Steinkopf

Thanks Mate , she was a fun machine to build and I love running her around with the Xm 2/2 as a Catenary Maintenance Train which also makes a great detail scene when I have them set up on a layout working on the catenary.

Hello Harnbak Here a couple of photos from previous shows I have done layouts for. Part of the my Locomotive Depot from Brickvention 2011 Part of my module for the SLGG layout at the AMRA 49th Sydney Model Railway Exhibition 2011. Another part of my module in the foreground including a Traction Substation, the section behind that which has tracks with brown tiles for sleepers was done by other members of the group.

Hello Everyone, Recently I posted about my Catenary Renewal Machine and I thought it would be a nice idea to stay on the topic of overhead wiring repair and show it's workmate the Xm 2/2 Catenary Inspection and Repair Vehicle. This machine is heavily inspired by the Xm 2/2 units of the RhB http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ch/narrow_gauge/RhB/work/railcar/xm22_n9916_1.jpg and is also inspired by the 701 Class of the DB http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/de/work/catenary/701/dbag701a.jpg . I have also added a Catenary Work Wagon that normally travels with the Xm 2/2 carrying spare parts for the catenary as well as cable drums, the idea to make this combination happened when I saw a model of a 701 Class with a work wagon in a Marklin catalogue http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh_detail.asp?mn=1&ca=78&sc=All&stock=39971 I immediately thought wow that looks really nice I have to make something like this. View showing the test pantograph and video camera used for monitoring the catenary as well as the crew access hatch to the elevated work platform. In catenary inspection mode with test pantograph elevated to check the condition of the wiring.

Thankyou Everyone for the kind responses, I am glad you like it and I will be adding another Catenary Work Vehicle soon.

The locomotive looks very much like the one from the Maersk Train set but in Burlington Northern livery, I have seen photos of a Burlington Northern coloured loco with a Maersk loco elsewhere around the time the Maersk train was released, I think it was on either Brickshelf or Flickr.

Hello Hrw-Amen The real life units are self propelled and are fitted with a diesel engine they have a top speed of either 24km/h or 80km/h depending on the model number, the overhead wiring has to be turned off when they are laying the cables as it would be too dangerous to have them on. With my model I normally have it coupled to a powered Catenary Repair and Inspection Vehicle that also has a work wagon attatched to it, I will put some photos up of that soon.

Hello Everyone The next model I would like to share photos of is a Catenary Renewal Machine that I built for working on the overhead wiring of the LBB network, the design of this vehicle is heavily inspired by the FUM 100.046 built by Plasser & Theurer. These vehicles are used for either construction or renewal of overhead wiring, they use a Knuckle Boom which is fitted with 2 reels that are used to roll the cables out, the cables are feed from drums that are kept under constant tension to ensure there is no sagging of the Catenary wiring. This model was a fun and challenging build due to the variety of equipment that needed to be fitted, the trickiest of all was getting the right shape and profile of the Knuckle Boom. Here is a rear quarter view of a FUM 100.051 machine owned by the PKP

Hello Everyone Here are some Hi Rail Unimogs that I have built for my Legodtenstein Bundes Bahn, the first vehicle is a standard work truck that is used by track gangs for general maintenance work, the second vehicle is fitted with a cherry picker and is used for work on overhead wiring as well as repairs to signals and lighting, the trucks are inspired by the Mercedes Benz 437 series/ U2150 Unimogs.

I thought you would have recognized the stock as you would have seen them before over at the Flickr Lego Trains MOC's group. With the name Steinkopf I had to use it here as Brickhead had already been taken, ironically Steinkopf has been taken on Flickr .

Hello Everyone I would like to share some photos of a rebuild of an earlier model of mine. The I2 Kuhlwagen is inspired by the typical refrigerator vans built during the early to mid 1900s, the design of this particular model emulates the style of vans built between the 1940s till 1960s. Before the introduction of engine or electric powered cooling units to refrigerator vans from around the late 1960s onwards refrigerator vans relied on blocks of Ice or Dry ice to produce cold air, this air would be circulated throughout the vans interior by using roof top rotors to create an airflow.

Thanks Harnbak The Pantographs are constructed using all Lego parts, the conductor shoes are Belville Ice Skates and the frames are 3mm Rigid Tube with Pirate Hook Hands inserted in them. Thanks Duq Certainly, here's the link to my photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_stannard/ .

