Duq

Adding weight will also increase traction.

Thanks guys! I'll post some pictures of how the roof was done when I get a chance to take them ;-) It took a lot of time and work to get the timber patterns and then to get all the roof panels to match up but it was worth it. I certainly had a good time last weekend at the show, even though we didn't win the public vote this time (have to hand out more sweets to bribe the kids ;- )

That's a beautiful train! A fittingly clean design with lots of nice details. Don't worry about those windows being a fraction low; nobody bar the most hardcore train-nuts will notice so I'm sure the public at shows will love your train. You must be running this on tracks with only 'grande curves' though. That carriage is about 60 studs long!

I hadn't planned on posting about this MOC before it was properly finished but things got delayed and last weekend it made its debut at the Dun Laoghaire Model Railway Show so here it is: Bahnhof Neuffen. Neuffen track side by Duq, on Flickr I needed a station for my growing collection of German trains and the choice was very easy: my favourite model railway kit from my childhood (Vollmer 7522). It turned out that they took some poetic license when they created that kit but the main shape and layout were the same. The shape of the roof is very distinctive and took a lot of time to get right. There are 14 panels in the roof, each at their own angle, and they all had to connect. And then there were the two turrets; one square and one hexagonal. They certainly weren't easy to keep in the style of the rest of the roof. In total there's around 4000 cheese slopes in the roof... Neuffen in the sun by Duq, on Flickr I've a bit of work left to do in further detailing so in time I'll post some more pictures.

Can you turn the motor by hand when you stick an axle in? We killed an M-motor last year at a show. On Saturday it had worked fine until it was switched off but on Sunday it was dead...

Lego produce larger steam drivers. They've been used in the Emerald Night and Toy Story train and are currently in the Lone Ranger train.

It reminds me of those sculptures that are made from nuts and bolts and other old metal bits.

I had seen a picture of the coaling tower before but hadn't realised the detail in the chute and lifting mechanism. Very impressive! I've never heard of an interlocking tower, is that another word for a signal box or something else alltogether? I love the style and colour scheme anyway. Next to the two towers the office looks a bit plain...

You could buy the Constitution chase (79111) to get you started... Where did you get part number 85557? Bricklink part numbers are 85489a for the blind and 85489b for the flanged. The Lego ID is 4543943 which according to Brickset is not available to buy from Lego.com. Why do you call it a medium wheel? Lego only have one size train driver and in the Big Ben Bricks product range this is called the Large driver...

Sorry about your missus. That's a very nice engine you've got there. Not easy to see al the details in black though ;-) I like the brick-built logo on the side, pity you couldn't repeat that on the front...

Best of luck in the new job Jopie!

Hey Daisy, fancy meeting you here ;-)

The Servo motors are big and expensive. I'll stick to M-motors for points for now: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67730

Speaking of volunteers, Elroy, do you need more help?

Spitfire, isn't this what train building in Lego is about? Figuring our solutions, making compromises... As for your question about sharing pictures, on the bottom right of the Flickr page is an icon of a box with an arrow. Click it and select 'Grab the html/bbcode', then select 'Medium (500x...)' and select the bbcode radio button. Copy the code you see and paste it here. It'll look like this: [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/89954298@N05/9147542849/][img=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3808/9147542849_b3a553a659.jpg][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/89954298@N05/9147542849/]Wooden Reefer wip test[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/89954298@N05/]Trevor B Young[/url], on Flickr And the result is: Wooden Reefer wip test by Trevor B Young, on Flickr

Now that Brickworld was last week, has the presentation been recorded in some format? I'd love to see/hear/read it...

That's an interesting idea. Why didn't I think of that?

Silver mine shootout: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=79110-1 Temple of Doom: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=7199-1 The answer is no; the silver mine shootout uses normal track, Temple of doom uses narrow track.

That's a nice looking engine. And fitting for the TLG system with its tight curves. ;-)

Not too bad really. Used RCX will cost about €25 on Bricklink, light sensors are under a fiver. PF lights aren't expensive either and can be replaced with any other LED if necessary.

Most of our layouts run a loop, but this time we wanted a commuting train on a single track. After considering different solutions using control centres and various non-Lego parts I came up with this solution for two RCX bricks. At each end is a setup like this: RCX Train Control by Duq, on Flickr The track connector is attached to outputs A & B together using a 2x4 electric plate. Using two outputs allows more power for the track. The third output is used for the PF light. Only one input is used, the original Mindstorms light sensor. Halfway along the track I used some sellotape to insulate the two sides. Hiding the light sensor under the platform makes it virtually invisible but the main advantage is that it's sheltered from ambient light. This makes the light trap very reliable. The trap at the other end of our track was not underneath a platform and as a result it failed when some sunlight lit up the room. The structure of the program is simple; when it starts it runs the train inwards until the light sensor detects a drop. It then pauses for a few seconds and send the train out in the opposite direction. After running it for a few seconds (the time it takes to reach the sellotape plus a few seconds) and then reverses the direction again. Before the direction is changed however the train will have crossed into the other section which was pulling the train in and waiting for the light sensor to be triggered. By the time this second section sends the train out again the first section is waiting for the train again. The system ran quite reliably all day long. This setup has a lot of advantages. Because it uses a light sensor trains will stop at the end of the platform, no matter where in the train the motor is. The program on both sides is identical (although I had to adjust the light sensor threshold and running times because the sellotape wasn't exactly in the middle). You could use this setup for a stop along a line as well. For the next show I want to add control of a switch so one train arrives in the station and another leaves.

That's similar to what I've used them for, only mine was a traverser, not a turntable: BR70 with EN carriages by Duq, on Flickr

@Frank: Not sure yet. I haven't studied the BR 94 much sofar, it's not top of the list. It'll probably be a version close to the Fleischmann model as that's what I remember from my dads model trains in the attic ;-) @ronandson: Thanks! @harnbak: you're welcome! Took a few more pictures, showing how it handles points. Took a video of that too but I'm on a slow connection now so I'll upload that later.

Here's the size comparison with the Emerald Night: As you can see it's only a few studs longer. And look, it actually moves!

As you can see from the first picture it's about 52 studs long (without buffers) so that's only a few studs longer than Emerald Night I think. I'll add some more pictures and I'll try and do a video as well.