zephyr1934

Looks like a great start, can't wait to see the rest of the layout.

If you don't have track yet, why not pick up a starter train set with track, train parts, the PF bits you need, etc.? I would also say start with 6 wide until you have a feel for what you like. The train system was designed with 6 wide in mind. Then if you find yourself thirsting for more detail then go wider, but keeping in mind that 7 and 8 wide trains are heavier. Happy holidays

Nice build, capturing all of the angles.

Nice build and after seeing just the first shot I was going to say that John Neal had built the same prototype, but then you went on to say that that turned out to be your original inspiration for your subject. The brick built track looks very good too.

Welcome aboard Jeremy!

After you build a few moc's you'll settle in to the scale that works for you. As you experiment you might want to deliberately wander beyond your comfort zone and try something that is a little beyond your tastes to see if there are elements to the experiment that you find you like. I've built dozens of passenger cars to the scale of the super chief cars (32 studs long), more recently I've tried 52 studs long, but I am settling towards 42 studs as a balance between operating on lego curves and looking good to my eye.

With the EN just two models back, I suspect it will be a while before Lego returns to UK steam. While the EN was a very fine model, the things lego has to do to keep a steam engine "lego legal" and buildable by the entire target audience will keep an official lego steam engine from ever being the best (well, maybe they'd have a shot at a 4-4-0, but nothing larger). And I really doubt lego would contemplate anything beyond a Pacific class, the six drivers are probably at the limit of lego legal and since they have a mold that produces 4 flanged for every 2 blind drivers, they probably will never go to eight drivers (not that this theoretical Pacific limit applies to an A4 Pacific, but it does to the Northern's and articulated's mentioned in other posts) While I mostly agree with this, I would say the trains are a BIG money maker for Lego and they know it. But the money comes from the fact that one train is the focal point to build a large lego layout. So they are trying to find the sweet spot. One nice lego train every two years, not sold by retailers, will certainly cover its cost but will have a far lower profit than a hero factory set. The real profit from the train set will come from increased sales of other things to decorate the train layout. I too would prefer that lego sells individual pieces of rolling stock, but that is not likely to come back any time soon. I understand lego's position, just one nice train set every two years is enough for 95% of the rail fan customers. As part of the remaining 5%, I'm just glad that they are producing the sets with the parts I need to build the MOCs that I want to build. Sigh, if it weren't for the Super Chief I wouldn't be here (literally, I'd probably be off in a forum about something other than lego). Still my all time favorite lego set. But I live in the US and I have even seen a restored Santa Fe warbonnet. While I like Santa Fe, there are several railroads that I like more (peruse my BS gallery and you'll quickly deduce what they are). So right there, it is hard to produce just one model every two years that will satisfy everyone in the US. The warbonnet is probably as close as they could come, but the bigger problem is, what about the folks in Germany, or Australia? The thing about trains is that most folks want to model the trains that they know best. So if I were in Europe, I probably would have shrugged at the Super Chief. Sure, the EN was British, the Maersk was US, and the HE French, but without the actual railroad stickers, they are ambiguous enough that it is easier to bend them in to new situations. It doesn't hurt the bottom line to save on licensing but I suspect that component is small, I think a bigger part of the logic is simply the benefit of the ambiguity. Still though, I'd love it if lego could support dozens of different train car designs in their catalog. I suspect lego is working in that direction with cuusso to eventually be able to reach the niche markets with devoted customers who are smaller in numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if within 0 years cuusso emerges into a large line of small run sets. They could use the S@H PAB line to do it, toss in dedicated instructions and a sticker sheet. Sell fan designed sets with some TLG modifications and do so at PAB prices. I think that day is coming.

Hi Pief, welcome aboard, always nice to see new posters in the train forum. Not to be a bother, but somewhere in the guidelines, the powers that be ask users not to bump an old post to add a simple comment because that pulls the thread to the top of the forum. There is just too much fantastic stuff in the archives that the new topics would get lost. Certainly PM the poster if your comments are minor. Of course if you have something more substantial then it might very well be appropriate to bump an old thread, e.g., "I tried to copy that same technique, but could you explain how you ..." Most of the folks around here are happy to share tips and ideas.

Great work and a lot of attention to detail. I think the clever thing about the doors isn't the fact that they are snotted, but the fact that the two tiles come together the way they do to create the look of a double door.

That's a nice, clean and simple design, good build. With the studs showing on the top it even has an old school feel to it (which I like), you could play that up and use some of the 70's era windows.

