zephyr1934

I have heard that if you leave the 4.5v rails in the clips for a few months and then try to take them apart, the clips have a tendency to break. If so, using regular 2x8 plates is a better solution.

I think I've gone up to four controllers on one track. You make your life easier if you put all of the controllers next to each other and run extension cords to get the power to where you need it, but you can also do it with the controllers physically located in different parts of the room. When I last did it, I think I took the motors off the track, then went around turning all of the controllers to the same level (during set up I unhooked all but one controller, made sure the train went the direction I wanted, then repeated with the next controller, and the next). With all four controllers at full power I then quickly put the motors on the rails while physically holding the train back until all of the motors were on the track (it was either four or six). Then when I released it I did so slowly, letting it accelerate away from the stop while still in my hands instead of jerking out at full speed and breaking the coupling. At other displays I think I also tried adjusting one controller at a time, one step at a time (controller A to level 1, then controller B to level 1, then controller A to level 2, etc) Since our layouts are often a large table, I did not feel comfortable letting a 50 car train go around completely unsupervised. I bought a remote control outlet for $10 or $15 and then plugged all of the controllers into that outlet. So with the push of a button I could kill power to all of the controllers. Now if I were to do it again, here's what I would do: try to get all of the controllers physically next to each other and have some means to cut power to all of them all at once (e.g., pulling the plug or the remote control outlet) unhook all of the controllers except one, the one that is closest to the train. figure out minimum number of controllers it takes to get the train moving (probably just one), then bring this one back to a stop. (If you have a downgrade in your layout, you can use this to your advantage for getting the train moving and start the train while it is on the downhill section) turn the unconnected controllers from #2 to the final power level I wanted. start the train from a stop using the controller(s) from #3 up to speed, then put the connector back on the controllers from #4, with the one closest downstream first and so on until they are all connected. Oh, and a word of warning, I would assume using multiple controllers on one track could shorten the life of the controllers.

I've seen a few spirals used to climb 2m, e.g., here. Though I think they typically used light weight trains.

That is just over the top bending the minifigs like that, really gets the feel of a lego promo picture... the only problem is that your colors are too good. You really need to stick some oddball colored part to make it look like a REAL lego set (like the tan axle pins on the EN) [Thppt!!!]. Now pulling my tongue out of cheek, a very good build (or rendered design as the case may be)

Yes, some great detailing in that MOC

Yes, that is a very good start. I'd suggest building up a second version of JUST the cab and ignore the colors so that you can play with ideas to make the bricks fit the way you want them too without worrying about having the right piece in the right color. In almost all of my MOC's I have to to this technique to get something to work right. Though if you are sketching it out in a different color also keep an eye on bricklink for part availability and cost in the colors you ultimately will use, sometimes a small change in part can mean a big change in cost.

I must say that enquete-art has a fine collection of early articulated diesel (and gas) electric train sets. Go up one level to see more. Your redesign adds the already well done Aerotrain design. These are all very fine trains to build and it is neat to see your rendition.

Englighten makes brown clone track that is compatible with lego track and Banbao (pictured) makes black track that works with lego trains but I don't think it connects well with lego track. You can find a lot more discussion of these brands if you search the forums.

It looks like you are either using 1x1x5 bricks or 1x2x5 bricks for the walls. If you use 1x1x5 and twist them ever so slightly you can get a nice wood siding effect, e.g., as on p26 of Railbricks 5.

Lego made it hard to take the magnets off to make it hard to ingest them (or at least to get a pair of them down to your intestine). I REALLY wish lego had made the actual buffers separate parts (keep the 6 wide bar attached to the coupler, but put studs on the end to attach the actual round buffers). Personally, I am not against occasionally de-childproofing my lego. I have contemplated cutting down the buffer beam at whatever point is most convenient, either cutting off just the round buffers on the end, or cutting the whole 6 wide cross bar down to the point where it is two wide (basically the magnet attached to a 2x3 plate with hole). So far I have not had a need to do so, but those are my long range thoughts. Then again, I also sometimes like the anachronistic buffers on N American trains, it just says Lego 2002 to me. But they can be a hassle when you are trying to build super detailed.

