Freddie

You haven't lost your touch, Ralph_S. Those cars are just sweet! And instantly recognisable to boot. Any chances of sharing your building secrets with us?

Recently bought this year's two advent calendars, plus a pair of 9V train motors at reduced price just over 200 SEK each. Order ended at just over 1000 SEK, including shipping.

What's up with Sinner's title? Just noticed it and wondered where that came from?

Has no one really considered that they just might be a bunch of girls with a "Dirty Sanchez"-fetish?

That's because the monorail-motor uses a gear which connects to the rack in the middle of the track to provide forward motion. Gears provide considerable more grip for climbing, and for this reason there exists in real-life purpose-built mountain-locomotives, which incorporate a mechanism that is virtually identical to the system used by LEGO's monorails, just so they can climb steeper hills. I think electric DUPLO locomotives also has a similar system for climbing bridges, with spurs molded into the drive-wheels. The LEGO trains on the other, do not have a system for this, unless you build one. Monorail owners are usually careful about extending their trains because the motor, or more specifically the drive-gear, can only take so much load, and trains weight several times over compared to a monorail. Too much weight, and the gears break, which is easy to do with trains. Which makes wheels so much easier because they just slip, protecting vital components from breaking or overheating.

It's a good and useful article, altough to all articles there's bound to be some exceptions - some of my older sets featuring stickers, still have their stickers attached in perfect condition, like 2150 for instance. Also, there's no mention of keeping sets assembled or disassembled, altough I suspect that the latter is the better alternative for maintaining gripping abilities. And finally, I think quite a lot of people who would be interested in this article are missing out on it because they don't visit the town'n train forum very often. I suggest that the crew moves this thread to the general forum, where it will prove more useful, and index it in an "Useful articles" thread.

Town names are usually a product of either their founder (i.e. you), location, geography, resources and/or function. As you have a harbour and a considerable waterfront, "hamn" would be a natural portion of your town's name. Since I don't know your real name, I'm going to call you "Dennis" based on your username -> Dennishamn. Try saying it. It rolls of the tounge, doesn't it? But what your town is called, is up to you. Use your imagination as well, it gets more interesting that way. I've already landed on "Frederiksro" when I eventually get around to building it, referencing me (the founder) and it's function (my hobby -> relaxation -> "ro").

Since Trains is heavily dependant on the trains themselves to function as a theme, I think TLC will thread carefully. Apparently one of the first new trains to be released will be aimed towards AFOLs, i.e. brick-heavy design and advanced building techniques. That means it's a successor of sorts to the Hobby Train Set (which main model was a vintage crocodile locomotive), and that it can be anything, really. I severely doubt we'll be seeing a massive amount of train-themed sets. I suspect that initally we'll have the aforementioned AFOL set, plus two starter sets aimed at retail shops (likely to be City-based). And then later on a train station, maybe a cross-over track (similar to the 9V one) and maybe even a railway-crossing.

That's not the one I was thinking of, it was the other two chairs towards the middle of the wagon that I was thinking of. If you try to seat a minifig in either of them, you'll quickly find that it's impossible, beacuse the door interferes with the figs' required personal space. If you move both of them one stud forward (so that the back of the seat lines up with the edge of the window), it'll solve the problem, and still leave space for a figs to be seated in the other chairs.

My favourite would be City, which I voted for, but personally I think that would include Town, Trains, World City etc.

The community workers set has 30-ish standard smileys, but other than that and the modular houses (exception being Market Street), that's the only sets featuring the classic smiley. The brick buckets and boxes usually use the newer smiley with eyebrows, which IMO is as flexible as the old one (just not as classy)

*gasp* BLASPHEMY! Someone voted this set "Below average". *Brings out hunting rifle* Ahem, back on topic; I remember wanting this set badly, for years. And I still want it, just no as much, because it's expensive and, as this review proves, takes up a lot of room. I've already got my trains to think about, and I won't be getting this set anytime soon. I also have a faint memory of this set being featured in one of LEGO's advertisements, more specifically someone narrowly missing it, hitches a ride, races the monorail to the airport and catches the plane. I am yet to find it on the net, as old LEGO adverts are hard to come by, especially the european ones. Now, to more important matters... *starts hunting* :skull:

A very nice review, JopieK! You know, I was wondering how LEGO could justify having two 12V-powered passenger trains at the same time, but after reading the review, and seeing the lack of figures and accessories, I guess I understand why (plus the train is rather compact). Oh, and I can't help but think that the chairs in the middle carriage are somewhat oddly placed, because those placed next to the door are unusable because the door takes up room needed for figs' arms. Also, it appears that your set also has the newer couplers, i.e. there's no hooks for the decoupling rail to grab hold of. With the light assembly it really won't matter, play-wise, or if you don't have any decouplers, but it's still a bit of a bummer.

