legoboy3998

@michaelgale, thank you for the great explication, so excited! Is the switch radius R104, or something different? Sal WFB, WI

Model train weathering using decals is becoming slightly popular. Here and here are a couple examples available on Ebay, you can even do graffiti with stickers. Something similar to this could be done as a sticker @legoman666 Sal WFB, WI

You can have multiple instances of Bluebrick running at one time as seperate windows. On my Windows 8.1 laptop, I open Bluebrick, then right click on the icon in the taskbar and click the Bluebrick .exe in the menu. If you open the second instance after you open the first file, you can copy and paste from the first instance to the next. I often have multiple open while working on different shows. Sal WFB, WI

The camera I used originally seems to not be available anymore. A few years ago, I picked up a cheap camera drone, under $100, and have contemplated pulling out it's internals, camera, WiFi transmitter, and battery, to use in a camera train. you can probably find replacement drone cameras and transmitters or even mini "spy cams" online for pretty cheap. Most drone cameras can live stream via a self contained WiFi signal to a device with their app loaded. Sal WFB, WI

@Daedalus304, I don't disagree, I think something along these lines would be more ideal for a most versatile power pickup bogie. I think the only real reason the more blocky "dummy" motor version comes to mind is it would be the most cost effective way to make a power pickup bogie, by reusing all the motor bogie parts, minus the motor, for the power pickup. LEGO requires all kinds of concessions when it comes to size and detail. Heck, when the walls of your locomotive are over 1 foot thick in scale, you have to realize some parts will just never scale right. Sal WFB, WI

For the most part, a self contained power pickup/motor unit was what made 9v so great, it allowed a motor to be added to smaller builds. A "dummy" power pickup bogie (without a motor in it) would be easily placed as one or both trucks in a tender. Alternatively if the motor and power pickup bogies axles were Technic axles, then that would allow for metal steam drivers to be produced and used with the "dummy" power pickup bogie in a steam locomotive. Sal WFB, WI

A pair of pantyhose or stockings around the vacuum tube, secured with a rubber band, would suffice. (another tip from model railroading.) https://www.micromark.com/search?keywords=vacum has a few vacuum options as well for the modeler. Sal WFB, WI

As @Andy Glascott said, isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. In the States, it is commonly used to sterilize cuts, and can be found in the pharmacy area of most stores. I got the idea from more traditional model railroading, they recommend 70% isopropyl alcohol. Here is a very quick video about cleaning track with the 70% isoppropyl alcohol. http://mrr.trains.com/videos/expert-tips/2017/11/model-railroader-quick-tips-isopropyl-alcohol-for-cleaning-model-train-track Here is a video showing cleaning wheels (skip to about 10:10). http://mrr.trains.com/videos/codys-office/2016/12/modelers-spotlight-video-inside-codys-office-for-december-2016 Sal WFB, WI

I am looking forward to what comes out in 2020 and beyond. I might be replacing some curves at BRickworld Chicago 2020. Sal WFB, WI

Looks good. Do you run the cleaning pads dry, or do you use any cleaner with them? I use alcohol wipes for cleaning track and motor wheels. In addition to cleaning the track, cleaning the motor wheels themselves will help a lot as well. sal WFB, WI

I think for phases I-III, regular blue, for phases IV-V, dark blue. The following site will likely be of use, it has pics broken down by locomotive or car number. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Railroad.aspx?id=AMTK Sal WFB, WI

Getting close, very exciting!

The only thing that sort of bugs me about this set is that I feel like the walls and roof of the house should be medium nougat like the chimney. I think that color looks much more like gingerbread than the reddish brown they used for the walls and roof. To me, it looks more like a chocolate house with gingerbread chimney. Sal WFB, WI

@zephyr1934 I am very interested to see what you come up with. I have been very pleased with all the custom 3d printed parts I have ordered from you. All those fence pieces really made my diesel servicing facility look good at Brickworld. Your parts are certainly worth the price and wait time. Sal WFB, WI

Would you consider selling the motor side? It would give me a nudge to start building a few SD 40-2's. I'm in the front row 4th from the right, wearing a brown minifig shirt. I'll let the others out themselves (or not) as they see fit. I am in the grey shirt, front and center in the front row, in front of the Twin City guys. Sal WFB, WI

What builds do you have with this type of coupler in mind? I previously posted, in this topic, how I use a Kadee O scale Knuckle coupler on my LEGO trains. this may be a solution that would work for you. The way I mount them, makes them essentially drop in replacements for the standard LEGO couplers. Sal WFB, WI

At least here in the States, ski hills do have “snow cannons”. They are used to make “fake snow” when the temperature is low enough for snow, but Mother Nature does not produce real snow. again, here in the States, we have fire trucks called “tillers” (often referred to as “hook and ladders” which are very similar to the one from the fire brigade set. Though usually, the ladder turntable is at the front of the trailer and there is a cab at the rear of the trailer for the “tillerman” who steers the trailer axel to allow the truck to make much tighter turns. A lot of bigger departments also have tractor trailer type fire trucks as large rescue trucks (they often resemble American style beverage trucks) or mobile command post trucks. Sal WFB, WI

Could you do a Kickstarter with a lower goal, or not a "all or nothing" goal? I pledged on the Kickstarter and would be willing to back again if you have other sources of funding to make this a success. Sal WFB, WI

Your prototype bucket looks a ton better. Personally, I think it is slightly too big. I would like to see how it would look scaled doe to 2 studs wide. How did you make it, is it 3D printed? sal WFB, WI

Not exactly in the Modular style, but this BP station at 12th St. and Highnland Ave in Milwaukee, WI is pretty close. https://www.google.com/maps/place/N12+%26+Highland+%23779,+Milwaukee,+WI+53233/@43.0444445,-87.9271612,3a,75y,308.51h,91.5t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sP2oF2F3v9ZkQ-Y_xkQ4Scg!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x8805197966ad171d:0xe9865fd509647458 Sal

Thanks for the help @Duq. I opened the file with notepad and just deleted that line (from <brick> to </brick>. Then tried opening the file in Bluebrick and it opened. it appears a right hand 9v switch was removed and likely the offending part. Sal

@Alban Nanty, I have been using Bluebrick for quite a while now for doing club layouts. I recently started having an issue opening my latest layout. I get the following message when trying to open the file. "Cannot open the map C:\Users\Sal\Documents\Sal's Documents\BlueBrick\City-Train Area 2018 E.bbm." "There is an error in XML document (56317, 10)." I had the file open the day before and did open work in it with no problems, but now, I get the above message. I did copy some items from one layout into this layout the last time I had it open, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. If you can offer any insight into how I can get this file open and what may be causing the issue, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Sal

For me personally, all but the narrow gauge. I also think just letting the conversation steer itself can be good too. It would also be nice if the trains round table time could be expanded. You could spend the better part of an hour discussing just one of the above topics, with all the digressions that naturally come up. Sal

@legotownlinz, is there enough wire within the train motor body to simply rotate the actual motor 180 degrees, so the wire connections to the internal motor would be on the right side in you pictures in stead of the left? Sal