Oh, no need to apologize, everyone looks the same in cyberspace (grin). Looks like you have been doing some great research. I have 9v switches, so I view a $6 motor as being a lot more replicable than the switches. I have stayed away from solutions that require switch modification strictly as a matter of personal taste. Though I like the snap of the switches, being nostalgic for hand throwing them for so long, but again, that's all a matter of personal taste. I haven't done thousands of trials with my switches yet (still waiting to do a semi-permanent set up), but so far I haven't had any problems with stalling the motor. I suspect it would greatly reduce battery life if battery powered. All of my pole reversers are "spring loaded" (actually rubber band loaded, but same idea). So unless it is a very young child, the motors only stall for a fraction of a second. I also have an m-motor on the 0-6-0 switcher and that stalls every time I change the on-board uncoupler and sometimes that one will go a few seconds in the stalled position if I have a bad line on the IR. So far it has only wasted power from the battery. I am looking forward to getting a few servo motors, those would hopefully solve the stalling problem and offer a little more power than the m-motor. My first thought for the servos is the uncoupler.

Great build!

Fantastic build/mashup.

Wow, that's insane

Very nice, thanks for sharing

Okay, now stop that. You've already broken the laws of physics with your graceful design and now you have to go and make it run so smoothly too? I refuse to accept this fantastic work (grin). Seriously though, excellent operation superimposed on an already excellent model.

If you stay 100% lego you don't even need to wait for the servo motor, the M-motor is powerful enough. You can find the details of my design in the RailBricks 12 REC reveal. I used a 9v train transformer to supply power and PF polarity switches to actually switch the switches, as discussed in this thread. You could probably get smaller and cheaper using non-lego switches. It is great fun to switch cars around.

That shot makes the EN look like the Toy Story train. (grin)

Looks like a great design

Wow, the lightning zig-zag is fantastic. As for making three axle trucks, the easiest way is to use an empty wheel holder for the third axle, either in the middle or on the end (the latter being the only feasible option with a motor in the truck).

Yes, they are still available in my bricklink store (either follow the link in my signature or go to TrainedBricks.com ). Yes, I could certainly do a custom length. Just drop me a note either PM here or on bricklink.

Wow, very nice. I too would like to see photos of these prototypes connected together and/or to lego track segments. I THINK the lego narrow gauge track connector is not compatible with the standard gauge connector, in which case if you do not intend to couple these dual gauge track to the lego narrow gauge track, you might want to borrow an idea from dual gauge systems and only use three rails. Meanwhile, I recently saw a live steamer layout that had three gauges. Instead of using normal point switches (which would have had a few dozen frogs) they used a stub switch design... actually no, the switches I saw did not have any frog, the movable part of the switch traveled far enough that none of the rails from one movement crossed any of the rails from the other movement (I hope that makes sense). Finally, I would love to see a wide radius curve (hint hint hint grin). In all seriousness though, there is probably a market for custom track geometries.

I too like the look of the stripes continuing through the door, though the most important opinion is your own (you are building this for yourself after all). As for the roof, why not make a copy of your digital file and do a quick repaint to see if you like it better?

Okay, so looking at your photos, you have an 8 wide base with the snot plates for the walls. Below the snot plates you have a red tile, white plate, blue plate, then two black plates, all studs up. I would suggest making those bottom studs up plates to be 6 wide and extend the snot plates all the way down. Otherwise, if you are happy with those plates/tiles at the bottom (e.g., because you need the horizontal stripes), it looks like you've already got your problem mostly solved. I can only see two possible questions that are lingering. 1) with an odd number of studs on your snotted walls, how do you attach the roof, with that stinkin 1/2 plate offset? Easy solution is that you don't, just let it float. If that doesn't work for you, there are many solutions that you could use. Use bricks with studs in the side to attach the roof to the snot side rather than the interior supports. Or you could use headlight bricks or brackets to get the half plate offset in height. 2) how in the heck do you securely attach the walls to the bottom. With five plates of depth below the snotted walls, the snotted walls probably only have to support themselves (not the draw bar force at the coupler). Right now you appear to be using receiver holes to push studs from the wall into. It would probably be easier to use one of the many brackets that have a half plate thickness and studs out to go into the underside of your snotted plates. etc. If none of the above applies, what are you asking for help with? PS, the snotted plates should look good, but it will be heavy.

Two words for you: LDD and LDraw (grin)