Davey

Great work on this scene. I LOVE the 'choppy water' effect you put together with the roof slopes. I am definitely going to have to look into using that at some point. :thumbup: -Dave ToT-LUG

Thanks for the great links! I will definitely use some of these to redo the interior of my signal box. :thumbup: I also managed to finally find the picture of the signal box I modeled mine after. It was a Hornby model. -Dave ToT-LUG

You wouldn't necessarily have to buy track for each type of train as the others have mentioned. The 'gauge' of the rails (width between the rails) for all of the track types is the same. The only real difference over the years is how the track was built and how power was supplied. As such, you could run a Power Functions or RC train on the 4.5 volt track. You could also run them on 12V track. For 12V trains, you could covert them to PF or RC to run on the 'non-metalized' track. 9V trains could run on 12V track using a 12V motor or be converted to run on 'plastic track' with a PF or RC motor. So as you see, there are really a wealth of options and it's really up to how much you want to spend. Since you seem to have a pretty diverse array of track, I would set up loops for the 12V, 9V, and PF/RC track. Then you just decide what you want to run on those tracks and convert accordingly. Not necessarily true. The gauge is the same as the new PF/RC track. I believe you can run PF or RC trains on this track with no issues. Again, not necessarily true. While a 9V train cannot run on the PF/RC track using a 9V motor, a PF/RC train can run just fine on the 9V track. You can also convert a 9V train to run on the PF/RC track by just switching out the 9V motor for the new PF train motor. As The Brickster said, the 10183 was designed for the 9V system but could easily be used with the new PF train motor. Most of the designs in the Hobby Train are very easy to motorize. Again, aside from the motors, the other 'non-driving' wheels are compatible across the board. The rail gauge is what drives compatibility. Right now I use all 9V track, but I am going to be adding some 4.5V track to my layout as I have some from set #7720. On that loop I will likely run PF versions of old 12V and 4.5V sets. I also plan to add a PF/RC track loop to my setup once I get some of the PF train motors and rechargeable battery packs. I like to mix it up as much as possible. -Dave ToT-LUG

Your shelving looks really nice Brickster! Thanks for the heads-up about Target. Looks like I know where I am headed this week. These shelves look like they could be good for displaying other LEGO stuff as well. Were they easy to anchor to the wall? Just drywall screws? You might check with ULINE, Captain Zuloo. Check this box sizing link and you can enter dimensions of what size box you want and they will match your input to the closest boxes they sell. For my 6-wide engines I will probably need about 12"x5"x3" and for rolling stock could get by with 10"x5"x3". In both cases, the rolling stock would be on its side in the box and the dimensions leave a little room for a bubble wrap baggie. Stacy and I are considering this method soon as the place we work gets a discount at ULINE. Hope this helps! -Dave ToT-LUG

Very cool and thanks for the instructions post! I love the color of this car as it gives it a more regal and even somewhat sinister look. :thumbup: The hood detail is quite nice, but the spare tire detail on the boot just seals it for me. Overall the lines/shape are really good and you have come up with something that would look great on any layout. Couple that with the fact that it looks sturdy/playable and it's all win. Nice work! -Dave

Right now, all of my stuff sits out on our layout in some place. That said, I have pretty much run out of space on the layout. So the next step is either to add tables to the layout...or find something else. I would be interested to hear what other people are doing to display their trains. I was thinking about putting shelving up in my office at home to display trains on 16x32 baseplates. Hobby Lobby and IKEA have some shelving that mounts easily to the wall and is about 6" deep. Perfect for a 16x32. -Dave

Great work Brickster! :thumbup: I'm really enjoying the revival and revision of classic 80's train sets that you started! Keep these coming. I think the green works to modernize this boxcar. It's almost like maybe it was in service in the original colors in the 80's and then through the 90's it sat on a siding not really doing much of anything. One day...The Brickster saw it and decided he has to preserve the history of LEGO Trains. So he brought back from the dead, modernized a little, and voila! And I too love the little ladder and the gold inside the car. It adds so much playability to this creation. Thanks for working on this one Brickster. Love it! Oh...and Hobbes. This catalog image is THE one that made me get into LEGO Trains in the first place back in the 80's. Even today my heart skips a beat when I see this picture. Thanks for posting them. -Dave ToT-LUG

Looks great Ricecracker! I really dig the use of the seats for fenders. Well played! I love the fact that you made it RC. I'll look forward to seeing this drive around Brickworld next year...if you manage to get down for it. I think my only comment/suggestion would be to maybe increase the height of the cab a little bit. Like you mention, it might be just a little to wide for its height, giving it that 'smooshed or stubby' look. Even so, it's brilliant work and I love the shipping container as well. I can't wait to see the full enclosed trailer you are working on (I saw the WIP on Flickr and I really like it). Great job my friend! -Dave

...you know what the term '1x5' means. ...you have a rider on your homeowners insurance to cover your LEGO collection. ...the phrase 'SNOT Technique' neither confuses you nor grosses you out. ...your house is burglarized and the first thing you check is whether all of your LEGO is safe. ...your LEGO collection is worth more than the GDP per capita of most countries.

