromised Missouri (the territory that's currently disputed between the FRA, CSA & bandits), through the Republic of Lakotah & into the small red territory on the West coast surrounded by bandits, undead & Chaos hordes (i.e. a really fun place to live):