Duq

@High_Admiral I haven't used it long-term in a layout but the kitch-table tests sofar have worked well. @zephyr1934 Thanks! @Toastie It's not entirely non-invasive... You'll still need to open up the bottom and take the slider out. I haven't done that yet with mine. For the video I've put the sliders in the middle, so the points don't fully open. It works to show the principle but I'd expect a lot of derailments using this for real... I haven't seen your pictures yet. The old Brickshelf problem of 'this folder is not public yet'... @ElectroDiva Don't we all! There is a guy on Bricklink who makes custom ones but they're not cheap... https://moc.bricklink.com/pages/moc/mocitem.page?idmocitem=1389

A few weeks ago I came across a solution for controlling Lego's double crossover created by @scruffulous. It uses a key to move the two sides into various positions. Automated double crossover points by Mike Pianta, on Flickr As he noted himself, changing from one end of the key to the other takes a little time. That made me wonder if the key could not be rolled up into a rotary solution. And so I came up with a solution that uses the Technic cam parts: Crossover Control by Duq, on Flickr It works, but it was just too tall for my liking. I eventually wanted to control both ends of the crossover together and for that I needed the axle to run below the track. Back to the drawing board then. Turns out you can do the same with simple 1x2 half beams/ lift arms: Crossover Control V2 by Duq, on Flickr The final step then was to build the full size solution and add an RCX to control it all. So here's my completed prototype/ Proof of Concept (click to open in Flickr and see the video): Crossover prototype by Duq, on Flickr As you can see you don't control each of the four switches independently, instead you control each of the two crossovers, flexible enough for my liking. You could of course double up and have an RCX at each end if you do want to control all four switches.

Can we get a train banner again, and some decent colours?

As Beck said, 'bracing' is needed for reliable running; using a construction that prevents the gears from skipping. The parts he shows on the left are very good for that. The round tile with a hole is also a good idea for two reasons: it keeps the horizontal gear at the right height and it has less friction than running it on the studs of a Technic plate. This construction works well for me: PF L-motor mount by Duq, on Flickr Looking at the larger picture of your engine I would recommend linking the two motors. Turn the front one around and let them both drive a single axle down to the wheels. That will give you a number of advantages: you're driving a flanged wheelset. Your flanged axles sit in normal Technic bricks so no messing with half-stud offsets. But most importantly: motors never turn at the exact same speed. The way you have them means that the front and rear driven axles will slowly try to get out of sync, putting a lot of stress on your connecting rods. And yes: avoid knob wheels at all cost: they're the most inefficient gears you can use.

These sets are not aimed at AFOLs. These sets are aimed at children. There have been very few sets aimed at AFOLs; Emerald Night, Maersk and Horizon Express, and Santa Fe and BNSF if you go back further. Trains sell just about enough for Lego not to drop them. Police stations and Fire stations come out in a 3-year cycle and disappear from shops after 1-2 years. Trains come out in a 4-year cycle and stay in stores for the full 4 years. The length of that cycle is needed to recoup the development cost of the sets. I regularly buy sets I don't like and I don't see that as throwing away good money for a simple reason: they contain Lego parts I can use in MOCs. And I'd rather get those parts from a Lego theme than a Disney theme.

Freight train probably, passenger train possibly. Even if I'm not impressed with the design there's bound to be useful parts in them and boycotting the few train sets that Lego produces is hardly going to convince them to release more, is it?

@Tenderlok Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. I was trying to figure out how to hold the LED in place _inside_ the headlight brick... At first I thought it's a shame you can't use round tiles because I prefer them over round plates for my lamps and lanterns. Then I realised there's an easy fix that actually looks quite good: hold the LED (or rather the pico-board) between the open stud of the headlight brick and a round plate with an open stud, and put the clear round tile on that. This way the light is more focused compared to using a clear round plate which seems to 'broadcast' light in all directions.

With my PFx Brick reward kit I've received some Brickstuff Pico LEDs. They're small, so you can get them into small spaces, but I wonder how you would mount them inside a headlight brick so they shine straight through the open stud? If you use 3mm LEDs you can just stick them in an open stud but these are smaller and their shape doesn't match a Lego piece. Any hints or tips from people who have used these light on their trains before?

Hard to tell for sure without seeing the file but if you have manually copied stuff into an xml file, chances are there's an element not closed, or an invalid character. Open the xml file in notepad or an xml editor and have a look around line 56317.

Thanks! Have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/duq/

Good start into the world of train MOCs! I'd call them tankers though, not hoppers...

I'm sure it's possible, connecting the terminals with wire instead of a battery, but why on earth would you want to do that? It means limiting the voltage to your motor to only 6V which means very slow trains.

Pity the yellow dumper didn't make the video - that's my favourite of the three. Is it me or should the caboose be a little taller?

Did you mean elegant? ;-) These cars are nice. I think the tank car is fine. I'm sure in reality it's more important to have the weight of the tank balanced between the axles than to have the axles placed symmetrically between the buffers.

How do you know the blue cargo train was more successful than the red cargo train? It's a toy. Not a scale model.

This is very interesting. I noticed that there was something wrong with the metal curve segments but wasn't sure what it was. It sure is explosive, much worse than the all plastic curves. If only I had a store nearby to sell me some longer sections of code 100 rail... Related question: are there different versions of code 100 rail with different width at the base? I've found that the groove in the ME plastic track isn't always in the middle so I've had to file down the plastic in places because the motor wheels wouldn't touch the metal...

Thanks! I'll sure share them here when I get around to finishing them.

No apologies needed, that's a beauty! To make it easier to share (many) photos of your model I would recommend opening a free Flickr account to host them. It's then easy to post them here. For the running gear you are using Technic axles with axle joiners. While in theory that gives you beams of the correct length I've noticed that the length may vary a bit. If the side/connecting rod ends up being a fraction too long or too short it makes the running gear 'stutter'. You can connect the axles with gears inside the chassis to (at least partly) compensate. Looking forward to your next model! P.S. If you get a Flickr account, don't forget to join the LEGO Train MOCs group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/legotrains/

They're cute! And they look a lot like the two half-built cars that are sitting on my desk, behind my own Blokbricks BR 99 ;-)

Don't forget the vintage tram: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/b0b4ae39-1c8c-4f31-ad9b-af7df3cabf6a

The 8885 remote control is digital: it's either full speed on or it's off. For controlling trains you want 8879 remote control.

That French engine is electric, not a diesel. Let's see if the engine in the set will have panto's or whether they'll turn it into a diesel.

That cargo train looks good to me but maybe that's because those engines have been around in the Netherlands since the early 80's. Could the colour be the recently revived Teal?

Anyone else notice the escalator in that video? Wouldn't it be great if Lego would produce..... Give me a break...

Wouldn't it be easier to just put something under the axle to lift the wheels a little off the floor/shelf?