These are some really nice sets that would work independently of what power system is used, or even if you had trains, for that matter (would be better if you did have them, though). One details that keeps nagging me, and which I fixed once I got hold of one, is 4546' lack of normal headlamps. The designers cleverly gave the car a grill and a set of extra-powerful headlamps, but also left out the regular ones and in their place used a pair of yellow 1x1 plates. But I always suspected that it was intended to be so - I've seen that type of trucks before, and they're modified to nearly beyond recognition. Ah, well. Thanks for the great review(s), JopieK!

Whoa! How'd I miss these!? These are just... fantastic, and inspirational, and gorgeous, and beautiful, and and and... Yeah, well I could go on. It's not often somebody post several MOCs of outstanding quality in such a short manner of time. You, sir, did just that. And I'll probably be borrowing a few of your details for my own MOCs when I get around to start building again. Any word on when the scooters might be available? I want some of those (guess the competition had the effect arealight intended, hah! )

School, or should I rather say college, started two weeks ago for me. This should be my last two terms as a full-time student, but the subjects I'm taking are rather unusual as they are practical, i.e. part of my education is actually heading out to a company and work on a project for them. I won't get paid for it, but I've heard good results lead to a nice cheque and a job, so I'm rather excited. Subjects I'm taking are "Practical leadership", "Strategic Entrepeneurship" and "Corporate Communication". And this term there won't be any exams other than those I haven't passed, which is great.

A bit of good news for all of you who like to keep an eye on LEGO's financial status and not just their products. :) Full story here. What's so extraordinary about the story is that LEGO is pretty much the only toy company seeing their sales increasing. Sure, the weather has been in favor of the indoor toys, but even then LEGO is climbing while other companies are losing their grip on the market.

It's a fantastic MOC. It's clearly built how they used to build towns before, with small alleyways and buildings nested together, with the castle/fortress located further inn and at the top.

Right, let's see now: 1. I won't be able to afford the journey 2. Exams and final reports 3. I haven't got time 4. LEGOWorld Norway '09 (likely, but not decided) Take your pick.

...and the rest of us like it too because of the exact same reasons, minus the indexing bit. All those vehicles look fantastic, Ralph_S. I might let my self inspire from them, they look way better than the default stuff from the 80's/90's, IMO.

A very simple rule regarding SNOT'ing: Five plates on top of each other equals two studs in length. Basically, five 1x2 plates on top of each other will shape a perfect rectangle. For a 10 stud wide window, the window construction you're looking at will need to equal 50 plates, or 16 bricks and two plates. When placing your window, remember to use tiles where the window will be placed, and either bricks with studs on the sides or technic bricks with half pins to attach the window to the walls. There are many possible methods of placing a window in such a manner, and you will need to experiment towards the solution you like best.

Wow! That MOC is just so thoroughly done, there's eyecandy everywhere! Looks like you've also combined every possible construction method as well, figured they weren't good enough for what you wanted, and then created some of your own! It's just jaw-droppingly fantastic.

City Life would be the smallest set with only figures and accessories, such as traffic lights, signs, a bench and such. Also, remember that the list is not only "speculative", but also incomplete and highly inofficial. If something doesn't appear on that list, that doesn't mean it won't be released. Trains are confirmed for 2009, on the list or not.

I'm wondering if the style you're thinking about is what I think is called "retro-futuristic". A good example of the style would be the TV-series "Thunderbirds", which had many elements of it built into its scenarios, designs and enviroments.

Oh, I think you've messed up a little. What you refer to as studs are standardly called plates, while studs are the mechanism of which allows you to connect the top of a brick/plate to the bottom of another brick/plate.