Madcat2000

1. Well what kind of motors were you using? I heard the thing the Emeral Night uses is pretty powerful but I don't think anyone knows about the normal PF train motor. If the PF steam engine setup is powerful I might make a pair of deisals that use stem engine wheels in a 4-8-4 setup. 2. I think PF fixed the variable speed between motors problem. 3. I'm using the original design just making it more modern looking. 4.I'm not sure what you mean. The mechanism is hard to understand through pictures.

Why does there appeer to be a security guard carrying a M-16? Seems like a little overkill.

While it is military it can be made civie by recoloring it into red or something. If someone with the power to move the thread sees this move it if you want cause I'm not entirly sure were it gos.

This is a Transport Truck I made in LDD. The one in the pictures is a military version, but it would be easy to change the colors and make it a civilian truck. This is a transport truck made for my brikwars army(this will be ordered eventually). More picture are on my brickshelf page here.

Don't they make a narrower bucket you could use for the back? I could've sworn I'd seen one.

If you look closely at the pic I posted of the whole structure you should be able to see the technic rods are in tight holders on the baseplate but normal hole holder where the main structure will be, this allows it to "stretch" when goung around corners. You probably didn't notice the turntables in the center on the train baseplates either this should allow it to turn, but I'm not entirely sure. Here's some pics to better explain it.

Sorry if I wasn't clear with what I was asking. What I'm asking it will this work and still allow both of the trucks to turn. Or do I need to make the thing between the trucks smaller. Also so you can better understand how this thing works ans it isn't accurate to the original guns(it will probably only vaguely resemble them when I'm done). What I did so that the thing could go around corners was make the "megatrucks"(normal train baseplates holding the smaller normal trucks. Here's a referance pic of a model of Dora

Also how far set back is the sidewalk at the edge where the building touch and how far set back is the alley behind the buildings?

What is the baseplate size of Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, and Market street. What I'm asking is it a 32x32 green, two 16x32 grays, or what ever. The reason I'm asking is I'm going to try to build a similar building in LDD and I don't know the baseplate size, though I'm hoping it's equivilent to two 16x32 baseplates, as that's all that's available in LDD. EDIT: also if you know the vertical and horizontal spacing of the pins on the side it would help.

What civilian sets? The only ones I see are the Cafe Corner style sets.

What it is is one of the four "megatrucks" used on the Dora and Gustav railway guns. The problem it the things under the normal three axel trucks might not allow them to turn enough for them to corner. I have a few pics from LDD to show you the problem. the reason this thing is being built in LDD is that I don't have the peices to build this thing in real bricks. I also need to know if a 6 or 4 long version of the peice is possable.

And here I thought trains (other than armored trains and railway guns) were a subject I knew little about. One thing I'd like to mention is the fact that many people are asking lego to bring back 9v, which is almost impossable for a few reasons, one being the cost of developing the new stuff, and possable safety issues of the 9v( I can see a kid daring his brother to lick both tracks at once, which would likely be similar to licking a 9v battery).

This topic is about the good and bad of all the types of trains, or more specifically, their method of power and propulsion. I don't know about the trains prior to 9v so those of you that do help is appreciated. I also never owned an RC train and don't yet own a PF train. 9v Pros 1. Nothing on the Locomotive itself aside from the motor. 2. More power than the RC, I don't know about the Power Functions train motor. 3. Longest lived of the train systems(to my knowledge) Cons 1. Relied on wiring that had to be connected to the track. 2. The motors were expensive. RC I'll need help with this one. Power Functions Pros 1. More accurate steam engines. 2. More power than RC. Cons 1. Large amount of equipment that needs to be on the train. 2. IR receiver likely has problems similar to the ones reported on the RC trains. If you have anymore please tell me and if you know things that contadict what I said please tell me.

Why is the other thread no longer pinned?

Wow, I didn't even notice the extra wheell on it at first , nice job. Although you should put the rails back on the side.

Post your predictions about the future of PF trains (MOCs and Official sets). My predictions are that deisal MOCs will include alot more B-units, slugs, and multiple locos to hide the battery box and IR receiver. For steam trains there will most likely not be many tenderless MOCs(tender on loco itself). Due to the new motors, which I think are stronger(can anyone confirm this), and the new studs on the magnets train will be able to be longer. Also with the new flex track there might be more tracks on hills.

I've been thinking about getting USB drive to backup my LDD files anyway. I'd probably get the speakers too.

I have a couple more questions. Is there any good lego train site and forums? And is there anything known about future Power Function trains?

Actually I'm talking about MOCs not official sets. And I'm not looking to build these things myself, I was trying to give other people ideas for their own MOCs.

After doing alot of wikipedia research today (after deciding I want to try to get a lego train soon) I found several types of train cars and and locomotive that aren't seen to often in real life and far less in lego. !. B-unit-These are basicly diseal locomotive without the cab, although many have any control panel so they can be moved around with requeiering the use of another loco. The reason for this is they or cheaper to produce(no ac, heating, toilet, etc.) however they also have the disadvantage of being less versitile. B units are subclassified into "boosters", one that can be controlled without needing another loco(so they can be moved around yards and such), and "slaves" which have to be wired to another loco the has a cab. Some B units are purpose built while other are conversions of normal locos that the cab has been damaged to such an extent that fully rebuilding it is not worth the time and money. B units are actually so uncommon, atleast to me, that the first and only time I saw one(a BNSF) I noticed somthing odd at first and then noticed the loco had no cab, I sat there with a WTF look for a couple of seconds. B units should not confused with slug, as explained below. 2. Slugs-These are like B units, however do not have a source of power generation. The power is supplied by the loco it is attached to which it uses for its drive wheels. I don't recall ever having seen one of these in real life nor lego form. 3. Snowblower-pretty self explainatory, most of you may know of these and I do seem to recall seeing atleast one of these built in lego before. 4. Offensive military trains-Not counting trains transporting tanks and so on, the only military trains I have seen are a model of a German Krupp K-5 railgun and a non-specific railgun. No one to my knowledge has attemped an armored train other than my attempts to make some cars in LDD, and I know for a fact no one has attempted the super railguns Dora and Gustav(I think they've been included in atleast half my posts on the site). 5. Cab Forward Steam Loco-Self explainatory. Further info on all of these can be found on Wikipedia. If you feel offended because I told you something you already know sorry, I wrote this so everyone who reads this know what I'm talking about.

Actually for number 4 I was wondering the length in cm/inches. Also is the flex track compatable with the current RC and 9v track(connection not the 9v's electrical conductivity).

These are a few train related questions that I haven't been able to find the answer to anywhere else so I'm asking you. Some of the questions may be stupid, sorry I don't know alot about trains. 1. What are the things on the sides od the Emerald Night's boiler toward the front? I've seen a few other trains that have this but I can't seen to find what it is on the Wikipedia page. 2. what kind of Locomotive was used to pull Dora and Gustav, was it a pair of steam locomotives, a pair of deisel locomotives, or a special double loco made just for them? 3. Does anyone have pictures of the special locos used to pull armored trains? 4. How much of the new flex track comes in one package?

What is the neck peice thing on what I assume is the leader of the aliens?

I think the way to make Dora and Gustav work is by making the wheel able to stretch out to the side when going around corners.

The problem is the corners as if you look at a picture of Dora and Gustav it is actually two trains side by side connected and it would be hard to figure out how to make it turn corners.