Thankyou roamingstudio as you mentioned the Yellow stripe is used to indicate the 1st class section of a coach or a 1st coach if it runs the full length, the use of the Yellow stripe is very common feature in Western Europe for denoting 1st class passenger stock.

Hello Everyone Austinniya is actually a man and lives in Brisbane, mind you it would be nice if we did have some more FFOL's that were interested in building trains.

Thanks for that Brickster and Jimbo Brickster to answer your questions All of my stock is powered by 9v, I have 2 Steam Locos and plan to build another one soon the 9v motors are mounted in the tenders so I can use the Emerald Night Wheels. I am not a big fan of PF as there are a number of limitations build wise due to the battery box and receiver, you can build a much smaller Loco on a 9v power bogie compared to PF, also PF is not overly exhibition friendly when doing large layouts, my train group has had line of sight issues with the controller for PF trains particularly if they are in a tunnel or behind buildings, whilst 9v you just change the power setting on the regulator. I have also built a control coach that goes with it it's designated ABt which means it has 1st and 2nd class seating arrangements, there 4 each seats provided for 1st and 2nd class passengers, there is also a small cab for the driver to control the train.

Hello Everyone Here is the next installment of photos, this model is the BDe 4/4 a Passenger Railcar with a luggage compartment, this design is the older half sister of the De 4/4 and is a freelance take on the large variety of Electric Passenger Railcars that were bought into service in Switzerland during the early 1900s. The design features 2 driving cabs a luggage compartment that can store suitcases and bicycles and last but not least seating for 4 passengers, the unit can be coupled to a control coach to provide a 2 car push-pull set.

These photos were taken a bit over a year ago, since then I have added several other new items as well as rebuilding some of the older stock, the electric locomotives pictured here have the old school Lego 2881 pantograph shoes which have been replaced by more authentic looking pantographs. Hopefully in a month or 2 I might be able to get a group picture showing all the updates and new builds.

The term golden age is dependant on what context you put it in, as far as sets are concerned there was far more variety back in the days of 12v and 9v, the current range of PF Trains does offer more variety though compared to the final days of 9v and the defunct IR trains range, where I see the golden age of trains being is the good availability of parts. When I first got into trains in 2003 the availability of parts for trains was not that great even on Bricklink and EBay, the prices for train parts in general back then was expensive as well, these days due to PAB, Bricklink and the mix of parts in sets the prices have gone down substantially. You only have to look at the prices such as red and green train doors as well as the part ref 4511 sliding doors, these items were very expensive back then red train doors in used condition for example used to sell for $7.00 US a piece, train buffers and wheels also used to be quite expensive. For me personally the "Golden Age for Trains" is not in what sets are available it's with the opportunities that exist for builders, the large selection and availability of parts give train builders more building options than ever before. There are many people that whinge that Lego should offer more sets of individual wagons or coaches, I have watched the debate where people are demanding TLG to produce additional coaches for the Emerald Night, to be frank those arguments have no merit. If TLG does not make what you want make it yourself it's not that hard, Lego trains have a distinct advantage over traditional model railways in that it gives you that ability to make what you want easily, anyone who has had to scratchbuild or kitbash traditional model railway stock can testify to that. For 20 years I built traditional model railways and had to do a lot of kitbashing to make rolling stock that was not produced by the manufacturers, many model rail fans including myself have had to wait for up to 30 years in some cases for locomotives they would like to have to be produced in a ready to run form, some examples are the recent releases from Bachmann the ROD 2-8-0 and GWR 32xx Dukedog 4-4-0 locomotives which many British modellers have waited decades for. Certainly there are many things that we would like TLG to produce but in all practicality this is not possible, however Lego being the fantastic construction medium that it is we have far more options at our disposal compared to our traditional model rail counterparts.

Hello ZuheriHB Thanks for the comments and offer of help with signage etc, I made need to take up your offer later on down the track (pun intended ). With the LBB it is the state owned railway of the fictional nation of Legodtenstein, I am using a bit of creative license and alternate history where Legodtenstein is created as a breakaway nation from the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Austro Prussian War. Legodtenstein is a neutral country that is located on the coast somewhere around North East Italy and Slovenia, given it's close proximity to Switzerland and Austria the railway is heavily inspired by Swiss and Austrian designs and practices. I will be putting more photos up over time as I don't want to flood the forum with my posts.

Thanks LT I haven't yet grasped the nuances of posting images on Eurobricks so I will have get a grasp of deep linking over time, I have been active on Flickr for a longtime and have pretty much kept my posting there until now.

