peterab

I'm pretty sure the HE is selling well here. I tried to get one to Australia soon after release so we could run it on our club layout at Brickvention in January. As it happened I was not the only one in the club to have this thought. We ended up with about eight sets, and no-one in the club is particularly interested in the TGV (I'm probably closest since I've built a German TEE).

That's probably the most exciting LEGO news I've had this year. I hope we eventually get it in a large range of colours. Even if it's all pastel friends colours it would still be quite appropriate for the real thing. Not that I have a little obsession for LEGO motorbikes going on If we get a lime green one I could make an Australia Post MOC depicting the new postie bike we're getting.

This looks really good now, I particularly like the retaining way supporting the outer track, it's a nice little detail.

Hi Svad, I'd probably use the same window you used on the doors for the front windscreens. If you want to retain the windscreen wiper, the finger hinges http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2452 will hold the lever handles without taking up much wall space.

That's a really nice car carrier and your clever use of the fences might have solved a problem I'm having building a car carrier train carriage.

Are you sure about this? In a recent discussion with Mark Stafford about the difference of certain pieces of the same colour under UV light (some are fluorescent, some are not), he said this was due to certain batches of granulate of the same colours coming from different suppliers.

I agree with Ashi Valkoinen, it is a lot easier to keep all your scenery on the grid and just use a layer of tiles between where your curved track road bed edge meets the scenery.

Barduck, in this photo you can see the PF train motors.

Just as a test remove the centre axles from the tender. It will at least tell you if that's the problem. If so you'll need to allow more movement. Those trucks also look quite long, so they may be a problem simply because of the length, if so going to an articulated design should help

I'm pretty sure the driver/s is/are in charge of the train, though he has to follow the instructions of the guard. :-) Suburban trains have no conductor (or guard any more as far as I know). I think the guard performed the role of conductor on regional trains (though this could differ from state to state), but on interstate trains there are multiple staff so I'd guess the guard and conductor are separate.

I don't ever want to think of that again

The empty clear cups will hold a tran 1x1 round, which make an effective looking drink. Trans yellow with a white 1x1 round tile looks very much like a beer. No so good for Friends though :-) Although keg party cruise ship has a ring to it.

I agree with zephyr1934 on this. The three axle tender trucks will be a problem. Due to the length of the trucks, the middle axle will rub on the inside of the curve. I'd at least try and remove some of the traction bands from the wheels. Try removing them from both centre axles. Another solution would be to build slightly skinnier trucks for the tender to allow the middle axle to slide back and forth more. Saving weight in the tender will also help; are there any bricks you can replace with panels?

Victoria doesn't really count as the outback (that's usually used to refer to more arid and less populated areas) but it was host to one of the biggest gold rushes ever. Since a lot of our country side was fairly heavily forested, it's known as the bush. If you look up bushranger you'll see the local equivalent to Jesse James. By the time of the railways though, bushrangers were disappearing. The guard had duties such as ensuring all passengers were clear when departing from stations, and checking tickets on regional trains. I'm pretty sure we still had them at least till the 1980s on suburban trains.

Well apart from the 2012 ghost train, they were right in 2012 (it didn't really count as a train IMHO), and in 2013 we got the HE and Constitution so not city trains, so right again from one view. "We don't know" could mean a) we don't know, b) we do know but are not allowed to talk about new sets. When I've talked to TLG employees they can say "There are no trains planned for 201x" if it's true, but they're not supposed to discuss upcoming sets. I guess we'll know for sure by about June next year. If trains are to be released, I'd guess they'll want them on the shelves for Christmas, so a second half release makes sense.

The inference I got was you are sceptical of the list because it sounded too similar to the last couple of years. For me that doesn't suggest it is wrong though, since the last few years have had some very odd similarities, ie new police and fire sets almost every year. In the past I wouldn't have expected police to be refreshed every year but it seems to be the new world order now.

You are correct, they are all Victorian Railways rolling stock from the State of Victoria, Australia. The C guards van is the oldest design first built in 1910, followed by the J class in 1954. Both some time after the end of the Victorian Era.

