I’ve seen a lot of trains, but I don’t remember seeing a subway scene. If that’s what you’re look for, then Nathaniel Brill has something for you. The train runs on a 12-volt track, which is not the standard train track design by LEGO. Also note that the arched ceiling in the subway station is built from skateboard ramps.
Sebastiaan Arts was listening to that album while he built he latest creation, so he named it appropriately. I love the two-tiered effect that he has going on here and its packed with the detail that we’ve come to expect from Sebastiaan. Check out all his pics and escape from your Monday (or Saturday…or whatever day it is on the planet you are on). I wanted to escape once….
Esben Kolind shows us how to travel in style with his Intercity Train. On top of its sleek lines and excellent detailing the train features an attractive close-coupling technique.
Last year, we posted an offer to connect people coming in by air based on their arrival times, enabling people to share transportation. That was before Seattle built a light rail line that’ll get you from the airport to Seattle Center for less than five bucks. Oh, and you get to ride a monorail along the way.
Mark Sandlin‘s Infothingy has the details:
For the graphically challenged (and to help people find this from the interwebs):
Be sure to click through the graphic to a great discussion of other useful ways to get to BrickCon for cheap — more money for bricks!
Those of us who are into trains know that Anthony Sava has been working on his Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Duplex (4-4-4-4) Steam Engine #5544 for a year and a half. We know this because Tony has been posting work-in-progress pictures, asking for advice and generally running an interactive development system for all this time.
Since many people seemed to enjoy my Anatomy of a Warehouse post where I went through some of my own building stages I think this post should appeal even more. Anthony has documented about 30 images as he has progressed in this project.
Right at the beginning he asked for advice and suggestions on the nose which elicited many responses. As one of the most prominent features of the train it is really important to get this right and I think Tony achieved this admirably in his final version.
Later on Tony used LDraw to mock up various components of the train. I assure you the vanity of the example selection was accidental.
As the train got nearer to completion (this picture is four weeks old as of today) the design began to settle down (note the differences from the CAD image above) and more refined details started to appear.
A final pre-production version was completed a few days ago. Just lacking the stickers and any final tweaks. Tony thanks many people for their help but I’d like to thank him for spending the time on this excellent creation.
And I think we can all agree this train has aged rather well since its inception.
For once the answer is yes.
Ronald Vallenduuk (Duq) has recently added a couple of sets of instructions to Flickr and kindly showed me how to get LPub working again. I actually reverse engineered the seat gondola many years back after seeing a picture of it and coveting it so it’s great to see Ronald making it available to all and sundry.
I used to make more instructions but had to stop for a while due to a problem I had with LPub. With Ronald’s fix I’m back and running so did some instructions for my latest.
Esben Kolind introduces non-Londoners to the London Overground. Yes, you read that right. It’s the Bombardier train for the new overground lines built and being built around London. Very slick work on the lights which actually work.
Another entry for the Train-Tech Building Contest.
Looks like the Train Tech Building Contest at Eurobricks is bringing train fans out of the woodwork. Josh Morris (I Scream Clone) has drawn inspiration from his local Wollongong (wool-on-gong to the non-natives) stations for this cute little destination. I’m particularly drawn to the grille bricks under the arches but given the scarcity of Aus-inspired train stations it was always going to be a winner in my eyes.
And to continue with some trains this one from Peter Normal (swoofty) has a fabulous brick-built eagle logo for the US bicentennial.
Brickshelf user Bambi not only makes some of the nicest steam and old-fashioned town models around, he (I assume) also takes excellent photographs. What’s more for this BR01-10 he has included photos and renders of the crucial bits to allow us to see how it all works. It works brilliantly in my opinion.
Of special note is the novel approach to the drivers and use of PFS lights.
Jeramy Spurgeon and the team have just released a double issue edition of RAILBRICKS magazine covering all things LEGO trains. It has in-depth articles on a few models we’ve featured here on TBB.
This 100 page issue was a long time coming, but features an interview with UK
builder Carl Greatrix, more Steam tips & Tricks, the Indiana Jones Circus
Train MOC by Brian Williams, Billund’s Miniland Trains, and much more!
Check out the website to download or read the magazine.
With my latest model I went public with what I usually keep private: my building stages. Since the photos and comments were up I thought it might be interesting to share this process with TBB as an example of how I (and I imagine many other people) build something.
I then made an LDraw rough draught of the building to try to get the basic layout and proportions as well as the most prominent details. I also wanted to get an idea of how many dark orange bricks I would need to build it to see if I had to order any.
Following comments from ‘the commitee’ I proceeded to make a slightly more refined model with some of the details included. You can see that the roof has been vastly improved and the entire model has become one brick taller.
For my final work-in-progress (WIP) stage I substantially altered many of the details and added still more. It should be noted that at all stages so far the model doesn’t have a back. At this stage I also learnt that the model was a) not a model of what I thought it was and b) not at all valid in its current form. I then conspired (away from the commitee) to remedy this for the final, secret, version.
Finally I spent many hours of back-ache transferring the CAD to brick and adding on all the final details (as well as a back). I changed the design from a coal drop to a small railside warehouse as I’ve always wanted to build one and it made more sense. I also altered bits of the design to allow various components to pop out for added playability.
And thus a model was born. I hope I satisfied the commitee as well as everyone else. Have fun spotting what has remained throughout the design process.