Cale

Brickworld photos. https://flic.kr/s/aHskyyvKmY IMG_6272 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr IMG_6417a by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr MVI_6527 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale

21 coal hoppers at Brickworld 2016. Not the longest train on here but being 8 wide pretty heavy compared to some. MVI_6526 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr MVI_6527 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale

You earned it friend. You had the better locomotive this year and If I had to loose to some one, I'm glad it was you. But next year, I'm making a comeback. Cale

I'll have my photos up as well hopefully tomorrow sometime. Yes my locomotive did go for $2050. I'm still in disbelief over the final bid. It was unexpected and quite amazing. And yes, Tony will make good on his word. But since it was his challenge to me at last year's auction, and his bet on this year's outcome that pushed me to donate my model, and helped raise the stakes, I feel I owe him something in return. I'm not saying what yet, but I got something special in the works for Tony as thanks. Cale

My Mikado is all packed. One last run awaits at Brickworld this weekend. One more trip around the PennLUG layout. I will miss this engine. It really has been one of my favorites. I hope whomever is the winning bidder at the charity auction loves it as much as I do. One last run. by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale

And I'm going to hold Tony to his pledge! I've been trying to get Thim to build an 8 wide caboose for ages. And to help it over the mark, I may just throw in some incentive to get it past the $1000. It's all i good fun though, and helps some great charities I'm glad Tony is so willing to play along. I'll make it up to him. I'm also hoping that this will expand on what Tony did last year and encourage more of the train fans coming to Brickworld, many of whom I consider to be great modelers, to contribute their own work to the charity auction. Cale

Lovely model, and quite faithful to it's real life counterpart. Cale

So last year my Texas rival, Anthony Sava, donated one of his sweet locomotives to Brickworld's Esther Walner Memorial Charity Auction. Just before it went on the block Tony issued a challenge. If his model went for over $400, then I would donate a model to next year's auction. Well Tony's model sold for $550, Brickworld 2016 is just a week away, and I'm not one to disappoint, so. Brickworld 2016 Charity Auction Model by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr This year at Brickworld 2016 I will be donating my model of Baltimore & Ohio no.4500. Locomotive 4500 is a 2-8-2 USRA Light Mikado, one of the standard steam locomotives designed under the control of the United States Railroad Administration for the First World War. Constructed in just 20 days by Baldwin Locomotive Works, B&O No. 4500 was the first USRA locomotive produced under federal management. This historic locomotive survives today as part of the Baltimore & Ohio RR Museum's world class collection. This model of 4500 is an excelent running locomotive, of sturdy design, and has become one of my favorite engines I’ve built. It is powered by an XL Powerfunctions motor in the tender with PF I.R. control and room for a PF AAA or rechargable battery box. The model uses wheels from Big Ben Bricks, and side rods from Brick Trains. I hope those of you who can be there will open your checkbooks and bid on my model. It supports a great cause and you'll take home a one of a kind model. And depending on how high the bidding goes, there may be some bonuses in store too.

I can't believe I haven't commented on this yet. This is a very lovely locomotive. Great work. Cale

Though I'm a steam era guy, I do have a weakness for modern intermodal. These look great. And even better when strung out in a long stack train. Great work. Cale

Well done Sir. Cale

Thanks. PennLUG will be at Brickworld again this year joining forces again with the guys from Texas Brick RR. Stop by the layout and see us. We have a lot to talk about. And if I may brag, our layout will be pretty awesome to see. Cale

From PennLUG's most recent show at Philly Brick Fest 2016. MVI_5813 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr A new locomotive I've been working on. Cale

Having spent a lot of time recently modifying standard LEGO switches to improve PennLUG's train layout I can't begin tell you how much we would love to have switches like you are proposing. If you can bring these to market we would gladly add them to our layout. IMG_3323 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale

