zephyr1934

To my eye the sidings look like they can be reached when needed. However, if you are switching out by hand, it might get a little old having to crawl under the tables and avoid the bridge every time you want to swap out cars. At some point you might want to modify your layout such that you have two independent tracks either with a loop inside a loop (double track) or changing the way you segment the current large loop (right now it looks like all combinations of switch alignments will route you through the lower left corner). Then again, juggling two trains together on one line can be a fun challenge too. I presume you are using PF trains, otherwise, some of the loops would short out 9v. In any event, if you find any facets of your design to be frustrating in operation, you can always go back and layout your track in a different way in the future (your tables will allow for a lot of quick changes). The bridge across the hole is a great idea.

It is a great rendition of the Schienezeppelin. (it would have been that much more amazing if you had accidentally stumbled on a similar design)

Nice to see a long train with various freight cars. Even small mods like this can go a long way.

Welcome elicend and Hhmarshall! Indeed, there is a lot of room to do all sorts of things with lego trains. And you have come to the right place either to show off your great creations to a crowd who will understand what it took or be able to help you find solutions to whatever your current challenge might be. See you both in the forums!

Oh not a problem and you are quite welcome. Lego trains are a great hobby. I think light gray is also doable for not much $$$. There was a thread 6-12 mo back where someone posted pictures of various EN repaints.

Great use of the airplane pieces... so were you deliberately trying to build a Schienenzeppelin or did you independently invent it yourslef?

There are several approaches to controlling a train with RCX and all sorts of ways to tell where it is. Though if you are using an RCX, you probably cannot use a barcode reader. You'll likely have to rely on simpler sensors. If you are a good programmer, the most reliable I have seen are break-beam light sensors (but there goes one of your outputs to power the light... that is assuming the RCX is on the wayside rather than on the train). A few other complications to keep in mind, first, the RCX cannot provide nearly as much power as the 9v train controller (and for that matter, if you are running on batteries, things will start to also lose power (e.g., the light level for your break beam sensor). Also, the RCX uses PWM to vary the speed and I THINK that can be extra hard on the train motors (there was a good post on that about 6 mo back somewhere in the forum). Also, the RCX has very limited memory, I had to use two of them to control a pre-scripted switching maneuver. It is a fun challenge and will keep you busy for a while, but also keep in mind that it is a little Rube Goldberg-esq (excessively complicated but fun to do). Another alternative would be the IR link and an NXT, but the IR link has a limited range because it is a "sensor" and thus, must comply with the sensor specifications (although the IR link is a 3rd party product, it is/was sold by lego too).

Wow, the prototype is insane, but that makes a lot of sense for the Alps where there is no way you could build an expressway. Unlike normal intermodal where the container or trailer can sit for days on either end, this train is a land bridge through the mountains. So the drivers stay with the trucks, etc.. It is neat to see all of the safety equipment to make sure the trucks meet the clearance (both before and after loading). Now as for the model, also very neat. That cannot be easy fitting all of the mechanical bits in to such a small area. Very well done.

I would download the instructions from lego and build it in a different color (in fact that is what I did when the set came out and it was only at MSRP... I've go too many other uses for the dark green). Red, black and brown all should not be too bad for the parts cost to repaint the loco. Definitely incorporate the aftermarket fixes (I think someone talked about it earlier in this thread, and you can find it in a past issue of railbricks). If you are a little handy with the MOC, extend the tender a bit (maybe make it twice as long). Then just make minor modifications to the passenger car to bring the cost down (e.g., using more common windows). It is a nice set.

Very nice. It looks like a good layout to run on too (well, when you get that last bit in the far end at least, grin). I like the common bridge and your technique putting the panels front to front like that. It works well. And the ballast, so simple and yet it looks very good. Lots of other neat little features, e.g., the added top rail on the horse fences. I would be interested in hearing more about the controllers. It looks like you've got your own remote switches (hence the control panel) but what is up with the 12v controllers on 9v track? If you don't have one already, it looks like it will soon be time to build a locomotive with on-board decoupling so that you can switch cars out.

Wow, what a fantastic build with lots of great detailing (you didn't show any shots of the details of the valve gear though, sad clown). Looking at the flickr page, I like how you even got the shape of the backhead of the boiler. Oh, I must add that the white tires look great too!

nice detailing

Indeed, great attention to detail, it looks fantastic. I would agree with Hrw-Amen, if only you could get the car at an angle (perhaps by snotting the snow ahead of it off of the car itself?), but that is a minor thing in a great scene. I particularly like the way you transition at the end of the diorama with the bridge literally fading away.

That's a fantastic build, and the interior detailing just puts it over the top. You did a great job squeezing in all of the functionality in the car... Is any MOC ever really finished once and for all? (grin)

Looking good, and should look even better with the decals. Since you are going that route, I would agree with LT12V that using the cheese wedges on the nose would look better, but I would go one further, probably use the 1x2x2/3 and do it in all white. The slopes line up perfectly at 1.5 plate offset (I think they did it on the Maersk loco too). Easiest way to get that 1/2 plate offset is either headlight bricks or brackets. Then put a decal on top of that for the red stripes.

I've made several different dome cars. Here are two using the drop baseplates (click on the thumbnails for larger photos), Though I prefer my more recent build that forgoes using a base plate altogether (memo to myself, I still need to post pictures of this entire train...)

Speaking of garden railroading in lego bricks, I recently stumbled onto this on the topic (be sure to also watch his BTtF train crash too... then the making of)

I was actually thinking of a few things. LLL hit on the big one, and this talk is a great example of the details. Another thought I had is that there are several AFOL designs that look INCREDIBLE, but they are also very fragile if picked up the wrong way. The third thought was that some of the AFOL designs are either so big or so detailed that there is no way Lego would even attempt to make a set out of them because it would either be too expensive or too hard to build for the average customer.

Here are two threads with photos of the ME tracks, R56 teaser and a review of the straight track.

There are a few pictures still out there, e.g., in this thread.

Wow! A great idea for a moc and a fantastic build.

Excellent! Keep posting your progress.

A fantastic build with lots of great details in the diorama.

There is no reason why the current railbricks container swap has to be the last container swap, or that other swaps have to follow the exact same format. I think the current format is following a 10+ yr old format where lego train clubs would swap containers. Works well for things like a big NMRA show, but not so good if you only want to swap 5 containers. All one would have to do is put together simple instructions for building a container unique to one's layout (even if you are a single person operation) and the artwork to be printed, and viola, free container swap on line. Come up with a nice standard and others will certainly follow suit.

The EN is one of the nicest looking trains lego has made, but it does have some quirks in the mechanical design. You could always build a repaint in other colors for a lot less. Use the instructions from S@H. While it is a nice set, there are some way better steam engine MOCs out there, so you can aspire to building even better on your own. Or build someone else's MOC to get ides, e.g., see the instruction pages on RailBricks, poke around elsewhere online, or purchase from the likes of Sava rails. The EN was constrained by the lego police, there are some great steam building techniques that lego can't use in sets.