Duq

@UltraViolet I was halfway through fixing my first switch when I heard about the tie bar replacements. I had also noticed the lettering, especially the part number, not being flush with the surface, and the extra headroom under the stops. I'll wait for the new tie bars now before I make more modifications. One thing I'm curious about though. You say you tightened the springs. How did you do that?

Maybe when it comes back we can have some coordination between contests. I'm a slow builder, BTA in September and Octrainber the next month doesn't work for me, and I'd imagine I'm not the only one.

Added some "How it's done" pictures and a better photo of the roof details:

You have transit signal priority? You're ahead of Dublin... We have 2 tram lines. Roughly a north-south and an east-west. They get to stretch their legs a bit towards the end of the lines, but both go right through the city centre. I've no professional knowledge or experience, but that pretty much confirms my common sense observation.

Drift away ;-) I get the length vs frequency. Based on what I've seen in various cities though, shorter trams seem to run faster. They're probably more expensive to run (you need more drivers) but without a professional hat on it looks like they'd be more flexible in dealing with demand. And as Dublin found out the hard way soon after the introduction of the 55m trams, if your tram is longer than the bridge in the centre of your city, and you have traffic light either end of that bridge, you end up with a tram stopped at the lights on one end, while it's tail still sits across some traffic lanes on the other... Question for your professional hat: you mention a king-pin, but how do those floating section connections work? They need to be able to turn around 2 axes (to make turns and to go over a hump) but not around the third, to keep the floater upright. I'm thinking of having a single connection with two half-beams and a pin, and have that near the top so gravity will keep things vertical, but I'm curious how that's done in real life.

Thanks! When it's all done it always looks deceptively simple and obvious... which is why I'm getting better at building in iterations. See what works, what doesn't, go at it again. That's nice to hear from someone who knows a thing or two about articulation ;-) Yeah, never though about the maintenance. I'd imagine they have a way to lift out the floating sections and/ or put them on stands. For the Dublin trams they have a purpose-built depot which I think can take in full tram. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ;-) Alsthom have created some... let's say striking designs. Like this hoodie: I'm telling myself I'm not going to build another Luas any time soon because I have a bundle of other projects to finish first but.... Itching to have a go at those floating sections. Curious to see your solution when you're ready to share. In Schkeuditz I've seen some steam loco's running on 9V motors and they ran very well. I'm not sure worm gears are the answer though. You will need gearing, but to get going at low speed you probably need a PWM controller like PFx brick. That will give you more low speed torque.

@zephyr1934 That's a great train you have there! Must be great to see that running on a large layout. I love the colours, but also the texture of those hoppers, very nice. And a very recognisable story. Who doesn't have a few tubs/ boxes with a bunch of parts set aside for a future project? I just finished my Dublin tram, but I have 4 or 5 more half-built projects on the top shelf, some for many years. One day...

Thanks! Yes, forgot to mention, it's 7 wide. Thank you designers in Billund for the 1x5 plate... This is the original 30 meter 301. They have all been upgraded to 5 sections due to demand and then later orders were indeed the 7 and 9 sections up to 55 meter long. I wonder if that's actually good for capacity, or whether more shorter trams would be better. Wonder how difficult the longer versions would be, with 'floating' sections. How do you keep the connection flexible for uneven track but rigid enough to keep the floating section upright? I will add more photos. I took one of the roof but it didn't come out quite right. The equipment is reasonably accurate, but you're very limited in what you can do with only 3 plates height. Thank you! As mentioned above, yes, it's 7 wide. I don't know about miracles, but there certainly was a lot of trial and error. ;-) The bogies with body plating are very distinctive, and only the older series have them. The bogies use the tiny train wheels to fit below the windows. There are 2 bogies as you can see, but the middle section also has wheels inside its body plating - that's where the train motor is hidden. Thanks Andy! Thank! I might reveal the secrets in the next photo session ;-)

It's finally finished! Luas full length Luas is the tram here in Dublin, and I've been wanting to build one for a long time. I started about a year ago, when I got the general concept for the cars figured out, but then abandoned it for a while. Sometimes the inspiration just isn't there... Anyway, over the past few weeks I figured out the cabin, the connections between the sections, improved the doors, which required a different way of doing the roof.... One thing I decided right at the start is that I wanted to do the micro-stripe yellow above the purple. The first idea was to use brackets (1x2/2x2 and 1x2/2x4) and you can still see those in the middle section. Luas middle section However for the outer sections I had to change the concept, as the plate part of the brackets got in the way of the sideways built doors. I ended up using flags, but getting enough of them in yellow and in the old mold (the clip is slightly different in the newer ones, and unfortunately Bricklink doesn't differentiate) was not easy. It's powered by a 9V train motor in the middle and it can manage the tight curves: Luas inside curve It does have a bit of an overhang, so don't park close to the tracks ;-) Figuring out the shape of the 'dressed up' bogies was not easy, despite the simplicity of the final design. Getting the bodie shape around them was even harder. The connectors between sections were another headache that's gone through umpteen different designs. In reality they're an accordion-type structure which is impossible in Lego. So I needed something that would keep the sections close on the straights, and would allow the tram to go around standard curves without showing a big ugly gap. For transport it also had to be easy to take the sections apart and for reliable running the connection has to have some flex when the track isn't perfectly level. I managed to do all of that:

In one of the first real-world tests Michael realised this issue and the solution is a jumper underneath that allows you to use the switch in either mode, all connected or isolating the branch. More detail here: https://shop.fxbricks.com/blogs/news/news-for-2022-and-p40-switches

I totally understand your point @michaelgale. Thing is, those R64P curves don't really fit anywhere else in the system. So to pay €80 for 8 pieces, of which I'll probably need/use 1 or 2 doesn't feel great. I mean, I'll crack open the piggybank anyway... By the way, the Piko R5 you mentioned does come with a piece of 7.5 degree curve to bring it back into system if you don't use it in a crossover ;-) Now, how far did you say the development of a double-slip cross was?

Jeez... I had hoped for that sort of money you'd get the S8 or R64 with the switches. If you just want to do a simple passing track with 1L and 1R then you need 2 S8' and 2 R64P's but you can only buy them in packs of 8...

Then your wheels are not quartered. If the connection points on one side of the engine are at 12 o'clock, then on the other side they must be at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock, NOT 6 o'clock, if you know what I mean. BR55 Drive train by Duq, on Flickr This setup has been running for hours on end at shows without ever binding. As you can see, only the front axle is directly driven from the motor.

City trains have followed a very regular pattern for a while so expect the next pair in 2026.

You mentioned brickbowl and hotbricks (brickowl and hothbricks?) but not the two obvious sites: Bricklink and Brickset.

Hey, can you tell us a little more? What do you already know about this train, where did it come from? Where have you looked?

You can simplify that a lot by powering the blind drivers from the motor. All wheels are connected with the connecting rods so you'll still get traction on all wheels but it saves a few gears. Another tip: take the rubber bands off on one side of the engine. Makes it go around curves much better.

That doesn't add up... The last two motorised City passenger trains were 677 parts for €130/$160 and 764 parts for €160/$190. The 2014 station 423 parts for €50/$65. So either that price is wrong, or the train is not motorised (but maybe designed to be motorised).

@michaelgale As we're entering Q2 of 2023, can you tell us how things are progressing with the P40's? I've all this pocketmoney in my piggy-bank...

I picked up a 2023 catalogue in our Lego brand store and to my surprise it shows the 2018 freight train but not the 2022 one. Then I had a look on Shop at Home and found that while the 2018 passenger train is retired, the 2018 freight train is not. Wonder what's going on there...

Except... the hole in a Technic brick is slightly higher than the side-stud on a headlight brick... I agree with @jtlan though - you're giving yourself a lot of headaches later on with connecting rods as well as building on top of this chassis.

I tried to have a look at the book on Peeron, but the images seem to be gone. The index with thumbnails is there, but you can't view the bigger images. Does anyone know if it's available anywhere else?

Very nice 'inspired by' project! You have it motorised... do you have a loop of track? How do you do the turns?

In one piece.... 15461: Or 33299 with an axle-pin (no friction!): Or 6632 with two axle-pins (no friction!) or two 2L axles: You get the idea...

Nice idea to build the tram together! I'm afraid you're looking at a bit of a modification job though. Most of the front is built studs forward. You can put something like 32530 on that but I'd be afraid it will get pulled off after a while. You can remove the bottom row from the front, remove the brick with 4 studs forward, extend the chassis and then use for example the plate 2x3 with a hole, and a 3 long Technic liftarm with two 2L axles. None of this is tested, I'm just thinking up a suggestion ;-)