Duq

Classic German signal box, and very well executed. I like the detailing on the roof. Does the actual signal room have an interior?

I love the colour scheme, can't wait to see that sleeper car. The trick with the asymmetrical 'harmonica' between the cars is really clever; having 1 stud on one car and 2 on the other.

Looks really good. I like the bogies, do you have better pictures of them? Might be serious competition for my tram ;-)

Nice shape! Pity you forgot to open the curtains before taking the pictures... :-P

Hey Nexus, that cattle car is a beauty!

Nope. I needed something 1 wide in smoke that matches the angle on this windscreen:

ENTERED Here's my entry for category 1 (I like to think a three car tram is a complete train, not a single engine). This is an Amsterdam tram as they were in the 80's. Back then trams were yellow and had a real bell they rang at junctions. The new ones try to do the same sound with some electronics and a speaker. Not the same... They were three car trams on four bogies; the middle two were shared with the middle carriage essentially suspended between the two bogies. The cheese slopes either side of the windscreen aren't perfect but the other option was chopping a 2x2x2 slope in half and I wanted to do this tram without modifying bricks. Here's a picture of the real thing on RailfanEurope.net. They came in a lot of different variations. This one doesn't have the red bar I modelled, but some others do. At 8 wide it's kinda biggish for minifig but that was necessary. The bogies are hidden behind the skirts down the side. Only at 8 wide could the 9V motor units turn enough to get through the 9V curves: The round brick on the right is where the carriage sits on the shared bogie. The axle is for an elastic band to keep the carriages tight on the straight yet allow them to move apart in turns. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to print stickers. It could do with a 'GVB' (Amsterdam Transport) logo, a number, and maybe some ads on the side. The pantograph took a few attempts but I'm quite happy with the result. Long live flex tube and minifig hands. So there you go, my biggest train MOC in three years!

I've just finished building the set and I'm a bit disappointed... First a comment on the parts count. Yes, it's got just over 1000 parts and a few years ago that would have been a lot. Keep in mind though that this is almost completely studless. As a result almost a quarter of the parts, 248 out of 1061, are pins. Add the 2L and 3L axles and you're up to a third of the parts, 333 of the 1061. Compare that with 8459, its pneumatic ancestor; 77 pins out of 582 parts (13%) and 99 if you include the short axles (17%). The size of the box is ridiculous; you could easily put two sets in the box, possibly three if you squeeze. The instruction books have long been a pet hate of mine. I think there are way too many steps and the books are too big. There's no challenge. For the 1061 parts you have 122 main steps, with 206 sub steps and 241 sub-sub steps. That leaves an average of just under 2 parts per step... On to the model. Like the bulldozer the looks are spot on. As has been said before, the little details like the lights, mirrors and hand rails really add to the realistic look. I'm a bit disappointed with the placing of the red lever on the right hand side. If I was into modifying sets I'd move that lever to be in the middle of the foot board there, inside the railing. The turning circle is huge but that's probably hard to avoid. The engine with moving pistons seems to be the must-have accessory these days, and the way it's placed here, leaving room for a PF motor above it, is very good. I'd like to see it move a bit faster though. The biggest problem is controlling the bucket. It's way too slow, and you can't lower and tip at the same time. Like the 8295 it seems to be designed for a motor with the hand controls being an afterthought. The original bulldozer, the 856, had better controls. There were two, and they were wheels with a pin for easier cranking. These gears as controls just don't do it for me. This is my second set with the Lineair Actuators and I won't be buying any more. Lego, please go back to pneumatics! It's more realistic, easier to control and it looks better.

Hi all, My name is Ronald, but online I'm better known as Duq (long story). I'm Dutch, but now living in Ireland (another long story). My dark ages lasted about 15 years, until in 1999 I started buying Lego for the children and the bug caught me again. Initially I continued where I left, building Technic. Pretty soon though I got into trains. I never had a Lego train as a child. My dad had an attic full of N-scale trains, so my parents reckoned there were enough trains in the house. I haven't got a lot of train sets, and apart from the Emeral Night they've all long ago been taken apart. 4512, my first train set. A christmas present from my parents when I was... 35. The Santa Fe. Traded a Dell server for this set... The Hobby Train. I never really believed it would save 9V but it's a good parts pack. The Emerald Night. Best Lego train set ever. I don't have a lot of time for the Lego hobby, and I've spent many hours looking after lowlug.nl so I don't have a lot of MOCs. Here's a few: My first train was this: I like a challenge, so the first incarnation of the engine had a compressor on board and could tip the containers on the freight car. The next train is a Dutch post train: 7-wide and parts of the side are a half plate recessed. It's almost solid inside with all the SNOT. This one was a last minute creation for a layout: I also did a Dutch passenger train, a three car diesel. I've lost the pictures but it's still in a box so I'll do pictures later. It's a bit of an animal for running on layouts as it's 8-wide and loooong... This little shunter has been updated since I did the CAD but I've yet to take pictures (and do stickers first): At the moment I'm working on two MOCs for the contest; a steam engine (that I started for the 2-4-0 challenge on Flickr and a tram.