zephyr1934

Kudos on Conjunction Junction, a brilliant idea

Nice! And better than the 4 wide train Lego is currently selling

Yes, you can use two of these switches to make a single crossover ("single" as in one direction) as shown on the middle left of the box artwork below. As a result, you will either need twice as much straight track so that you can cross one way and then the other, or you only have one crossover and for one direction you need to back through it. Assuming you want to run trains independently on the loops, in the short term, as the others have said, you would need two transformers, one for each loop and isolation between the two loops (probably where the two switches of the crossover meet). To do it "right" you could add more isolation joints in your layout and use a couple of polarity switches so that you can switch which transformer is powering the the track in the crossover section. Doing it "wrong" with a single isolation joint at the switches probably will not do much harm if you are careful to make sure both transformers are roughly at the same setting or one is off when you run a motor over the joint, but there is no guarantee, it could shorten the lifespan of your transformer and/or motors. A third option is to use the crossovers, but never run a powered motor over them. Stopping the locomotive short of the isolation joint and pushing the locomotive by hand over it before resuming with the other transformer. In the long term, I believe Michael envisions a DCC system where all of the tracks are powered all of the time and you control each motor or group of motors by their ID. In this case you would probably have a single transformer and no isolation.

Looking good (as always)

That's looking really nice, with some clever part usage. I'm not familiar with the prototype, but based on the one photo you included, you might be able to use grilled cheese slopes "studs" forward below the windshield. Speaking of the windshield, did you consider 1x2x2 trans clear panels instead of the windows? There is a thin black band (gasket?) around the windshield, does not look like there is a perfect lego match, the panels would be too small and the windows too large, I don't know which would be better. Anyway, good work and even better in 6 wide.

That's crazy! Great work with the micromotor

Get bluebrick, map out the spaces you plan to build in, and then start playing with layout ideas to figure out what you want in terms of track Only go 9v if you plan on using track power. Otherwise, not worth the cost nor the limited number off track configurations available. For curves, the right radii depends on what sort of trains you build, how you want to run them, the space you have, and cost. The longer your train cars are the more you are going to want/need wider radii. Probably the majority of layouts have single or double track mainlines, so you will probably want to pick two radii to focus on (but if you want 3 or 4 main tracks, never mind). What is nice about two neighboring radii is that the adjacent tracks start and end their curves at the same location. Odds are, you'll either want as tight as possible (R40+R56) or as large as possible (R104+R120), but I wound up with R72+R88 for my 9v loops just because R72 was the first radii available. Now that I have it, I like it much better than wider radii for this space because my room is 12 ft x 12 ft. Larger curves would have given me almost no straight segments between the curves. For bigger spaces I like R104+R120 because most trains look so much better on them. But if you are mostly building small, e.g., two axle cars and 0-6-0 steamers, then the large radius curves are probably too big for your needs. At any rate, I could see an argument for R88+R104 because you can have your outer track branch off to leave the loop from a curve. If you are focusing on running rather than switching (and are not ballasting the track) you might want to break up your straight segments with 22.5° bends (equivalent to two R40 curves) to make it more visually interesting. While R40 switches are tight, they also save a lot of space, I really like the R40 yard offering from TrixBrix. I think the standard 16 long straight is around $1.50 in the US from Lego these days, which is a pretty good price. R40 switches from Lego are probably the cheapest switch option, but they work best for making a parallel siding. You can also modify or buy modified lego switches to make crossovers or continuous curves. MODing them yourself is probably cheaper than TrixBrix options, but you trade your time for saving money. On the plus side, you have injection molded parts. Personally, I think injection molded looks better than 3D printed if both are available, but 3D printed gives you unusual geometries that are amazing. Someone recently showed me a TrixBrix injection molded double straight on a baseplate and said the length was off by a few mm. If you are planning on ballasting you might want to test the double longs to make sure there are no problems. Presumably someone here in this forum has more experience and could comment on whether they've had any problems with these parts.

That's a fun thing to do at a train show too. I've done it a few times and even though I just measured the train to make sure it clears, it still gets me that the train goes through the loop it looks like it is about to hit itself. I must not be good at estimating speed in orthogonal directions.

You know, if you are in a LUG, you should ask your club's ambassador to look into Lego's Project Support Program. It is like an off cycle LUGBULK for a specific major project that you (your LUG in Lego's eyes) will be displaying. You have to submit a proposal and get it approved, but if it is, you can get access to discounted pieces in quantity (similar to LUGBULK prices). Of course there is a long lead time between proposal and receipt of bricks. So it might not help with the parts you need immediately, but the title of your thread does say this is a multi-year project.

Good review. Just one thing, I think it's actually been a few decades since the city passenger train cars had doors.

