peterab

I'm pretty sure that the drivers would be BBB medium drivers. The loco is not a Mallet, it's a Garrett, sort of the same but different. Both are articulated, but Garrett's had the boiler suspended between two steam engines each on their own frame. It allowed Garrett's to negotiate narrow curves, and since they had good traction they were ideally suited to many mountainous and narrow gauge applications.

There are a number of designs around the community for switch tracks, and by choosing to swap inside curved rails and outside curved rails you can build a loop of narrow gauge. Here's an example using grey but they are the same geometry. https://www.flickr.c...39/in/pool-mltc I found some more videos and pictures in Alexander's photo stream;

ME Models said the following in the last kickstarter update "Anyone who has ABS Only in Dark Bluish Gray...you're next, followed by the mixed orders." so it's nearly my turn. I'm quite excited.

I don't think there was certainty, but there were high expectations. The EN and Maersk trains were released in March if I recall correctly and the HE was released in Dec/Jan. Going by that a March release would not be surprising, however we might have expected to have a rumour or sighting by now too. The only rumour we have is from nesquick who was told there would be a Q3 release. At this stage I would say it is still possible we will get a new Creator train this year, but when is very unpredictable. Others have argued I'm being too optimistic. Since Creator trains are a much newer product than technic sets, and trains are a niche interest which seem to wax and wane a bit in sales, it is not really realistic to expect predictable releases from any train product other than the main city train releases. It would make sense to me to try and avoid releasing Creator trains at the same time as city trains and force people to choose which one they will buy rather than wait a year with the Creator train and hopefully more people will buy both. The other factor in this is TLG has been far better at containing leaks, particularly for LEGO store exclusives, so we might be less likely to find out about any Creator train before the official release anyway. All we can do is be patient, and we will only find out here when someone has some definite knowledge.

Don't question the mysterious ways of the postal service. :-)

Since the 16+ trains come without a motor that is correct

Many people only saw the problems after a few hours running at a show.

In the past AFOL train fans have suggested the speed be lowered to avoid crashes and were very politely informed that it was deliberate as kids like crashes. It's a feature.

Because they are speculating wildly. In the LEGO train world this happens from time to time, I think because the timetable for LEGO trains is different to most other themes. On the one hand there are years where we get no new City trains at all, so people who assume it should be like police sets, that are always being refreshed, panic. Since there is a four year life cycle, there are multiple production runs, this year it appears there were high sales over Christmas, meaning stock has run out earlier than expected in Europe. This can also cause people to panic. The non appearance of a new Creator train probably hasn't helped. On the other we have had a very reliable pattern of one passenger train and at least one cargo train on a 4 year cycle going back 12 years. In fact this is a recurring pattern that happens in every train release, almost the whole time since the start of trains in the sixties. Also LEGO is hardly likely to be releasing a new Cargo train at the toy shows if it was considering dropping the line.

While I agree that the new City train isn't great from an AFOL perspective, I'm quite happy with it. It appeals to me since the engine and hopper both remind me of 70's German rolling stock. I'll probably ditch the helicopter and use its flat car to build another hopper, and both the hopper and engine will get a rebuild to look closer to particular prototypes, but on the whole they are good starting points. My biggest disappointment is the use of blue glass in the engine. I will be bricklinking replacements for those. Overall I think this is the best suited city train to my tastes since 7898 Cargo Train Deluxe. I may even buy two. There seems to be a lot more criticism for this train than for the blue cargo train, but the cattle car in that was clearly laughable, and it also had very simple flat cars which apart from the more train focused loads were no better than this train. The red cargo train from 2011 had a much worse hopper car, frankly this years version is far superior, and I'm also thankful it comes in a non-primary colour.

The PF receiver struggles with range, particularly in large rooms. In areas with high ceilings you can't rely on reflected signals so line of sight becomes more important and the effect of interference more pronounced. When running PF trains at exhibitions the effective reliable range is 1 to 2 meters, pointing directly at the receiver, beyond that you lose control.

A lot of these choices come down to what your personal preference in trains is. I'm into German trains so for me the new passenger train and the HE are the most interesting of the current trains. I mostly build custom trains so I see the sets as a good starting point for customisations. The Santa Fe is a great looking train, but since it was released during my dark ages, and it is now so expensive, and it is not really what excites me as far as prototype, I'll probably never buy it unless I happen across a great bargain. These priorieties will be completely reversed for someone who enjoys US trains. Someone who likes UK trains would be appalled that I have the equivalent of 5 EN carriages in my mocs, and have EN engines sitting around in parts in case I want to build a 1930's German steam train (slowly collecting parts for dark green carriages). I try and buy most train sets as they come out, I've only rarely resold stuff NIB (I sometime buy extra sets for more rare parts and colours), so I don't worry too much about the resale market. If something I have really jumps in price I consider what I can currently buy if I resell what I've got but mostly I buy for my own use. I feel its my hobby so while I could profit more, I'd rather spend the time enjoying my trains.

Since there is a much smaller fan base it can be a bit hit or miss, add that to the fact that we can only reliably expect a release every four years and it compounds the problem. We are likely to get more trains, but since they crop up as creator expert sets, or in unrelated licensed themes it's hard to predict, so hard to find news of.

Yeah, but it does make a nice addition to a layout. I really like these more civilian sets even if I'm not really thrilled with this tram. I hope it's widely available here, I had to buy the public transport set from parts because it was a TRU exclusive here and was never in stock.