Aww yeah! Hooray for creepy boxes on flatbeds. I absolutely LOVE your 'Gravestone' stuff and this flatbed looks great! The Minifigs standing in front of it really help to convey the creepiness of this particular flatbed car. Awesome work! -Dave

I cried when I saw this. Such a sad moment. Perhaps some well-off Minifig will buy what's left of the engine and restore it to its former glory. -Dave

Hey now! I really like your Blocksford Signal Box! That was a really cool MOC and I'm actually contemplating stealing your design for a smaller signal box to be used on a siding out on the mainline. As for the layout, here are some pictures from Brickworld 2009 that were taken by Bill Ward. I don't have any pictures of my current basement layout yet, since we are just finishing setting it up again after Brickworld. However, you can follow the evolution of our 'LEGO Lair' on MOCPages. Pictures of the new layout will be up soon. -Dave ToT-LUG

Hahaha...so true! There would be Minifig carnage everywhere! Yeah, I'd like to switch them up to the trans-clear. I think that's on my to-do list the next time I order from Bricklink. -Dave ToT-LUG

I use waterslide decals that are printed on my Epson RX600 photo printer. They seem to work well as long as you clear-coat the decals before applying them to seal the ink. I do not use any clear-coat once the decal is on the MOC though. I know Hinckley clear-coats his torsos after the decals are applied. Thanks! Right now it's pulling the flatbed car, one of the hopper cars, and one of the tanker cars that I posted this week. How did I miss this official LEGO set?!?! I've never even seen this before. Thanks a ton for pointing it out. :thumbup: 12V sets were so cool. I only wish they had been more available here in the US. You are so right Holodoc. I wanted white decals in the worst way, but alas...I don't have an Alps printer. I'm thinking of trying to score some old LEGO produced DB decals on Bricklink for this MOC. Otherwise, I might bite the bullet and pay the money to have some custom decals made professionally. Or better yet...get an engraved or printed brick from The Brick Engraver. White decals would really just 'finish' this MOC. Thanks for all the great feedback guys. LEGO Trains are such a blast! -Dave ToT-LUG

This was another quick build that I did before Brickworld and it turned out a lot better than I had anticipated. I was aiming to capture the 'Classic Town' feel by building in 4-wide and using primary colors along with the old skool LEGO wheels. I'm really happy with the design even if it does look a little narrow and tall. I feel that is what really gives it the 'Classic Town' look. Always slightly out of proportion...but cute nonetheless...just like me. More pictures at 1024 x 768 resolution are available on my Flickr Photostream. Enjoy! -Dave ToT-LUG

Every good rail-yard needs a switching tower and with the expansion of Stacy's and my layout this year, it was time to add one. Order and control must be maintained inside the LEGO rail-yard or we'll have trains derailing all over the place. It's the switchmaster's job to ensure everything goes smoothly. From the second story of this building, he can see everything that is going on and make sure that the trains go where they are supposed to. This MOC was actually based on a model railroad switching house that I found on a UK model railroading site. The model I based it on is a kit from Hornby. Many thanks to DaCheese for helping me find it. Here is a picture of the Hornby model. I think my favorite part of this build was getting the stair railings to look just right. It took a little bit of playing around, but I like the result and they are really sturdy! That's a good thing since one of the ways I judge my MOC's is how delicate they are. Mine have to be capable of being played with for me to like them. Here you can see the inside which is furnished. I'm thinking about going back and redoing the inside. It was kind of a quick job before Brickworld, but it works. If I have Stacy redo it, I am sure it will turn out much nicer! More (and larger) pictures are available on my Flickr Photostream. -Dave ToT-LUG

As I'm sure most of you have seen by now, I went on a Train building spree just before Brickworld. I had been wanting to give my layout a bit of 'euro flair' so I decided to build a euro-styled locomotive. After a lot of searching online, I came across a picture of a DB Class 212 locomotive and fell in love with it. It's a relatively simple locomotive that was used for light passenger and freight duty from the 1960's up through as recently as 2004. The DB Class V 100.20 (later Class 212) is a more powerful variant of the V 100. It was based on the prototype V 100 006, which from 1960 was renumbered to V 100 2001. It went into series production in 1962 and, unlike the V 100.10 which was employed on branch line service, it was also intended for main line duties and ramps. Up to 1966 a total of 381 examples entered service. The Class 212 is 12.1 meters long and weighs 63 tonnes. Its top speed is 100 km/h and its engine generates 993 kW (1,350 PS). Many locos from the Deutsche Bahn's fleet were sold as part of a joint venture with Alstom to the Alstom Lokomotiven Service in Stendal. There the engines were systematically rebuilt and sold to interested parties, such as private railways, in Germany and abroad. Some locomotives have found use with private operators, in particular: rail infrastructure firms, because the high, central driver’s cab gives a very good view compared with locomotives that have a cab at one end. This picture provides a closer look at the fuel tank and central steps which took some (imho) interesting SNOT techniques to make work. Larger size pictures are available on my Flickr Photostream. -Dave ToT-LUG