Another micro-prototype recreated with an impressively small number of parts.

That is excellent to hear, thanks for sharing. And sitting there static you couldn't see some of the finer details of the locomotive, e.g., the pilot truck swinging out for tight curves and all the detail in the cab. It was all such a blur.

wandering off topic for just a sec... yes but you can still ride through it, and more detailed yes.

Wow!!!! 12v lives strong, it is a stunning layout

Oh wow, that looks amazing. Though from the cover mentioning GS 4-8-4's, I wonder if it will make any mention of the WWII era in-house modifications to the P 4-6-2's

Doh! I'd suggest just ordering replacement stickers. Or if you want to hold off doing so until you can include additional artwork for other projects. Since this is black printing, you could make your own temporary stickers to tide you over. Your trucks look pretty standard, but you might want to put 1 and 1/2 bushings on each axle to keep the bevel gears from popping off (put the 1/2 bushing on the side with the gear to maximize blockage of the central axle gear). But I doubt that has anything to do with your switch problem. Delivering power to the truck through the central mounting axle will rotate the truck so that it always pushes against one side of the rail, but your design is a common one and R104 switches should be very forgiving in that regard, so here too I doubt it is the source of your problem. I'd suggest making a setup on a high table or a shelf where you can comfortably look at the wheel/rail interface at eye level to diagnose the problem. Run it slowly (easy to do with a circuit cube) back and forth and figure out which wheel is the first one to leave the track and where. I bet it will turn out to be either that your wheel spacing on the axle is either a little to wide or a little too narrow, or that you need a few extra guard rails on the switch. If you do need extra guard rails, a plate + tile is all you need, but maybe follow that up with rounded ends if it solves your current problem but creates a new climbing problem. Meanwhile, this small loco should do fine on R40 curves, at some point you might want to pick up a cheap city train as a parts pack (well, cheap is a relative term with lego).

Thanks everyone for all the kind words. Meanwhile, I think I made my last photo dump of the SJD from Brickworld, including several shots of the train going the other way on the river, and a shot off it running on the CincyLUG layout with their massive radii 9v curves (the inside track is something like R168) Sorry I missed you, we went to Illinois Railway Museum during the public hours on Sun to catch a bit of real steam. As for BW, I think the amount of trains was similar to 2019, but they did a much better job grouping all of the trains together instead of spreading the layouts all over the hall. Many more show pictures in the album... [full album on flickr] 

Nice job recreating the common 44 tonner

Those cars look spot on, great job

The straight track has been in Lugbuk with a similar description for many years now. In Lugbulk it has given 1 piece of track per 1 item ordered, even though the description sounds like it is 4x per item ordered. However, I remember when the PF train motor wheels first became available on PaB. They sold for something like $0.35 and came in a bag of 4. You got 4/$0.35. A year later they fixed the "problem" and you only got 1/$0.35. So there is a chance that PaB will ship you 4/$1.70 which I suspect is NOT their intent but might happen anyway.

I did not take notes at the meeting and as Jeff noted, several others at the meeting recalled lower prices being given. So it is quite possible that my recollection is off. In any event, all prices given were very rough estimates, the actual prices could be higher or lower. What is clear is that the motors and switches will be more expensive then their lego counterparts, but they will also be much higher quality (and that's saying a lot given the quality of the old 9v system).