On that twitter feed there was also this

There is still the possibility that cimddwc is correct and the apparent 2 year release pattern doesn't actually reflect the original planned releases, so I guess you would need to add - or the apparent pattern was a mirage That would imply there is a slight chance we will still see Creator trains in the future as long as there is no announcement from TLG that they wont be releasing any. Speculation of this kind is way more uncertain than that based on observed patters of behaviour though.

My translation; No no I built it myself, only the idea was not my own, take a look here: http://www.doktor-br...bahn/#post54151 and many thanks, if you are kind enough to unravel that here !!

That has been the calming thought in the back of my mind when I start to panic.

If I were trying to fill a whole bunch of orders all at once, I'd start with the easiest and work up. My order sounds very similar to yours, I haven't started to panic either, in fact I've been assuming since mine is a large order and will be shipping to Australia it will be more troublesome, so it's logical to deal with it last. Doesn't mean there isn't anticipation though despite having a couple of rooms stripped bare for painting and new carpet. I've got stuff everywhere and no place to set up and play with the track till I've finished. I should avoid this thread; Duq is infectious

Part of the scientific method is making predictions despite not having complete data or a validated theory to work with. Your reactions make it sound as if that is irrational, but in fact that's an engineering viewpoint which wouldn't exist without the research part of science. In fact if you never make predictions based on incomplete data, you are just using the results of science not doing science. To address your prediction, you've (obviously deliberately but ... ) chosen your dataset badly to support your hypothesis (which I see as something like 'we can't be sure so there's no point making predictions') since the whole notion of a creator/d2c/expert train didn't really exist prior to the release of Emerald Night. If we chose our hypothesis carefully as 'Creator trains are on a two year release cycle' and restrict our analysis of the past data to years in which asking the question 'Will a Creator train be released this year?' makes sense (ie ones after Creator trains existed), then we actually have six data points. My prediction based on this is that a Creator train will be released this year. Confidence level 60%, only because we have a substantiating rumour from nesquick who has had good info in the past. Note that although I've proposed a step function for releases, I'm not trying to predict it's frequency accurately (not enough data points for better than 'this year'), or suggesting there may not be an envelope function (the lifetime of creator trains, availability of D2C slots etc, demand leading to two creator trains this year - all this is outside the model). You rightly say LEGO is a dynamic system that changes it's behaviour. So is our solar system, but I bet most people do their grocery shopping for more than one meal at a time. Even chaotic systems can fall into local regular patterns, and you'll more often be right predicting based on those patterns, as long as you are willing to change once the pattern breaks. We do see seasonal release patterns in most product lines though, so it is not unreasonable to look for them in Creator. While there might be some confirmation bias in my prediction, I'm not predicting city train sets being replaced by a new Creator German steam train set every year, straight rail packs, multiple point geometries with small point motors and a complete train automation system with prototypical light signals, so my predictions are hardly what I want to find. I've often marvelled at some of your sarcasm and respect you for your scepticism but there seemed to be a logical fallacy in your proposition that you can't predict the future from past events. You seemed to imply it wasn't worth trying unless you had 100% certainty, but in fact to be better than pure randomness you only need to beat 50%. There's a lot of wiggle room between the extremes for speculation, and as long as you don't treat the predictions as certainties there may be some benefit. As long as you know how big and where the holes are you still get to eat your cheese without entrails, there is some substance, just not 100%. I certainly didn't intend to be unfriendly I just get a little obsessive about knowledge, logic, semantics and prediction sometimes. I can completely understand if the marginal pay off from speculation isn't worth it for you given that you can be 100% certain by just waiting and seeing, but it is a fun game. In fact I find it more fun getting it right the murkier the speculation gets, though I'm a long way from advocating for a pattern of clues predicting what type of train the next Creator train will be .

Actually we have two members claiming to have seen evidence of the same set number, and the name 'Heavy Haul Train' on a price list. It seems Brickset are taking it seriously too since they were looking for it at the London toy fair (no sign of it yet). There are claims of a June release as a store exclusive in the City line. Then we have this. Not much to go on but it sounds like this is a different train, unless someone has gotten mixed up. If nesquik has been given correct information it will only be a 5-7 month gap, possibly not strong enough sales to devote production to another run just to fill a small gap, particularly when you have newish city trains and another on its way. Not impossible, look at 2011. I think this is a really defeatist statement. The best predictor of the future is the past. It's the difference between divining with chicken entrails and science. Are the predictions certain? No. Are they completely without merit? They probably have more merit than any other method short of leaked info, and since the above leaks seem to support them I'd say they might turn out to be pretty good.

I was told prior to it's release by someone with very close ties to the design labs that it was intended to take the place of the Yellow cargo train when it sold out. Subsequent events make it look like the strong sales of both may have led to more production of the Yellow cargo train, which then outlived the red one. I'm sure the more recognisable shape didn't hurt the sales of the red one in North America, but the lead time probably argues that the Blue cargo train is more likely to have been influenced by North America than the red one.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=6584a&colorID=5&in=A

I hope that leads to the problem of having to choose between multiple switch geometries in the future.

For me this is still one of the high water marks for PF use despite being quite early. http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/151611 No obvious compromises on the design of the engine, but fits is all the PF gear in a small 0-6-0.