Duq

Don't get me wrong, it does look good in red. Don't put yourself down though. Just start building and keep at it. My BR65 isn't as brilliant as Bens BR23 but that doesn't stop me from building and posting it....

Getting a train to run properly is a process of trial and error. When I designed my AS-616 in MLCad this is the bogie I came up with: When I tested the train in real life the third axle on the rear bogie kept derailing. There was just too much play in the link. The solution was simple; adding two extra tiles on top of the third axle stopped the derailing. There are a lot of solutions for bogies on steam engines. For some inspiration have a look at the instructions for Ben Beneke's brilliant BR23. They are on Railbricks. Here's a picture of my own solution on my BR65: BR65 Bottom by Duq, on Flickr

Shouldn't that be MOD, not MOC?

75cm will just about hold a circle. However to make the suggested layout on the box you will need 96x124. There's a hi-res image of the front of the box here.

YES. As I've written in a number of posts. I'm sure curves have over the years not sold as well as straights. That should be a signal to production to produce more straights, not to marketing to try and force people into buying those curves. So please Lego, go back to selling boxes of 8 straights.

Yup: Hogwarts Express by bricktrix, on Flickr

Feel free to send them to me. ;-) They come in very handy when building bigger steam engines.

I can't try right now but I would imagine it's fast enough to fly off the rails. The train motor with small wheels is pretty quick and with these large wheels it'll go even faster. And that train looks pretty top-heavy...

One thing to keep in mind: if you use either of the battery boxes (the AA or AAA one) you have no speed control; the train would just run at full speed. The rechargable battery has a regulator on its output but you'd still have to grab the running train and open the roof to stop it. The better but more complicated solution would be to add a receiver between the battery (any of the three) and the motor, then use the remote control to control the speed.

Very clever solution and a well-made video!

To me this set is just as useless as the old one. I just want to be able to buy straight track without anything else in the box.

So captain, now that the official pictures are out what do you think? I still think it's as ugly as the last one, looking like one of those cars disguised as a train that you see in shopping centres.

Thanks for the comments guys! The BR70 was built for a 2-4-0 challenge; it's not a type I would have built otherwise. Future models will be post-war machines. A video will have to wait; I'm in Iceland at the moment and I've yet to figure out how to do a decent video... Below is a picture showing the drivetrain: I've found this connection of gears on a PF motor to be pretty much indestructible; the gears can't skip and the gear on the motor can't come off it's axle. The vertical axle also gives more freedom for the position of the motor than using all horizontal axles with gears.

My second steam engine is another German, BR 65 this time. I first planned to build this train over a year ago, and the first 'sketch' was built in December last year. I've finally found the time to finish it. The engine is fully PF; the rechargable battery and the M-motor are in the boiler, the receiver is in the coal bunker and it's also got two sets of lights. Having the motor and battery in the boiler means that the boiler is a bit too wide for a scale model. Keeping the cab open cost a lot of headaches but I managed in the end. Using the lift arms or half-beams for the driving gear is not ideal but it keeps the width reasonable. I couldn't use the same solution I used on the BR 70 as it would have made the total width 10 studs! With a single M-motor it happily pulls the cars from set 7939. After a number of redesigns of the bogie linkage it now also runs over points without problems. Flickr set

Wake up! Stop dreaming!

If this is your first train I would use the train base. That Virgin train you picked is an ambitious design... Good luck! Looking forward to your photo's.

I've no idea what molded plates you're talking about. Bogie plates? Motor sides? What train you are building. TGV? ICE? Eurostar? It always helps to post a picture of what you have tried sofar when asking for help.

Yes. ;-) You can use either one for a train. The train sets 7938 and 7939 use this one. If you want to motorise the Emerald Night you will need this one. That's the beauty of the Power Functions system; you can mix and match components.

This would be a good start: http://powerfunctions.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx The bare minimum is a battery box and a motor. For remote control you will also need a controller and a receiver. There are three battery boxes, two technic motors and a train motor, two controllers... I can't give you all the dimensions here but have a look at the Power Functions pages on the Lego site that I've linked above.

Not something I've tried but chances are that it will lose signal. It's Infra-Red remote control, not radio, so it does rely on line of sight to work.

I know the grilles should be running vertically but there was no way to do that without making it longer and I really didn't want to do that. Credits for using the old 9V battery box go to 'spinatundei'. I thought about hand rails but it's already 8 wide... Might add them later though.

Inspired by spinatundei's KöF II in black I decided to have a go at buildinf a KöF II myself. Most of the KöFs I've seen in magazines are red, so I decided to build a red one. [KoF front by Duq] This little engine contains a battery box, receiver and motor so it can run around without needing a battery car behind it. Most of the cab is taken up by the PF receiver but I've managed to keep part of the cab open for a driver. For those not familiar with these little Germand shunters here's a picture of the real thing: [323 113 Gifhorn 00.08.96 by w. + h. brutzer]

Did you really have to post 32 pictures? That's quite a load on a mobile broadband connection... A few pictures and a link to a folder would be better. Having said that, it's a nice looking station. My favourite details are the skylights and the beggar on the platform.

Another nice train Esben! I like the detailing on the roof and the micro-stripe for what I assume is first class.

The problem with the larger radius curve pieces is the limited audience. Most children won't buy it so it'll be down to the adult community. Just imagine the cost of developing a new part and creating a mold for it. Then think how many of those curved track pieces they could sell. They would probably end up being seriously expensive.