Duq

Some interesting designs. Not much left of 60051 other than the nose piece. By the way: Intermodal ‎= Relating to more than one mode of transport. Probably not what you meant ;-) I'm guessing you were thinking of intermodal container cars with shared bogies. They are called Jacobs bogies and using them gives you an articulated car or trainset.

You mean like... Yellow Köf by Duq, on Flickr LEGO_Kof by John Neal, on Flickr LEGO Köf by Gavyn Rogers, on Flickr

For some reason though, the TECHNIC_PNEUMATIC_HOSE is not in the dropdown menu on the Add LSynth Command popup. And I've just installed the latest version. Is there any config I should change to get this option back in the list? Or should I just manually insert the command?

You're welcome ;-) I'd love to see a Lego train magazine in some form but it will be hard to get and keep going. I've highlighted before the problems with the Lego train community in the context of trains on Ideas; we're a niche within a niche. LEGO trains are a tiny group within 'general' model railroading and train builders are a tiny group within AFOLs. Train sets represent about 0.5% of the number of sets released every year... To make matters worse that small group of LEGO train builders is spread around the globe with the majority on both sides of the Atlantic, where we have fairly different tastes. This too has been highlighted in relation to Ideas; most European train builders care little for American freight diesels and many European passanger trains mean little to American train fans. It also makes a printed edition infeasible except for local print on demand because the cost of postage would be prohibitive. Two of the reasons I no longer get Brickjournal are cost and focus on the US. If the new magazine is to have any chance I think we need to broaden the focus. As has been mentioned above, other model railway magazines don't limit themselves to rolling stock and track. By including buildings, structures and landscaping it should attract a wider audience. That in turn is crucial if you want to convince advertisers. I agree with Michael that 4 issues per year would be more than enough to keep a team of volunteers busy. A small reward for the efforts on the magazine won't change that. Building a website with many functions would be too much of a distraction. The Eurobricks train forum is by no means perfect but it's well-established and it would be a waste of energy at this stage to try and build a new forum. Concentrate on the magazine. A completely different approach would be to team up with Bricks or Blocks and have a Trains section in one of those magazines. Yes, you would be paying more than you would for just a Lego train magazine but you would also get a lot more content. I doubt there are many Lego train builders who have no interest in any Lego subjects outside of trains. For the magazine it would mean dedicated and knowledgeable train writers/editors, for the train community it would mean much wider exposure. I haven't looked into the commercial aspects of this option but I think it's one we should consider.

I'm trying to do a decorative piece of pneumatic hose. As it's not attached to any pneumatic parts I don't need the beveled bit at the end. Is there an easy way to do this with LSynth or should I just use LSynth for the curvy bits and the manually remove the beveled bit?

That's a great looking model! Nice detailing around the boiler and working valve gear too. The overhang in corners is not as bad as you might expect but then of course the engine itself doesn't have much overhang beyond its driving wheels. One question: why did you decided to have a gear train to drive 4 axles? They're already connected with the driving rods... On my BR 55 the motor only drives the front axle, the other three are only driven by the rods.

Not bad for a beginner. Not bad for any train builder really. Lots of nice details. My favourite bit is using The Ring for the headlights.

Don't want to be mr Negative, but do you think there might be a reason My Own Train stopped after just one year? The problem with trains (on Ideas and in Creator Expert) seems to be that it's very hard to find a train that has worldwide appeal. High-end cars are the same around the world; Ferrari's and Porsches are recognised everywhere. Trains however look different and that makes it hard to get enough votes.

I use Loctite threadlocker for the axles and wheels. It's something I also use when I work on my motorbikes. Simply dip the tip of the axle into the stick and then stick it in the wheel. Not as strong as glue but it stops wheels coming off accidentally. http://www.jensentools.com/loctite-37684-248-semisolid-stick-medium-strength-threadlocker-blue-9-gram-stick/p/423-208 I've tried silicone lubricant but found it rather messy. I might try the Labelle oil next if I can find it here somewhere.

The model you see in that eBay listing is Ben Beneke's BR 23. The instructions on Railbricks that you mention are indeed the instructions for this model. Have you built the model? Which parts aren't robust? I have built it myself and it happily runs around my layout. It has some fragile details but it won't fall apart while it runs.

On sale on shop@home? Nice. All I see in the Sales & Deals for Ireland is some watches and keychains... As for new City trains: 2006 - 7897 & 7898 2010 - 7938 & 7939 2011 - 3677 2014 - 60051 & 60052 2015 - 60098 I'm not expecting another City train until 2018...

