Duq

And with an iPhone in my hand I suddenly forget all the grammar I learnt in school...

There's a hole that's roughly the size of a Technic hole but not quite. You can put a 3/4 pin in but it won't fit properly. I doubt there will ever be a 3 axle version of this motor; there simply isn't the room inside to have an axle go through.

So the European release will now be exactly two years after Emerald Night. Lego, feel free to turn this into a tradition; releasing a beautiful train on my birthday every other year ;-)

Indeed. But as it happens that wasn't the reason for moving away from powered track. There were two reasons: production cost and American health and safety laws about toys that plug into wall sockets. Personally I'm not too excited about shorter track pieces. Never really felt the need for those.

I didn't have a set as such, but my dad had an attic full of N-gauge trains. I never had Lego trains as a child ("We've got enough trains in the house!") so I'm catching up now...

... and that is a TLC engineer ... Huh?

No degree but I've been land-surveyor, cinema projectionist and math teacher before ending up in IT. Oh, and in my spare time I like to take motorbikes apart when I'm not building with Lego.

How did you design that? That should fit exactly (it does in TrackDraw anyway).

Yeah, your one bad experience is solid proof that all of us outside your precious US are unreliable frauds...

Yes, of course inclines are possible. You can go up by 2 plates per section of track. Inclines can be used for bridges or simply to make your landscape more interesting. Have a look here for more details.

It's just so... annoyingly brilliantly clever...

Excellent! That's a great model you've got there. I love the detailing. Just a pity you couldn't squeeze a battery box in. This would make a great switcher to play around on a layout.

Set 2734: Set 2735: Dear Lego, If you can sell straight and curved track separately for Duplo trains, then why not for City trains?

With all due respect, that's a load of bollocks. 4565 Freight train: Engine + 3 cars. 4511 High speed train: 2 cars. 4512 Cargo train: Engine + 3 cars. 7897 Passenger train: 3 cars. 7898 Cargo train Deluxe: Engine + 4 cars. 7938 Passenger train: 3 cars. 7939 Cargo train: Engine + 3 cars. 10173 Holiday train: Engine + tender + 4 cars. The only 3 car sets here (2 out of 8 sets) are passenger trains. Now where does your three-car-rule come from? As for the Emerald Night having a single car, I know what that decision was based on but I was under NDA when I was told but I can tell you it's nothing to do with a rule for the number of units in a train set...

Yes, I did. See my post above. I agree with you on the 36 studs. Two bogies of 10 studs each, 3 bricks on the outside of the bogie makes 26. 1 stud space between bogie and tank in the middle makes 28 and the centre unit looks like 8 making a total of 36. I think the base is 2 plates thick including the plates with handles so I assume it's a plate-built base rather than a standard train base.

From looking at the picture I'm pretty sure it's 36 + buffers. I think the engine looks pretty good but the container cars are very bland. The tractor makes up for that though. I really hope this will not be a Maersk employee exclusive. I'm not really into American trains but this one does look good...

That's a great engine you've built. And very well photographed too. I like the detailing on the roof; the colours there just work very well. You asked for links to other ways of constructing the pantographs. My own solution: Amsterdam tram by Duq, on Flickr Here's a few from master train builder James Mathis: Oversized image removed I quite like the design with the guns and have used it on my post train.

If you can get the TS train at discount I would go for option 2 (it's seriously over-priced otherwise) because mixing the TS and HP trains sounds like more of a challenge. The Emerald night doesn't need a longer tender for PF and two tenders and two carriages would look just as silly as a single tender and single carriage if you ask me.

Thanks for the boiler explanation, I think I get it now... I might use this method for my next engine. I was going to use a variation on Sava's four-and-a-bit boiler but I need to get the motor(s) in the boiler as there's no room anywehere else. I had the same problem with 6L flex for another steam project; the flex cable is about 2mm short. With 5L and 6L becoming rare and expensive on BL I'm thinking about cheating and using pieces of copper wire.

Teddy, your drive setup is similar to my BR65, only you have two motors in the boiler (I have only one) and your boiler is narrower. Do you have better pictures or a ldraw file of how you built your boiler?

I'm not sure if that will work. In the PF system the 0V and +9V lines are 'always on', just like the track in a DCC system. However the PF speed controller does not regulate the voltage on C1 and C2 but uses PWM to control motor speed. While that works fine for a motor I'm not sure whether it'll work for your sound board.

Which brings us nicely back to the start. Straights are not cheaper now because you're forced to buy curves or flex along with the straights, making the combi-pack just as expensive as a 9V straights pack...

Brickster posted an announcement explaining the meaning of MOC and MOD in a topic title; My Own Creation for something you've built in bricks, My Own Design for something you've built in LDraw or LDD. To me that's confusing. MOD to me is a modification; an official set with some changes. Whether you create something in brick or in digital doesn't really matter to me, so I don't think there's a need for a distinction in topic titles. Am I the only one that feels like this?

That bit about the coning of train wheels is very interesting. Never realised that...

Both the passenger train and the cargo train are rated 6+ by Lego so if your 5 year old is playing with Lego (not Duplo) on a regular basis he should be fine with the train. Between those two sets I would recommend the cargo train if it fits the budget as it has a lot more play-value with the cargo, the truck and the switches/points in the track. If he likes Toy Story you could also consider the Western train but be aware that this comes without track or motor.