You might want to rebalance your collection (much as you will likely do some day with your retirement fund). First off, spend a few months getting a feel for what things are worth. Watch ebay and bricklink sales for some of the sets you have. With sets that old NIB you will likely find that some are worth A LOT more on the market than they are to you. Meanwhile, that dream set from your youth might be surprisingly cheap (some of the sets from my youth that are most valuable to me on a personal level are dirt cheap on the open market). Or if you don't care about NIB, sell the NIB set and buy a good used version of the same set. Or if you are kicking yourself because you didn't pick up set X when it was MSRP, sell set Y at equally inflated prices and use that money to jump over to set X. Just don't start buying more until you've sold some, keep it revenue neutral.

Sadly that looks to be standard gauge track with a pair of extra rails in the middle. The good news is, they are both good track pieces all around. Also interesting to see what looks to be 1x4 trans clear tiles in the set.

The attention to detail is amazing. So much packed into such a small space. I guess my favorite part is the relief sculpture.

Very nice build. And since you only have side rods on this 8 wide engine, you could probably do a nice all lego solution, e.g., my original rods on my 0-6-0. (of course everything looks better with custom rods though, grin)

I have some wheels from the start of the PF era and they have loose gray bands. As peterab said, the clear (when new) bands are the "good" ones I was talking about. Adding weight on the drivers will certainly help, but I'd suggest doing that after you get the traction at the wheels worked out. Some weight is good, too much weight could cause other problems (overloading the motor, etc.). If you have a light locomotive a roll of coins should be fine for the wieght. My rule of thumb when building a train: don't hesitate to add plates to a powered locomotive, but try to use panels and other light bits when building the cars. A fairly solidly built locomotive (in the literal sense) is often heavy enough.

I believe he is in FreeLUG. Perhaps a quick note to RB contact us could help.

Fantastic build, lots of clever little tricks everywhere.

I think that is larger than HO, possibly O or a narrow gauge O variant. The tender is 8 wide. It also looks like they just took a stock model railroad set and made a lego shell for it. Still, the beefy track pickups under the tender look like a cheap and easy way around trying to take power from the wheels (just be careful over switches not to short things out).

The PF motor train wheels have gone through a succession of o-rings. The first ones were horrible and that's where the fan build solution came in. The o-rings that come now (well, I think my newest is 1 yr old) seem to be just fine and don't need to be swapped out. Though that is another possibility, perhaps the newest train wheel o-rings would work on the old 9v motors. One advantage of the o-rings though is if you build a 3 axle truck for PF motors (not the train motor) you can use the thicker third-party o-rings to lift the center axle off the track just enough so that you don't have any problems in the curves or switches.

You might want to do something that looks more like glass block for the windows. Either 1x1 bricks or 1x1 plates in trans clear. I thought I had a better photo somewhere, but this is the best I have handy from brickworld 2010 (not my creation). From the looks of it, I think this one used 1x2 bricks sideways.

Two motors on the head end should be enough to pull this train. I would say the Super Chief (5 cars + 2 locos, each with a 9v motor) is about the limit of what a pair of 9v motors can pull. The Super Chief had more wheels on the track and heavier cars. However, the stock HE has the technic axles on the rear. I bet that is the culprit. If so, swapping the rear out for a motor should fix the problem. Then you can put in tail lights too.

Although the change is ever so slight, the roof on the green passenger car looks so much better that way.

I would agree with peterab, probably the best way to start into trains would be to build a few repaints, Super Chief and BNSF. That's where I started. You'll probably want to do some small substitution both to bring in new parts that have been introduced since then, to avoid unnecessarily expensive parts that have become rare, and to bypass (or introduce) brick built paint schemes as you change liveries. As for the Maersk, I let my 2 yr old play with it. It all depends on how gentle your son is and whether you want to keep the set in pristine condition. After having more delicate locomotives take nose dives off of tables at train shows, I am now quite confident in the durability of lego trains. The only real risk is losing a part and even then it is replaceable. You could always do a Maersk repaint. A little dark blue and you'd be rolling a one of a kind MP loco of your own (assuming your avitar conveys your interests). Then again, if you don't have any infrastructure (track, wheels, couplers), starting with one of the current PF train sets isn't bad either. Just figure you'll be rebuilding the equipment over the coming years. My older son has great fun tearing apart and rebuilding the cars from the yellow freight train (one of his first MOCs was building his own push along yard switcher on the flat car). And though he loves N. American trains, the yellow Euro-style locomotive is one of the few lego sets that has stayed intact in his room.

An excellent build that adds a lot of detail to the layout.

Wow, very nicely done. Those look like they could come in quite handy.