Hhmarshall

Does anyone know of a way to make PF steam trains puff smoke? I haven't been able to find anything yet. Thanks

I would really like to add coupling and connecting rods to my Toy Story train. I've never done this before, though and am unsure what pieces I need. How long should the coupling rods be? How do I build and connect the connecting rods? I am hoping to avoid a ton of modding but am willing to do some. I would love to see this in action like a proper steam engine (I already motorized it). Is there a tutorial for this somewhere about adding rods in general? If not, I would appreciate any help I could get. Thanks!

My first post was about the construction of my new train table. I left it with this vision of the layout. Here is the reality. As you can see, with the help of some flex track, I was able to make it pretty close to the blueprint. This is a fantasy layout meant to show off my collection. It is heavily influenced by the design of Disneyland in Anaheim. Separate "lands" that use colour among other things to distinguish them from one another. For better or for worse, I don't use base plates due to budgetary concerns. To help distinguish the areas or "lands" of my layout, I like to use coloured construction paper. The right hand corner has the mountain from my old layout. It's a cardboard strip frame with some grey mesh fabric and white cloth to suggest snow. I am not 100% happy with it but I really wanted a tunnel and past a certain point we need to move on to get it done. I am quite proud of the tunnel entrances though. Built using what I had on hand. The bridge was built using scrap wood and vinyl and spare bricks. It is a placeholder until I can bricklink something more realistic. One thing I have experimented with is using ballast as a border between the different areas and add some realism. The ballast is parcel paper with a colour photo of model train ballast printed on it. The next step: Populating the world. I will let you know how it goes.

So my first table were odds and ends of plywood joined together by plywood scraps underneath and placed on my dining room table. It was, in a word... rough. With the removal of the dining room table, an opportunity arose to build a new table in the basement under the stairs which doubles as the dogs "pound". The goal was to maximize space while leaving clear paths to get to the laundry room and the dogs area under the stairs. Also, there was a pillar to deal with. I started by staring at the space until my eyeballs ached. I really didn't want to make mistakes after cutting. Finally I came up with this sketch: Everything looks right on paper though. I decided to tape it out, to be sure it would work: The dimensions worked out to be 7.5 x 9.16 feet with an access space of just under 3 x 3 feet in the middle. I decided to abandon the "L" shape in favour of a square. Time to cut wood! Specifically, 3/4 inch plywood from Home Depot. I hate warping and uneven surfaces so I went thick. In deference to my family, I made the decision to add some rubber shelf liner material for noise reduction My last table I painted the plywood green. This time I went with vinyl cloth. My wife did an amazing job wrapping it for me. A table needs legs. These came from my local Canadian Tire 2 to a pair. To prevent bowing, I added a third leg to the long sections. The short sections got one leg each. The braces were added to level the connecting edges. Finally, as a finishing touch, it was decided to add skirting to the table. Ta Da! Now to the Nitty Gritty: Budget. The total cost was $426. It was more than I budgeted, but I was willing to spend a little more to make it look good. The skirting in particular was a bit pricey, but I figure If i'm going to blow all this cash on plastic, I can at least have a good space to put it on, especially since I don't use base plates. So overall I had a great experience making this. I am NOT a handy person, but I pulled this off (with help from my wife) and I feel very proud whenever I come down and see what I built with my own hands. I also like that it is modular and can be added to (or rearranged) in the future. for now, it's time to plan my layout! Here's what I've got in mind (note the bridge): Thanks for reading!

Hello; I wanted to try trains as a hobby, and since I was already into Lego, decided to mix the two. While L gauge can seem limiting, it's just not as intimidating to get into. It's not supposed to look real, it's LEGO. And there's just no denying the fun factor. What other scale can a train start at Hogwarts and end at docking bay 97 and look perfectly normal? I have a Hogwarts Express, The red and yellow Cargo Trains and the Toy Story 3 Train. I like how each train is a different style. I will soon post about my new train table, and am always hoping for a new Lego Train set.

AWESOME. Come the lottery, I am building one of these.

Thank you so much for posting this. I couldn't see the answer for how to PF this until you mentioned installing the blind drivers. That totally did the trick! My son wants to install the ghost train underneath our train table in "spooky town" Thanks again

Sweet! Imperial Guard figs!

Unfortunately, the links to these pics no longer seem to work. Any chance you could repost them? I would love to see them. EDIT: They work now. They are Great! Would you be interested in selling a hi res file I could print and put up in my train room?

This looks great. I am stuck on how to mod mine to run on track and still look good. How did you do it? Can you post a detail shot or two?