DaveBey

I placed on order with TIMBY'S CELLAR on December 28, 2013, received an invoice in five minutes, paid ten minutes later, and received my order January 6, 2014. The package was shipped Priority in a bubble mailer. This was a small 16 lot, 135 piece order so a larger order may take more time. The turnaround time for this order was excellent and I couldn't be happier! Cheers from Claremore, OK USA! Dave

Those two cars are from 7898: Cargo Train Deluxe. The preview on Amazon fortunately had the two pages in question! I suppose horses are a logical animal instead of cows (I really like the LEGO cows). Maybe pigs since 70813: Rescue Reinforcements includes one? Cheers from Claremore, OK USA! Dave

The train station sounds like a return to a single platform station which, given the piece count, sounds like it could be a very nice train station! Animals on the cargo train?!? Please let them be cows! It sounds like this train may be a return to the flatcar / boxcar cargo trains of past. Nice! Cheers from Claremore, OK USA! Dave

The cheesy grins on Blacktron Fan and Fabu-Fan: they look so starstruck. Hilarious! I think the pig is supposed to be on a treadmill, walking towards the carrot, to turn the tail rotors. At least that's what it looks like to me. (Edit: I see Legofin2012 and I think alike!) I love the toungue-firmly-in-cheek sense of humor about all The LEGO Movie sets. Cheers from Claremore, OK USA! Dave

Happy New Year, indeed! I don't think we can complain about the piece count of the new train station; both the previous train stations are under 400 pieces. 7997: Train Station has 387 pieces and 7937: Train Station has 361 pieces. Based on the posted piece count of the passenger train, I sense a return to a large, one-piece nose similar to 7897: Passenger Train. I hope not, though. If it's true, I'm looking forward to a blue train. There's not been a blue train since 4561: Railway Express. It makes sense for a blue train though; 60044: Mobile Police Unit appears to have 92339: Chassis 6x28x6.4 in blue. Cheers from Claremore, OK USA! Dave

The windscreen in 7898: Cargo Train Deluxe is 6567: 2F Train, Windscreen 2x6x2, a 'solid' element while the new windscreens are two-element units, composed of 13760: Windscreen Frame 2x6x2 and 13756: Glass For Windscreen 2x6x2. 60044: Mobile Police Unit appears to include 92339: Chassis 6x28x6.4 in Bright Blue, a new color for this element. Cheers from Claremore, OK USA! Dave

tjspencer1 -- Has LEGO Cuusoo indicated if/when comments will be enabled on your projects again? It seems like it would be difficult to promote your projects without receiving and responding to comments. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Amazing! You did a great job; thank you for sharing! Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

I can't accept it's as simple as not selling. I believe marketing and availability are much bigger reasons. I don't see the emphasis on trains I see on other themes such as CITY, Ninjago, Legends of Chima, etc. The LEGO Trains web site is, well, lacking, especially compared to the site not even ten years ago. The current site even references sets no longer available. I've only seen current LEGO CITY train sets available at Toys "R" Us and LEGO Stores. Even sets in the 9V heyday were LEGO 'exclusives' available only from LEGO directly. If there's not a LEGO Store close by, additional track is not available locally. In the past, 4.5V and 9V track was sold in both Target and Toys "R" Us here in the US for example. I would love to see more trackside structures but again, historically those were only avaiable through mail-order and online. While it's great to have trains with a high level of detail, such as the Maersk Train and Horizon Express, I believe maintaining two train lines (Creator Expert and CITY) in the end limits the overall number of train sets. Historically there were differences between sets sold in Europe vs the United States. A common global catalog of sets should allow for a more frequent product release cycle but I believe this is where the lack of marketing and ready availability hurt: folks aren't aware of the sets and they're only available at select locations. I would love to see the LEGO Trains web site with more content, much like when Jake McKee was webmaster and see the full line of train sets and track available at more locations. To stay somewhat on topic, I feel confident in speculating there will be a new passenger train and a new cargo train. Possibly a new train station and hopefully a new level crossing. I've love to see a CITY cargo station but for the reasons listed above, I don't see it happening. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

To give you an idea, the largest 9V layout from LEGO (Freight Runner Loop on Train Depot site) used approximately 60 each of curved and straight rails. The LEGO layout at LEGO World 2013 used approximately 285 straight rails and 80 curved rails. Get more track than you think you need! I believe the Enlighten track is packaged similar to 7896: Straight and Curved Rails so I'd recommend purchasing 10-15 plus an additional 5 packages of switching tracks. If you're considering a static rail siding display for your trains, you may consider additional switching track. Both Track Designer and BlueBrick give you the area of a layout so you may want to spend some time designing layouts beforehand to see how large an area is used. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