Thanks KD for the interesting early info. Like others I'm more interested in the non-police sets. I think the mining sets are probably too similar to construction vehicles to expect to see any soon. You must be new to the city theme then. Every year is similar because city is very popular theme, so why mess with what works? What and lose our chance at complaining? I don't understand your suggestion ;-)

Oh yes, the modular line has been very good for getting lots of rare coloured bricks. On his visit to BrickExpo a couple of years back Jamie Berard indicated he selected colours he thought AFOLs would desire. I doubt this has changed with Astrid's designs. Being a part of the creator line though, and considering the great value as far as price per part the modulars represent, I'd guess they tend towards rare but existing part/colour combinations where ever they can, rather than truly new ones. Then again, originally there were no stickers, and only existing printed parts and that has changed recently so perhaps the budget has been expanded for the modulars. Intriguing, any hints? Where did you here this? From a reliable source?

I'm a member of MUGS and MLTC. I attend regular meetings of both and display at events and train shows about five times a year. I was formally on the organising committee for Brickvention, and am the current treasurer for the MLTC. Online I'm a member of a number of groups, and moderate on a couple.

From discussions with LEGO designers, they are limited to a set number of colour changes per theme or set. There is also a cost associated with this which comes out of the budget for the theme/set, which means any set with a new coloured piece is likely to have less pieces than if it had been made in existing colours. Also if I understand it right, they can't just ask for a piece in a new colour, it has to replace an existing piece in production. All these measures are to limit the number of pieces in production, since storage and changing colours (and mould but that is not directly related to your question) in the moulding machines have a cost associated with them. It is probably not as high as a new mould but it is also not insignificant. As an example I've been told to change moulds the machine must be allowed to cool down. This takes quite a long time, if I remember correctly of the order of a day. This means LEGO has lost the ability to produce bricks on that machine for a day. This lowers the number of sets they can produce, which obviously means less potential to earn profit.

Yeah it would, but I'm not sure it exists in enough brick types to build a modular yet. An olive green building with dark grey trim and a black roof would look quite good I think.

I actually like the move of houses to Creator, it means the house is more of a focus, and they are now larger more detailed sets. They tend to be pretty good value for money too.

I think they are starting to do this sort of thing with the exclusive trains, the Maersk and Horizon express seem to be close to this model (though you have to buy two :-). I doubt they'll do it in the city line since they're more aimed at kids, and different cars offer more different play features, so are probably more attractive.

No, and we are unlikely to know since TLC don't reveal these sort of figures. Two things lead me to suspect it though; a) LEGO sales in general are far higher than they have been in the past (in the 70's LEGO was a relatively small company, now they are one of the biggest in the world), and b) we've had far more complete train sets than we've ever had before. If train sets didn't perform at least reasonably there would be no reason to make so many different ones. It is not incompatible that train sets are selling better than ever before and they are also a relatively poor seller compared to other themes. I think that has to do more with retailers wanting fast moving stock. TLC is dependant on the retailers, particularly the large chain stores since they are now a high volume business, so the way they do business is no longer compatible with speciality stores who are willing to keep a whole line of trains in stock for the three to four years. Large retailers around here tend to stock only the newest items, and only re-order the very high selling sets. It will be interesting to see if in the future the LEGO brand stores and website start to replace the big retailers, perhaps then TLC will be able to offer a larger train line. Many, perhaps most kids don't, but if it further affects sales for a less popular theme it could still be quite damaging. Go and read the comments on the current city train reviews. I'll bet you find a few comments on each that they wont buy it because they prefer more American/European/Whatever trains. Yeah, most kids that have seen my LEGO want to play with the Fire Engines :-) At train shows on the really big layout my club has most kids are fascinated, but many like it because it's a complete city scene, not necessarily for the trains. Some kids are very knowledgeable about and fascinated by the trains themselves. As an addition to what Dave said, in Australia it's way more expensive to model Australian trains since our population is small and production of Australian stuff is in much smaller lots. Therefore we also get a bit of everything from everywhere else. Because my mother is German I grew up fascinated by German trains. One of my favourite books on layout building is a Kalmbach publication.