It must be the season for Unofficial LEGO books, as hot on the heels of The Big Unofficial LEGO Adventure Book comes The Big Unofficial Lego Builder’s Book: Build Your Own City
The Big Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Book – another excellent LEGO book
Tag Archives: Train
Well Polished railway
I’ve previously blogged many of the components of Maciej Drwiega’s Polish railways display layout, but this four year project was assembled for the first time recently in Skaerbaek Fan Weekend. I’ve never made secret my love of Eastern European industrial design, so this very much tickles my heart.
RAILBRICKS 12 released
The industrious RAILBRICKS team recently brought us yet another issue of their excellent magazine. This time it features layouts, and is thus probably more relevant to non-train builders, with its demonstration of landscaping and detailing. Highlights in this issue include articles on the excellent layout of Alban Nanty, the collaborative layouts of Mike Pianta (scruffulous) and me, and a community spotlight on Hong Kong’s Legend Bricks. Once again the whole team have done an excellent job on this lovely free resource.
Announcing new LEGO Train set 10233 Horizon Express [News]
Next year promises to be a very good year for LEGO train fans with the release of the ‘EXPERT’ set “10233 Horizon Express”. This is a very good looking high speed train kit, most certainly based heavily on certain verions of the French TGV. What is especially cool is that the set is designed so that buying two (the kids will love it!) means you end up with a full two-ended set. I’m very impressed by all the though that’s gone into this one.
UPDATE: 10233 Horizon Express is now available!
Ages 14+. 1,351 pieces.
Build the ultimate high-speed LEGO® passenger train!
US $129.99 CA $149.99 DE 99.99€ UK 79.99 £ DK 899.00 DKK
Fly down the track in the Horizon Express! Collect this highly detailed LEGO® interpretation of a modern, high-speed electric passenger train! The detailed body features black train windows, brick-built chevron detailing, extendable pantographs, printed windscreen and brick-built doors. Remove the roof to play inside 2 detailed passenger cars! Steer from the front engine car with, a control panel and brick-built electrical box! Then take to the tracks in luxury with the first-class car’s seats, luggage, newspapers, computer screen and even a bathroom with sliding door! The rear car features a bar with hinged counter, tables for the passengers with seats, a coffee machine, cups and bottles. For the ultimate high-speed experience, attach a second Horizon Express model, or motorize it by adding LEGO Power Functions! Hard-to-find elements include orange LEGO bricks (including 6×28 chassis plate) and printed tiles.
- Includes 6 minifigures: female train engineer, male train steward, 2 female passengers and 2 male passengers
- Features 3 train cars, detailed engine room, printed windscreen, black train windows, brick-built chevron detailing, extendable pantographs, seats, a bathroom with sliding door, bar with hinged counter and tables with seats
- Accessories include luggage, newspapers, computer screen, coffee machine, cups and bottles
- Discover sideways building techniques!
- Ride the rails in high-speed LEGO® style!
- Upgrade your model by adding LEGO Power Functions 8878 Rechargeable Battery Box, 8887 Transformer 10V DC, 8884 IR Receiver, 8879 IR Speed Remote Control, 88002 Train Motor and 8870 Lights
- Train measures 31″ (79cm) long
Big weekend for Aus LEGO fans
This weekend we’ve got BrisBricks in Brisbane, and AMRA in Sydney will be showcasing LEGO trains. I’ll be at Brisbricks for at least the Saturday with my latest toys.
Ol’ Brit Street
Anyone who’s looked at my photostream in any detail would have noticed I’ve slowly but surely been collecting English trains, vehicles and buildings from the pre-WWII period. Ultimately I have a goal of assembling it all into a single layout, and this street is my first demonstration.
I’m really, really hoping to make it to Brisbricks for this weekend’s exhibition to show this.
Wobbly Bobbly Turnover and Stop
Tony Sava (SavaTheAggie) has been building up his Texan steam locomotive collection for a while, and has recently started revisiting some of his earlier works. But this cute little number is all new as far as I’m aware. Check out the minifig stands on the tender (the bit out back).
Windy City
Dark-Alamez has built us a Chicago street section. Two of the buildings are based on real ones, while the third one is out of his imagination. It took me just a glance at the thumbnail to recognize the city this creation represents. Aside from beautiful buildings my favorite is the Chicago Loop railway segment.
Gare de Rochefort in bricky glory
I’ve been somewhat less than diligent in my checking of Brickshelf lately, so I count myself very fortunate I caught the Eurobricks thread for this wonderful train station. Unlike art deco, which is lends itself nicely to LEGO bricks, the art nouveau style of Rochefort’s main station is quite a challenge to represent in LEGO. But Domino39 has pulled it off with aplomb. Beautiful work. See especially the droid hands making up the front canopy.
Return to Schloss Ferkelstein
At first glance you may think you’re looking at another typical large castle diorama, but a second look will quickly reveal anachronistic elements such as a train, a military patrol boat, and… a mad scientist’s lab? Indeed, this diorama by Ciamosław Ciamek is no ordinary castle. Check out the story on Flickr and visit Brickshelf for all the detail shots.
Fencing
K4 KO
Cale Leiphart just posted some beautiful train models (Pennsy K4 class for the trainheads). They’ve got all the bells and whistles (for some approximation of literally) and are sleek little beasts. But you really need to watch a video to do them full justice.