Now a bit of Brickworld 2022 preview. Michael Gail was planning on coming to BW to preview some of his new products but came down with COVID and could not make it. He sent one of his top staff members instead (Max) while Michael joined by video conference. Many trainheads joined the meeting and we were treated to a preview of several prototypes and products in development. First up, the switch, The prototype switch did not have any of the metal attached, but looked REALLY sharp. They will come in packs of two, you can choose between a pair of lefts, a pair of rights, or one of each. They have been delayed by the more recent wave of COVID closures in China. The estimated availability is the end of this year, hopefully just under $100 for a pair, but not finalized yet. VERY IMPORTANT, because the branches are always on, the crossovers do not self isolate like lego switches do. By design, the bottoms of the switches are attached with screws in case you ever need to clean them, so as a bonus, someone who is handy with wiring could probably modify them to be self-isolating if they were so inclined. Otherwise, there are really simple ways to isolate (I've used clear packing tape folded over once between the joints). There were also an assortment of odd sized track parts necessary to preserve spacing for different switch configurations (see box back above for examples). A couple of people who ballast track observed the potential difficulties this may present and I THINK Michael said he would be happy to share the info necessary for a third party to make ballasting plates for the switches, etc. Next up, we got to see a mockup of the motor First one out will be a "dumb motor". It will match the form factor of the 9v and 12v motors. It will have metal wheels (they will be dyed black in the production models) that then feed directly to jumpers on the end of the unit. Leave the jumpers in and it will behave like a lego 9v motor only it has a 9v port on either side. Pull the jumpers off, and now the port on one side of the motor will pass through the power from the wheels (a power pickup) the other side will provide power to the motor inside. So you can use any controller in between, e.g., an IR receiver, FX Brick, etc. while still being track powered (and then it does not matter if all branches of your switch are always on). It will have metal insides and a screw off bottom for servicing. Now get this... The top comes off! Break the pin off? No problem. Want to rigidly build on the motor? No problem. We suggested making a 1x2 plate cutout so you could attach a bracket between the wheels. They will look into whether there is enough space, but if there isn't, you can always raise the bogie plate up one more plate. Oh, and the black bogie plates will be available individually too. He is hoping to have them available by the end of the year, but less likely than the switches. Otherwise, asap in 2023. The price is anticipated to be around $100 but might be just above. No one bothered to ask if the estimated cost was in USD or CAD, since the FX store prices are in CAD, there is a good chance Michael thinks in CAD, which would make them a little cheaper. But still in the same ballpark. In the works (sounded like within a year after the dumb motor comes out), they will add a smart motor to the lineup that essentially has an integrated FX Brick that can also handle DCC. Also in the works is a "motor-less" motor, i.e., power pickup using the motor contacts but no internal propulsion. Some of the steam folks grumbled and were promised that a single axle power pickup with the form factor of a lego train wheel is in the plans, but it will come later. Several folks mentioned an interest in the option to install a dummy wheel but were soon silenced when informed that a three axle motor is also in the works (probably a few years off) with a floating, unpowered middle axle. So you can start building realistic E units (A-1-A). It will be a little longer than the two axle motor (1-2 studs). We also met a working prototype controller. It has a 16x16 footprint, and if you get three of them you can pretend you are Mr. Scott on the USS Enterprise. It has throttle controlled power out of the middle and will have auxiliary power on the ends for future 12v system style add on devices. The gray buttons have a lot of different options, e.g., 9v/12v output (the light turns orange when 12v). With the declining availability of silicon chips, they redesigned the insides multiple times, it is now chip free and robust to supply chain disruptions. It has a VERY interesting output mode- low frequency PWM. Which means VERY low speed movement is possible, as demonstrated with a lego 9v motor. BTW, it can go even slower than that first video. As the real time background audio conveys, some of the features discussed might not be available on day 1, instead, coming later, via a firmware update.

While the Daylight is mine, the Colorado River section is by Matt Welch. Here's a video of it. I think I did the easy part. Pretty much every train head at Brickworld was falling all over themselves to get time on the river. I'll post more soon.

Just a quick post, I'll pull over some of the best shots later, but here's the Colorado River from Empire Lug's layout, A couple of shots on the LGMS layout, And a very nice video. Many more show pictures in the album... [full album on flickr]

Selander & XG BC, Thank you for the kind words! Oh my, that would be quite the trip from the UK, but might be worth it. If you like trains in general there are a lot of great railroad sites around the Chicago area too. Yes, I will be running some on the LGMS layout, I'm right across the isle from them. After I finish this reply I hope to go down and do a bit of running on their layout. So far I've run my old superliners on the CincyLUG layout and my steam elephant on the LGMS layout. The prize site looks to be on the Empire LUG layout though. As of last night they did not have a complete loop, but I'm definitely getting a shot of my train on their layout along the "Colorado River" (that will make sense once you see photos). Indeed, 95% of the reason why this model looks so good is because the prototype looked that good. I will definitely pass your regards on to folks! Indeed, I saw that too, The curve was deliberate, long trains look kind of boring if they are perfectly straight. I wanted the Daylight raised above the rest of my trains but also having room for the shorter trains, so I had the risers bend to bring the engine to the edge while most of the cars are in back. There was also a bridge in the original design, but it just did not work out with the fabric so the bridge is in a box under the display. At any rate, the fact that the engine us leaning like it is slamming into a curve was just a happy coincidence. I'm not sure if it was my camera or the box that was leaning so fortuitously, but I do know that the secret to taking good photos is to take 100's and only show the one that turned out well (grin). Excellent. I might be milling about any one of the train layouts but I should be around on Sat. I'll probably skip out on Sun to go to Illinois Railway Museum during the public hours. The same is true for anyone else who might stop by and say hi (apologies in advance- I am horrible with names) Than you, and that turned out to be another bit of luck the way Katy seems to almost be coming out of the book in that shot. I'm telling you, SP missed big time, the orange should have been gold (grin). They did an amazing job stylizing the prototype, and unlike many of the other streamliners, most of the essential components were not under a lot of shrouding, so these engines were a lot easier to maintain compared to a lot of the other railroads streamliners. Functional and pretty.