My experience with the NMRA is that they really just don't know what to make of us and our hobby. A few years ago I looked into trying to earn their Master Model Railroader achievement through my LEGO train modeling. http://www.nmra.org/master-model-railroader I met with several NMRA members and talked to them about the LEGO hobby. One of the big problems between our hobby and the NMRA is that the NMRA has developed a very exacting set of standards for scale model railroading. We on the other hand, even those of us who build larger than 6 wide and go all out on making authentic models, are not an exacting, and 100% true to scale hobby. The NMRA people I met with talked about over scale handrails (3mm tubing) on engines along with other scale discrepancies, and painting and weathering models. We LEGO builders don't care about those things, we know the scale of our model is off, we know the color may not be exact, and we don't want to dirty up our bricks with weathering. We know that we are playing with a toy, we accept that, and we have fun. For me, to try and turn a LEGO model into a 100% true to scale model would remove most of the LEGO spirit and go against the LEGO system of play. It would no longer be what many of us love about LEGO modeling. The NMRA has a hard time coming to grips with that because that is not why they are about. We probably have more in common with the National Toy Train Collectors Association than we do with the NMRA. Cale

Yes. I've talked to Joe about this a while ago and he would be willing to run a regular train article in Brickjournal. He has previously stayed away from running too much train stuff so as not to step on the toes of RAILBRICKS. The problem with rebooting and using the RAILBRICKS name boils down to ownership. Jeramy Spurgeon is one of the original creators, and is the owner of the RB name. Though he's not been active in the hobby for a few years he has had been happy and supportive with the RB name being carried on and used for the magazine in it's current, free, format. However transitioning to a for profit model, or profiting off RB in any way, raises issues. It is after all Jeramy's baby and he would not want to see his creation used for profit by some one else. Any new profit venture would need buy the rights to the RAILBRICKS name from Jeramy, if he would be willing to sell. Cale

Well, why not. Here it goes. Here is a set of baggage RPO car trucks for the Pennsylvania RR's 1938 Broadway Limited. I actually have more done for the train than this. I have the BM70m Baggage RPO, and the B70 baggage cars done and part of the observation car. This project is on temporary hold. IMG_7477a by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Pennsylvania RR DD1 electric passenger locomotive. I've been working on this one off and on for what seems like ages. IMG_2287 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Western Maryland SD40 diesel locomotive. Stalled in the building process due to some critical structural weaknesses. SD40WM0101 by Cale Leiphart, on Flickr Cale

Yes. There will be plenty of big engines at Brickworld to do some testing. PennLUG will have our fleet of steamers there. Cale

This problem is easily solved by shortening the distance the switch stand protrudes from the track. If the end of the switch stand is kept to 4 studs max from the track ties then two switches could be placed side by side without them interfering with each other. Cale

Oh yes. I'm well aware of that issue. I too say move the switch stand. It will just make things so much better. Cale

A truly ludicrous color scheme to replicate given the part selection available. But the end result was worth the effort. It's a sweet model and will be a real head turner at shows. Cale

You make the late 60's, and 70's era of North American railroading look darn good. I love all these cars. Excellent work. Cale

While I agree that the costs and logistics of printed issues could be prohibitive to international marketing, I don't feel that content of a LEGO train magazine can't have universal appeal. While many of us have concentrated our modeling efforts to one particular region, and or time period, I think most of us enjoy seeing what others are doing outside of our own chosen building preferences. You bring up a very good point. There are many builders out there who are excellent scenery, structure, and city modelers, but who may only be casual train fans, or not have any direct interest in trains at all. Within my own club we have members who participate with our train layouts who do not build trains at all. They build lovely models for the city and town portions of our layouts though and without which I feel our layouts would not be a fun and as lovely as they are. Covering content such as this would certainly broaden the magazine's reader base and be of benefit to all. An interesting option, though I feel something like this would not provide content as in-depth as a detected LEGO train magazine could. I feel it would be more of a superficial, model showcase. Not the sort of place you would see a multi part how to on track modification, or layout design. Though in the interests of gaining more exposer for the LEGO train hobby I wouldn't count out this sort of idea. Any time we can get put our hobby in front of new people we have the opportunity to grow our ranks. Cale