Does anyone still know how to use Google? One Google image search for gave me this image: It also showed an image from Holger Mathes' site. Unfortunately he's got some scripts on his site to prevent deeplinking so I can't show you his image here. Try his site: http://www.holgermatthes.de/bricks/en/trainswheels.php You can download the BBB wheels for LDraw from their website so you can work out in MLCad what the spacing for your wheels needs to be.

It's an interesting concept, though not one I'll be experimenting with myself. Did you notice the ME Models update that was posted an hour and a half after your initial post?

I'll be following this project ;-) Shouldn't the 0-8-0 (or 'D' as I'd call it) have its own thread? Hadn't seen the earlier part of this yet. Looks like you got the naming the wrong way around... The Emerald bit refers to the green colour (as in the Emerald Isle where I live) so your Emerald Baltic and Emerald Northern should be Baltic Night and Northern Night... Either way, they're impressive engines!

You're spot on when you say it's about where we are as a society. There was a programme on tv here the other night, 'Back in time for the weekend' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06zyt4z). A family lived for a week like they were in the 1950's, then a week in the 60's etc. Seeing the changes condensed like that makes you realise how much has changed. At the end they said that for family time the 70's were the best time. Funnily enough that's before everything was about instant gratification and individualisation. Before walkmans, before personal computers and games computers. When families still played board games together. Another thing that was pointed out was how few people these days enjoy or take pride in making or repairing something. And that's key to model railroading; imagination, making something. I hope there will come a generation who will rebel against what's happening now, who will rediscover physical contact and the joy of creating something. With advances in 3D-printing there should be a golden era ahead for model (train) builders. In the meantime I'll keep attending model railway shows, lowering the average age of the exhibitors and trying to make children enthousiastic about model trains. By the way, my children have phones and laptops but we also play board- and card games with them and we bake cakes.

Thank you... I'm in a similar position here in Ireland. There's only a handful of train builders here and the ones I know build Irish. At the model railway shows where we exhibit most layouts are based on Ireland or the UK. I'd love to be part of a collaborative layout based on German steam... I don't see myself as very creative. I can build copies of vehicles and buildings but designing something from scratch? I have a few of these from my dad's collection and based on them I've gone for dark green. Plus the fact I like Lego dark green as a colour. They are kinda. You can't touch them when you pick the cars up but I haven't seen any come off while running around the layout. That's the part that my printed panels are based on. I see what you mean about the tubes but I'm quite happy with my non-yellow printed parts ;-) Yup, I know my roofs are too shallow. I just had a few hundred of those curved slopes from Lugbulk... I'll have to see if the arches work. They might be too tall for my liking. Before upgrading these again there is some other work waiting; finish my diesel, rebuild the BR 65, do a few more freight cars, finish the fire station... Thanks again for your nice comments. Do you have pictures of your version? I didn't see them in your Flickr stream. Saw a nice BR 103 though...

You're right, I could have used the hammers. In theory the turntables don't allow for rocking. In reality there's enough play in them and the carriages ran very well for three days in London. The brass tubes are made by K&S Metals. I buy them in my local model shop.

Ok, here's an update: you won't get a new train this year. Happy?

The number of times I've come home from an event, looked through my pictures and realised I'd taken everyone else's work and forgot my own...

With PF this will be very difficult. For 9V you can do it with an RCX and a light sensor. I've run a similar setup, only with a timer instead of a button. RCX Train Control by Duq, on Flickr

Thanks for all the kind words! My dad had an attic full of Fleischmann, that's where I got my inspiration.

It looks impressive! I'm glad we don't have long beasts like that in Europe though ;-) And yes, bogies are a known problem with Lego trains. A realistic width for trains on this track would probably 10 studs but that's not feasible because of other constraints.

Klein maar fijn! You've got the feel of those old industrial buildings spot on. I also love the disintegrating track in the foreground.

Thanks guys! I don't have pictures of the whole train but I do have an album for the BR 55 on Flickr. It was always going to be a compromise. At full 1:40 scale they would be 60 studs long! Using 4 long windows I'd only get 3 in at this car length. 3 long windows would have to be brick-built, making the printed pattern a lot harder to do. This way it was easy to build and it also made it easy to do the first class section with 4 windows. I don't have an album for the signal box, might do that some time. There's a picture from a different angle here: Signal box by Duq, on Flickr It's based on the signal box in Foynes, co Limerick: 2001-09-21 Foynes signalbox by John Carter, on Flickr Nope, they're printed onto the clear panels.