I'd say so as long as you don't plan to use flexible track segments for anything other than replacing standard straight and/or curved sections. If you're using flexible track in short, 'flexible' segments, the LEGO Train Track Planner or LEGO Digital Designer may be your best bet. Track Designer's also still relevant for the included layouts. There's no reason you couldn't build them with PF track or use them as inspiration for your own layout! Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

June 24, 2012 is the date to pick on the Internet Archive WayBack Machine. Surprisingly enough, the .zip for Track Designer is also available. I actually copied the files from the Internet Archive locally so I have a copy of the entire site (under 10MB) so I wouldn't have to use the WayBack Machine. I'm still curious if the site will eventually be more readily available again. (I'd throw it up on my domain but there are probably some copyright issues.) On a side note, the Internet Archive WayBack Machine really makes you miss the old LEGO Trains site. It's a shame only bits and pieces of it are archived. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Thank you for reminding me about the New LEGO Train Depot; I'd forgotten about it. I really liked the sample layouts available on the original and the Track Designer progam was nice for designing some basic layouts. Hopefully it's all made available again! Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Does anyone know what happened to the LEGO Train Depot? I receive a 404 Error for the link I posted. The North Georgia LEGO Train Club appears to be in the process of a redesign but there doesn't appear to be much activity. There is/was some good information at the LEGO Train Depot, especially for the 9V era, and I'm curious if the information will be made available again. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Check out 10173: Holiday Train for some inspiration from LEGO's offering from 2006. This is designed to be motorized with the 9V motor under the tender. The great thing about LEGO is it can look however you want! Using Power Functions, the biggest issue is where the place the battery box. 10194: Emerald Night is the first Power Functions train and the battery box is in the tender with an XL-Motor supplying the power. The IR Receiver is placed in the boiler. Power Function trains are generally scaled larger than 9V trains due to the additional components required. You can use 88002: Train Motor but you may be limited in placement with a steam locomotive. Some folks have placed the Power Functions elements inside a boxcar (battery and receiver) with the motor as one of the bogies. The track included with 79111-1: Constitution Train Chase is the same track as in 7499: Flexible and Straight Tracks. Curves are no longer available in a track set but are available from Pick-A-Brick. I hope this helps and I can't wait to see with what you come up! Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

My sentiments exactly! Thank you for posting the set details and pictures. As always, I can't wait! Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Very nice; thanks for sharing! Are you sure this is your first train model? Keep up the good work! Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

I'd venture a guess the majority, if not all, of the 4.5V/12V trains are European in style. Any electric train/locomotive is also European in style. The steam locomotives in the 'My Own Train' line from 2001-2002 are ambiguous in styling and could easily be either American or European. As Spitfire2865 mentioned, the American-styled LEGO train sets include: 4549: Road N'Rail Hauler 10020: Santa Fe Super Chief 10022: Santa Fe Cars - Set II 10025: Santa Fe Cars - Set I 10133: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Locomotive 10170: TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car 10219: Maersk Train I'll also include 4558/10001: Metro Liner as the styling may be European but the colors are decidedly Amtrak. The great thing about rolling stock is its international nature. Hopefully this helps you with your plans for your layout. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Nice boxcars, Bill! I really like the green boxcar you posted on Flickr. Is there a story behind the green? Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

I like the placement of the IR Receiver. How did you build the nose of the cab? Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Brickshelf is still unavailable, at least for me. I tried last night and this morning and get "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage." I hope everything's okay. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Nice trucks! I really like the usage of element 3835: Mini Fireman's Axe on the Cargo Truck. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Please forgive the sporadic updates/replies. Below is a render with one end similar to the included coach and another with the lower stripes continued through the doors. I purchased enough elements to build all four cars both ways but built the coaches similar to the included coach. My only dielimma now is to keep the Black roof or go with go with Medium Stone Gray. The Blue / Earth Blue / White combination looks really sharp but a tad dark with the Black roof. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

The Dark Gray / Orange color combination looks pretty sharp! I really like the ingenious usage of the fence elements for the grill / vents. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave

Howdy and welcome to Eurobricks! I believe the motor you have is a Yellow Electric, Motor 4.5V Type II 12 x 4 x 3 1/3 available in three (non-train) sets according to BrickLink. Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA! Dave