You bring up a valid point about the size of our hobby. As it stands now it is very tiny in comparison to more traditional model railroading as a whole. However if you look at us as a subgroup of the model railroad hobby, like narrow gauge or garden railroading, we may not be so out of the ordinary in size. We are L-Gauge, a model RR gauge just like any other out there. I don't feel we are so much as, too small to be of any significance. We really lack any sort of unifying entity, outlet, or voice, and so I think we just fall off the radar of the general modeling consciousness. Maybe a more professional, and regularly published magazine can start to bring our hobby out of hiding. I think there are more people out there interested in LEGO trains than we may realize. I'm continually meeting people at shows and event that have an interest in LEGO trains, and even own and build with LEGO, but do not participate in any of the online AFOL outlets, such as here on Eurobricks. But they are LEGO train enthusiasts. I agree that getting newcomers to pony up for a subscription is an issue. You could sell access to single issues, giving new readers a lower price entry. Another possibility is to provide a free issue, a past issue or maybe an issue specifically for the purpose of introducing new readers to the magazine and the hobby. I also agree that any magazine that charges for access needs to provide an experience worth the cost of admission. If it doesn't it will not survive. I will add though that a free publication will always be at the mercy of volunteers and donations to keep it going and that may be an equally tough road to travel. Finding people with the right skills, and free time to put a magazine together, and who are willing to do it for free on a regular basis is not easy. Even a free publication with lower expected standards of quality is a tremendous amount of work to put out regularly. And I'm willing to wager that a free publication depending on volunteers may never be able to grow beyond our small niche, reaching out to the mainstream modeling communities, to draw in new people to our hobby. I wholeheartedly agree. Nothing motivates me more to push my own hobby efforts further than to see others at the top of their game, pushing boundaries, and redefining what can be done. I've come a long way in my skills and building technique by watching and learning from others better than me, standing on the shoulders of others. A LEGO trains publication will be a visible and public face for our hobby, and as such should not only teach, but present the very best of our hobby as inspiration for all to learn. 1. I think quarterly is a reasonable expectation. 2. Agreed. A group of dedicated people with a clear plan and vision is a must. 3. Also agreed. 4. A reasonable idea. 5. Yes. For this magazine to work, it needs to be the main focus. Any other items need to directly support the magazine, not draw attention away from it. I think you've brought up some very valid points, there are real hurdles for an effort like this and they must be discussed. Though they may seem discouraging, they are real and must be dealt with for a proposal like this to succeed. I for one am very grateful for your L-guage.org efforts, and frequently refer to the content there for my modeling needs. Cale

I think you've hit on a very key point. It's easy to find photos of great train models on the internet. It the how to's, the stories behind the models, the builders, and the clubs, and other feature that are hard to convey through a few photos on Flickr that will be what draws readers in. I feel that for this new magazine to work it needs to stay focused on being a great magazine. Trying to be an instruction portal, while valuable to the community, would take away from that focus. Thankfully there are sites like Michael Gale's L-Guage that could focus on providing an instruction repository much better. I'm old school and love having the paper in my hands but It's probably not financially feasible to offer a print subscription from the start. Also there is an advantage to being online only. I encourage every one to take a look at Model Railroad Hobbyist, an online only model train magazine. They have used their online format to provide content in ways that a print magazine can't. All adds are clickable links that take you straight to the advertiser's web page, embedded videos in articles, links to reader comments on articles, easy navigation straight to the page you're interested in. All of these are things a print magazine can't do. And if someone really wants a print edition there are print on demand options though they tend to be priced higher than a dedicated print magazine. I agree with Brian here. The magazine will need to find a balance to covering all these to appeal to the greater LEGO train hobbyist base. Tony brings up a very valid point. This new magazine would do well to reach out beyond the hardcore LEGO train fans. To grow the magazine the fan base needs to grow. So appealing to those outside of the LEGO hobby, bringing them in, showing them the ropes, and making them new fans, will be very important to the future of the magazine and our hobby. Cale