Duq

Do you have a real-life GL1500 as well? I've a GL1000 and a GL1200 myself.

Very impressive layout! And quite a selection of great train models. How many people took part in the layout?

HE was unveiled at a fan event in September 2012, before its release in January 2013. Let's face it: it's not gonna happen this year.

Before tackling the curves I've done a simple part: the half-length straight: ME Models Half Length Track by Duq, on Flickr

Yup, that's the plan...

I've created the connectors for LDraw: ME Models Track Connectors by Duq, on Flickr You can download them here: https://github.com/Duq42/ldraw-parts

Yes, Billund is expensive. However if you can afford it I would recommend staying in the Legoland hotel for the best experience for your children. When I took my children to Denmark when they were young we stayed in cheaper B&B's in most places. We had two days in the park and stayed in the Legoland hotel for the night inbetween. Definitely worth it.

I'm sure you can make it work for 9V. If you don't mind cutting a track section in half for the collapsing part of the bridge...

Woohoo! Big box full of nice grey pieces was delivered this morning!

That's a great display! Wishing you all the best for packing up. I know what it's like...

My sister tried to send me a christmas present a few years ago. After going to Iceland, Italy and Germany it came back to her in Holland in mid January. The postal service blamed a mis-printed barcode. After sending the parcel again the tracking site showed an attempted delivery but I never found a note. No surprise; we later found out that the address in their system had changed to: NameX StreetX DB999AA CityX Ierland In mid February the now well-battered box appeared back at her home in Holland again... She's given up on sending parcels.

Cool. Enjoy the build! Next on your shopping list are some orange tiles and other parts on Bricklink to convert the middle bogies into a Jacobs-bogie.

My parcel is on its way. A long way, going by the USPS tracking info: The Long Way Around by Duq, on Flickr

Even if it works on the large radius curves you'll still have a problem on points/switches...

That's a beautiful train! Just needs some stickers for the finishing touch. The layout looks ambitious. You must have many members in your Lug. I wish I could come and see it, Verona is a nice city, but it's a bit too far and short notice for me... Looking forward to seeing the photos though!

What are you going to do about it?

Have a look at the Flickr Train MOCs group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/legotrains/pool The Flickr Train Ideas group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/legotrainideas/pool And Railbricks: http://railbricks.com/instructions/steam-locomotives/ I would especially recommend the instructions for Ben's BR023.

You got your conversion right. It's Lego that keeps getting it wrong ;-)

How did you work that out? $160 at today's exchange rate? Unfortunately the world doesn't work that way. If it's $160 then it's usually €160...

That's exactly what I though when I saw the photos. In not knowing which type of engine to go for they've ended up with something that's neither. I also prefer to build my own rather than rely on sets but to keep building our own we need Lego to keep producing train sets that people want to buy. We're not the target audience for these sets but I agree they can do better than this. I'm pretty sure Lego is not actually trying to tell us that but we do need to start supporting trains on Ideas. Unfortunately we seem to be too small a niche to even get sufficient votes there. Last week I did this overview of a very subjectively picked bunch of projects on Ideas to show just how little support they are getting. It's started an interesting discussion over on Flickr: The cold hard truth about Lego trains by Duq, on Flickr

And the chance of that happening is?

Impatient much? Read the previous 19 pages. Looks like the answer is no. I'm really disappointed with that heavy haul train. The engine look way too much like the yellow one from a few years ago, only with pointless railings. The hopper car looks ok but that's about it...

That's 50% more than it was in the shop a few weeks ago. Is that fair? Up to you. New on Bricklink they start at around €130 and that's without shipping. Compared to that I think €140 is not bad and as you said, it's probably going to go up from here...

If you want them in LDraw you'll probably have to make them yourself but for these simple models that shouldn't take long.

Only you decide what's a must-have. The BNSF was one of the best-looking and most detailed diesels Lego had produced when it was released but that was ten years ago and things have moved on. Would I buy one today? For a decent price yes. For the €275+ or more they are on Bricklink? Hell no. You can get a Maersk train for a lot less. Brickset tells you what the story is with the limited edition Santa Fe: