Cale

Thank you. Thank you. Cale

Presenting my 1:48 scale LEGO model of the Pennsylvania Railroad X29 class boxcar. More photos can be found here. https://flic.kr/s/aHsmUx65ns Between 1924 and 1934, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased or built close to 30,000 of the X29 class of box cars and an additional 5,000 of the auto car variant, the X28. The X29 was a 40ft long, 50-ton all-steel car design.The X29, which made up approximately one third of the PRR’s boxcar inventory for the time, became one of the most iconic Pennsylvania Railroad freight cars of the late steam and transition eras. These cars appeared in every corner of the US and Canada. Many of the cars remained in revenue service up through the 1960’s. The X-29 became a landmark design and copies were delivered to the Baltimore & Ohio, Wheeling & Lake Erie, Central New Jersey, Lehigh & New England, Boston & Maine and Maine Central as well as many more railroads. More prototype info can be found here. https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/580-x29-series-box-car-information-for-modelers This model of the X29 features the Pennsy's 2D-F8 freight trucks, Creco doors, early door track and door stoop configuration, and KD brakes. I've been tinkering with a LEGO X29 off and on for years. This one I think is just about right. This is just part of my dive into this car as the X29 had quite a life span and came in many variations. It's probably one of the most important cars for any PRR steam era modeler. I will be building more of these in several flavors in the future. Thank you to Robert Douthwaite for inspiration on the Creco door design. His B&O version of this car can be seen below. Decal art work designed by me, and printed by OKBrickworks. Cale

Yes, that seems like the most sensible. The 20ft is the simplest and cheapest. Very easy to mass produce. Cale

Normally I don't like to spam the forum with BMR posts, but hopefully you guys will enjoy this one. Today we have a special article from guest writer Cameron Miller announcing a new Modular Intermodal Standard for LEGO® trains co developed by Brick Model Railroader and Brick Train Depot. Read the article here. And for those who want to skip straight to the Standards Document. Modular LEGO® Intermodal Standard v1 Cale Leiphart BMR

Bearings have a precision rating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABEC_scale I recommend using bearings with a rating of ABEC 5 to ABEC 7 or equivalent. If your suppler can't tell you what the bearing's rating is, you probably shouldn't buy from them. Cale

I have never powered more than one axle on a steam locomotive, always relying on the rods to do the job they were intended for, transmitting power to all axles. I've never had an issue with this. I firmly believe that the less gears you can have in a transmission the better. Every gear introduces more friction. Cale

I agree, I've been burned by cheap bearings from eBay before. However I think the $1.00 bearings are overkill for our application. Those are for racing and usually have extra features we don't necessarily need, like heavier shielding when run in a dirt environment. They are for racers looking to shave fractions of a second off their lap times. It does benefit us though to choose a bearing of at least moderate quality. There are several rating systems for bearings, one of them being the ABEC rating scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABEC_scale I generally look to buy bearings between ABEC 5 and 7, and have had good luck with those. Cale

You make a compelling argument for building in a larger scale sir. Beautiful train. Cale

I don't think the aerodynamic properties of the S160 design would lend itself to flying very well. The crash though would be spectacular! Cale

I'm the dummy with the BMR shirt. Cale

I thought the OKB car was dark red, and the CincyLUG was sand blue? Cale

So you're saying I need to get my OKBrickworks car built? ? Cale

Boom!

Just ordered 200 myself, which is enough to do 6 boxcars. Cale

I can now rest a little easier at night knowing that I have not drained the world of this valuable resource. Time make more boxcars. Cale

He could always sell a kidney on the black market. Cale

You can see PennLUG testing the prototype R104 switches for the first time at Philly Brick Fest last year in this video. https://youtu.be/3Z9dRRWW7dM And again here. https://youtu.be/3Z9dRRWW7dM We've had them for over a year now and the performance has been flawless. Several members have already backed for their own personal use, and the club will also be backing for use in our group layout. These are going to be a game changer for the hobby. Cale

The bearings you want are MR52ZZ 2x5x2.5mm. If you are looking for smaller quantities, eBay is probably your best bet. There are numerous sellers on there, all comparable in price. Just know that most of the sellers are from overseas and usually ship the cheapest (slowest) way possible. So it may take a month to get your bearings. https://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-2-5-2-5mm-Miniature-Model-Bearing-MR52ZZ-2x5x2-5mm-for-Spinner-bearing/352188703107?hash=item5200152183:g:etsAAOSwc2FZ55IT At BMR we buy our bearings directly from a manufacturer through Alibaba. We're buying thousands of bearings at a time though. Even if I sold our bearings at cost, I would have a hard time beating the eBay sellers. Cale

Yep. I've always heard it referred to as the "Hamburger" logo. It's actually one of my favorite N&W paint schemes. Cale

Thanks again for the review Scott. I'm glad you like the improvements we've been making to the instructions. Making these is not easy work, unfortunately we don't have millions of dollars to budget, and a team of graphic artists like LEGO, so we make do as best we can. But we are committed at Brick Model Railroader to doing our absolute best and we take every ones comments to heart on how we can do better. To answer some specific comments/questions. I was very conscious of the build for the flat car. It is indeed the less complex, lowest piece count of all the cars done so far. There just really isn't a lot to work with on these types of cars. I was very worried that it would be seen as a one trick pony, hence the inclusion of the Cat D4 model. Flat cars always look more interesting with the load any way. The side panel instructions are indeed a little finicky, but hopefully met builders will find a way to manage. Making these instructions is always a balancing act between making things as clear, and simple as possible, and managing page count. This may be a case where more break down into subassemblies is required. I'll have to take a look at page 16 to see what might be going on. I don't think it's an error, but maybe just a bad illustration of the final assembly going into place. The change in the truck design was made after the boxcar to eliminate a bad design with the pins, and make the truck more stable. The bearings don't like to be missaligned, this can cause them bind or even to fail prematurely. The new design locks the Technic bricks holding the bearings in place, preventing misalignment. It also eliminates the use of an older out of production part. Hopefully the 3mm tubing/mini fig hand assembly notes make this step easier for builders. I've found that most flat cars simply get a single color paint job over the entire car, underside and all. Sometimes even the trucks got body color. I'm not certain why this was the case other than it was just easier to not change colors when painting the under frame. Box cars though seemed to be the opposite with their under sides painted black typically. Butter a few months out on the road, I would expect most flat cars undersides to be coated black with grime so either way could be plausible. Some of the decals are a little on the tight side. Maybe a little more than expected. I'm not sure if that was an error on my end with the graphics, or in translation to the printer. They do all fit though, but some as you say take a little more care to get right. I'm not sure what can be done about a contrasting backing though. I'll have to talk with Andy and see if he can find some clear vinyl stock with a darker backing. Cale

I think that might be a solution with pursuing. Cale

That was never an actual planed locomotive by Union Pacific. Just some rail fan/foamer's fantasy. Cale

I would like to present my latest modeling project, the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Blue Comet. You can read all about this train in my Brick Model Railroader article. http://brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2017/10/26/a-tail-of-the-blue-comet-the-seashores-finest-train-in-lego/#comment-1172 Photos can be found on my Flickr page. https://www.flickr.com/photos/steampoweredbricks/albums/72157665457857519 Comet Train Set 01 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Comet Locomotive 01 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Comet Observation 03 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale

Tony is the real star. And I would be a terrible celebrity. I have a face for radio, and a speaking voice perfect silent movies. Cale

Awesome model! I love that you were able to pack all the electrics into the little body. There is a Model 40 in my local museum that one switched in the area. I may borrow some of your design ideas to build my home town 40. IMG_0285 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale