Bamos

1. - Salvobrick – 1 2. - Lightningtiger – 1 6. - EROL – 2 7. – Zed - 1 Bill

Railbricks a free online magazine ( http://railbricks.com ) issue number 5 has instructions for a tender with geared trucks. You should be able to adapt it to your application. Bill

Beautiful loco you have their Zephyr1934. You are correct about the color of the loco the paint charts I have for the glacier park scheme are much darker. The color is officially called boiler jacket green and is more like the darker LEGO green. There was some controversy over the color when these locos were repainted as to whether the color used was correct. There is a Great Northern 4-6-2 pacific number 1355 that is being restored the running condition in Indiana by the Siouxland historical railway society that is closer to the original color. Bill

You said it was a steam electric is it possible it could be a mechanical issue like one of the drivers rubbing on a frame somewhere or a friction pin use in place of a connecter pin. Bill

Beautiful work on your city Bricksan . That is quite a change from your last version will you be still using the marina or down play that area since you have changed the viewing angle of you display Bill

Haddock51 There should be a self reseting circuit breaker or at the least a fuse in the control. But I dont know how it will react with multiple controls there may be enough of a delay to cause damage. Soldering directly to the rails will be okay. The devices are to keep the current from the train from interfering with other signals like radio or TV. Bill

Haddock51 Jamesp The builder of the first red Helix states that he uses a Digitrax DB 150 3 amp power station /controller ( I am assuming with the volts set to N scale to limit the volts to 10 to 12 ) with an under track bus wire with track feeders every 15 pieces of track. If You have enough amps you don’t need all the extra things like transformers and controllers used in sync. One power pack or DCC controller with enough power to run the trains you want and one wiring bus with a couple of track feeders is all you need. Turning wyes and reverse loops will require some special wiring and equipment to work properly. EDIT Also there may be other ways to achieve what you want instead of 4 short 8 percent grades use one long 2 percent grade hidden behind some buildings or put the whole railroad on grade except for towns to climb to the next level these are called nolixes in model railroading. Bill

Same with our local Shopko 6$ a piece makes ebay sellers look like a deal. Also check with Five Below if you have one in your town our local one got some in last week along with a couple of the Walmarts. I bought mine a couple of weeks ago at TRU. Bill

Collectible is generally with a production run of less than 5000 units. Some of the most expensive items are disposable promo material since it was meant to be thrown away. Also I have found that buying habits can drive the price up too. If you put a set up for sale at the original asking price then no one bids on it. Then take the minifigs out and one of the minifigs go for more than the set was. Bill

Another name is double ended staging yard.

The top red spiral if my calculations are correct is between a three and four percent grade, the bottom white spiral is between seven and eight percent grade. Bill

Instead of using multiple controllers could you use a large scale model train control with more amps and just limit the voltage to the track. Meaning if the control produces 9 volts at speed step 6 then don’t turn the dial past 6 I know it’s not purist but it may be easier than using four controllers to increase the amps. As for the inclination LEGO tight curves cause drag on the train that can be equal to say a two percent grade. So a grade of eight percent will become a ten percent a grade with one curve and twelve percent with two EDIT I found out lenz and NCE both have systems where the track voltage can be brought down to 10 volts for Z gauge trains. . Bill

I think that volts and amps are being confused here. The volts to the track should not exceed 9.6 however amps are what determines how many motors you can run. I don’t know the LEGO controls specs but a Bachmann basic DCC set produces about 1 amp which will run maybe 3 to 5 trains depending on consumption ( not all motors are same even from the same company). If you were to add DCC booster the voltage is the same but the amps increase allowing you to run more trains. EDIT Also cotrollers for model railroads are 12 volts and can spike up to 16 volts. so you have to limit the voltage to the track. Bill

Haddock51 There is no difference between any other gauge of model railroading and L gauge Railroading. I would get a book on wiring either the old controller and block system or the new DCC system. If you are running only 3 trains with the old system then you only need 3 controllers one control should not be overloaded with 4 motor trains. But your layout will have to be made into 3 blocks or sections with insulated joints between them or the controllers will short against each other which will at the least stop your railroad or can cause fried motors and melted track connections. If you can find a DCC system that outputs 9 volts you only need one command station and maybe one booster. If you want to follow your trains you will need another throttle per person/train Also the problem with LEGO track is the connections between the tracks. It loses power from section to section so you need more connections. On My HO layout I placed a connection every 3 Feet or one meter. Bill

Lightning tiger It definitely looks more like a 50’s town with the buildings together like that back when people still lived in the towns instead of outside them. Of all your towns you have done I this one is my favorite great work . Bill

Jonwil that is a gas station every LEGO city would love to have. We don’t have any more like this in my town they either work on cars or sell gas but not both. Bill

That’s a great start to your city DarthNick there is so much to see like the Minifig hand used as a flag on the mail box and the yellow fire hydrants. The whole thing really tells a story Bill

I believe the nose looks too tall because the two Battery/ Mechanical boxes are missing on both sides of the short hood. Also I think Ferromex short hoods are black with a red stripe and the brake wheel should be the left side . If you add those it will look like the photo. Also maybe use white plates and add black tiles over it for the walkways so it looks like a black walkway with a white stripe on the side. What you have done so far looks great though. Bill

Standard practice to destroy a mold is to mill the impression out of it and recycle the rest or use it for something else. The shiny part may have been hard chromed to reduce wear. The dies themselves look like they are inserts and can be changed out. Bill

Cars are a bad investment from the beginning. No matter how much time and money you put into them you will never get your money back when you sell. Also California is one of the most expensive states in the U.S. to live in. Your car may meet smog regulations no modifications to cars are allowed there and the us health care system will take most of your money you have left. Bill

You could just make the other truck to match and say it has high speed passenger trucks. The trucks and the steam heater line were basically the only difference between an express boxcar and a normal boxcar. Bill

I do not seen this being made as a play set type of set but more like set10220 the Volkswagen T1 Camper Van . Bill

In the U.S. the 3677 red cargo train was marked as limited edition on the box and only sold through Lego and Toys R Us. Bill

Between the new Minifig ratios and the new golden Minifigs I think I will be only getting ones I can incorporate into city. These are getting to be just like Disney’s Vinylmation series one complete set the rest filler and one gold chaser that is only avalible on ebay for 35 dollars.

Your school bus looks great although some truck style mirrors would be more appropriate. Bill