zephyr1934

I originally posted the following a wandering thread off topic in the duplo train discussion. The first point was expanding on an earlier post where I speculated that some of the odd lego dimensions might date back to the early days of lego bricks (even pre-lego days). The second point was touching on the fact that the technic holes do not line up with the system studs on the sides of bricks. That ultimately goes back to the days before lego contemplated the 2-5 rule, e.g., another early SNOT piece is the lattice fence and it too has some strange dimensions. Anyway, here's my post in a more applicable thread... The original lego bricks were based on a British design, Kiddicraft that dates to 1945. One would have to dig up the Kiddicraft patents to find out what dimensions they were originally drawn in. As for the technic holes, the 1x1 brick came along fairly late in the game (1993). The 1xN technic bricks were introduced in 1977, but the technic holes date to 1970 and this brick, which looks like it was initially introduced to update the gears (the big red, yellow and blue gears). Their predecessors were these, dating to 1965 that would simply be pushed on to the 2x2 wheels or 4x4 turn tables. So the vertical center position of the technic hole probably matches that of the old wheel holders,

That is a nice little industrial switcher MOC and good job balancing all of the pf constraints.

That is a nice little engine with some great features.

The old plastic rails also had traction ridges on them, which greatly helps. But I think the 4.5 and 12 v trains were designed to climb up to 1 brick in 16 studs, whereas the 9v motors were more like 1 plate in the same distance. The weight on the drivers is a big factor. With sufficient weight, the PF XL motors cannot be beat for pulling power (they will destroy gears if you let them, and axles if you hide the gears). The EN doesn't have much weight on the drivers.

CRINGE!!!! (as I peek out between the fingers covering my eyes). It is even more impressive that you were able to time the arrival of 10 trains so well. Neat to see.

Isn't the optimal solution to have one of each? (yeah, I know, stinkin money)

The original lego bricks were based on a British design, Kiddicraft that dates to 1945. One would have to dig up the Kiddicraft patents to find out what dimensions they were originally drawn in. As for the technic holes, the 1x1 brick came along fairly late in the game (1993). The 1xN technic bricks were introduced in 1977, but the technic holes date to 1970 and this brick, which looks like it was initially introduced to update the gears (the big red, yellow and blue gears). Their predecessors were these, dating to 1965 that would simply be pushed on to the 2x2 wheels or 4x4 turn tables. So the vertical center position of the technic hole probably matches that of the old wheel holders,

Wow, that looks fantastic, the car, the terminal, all of it. You have so many of the small details of the stations of this era down perfectly. The one problem that I see is that you need a larger basement (grin). Are you building the terminal in sections so that you could pull it out and bring it to a show? Or is this a permanent installation?

Thppt! (grin) All biases aside, even with pure lego built running gear I think it is more interesting to watch it move at a speed slow enough that you can see what is going on. That is one of the nice things of PF over 9v, you can go slow and steady. It really shows off the engineering involved.

Wow! That is one fine looking locomotive with a LOT of great detailing. Without naming everything, I REALLY like what you did with the cylinders (especially in the head on view). And all sorts of details like the smoke lifter stack. It would also be neat to see a few shots of her in the dark with the lights on. Equally impressive are your mechanics, it seems to do just fine on standard lego curves. I think I had to get over 70 cars before a pair of XL motors pooped out on me (and at that point it was simply not enough weight on the drivers, the wheels were spinning). The one nice thing about the slow speed is that you can actually appreciate the details of the running gear (hard to do when wheels are blasting by at a few revolutions per second).

Oh my gosh, that is truly an insane amount of engineering to get that all working. I bet you can finally sleep at night. Well done.

Neat stuff and it would be great to see it expanded (though probably split off into a new thread). There have been various prior efforts in this regard (though the primary focus being on snot building rather than the bricks themselves), e.g., much of the old ILTCO library can be found here. Then there are bits in the unofficial advanced builders guide (note the discussion of stud height in James Mathis's presentation). A few bits and pieces from lego here (note the discussion of the hole height in technic bricks being incompatible with system bricks). I think some of the odd dimensions in lego stem from the fact that the original bricks were designed using imperial units rather than metric. I'm sure a google search... or even a eurobricks search might turn up more related info.

At least last time I checked, the kit did not give you ANY discount. So if you already have a train controller, right there you will lose money with the kit. The rechargeable battery and charger is about $70, so if you are not yet sure if you are a power user, you could go a lot cheaper with the standard battery box and use rechargeable AAA cells. Also if you are not yet sure how much you'll use this, skip the lights at first then add them later if you find you use it a lot. The kit is only for the convenience of one click purchase with all of the stuff Lego thinks you should have.

Looking good, like your previous version it has some nice detailing. One small suggestion, perhaps replace the 3x4 plates that is serving as the hatch in the cab roof with tiles to get rid of those studs.

You are going to have some of the best maintained right of way on your layout with all of these great trucks

There are some interesting ideas in that train car.

I'm not exactly sure where an "incline drum" ends and a "funicular" begins, and there are probably a few other names as well. I've seen four related devices 1) There are cable drawn passenger cars that are pulled up/down a slope, like those in my last post, I'm pretty sure those would be funiculars. 2) There are platforms designed to carry rail cars as in the post from rsb0204 on June 2nd (or I'm more familiar with lifts of a similar design but intended for carrying trolleys or trams). 3) Then there were systems where conventional rail cars were hauled up conventional rail tracks up really steep grades in a style like a funicular using cable lifts as in the post from rsb0204 on May 27th. I believe these were used on "light railways" (in the original sense, i.e., light on cost) in place of tunnels or other means to get past steep grades. The locomotives would pull the cars up to the foot of the hill and uncouple. The winch would pull it up one side, and often times gravity alone would be used to send it as far as possible down the other side (sometimes up the next hill as well). I think they were most common on logging and mining railroads. At some point I saw photographs of the locomotives being passed over one of the hills (you have to pull those up too), crazy stuff. 4) Then there is a fourth cousin that I am aware of. On some canalways, if the climb was too great, instead of installing a series of locks, they used a cable railway with carts to lift the boats out of the water to change elevation. So similar to #2 in that it is pulling vehicles intended for a different grade, but instead of rail cars it is canal boats. There is a ton of information on funiculars on Wikipedia, and if you scroll down to "see also", it looks like #4 is an inclined plane.

The locomotive is looking great.

Those are very slick, nice build.

Looking good! Grin, that gave me a chuckle.

Googling lego funicular turned up several, including: one at legoland, one in lego ideas, one in Eurobricks, and the most detailed one on mocpages. Meanwhile, here is the 241 idea book. The roller coaster in the same book is also inspirational.

Welcome aboard niels0, your introductory post is fantastic. I like the small pictures intermixed in line with the text, not to mention the fact that you can remember who gave you what.

Great build! Like a little Swiss Army knife

There is also a 9v cross track, but I doubt that will be of much help for your needs right now. ME models is planning on reintroducing the 1/2 length metal rails (8 studs long) so that might help you with some of your geometry when they come out. For maintaining the lego track, unless you pull heavy trains you might not need to do any track cleaning. Otherwise, a simple pencil eraser is all I use, mainly on the track only occasionally on the motor wheels (note that the 9v power pickup is on the inside of the rail rather than the top).

You might want to remind them of that goal, I don't think I saw any mention of it in the KS feedback form.