Hello everyone Over the past 4 years I have been working on stock for my freelance railway the LBB (Legodtenstein Bundes Bahn), the De4/4 Gepacktriebwagen is the latest addition to my fleet. The design of this vehicle which is a cross between a locomotive and baggage car was inspired by a number of vehicles built for various railways in Switzerland where this type of motive power is very popular on regional passenger trains. The main inspiration is from the Fe4/4 motor baggage cars built for the SBB in Switzerland between 1927 till 1928, later on these locomotives had their designation changed to De4/4, some of them were modified in the 1960s with more modern carbodies whilst others remained in their original form, the class proved to be very versatile and robust providing 60 years of service before they were retired. Attached are some photos and here is a link to more .

G'day Peter I would still like to see pictures of your rejigged pantos since I missed out on seeing them this year at Brickvention, I finally decided to join here after sitting on the sidelines for so many years, I thought I may as well jump in and do something positive by sharing my knowledge with others.

Hello Hrw-Amen For a number of years I had used the traditional Lego Train Pantograph Shoes Part ref 2881 on my trains, I was never happy with them and late last year I decided to replace them with a hybrid design I made inspired by the work of Flickr user namo-den , the original Lego ones are in many respects underscale for the style and size of electric powered stock made by many AFOL's. I have made two different Pantographs there is the Single Arm Pantograph which is suited for more modern locomotives and started to gain widespread use in the 1970's and then there is the classic Diamond Pattern Pantograph that is used on older locomotives, both versions use the Belville Ice Skate for the conductor shoe. Here are some links to photos to give you an idea, first is the Single Arm design and next is the Diamond Pattern design . I hope this is some help to you and gives you some inspiration with building your trains.

I have to agree to the vast bulk of Tim's comment, in many respects a large number of display layouts fail to capture the essence of a model railway this can be due to a number of factors such as unrealistic track design and being overly cluttered aka Track City, the surroundings that the railway is placed in and overall level of detail plays a lot into how convincing the layout is. Many tend to neglect lineside details such as signalling and other infrastructure, ballasting is one simple detail that helps enhance the visual aspect of the track on the layout, the placement and size of buildings is also another issue that comes into play. Model Railways in many respects are like the theatre, the tracks and landscape are the stage, the buildings and other associated details such as vehicles are the stage props, finally you have the trains and rolling stock which play the part of the actors that add life to the whole display. Over the years of displaying at AMRA with my fellow club members in the SLGG such as J.P. we have slowly won the admiration of a lot of the model railway fraternity, there are however some that no matter how much you try they still have their view that Lego trains are toys, at the end of the day we are in the hobby for our own enjoyment and satisfaction regardless what some other people think. Regards Dave

Hello Everyone My name is Dave from Sydney Australia, a number of members here would know me by my Flickr moniker Brickhead given that name has already been taken here I had to adopt a rough German translation for that name. I have been an AFOL since 2001 when I started collecting sets for my son when he was born, I had been apprehensive about collecting Lego trains as I already had a substantial OO gauge collection and the price as well as the quality of trains (4561) available at the time put me off. Then in 2003 my wife and I came across the Santa Fe Super Chief 10020 at a heavily discounted introductory price of $30.00 AUD at Myers, I couldn't resist we bought one and built it and went wow this is really good let's buy another one. Later in the year I purchased the World City train sets 4511, 4512, 4513 and 4514, that was it I was officially hooked, I then started to scrounge around and purchase what 9v track I could find in stores locally as well as purchasing parts from Bricklink. In 2006 after years of having train running session with a friend David Parkin known on Eurobricks as Mr P we started the first Lego Train Club in Sydney the SLTC with some other people who were interested in forming a group, that year we attended our first show the AMRA Sydney Model Railway Exhibition, we won the Children's Choice Award and came 2nd place in the Peoples Choice Award. Since then the group has been displaying at AMRA in various guises, last year (2011) we finally achieved our long term goal by winning the Peoples Choice Award under our new group name the Sydney L Gauge Group (SLGG). My personal interests in trains is the building of the LBB (Legodtenstein Bundes Bahn)which is a freelanced railway that services the mythical nation of Legodtenstein, my trains are heavily inspired by trains from Austria, Germany and Switzerland in particular those of the Rhatische Bahn (RhB) in Eastern Switzerland, the long term goal is to build a home based layout that will travel from a harbour city and then out into the countryside.