zephyr1934

And was featured prominantly in Beetlejuce Beetlejuce Monterey, CA

That's brilliant!

That's a great build with lots of subtle detailing, very well done. Technically one NP northern (A3) did survive in a way, in the form of SP&S 700.

Using ball bearing wheels you can lower most trains a plate below what is feasible with normal train wheels. You can do that with technic axle wheels too, but they have a lot of friction. Problem is, the normal tran base has a one plate tall hollow underneath that completely hides the bogie plate, so I think it comes out the same when you use train bases. I don't think the #3 wheels would work in the normal train wheel holder, I suspect there is not enough clearance on the underside.

You've got some clever tricks in those cars, well played!

That looks amazing and the skyline casing is the icing on the cake. Now you just need 100 PFE reefers to pull behind it! Hey now, when my hungry children turn up knocking on your door for food you better feed them. In all seriousness, the LDraw files do not have all the details the rods I sell. That is fine if you are modifying the LDraw files for personal use, but please do not sell or distribute derivatives of them.

That is an amazing fleet you've built up there. Lots of crazy snot flying everywhere too. Great work!

A long time ago I had bad luck using PWM from a RCX brick controlling 9v train motors. I burned out two motors in a weekend at a show. Fortunately this was back when you could still buy more 9v motors from the manufacturer. It might have been other factors so I wouldn't say PWM was definitely the culprit but I would be cautious. Now if you toss a capacitor in there you could probably smooth out the signal to get the best of both worlds.

From the limited photos that looks like great build, can't wait to see more photos

Impressive work, very well done! Indeed, that is both a brilliant solution and spot on about the impact. It is the tiny details that make a build like this "pop."

Impressive!

Stupid suggestion, what about removing the black tiles on the end of the car, would it clear switches then? I assume they are held on by bricks with a stud on the side, if so, perhaps replace those with normal bricks.

You picked a crazy difficult prototype to build. The front does not feel quite right but I'd be hard pressed to have any buildable suggestions that would be any better... well... one thing, it looks like you have a 1x4 tile at the top of the front, would a 1x3 tile work in that spot? As for the windows, definitely a great job "anti-aliasing" the curve. You might soon be able to take it up one more notch because the 2x1x0.67 curved slope bricks should soon be available in clear.

Nicely done! And 6 wide totally rocks. You squeezed lots of detail into the build.

Follow the MOCer path, Lego would just do something stupid (grin), and indeed, you did. That's a great reinterpretation, looks like a real locomotive.

Looks great!... that's crazy in the R40 curves though. Get some R120+ curves, your trains will love you for it Excellent advice. Building digitally let's you explore all sorts of design ideas without having to put away your bricks from the ideas you discard. And you don't have to order any parts until you know what you want to build.

Very impressive! And the presentation chasing the train with the layout on the turntable was over the top.

Very nice looking steamer you've got there

Easily recognizable

Clever!

Well put and I concur. Going a little further, trixbrix switches come in in parts that click together. Some of the connections are tight, others benefit from gluing. The range of geometries is amazing, I really like the R104 double slip switches and the R40 yard switches for compact leads (not prototypical geometry, but it allows you to fit a yard in the shortest possible space. Bonus points, I just discovered that many (but not all) trixbrix switches actually have three positions: straight with spring, diverging with spring, and diverging locked no-spring. I assume the latter is for when your mainline takes the diverge and you don't want a car to "pick the switch" and try to go straight.

Those are so cute! I really like the look and feel. One thought for the superliners, you might want to swap in profile bricks to simulate the fluting. How about something like this: Or you could do brick built walls using profile bricks instead of the studded 4x6 plates

Sounds like you are doing most things right. Lighter trains and roller bearing wheels might help some. Technically I believe the lego specs are one 9v train controller and two motors per track (I've violated both... and I've burned up several 9v motors). Multiple power drops is key, if your train is light you probably do not need more than one controller even for a large loop. To some degree the 9v motors actually clean the track. So getting the layout moving at the start is a pain but then it should be self sustaining. Remember that you only need to clean the inside corner of the rails, that's where the motor contacts. When the tracks are really dirty (a loose motor will not even go all the way around the loop) I start cleaning near the power drop and work in one direction. Using an eraser I clean the inside corner of both rails. Then I turn the power on and put a loose motor on the track. I keep watching where it will sputter and stall (hopefully not at all in the section I just cleaned but sometimes that happens) and then it may or may not make it into the section I haven't cleaned. Keep going until the entire loop is clean. A 9v light brick connected to the motor is also a great indicator as to where there is bad contact. Or if the train runs when the track is just set up you can start the train running and just work your way around the loop- clean a section, wait for the train to pass and see if it passes better than before you cleaning, move to the next spot and repeat. One thing that I found helps the motors is to limit run time to 1 hr (perhaps less if a heavy train). I think the weakness are the internal brushes, they seem to wear down if you work the motor too hard. You'll probably want to become a master of repairing burned out motors. It doesn't look hard (as long as you can solder your way out of a paper bag... which I CAN'T). Here's a bunch of links on repairing or maintaining 9v motors http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83667 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=120208&#entry2448350

Nice fleet @Kiwago !

Yes, testing the mechanicals is critical if you are pushing the limits. That, and larger radius curves are your friends. Meanwhile, your truck is starting to get long. If you plan to run on tight curves (R40) you should be careful to also test a prototype of the truck to make sure it does not bind in the curves or try to climb the rails at the joints on a curve. When you have the option, mounting the motor so it tries to turn the truck to the left is probably slightly better than turning to the right because the right rail has a slight indent, as per below, from my clockwork article from Railbricks 7. I think this is more an issue with 9v track than the all plastic track, but something to keep in mind. With normal wheel spacing and normal wheels it is almost never a problem. With large wheels or otherwise unusual wheels, it can be a problem because it provides an opportunity for a flange to catch, climb the rail, and cause a derailment.