According to the spreadsheet I keep for insurance purposes, we're at about 950 sets and 267,213 pieces just from sets. Unfortunately, I haven't kept real good records of the stuff we have bought at garage sales, E-Bay, and Bricklink. Counting all that, I estimate we are probably somewhere between 300,000 and 350,000 elements right now...and growing all the time. -Dave

MMM...what a tasty treat! I love the color scheme and both the boxcar and your PRR 0-6-0T look great! I really like the boiler and driving rod design on the engine. I may have to...ahem...borrow the driving rod technique. Now for some reason...I am craving ice cream. -Dave ToT-LUG

I know I've been posting a bunch of Train MOC's lately, but I swear I'm almost done! For Brickworld 2009, Stacy and I expanded our layout quite a bit and a lot of that space was dedicated to a new rail-yard and a bunch of rail sidings. To fill these, I had to build a bunch of rolling stock and a few engines. I will be posting the engine separately, but I felt I could lump the rolling stock into one post to save space. I ended up building a flatbed car, two tankers, and two hopper cars. The hoppers and tankers make use of SNOT building techniques to achieve the shape and features I was looking for. A simple flatbed car carrying two small tractors. It also used custom waterslide TTX decals done with the new TTX logo. The hopper cars were fun to build. I wanted to figure out how to capture the reinforcing strips on the outside of the hopper car. SNOT seemed to be the best way to do this. A closer shot of the SNOT technique used to form the sidewalls of the hoppers. A fun little tanker car that was inspired by a design I found on James Mathis' Brickshelf folder. The tank is essentially built in two halves and then held together on the ends. All of these ran great on our layout at Brickworld and they really help to fill out the rail-yard and the sidings. All are 6-wide as that is the scale that Stacy and I work in. More pictures can be found on my Flickr Photostream. -Dave ToT-LUG

I'm loving the schoolbus, Ralph! Great way to do the door and I love the shape of the front. I'm also a big fan of the yellow pickup truck. It reminds me of the Jeep pickup that Helen Hunt drove in the movie 'Twister'. Very cool stuff here! -Dave ToT-LUG

I wondered that same thing! I tried it in black originally and it just didn't look right. Interestingly enough, the actual coaches used in the movie are somewhere between light gray and black. So...what I really need is a bunch on those curved pieces from the Emerald Night in Dark Bley. -Dave

As many of you know, Stacy and I are really into Harry Potter and have an ever growing section of our layout devoted to Harry Potter. Awhile back, I decided I would try my hand at building the Hogwarts Express. At the time, only steam wheels from Big Ben's Bricks were available. For some reason, I never got around to ordering them and subsequently never built the MOC. With the release of the Emerald Night, I found I had a renewed interest in steam trains and decided to give this one a try. Here's the money shot showing a nice ISO view of the engine. The driving rods are okay...but I find that the design binds after about 15 minutes of continuous running. I am in the process of redesigning these. Others have noted the same issue with the Emerald Night. I based the boiler off of the official LEGO set and then did the rest myself. To go with the engine, I had to build a few coaches. I originally did the roof in black, but after watching Goblet of Fire again, I realized that the roof of the coaches was actually gray. Good thing I had enough of the curved slopes in light bley to cover all three coaches. The windows are done with a SNOT technique I learned from one of James Mathis' presentations. And a couple images of the train sitting on my layout at home. I've got a few kinks to work out of this MOC yet, but overall I really like how the design came out. You can see more images on my Flickr page. -Dave ToT-LUG

The Brickster has inspired me with his recent work with some of the other classic 4.5V and 12V trains, so I decided to jump in and convert one of my favorite classic sets to 9V. I received LEGO Set #7720 (Battery Train Set) sometime in the 1980's from my parents. It was my first introduction to LEGO Trains and ignited a passion that has stayed with me all these years. Although my 4.5V motor has since died, I felt that this engine deserved to live on in 9V form. It will now be a permanent fixture of our layout pulling the small LEGO hopper cars. I even managed to find the bricks that have the original stickers on them. It's amazing how well they have survived in my collection for almost 20 years! I still have all the pieces, the instructions, and the box for this set. In fact, the box even has the original price sticker on it...$59.95. What a deal! You can find more pictures on my Flickr page, MOCPages, or Brickshelf. Links are below in my sig. Enjoy! -Dave ToT-LUG

Stacy and I have #2 and #3 and I have to say that I really like both. If I was pressed to choose one, I think I would choose #2 as I think it has the best overall design. The gate with the Dementors is a nice touch and the way the castle fits together is great. #3 does have some nice architectural details on the front though and came with some cool minifigs. All said...#1 has a unique property of being well integrated with the other sets from the first movie. Although we do not own the first Hogwarts Castle...we do own all of the other Sorcerers Stone and Chamber of Secrets sets. These work really nicely with the first castle to creat a much larger...almost modular...castle. For us, these sets really became parts packs for a more grand Hogwarts Castle. We're currently getting ready to put our current Hogwarts under renovation and emerge with a brand new version sometime next year. -Dave