cgarison

This has been one of my favorite sites for researching motors for all of my PF projects. Wonderful resource.

Oh that is the truth. Watching my Horizon Express fly out of a tunnel and flop on its side about 1cm short of the edge of the layout was not good for my heart. S-Bricks cannot get here soon enough.

The Friends polybags are getting more and more disappointing to me. I found much better deals with sets in getting the parts that I need to build out modular concepts for our town layouts. FWIW: My local Walmart store have had a bins of the jet ski polybag but none of the new items being released.

I have dreams of producing a building on that scale. But your MOC makes my dreams look so puny. Great job!

That was essentially the message that was delivered at a meeting I attended this past weekend. Would it be to obvious to say that it was in Pennsylvania.......

Not unfortunate at all. I took the opportunity of missing the Emerald Knight and the Lone Ranger Constitution Train and built my own creation using a handful of concepts from both and in a scale that works nicely with other train built by people in my local LUGs. Next on my list, make an 8 wide train in a style kinda like the Maersk, but a little more future retro art deco........ Yea, that is what I want to build but my brain craps out on how to fill in the bits in between the front and the back of the locomotive. I will get back on this MOC in a few weeks with a new perspective. The absolute best advice ever! Rememeber, in the end, Lego is a hobby that is about having fun and not getting dragged down by the politics of TLG company policies, the price of sets/parts, or clashing with people in a user group of some type. If you have any of those three things happen, then you need to reset and remember this is a hobby that is meant to bring joy and fun. Most of all build what you want to make yourself happy. And forget the opinions of others who put what you build down. It is about self satisfaction. Enough of this for now. I will step down from the soap box (as we would say in America) and stop my tub thumping (as they would say across the pond.) Cheers!

Lithium is a very reactive metal. It makes great batteries, but from personal experience, it made some nice fireballs in the chemestry lab back in day. That is the property that makes me respect battery packs in my electronic devices. No need to have a fireball now that I am married and don't need to impress the girls in the lab.

Such a nice sweet little locomotive. Great Work!

This is a tough question because their are aspects of all the themes that I have liked, but these are my persistant favorites: 1.) Technic - even though a majority of MOC are not Technic in style, I use many of these concepts in my MOC. It is still an all time favorite. 2.) Creator - From the modular houses to the simple cars, these are a favorite to learn new building techniques Other themes that have influence my building.... City Friends Galaxy Squad Monster Fighters Chima (1st Wave)

Just remember that with the NiMH batteries, there has been an evolution of technology over the years that has allowed the batteries that you purchase today to last longer in most applications and not lose as much energy as they set over time. The Energizer batteries that I originally used when I was a wedding photographer 10 years ago would discharge themselves in about 3 weeks of non-use. The latest model of Energizers has extended this time to nearly 3 months. But if you use the latest generation of Panasonic Eneloop NiMH batteries, they can set for 3 years and still hold a charge. Plus they have a running discharge characteristic that more closely resembles that of a Li-Ion battery pack. And because they are NiMH, they can be charged in any NiMH charger. I personally use a Maha charger that has 3 modes for fast charging, regular charging and conditioning the batteries. And unlike the Energizer fast chargers, the batteries do not get hot which can reduce the number of times the battery can be recharged. Note that Gen. 1 and Gen. 2 Eneloops were sold and marketed under the Sanyo brand while the latest 3rd Generation batteries are now marketed under the Panasonic brand. Same great battery, just carries the branding of the parent company and has a greater number of recharge cycles per battery. Finally, while running batteries in our Lego trains, the running discharge of the Eneloop allows the train to run strong for 95% of is run time and then slow to a stop in the last 5% of the time left in the battery. In many other NiMH batteries that are available, the trains gradually slow during the whole run time of the battery making them run rather slow for the last 30%-40% of their run time which is not as pleasing to watch on a layout. Yes, Li_Ion have better energy densities, but with that bigger amount of energy in a smaller package comes the risk of fire and explosion. Consequently, I do not recommend using any form of Li_Ion battery except for those that are made by Lego and sold in their battery pack with all the electronic circuitry to protect the Li-Ion cell during charges and when discharging to run one of our trains. We certainly do not want to have a fireball while enjoying one our our trains run around the track or create a hazard at a venue when recharging the battery.

I will have to say that moving to an 8 wide (plus up to an additional stud of overhang) by 44 stud long locomotive after having built a handful of 6 wide models has been one of the hardest and most mind blowing processes that I have come across in Lego and this includes moving into studless builds using modern Technic pieces. I do not know why my brain cannot easily wrap around additional 2 studs of width when building a train, but it has been rather tough. I literally have had the frame structure built of what will become my next train MOC complete with PF motors, IR Receiver and battery box laid out, but building the locomotive around the power bits has just given me a mental block. Maybe the holidays will clear my brain to where I can get back onto the project.

Very nice, clean build. The cars and the engine fit very nicely together.

Very Nice build.

If you are taking a forward looking point of view, Power Functions would be the way to build your Lego rolling stock due to the fact that it can be run on any type of modern Lego track with relatively few issues.

Very nice build with lots of detail!

Same here. My only issue is that I now have a desire to build trains with the L-Motors and the only way to get the V2 IR receiver is through Bricklink. After purchasing the 60052, I also ended up with about all the parts I need as far as remotes and the like are concerned and only build my own MOCs. I will grab the next Creator train to come out as a replacement for the HE. The only other thing that I need would be axles and couplings. And lord, those really start adding up when you consder that each constructed bogey starts out around $7.50 in parts when you include the couplers. I refrain from telling my wife how much I have invested in the Ghost Train ver 1.02 with the 4-6-0 locomotive, tender, mail car (contains PF bits), drop deck car, 2 jail cars, and the caboose. At least many of the parts for the locomotive cam from the actual Ghost Train set which I got for half price, but it grew by a bunch.

As many of us have discovered, it is much cheaper to use that AAA battery box and order a dozen AAA Eneloop batteries from Amazon and pick up an inexpensive charger. By the time you pay for a single battery pack plus the power cord, you can easily purchase the rechargeable Eneloop AAA batteries and a charger that is quicker than the Lego battery pack and charger cord. With my Maha charger, I could recharge 24 batteries in less time than it took to recharge the Lego battery pack and we got the same amount of run time out of either solution. With my train, it was about 110 minutes (just short of 2 hours) and on a friends train (that weighs about half of mine) about 175 minutes (2 hours and 45 minutes.) Energizer makes a super fast and rather cheap charger, but I fear that it actually charges the batteries too quickly and hurts their overall life. That is why I made the investment into a better Maha charger. YMMV.

Very nice build. The colors are great and the decals really pop. Great work!

Nice! That looks like the tipper at the steel mill close to where I grew up.

Nice build. I like the details on the front of the train.

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Nice build. I am shocked at how loud the cars rattle as they move over the track. Of course, I have never built a car of that size on just two axles. What size motor are you using to propel the cars?

Great Layout!

Use black Technic axles that are cut down to the precise length you need and make sure you have nice square edges for the gear to attach at the end of the axle. This stopped my gear popping off issue on trains.

This is a wonderful MOC. I will need to find a way to include a passenger carriage with this style on my Ghost Train. I love the arches and the windows. Keep up the great work.