Third party track – A review of the options

Evolving your home layout beyond LEGO’s standard track elements has never been easier. First there was ME Models and now with companies such as BrickTracks, 4D Brix, and TrixBrix, competition is fierce. Even home 3D printing can offer decent results as long your machine has a large enough print area. With that in mind, I’d like to go over a few more recent entrants to the LEGO track world.

In addition to the companies listed above, there are also several companies in China that have been producing what I would consider knock-offs. These brands include Leipin, Ausini, Banbao, and Enlighten and can be found on sites like eBay and Aliexpress. I have actually ordered some just to see what the quality is like. Honestly, they’re not bad, I just don’t like buying what is obviously meant to rip-off LEGO track. Besides, once you factor in shipping, they’re not really much cheaper than the real thing. Anyway, none of the Chinese companies are being creative with track geometry or producing anything other than R40 curves, switches, and straights.

With that out of the way, even though they are not exactly new to the game, I’d like to first go over ME Models. Unfortunately, it appears as though ME has exited the track business. As per the thread on Eurobrick forums, there are still many original Kickstarter backers who have not received their pledges from several years ago. There are many other reviews out there of ME Models, so I will try to be brief. I myself received my Kickstarter pledge fairly early. Once the metal track was released, additional orders of metal track showed up without delay.

I have a few gripes with ME track. First, it requires gluing. I tried using it without glue at first, but after the track randomly exploded for the umpteenth time, I bit the bullet and glued it all together.  Secondly, rather than the “tire” of the wheel riding on the top of the rail, the outer diameter of the wheel flange rides on the top of the lower part of the rail. This causes every wheel-set to bump up when transitioning from OG LEGO track to ME track. If your train is going fast enough, this can cause derailments. And my last gripe is specific to the metal track, that the metal inserts are not pre-bent. The tension causes the inner rail of the track to bow up. Also, while mostly only noticeable on r56 and r72, the joints between rails are straight, causing the train to wobble through the curves similar to as if you had single R40 curves spaced with straight sections.

ME Models R104 on the left, BrickTracks R120 on the right

Next up, BrickTracks! BrickTracks’ initial release of R120 and R104 curves was intended to continue where ME Models left off. Now with ME Models seemingly going dark, I believe it is their intent to start working backwards by releasing R88, R72, and perhaps even R56 and to also release 9V versions if there is enough interest. Additionally, they are in the prototyping stage of R104 switches. I myself have only used their R120 curves and some 3D printed prototypes of wide radius switches.

Suffice to say, the R120 curves are essentially indistinguishable from LEGO’s own R40. Solid, crisp, injection molded single piece curves. Quality comes at a slightly steep price, but the product speaks for itself. Each stud even has “BT” embossed on its surface. My 3D printed prototype R104 switches and R104 double crossover are available to anyone willing to pay the steep price that Shapeways charges. Functionally, they are superior to LEGO; the throw requires rotating the knob 90 degrees, making motorization easy, and the throw and be moved to either side of the track. Will these ever see mass production?  We can only hope.

Sweet R120 goodness.

Having never used TrixBrix, my first hand experience ends with 4D Brix (what’s with the X’s?). Besides the regular R56, R72, and R88 (no R104, you’ll have to stick with BrickTracks for that!), 4D Brix also offers some very interesting switch configurations. You can purchase R40 ladders, double crossovers, wyes, and a very recent addition, R148 crossovers and double crossovers. A huge plus of 3D printing is rapid, cheap prototyping and a low upfront cost. 4D Brix (and TrixBrix) prove this by offering a large range of interesting track geometries without having to pay the high costs of having a tool machined for injection molding.

4DBrix R148 crossover on the bottom, BrickTracks R104 3D printed prototype up top. Someone needs to come over and ballast these monsters.
4DBrix R40 crossover

4D Brix (and TrixBrix) are both 3D printed products, so the quality, strength and surface finish are not quite as good as ME Models or BrickTracks. However, the clutch of both the anti studs and the regular studs are excellent. Usability-wise, I’ve had no issues. One quirk of 4D Brix is that each switch is broken in to different sections, each about 16 studs long. For example, the R148 crossover is 8 separate pieces. I imagine this is a size limit imposed by the particular 3D printers they use.  My guess is that the size limit is also why they do not offer R104 curves. Once assembled, this isn’t really an issue though. The color matching is excellent, and if the surface finish was as smooth as LEGO, it’d be hard to distinguish. I recommend taking some sand paper to the top rail surface to smooth it out.

And although I’ve never used their product, TrixBrix has some wild cross track products. Check them out.

Switches my locomotives can actually go through!

How do the prices of all these products compare? ME Models doesn’t have any product listed on their site anymore, so my comparison will be with product currently for sale.

Updated to correct TrixBrix prices.

Prices are for a full circle of track. TrixBrix prices were converted to USD at 1€ = $1.17USD.  When viewed this way, BrickTracks investment into injection molding really shows. I can’t wait for them to begin production of smaller radii and switches.

25 Days of Holiday “Trainvertising” #17: A Super Chief under the tree

Today’s piece of trainvertising comes to us from the cover of a 2002 Holiday Shop-at-Home catalog. There are several classics here, including the UCS Naboo Starfighter, Fort LEGOredo, and Red Baron triplane. We can’t forget the Santa Fe Super Chief either! This one is pulling some of the cars, which were designed by AFOL, James Mathis.

San Francisco Cable Car: Support it on LEGO Ideas!

I have a soft spot for trolleys, and so does LEGO Ideas user, kevinszeto. He has posted a few of these vehicles to LEGO’s crowdsourcing platform, including one which hit 10,000 supporters but failed to pass the review process.

This has not stopped him from posting other trolley projects, including this iconic San Francisco cable car.  Unfortunately, it has 35 days left unless it hits 5,000 by that time. It would be a great shame for this lovely model to fade into obscurity. If you would love to have one of these, go here and hit the “support” button. Share it with anyone who might be interested!

Kevin was lucky enough to have his Yellow Submarine project get turned into a set. While the Beatles are cool, an official LEGO trolley would be tough to beat!

“He’s a really useful engine, you snow!”: Thomas & Friends for the Holidays

Flickr user Johnny N. has been kind enough to indulge our childhood fantasies by decorating classic “Thomas the Tank Engine” characters for Christmas! Disclaimer: These are renders, so there are certain parts portrayed in colors which they have never appeared. Now if only Santa would bring us green and yellow train wheels, we would be set…

Click here to view the entire assortment of Thomas characters.

Thomas
Percy
James
Stephen
Culdee

Make way for Maintenance of Way!

Flickr user de-marco has created an amazing little railroad maintenance vehicle.  In particular, the detail of the cab is stunning and uses an interesting offsetting technique.

Want to build this for yourself? de-marco was kind enough to share building instructions via this YouTube video! You can even find the parts list on Rebrickable.

It turns out that de-marco is skilled at making other LEGO vehicles. Visit his flickr account for a world of automotive excitement!

 

Wood is Good: wooden LEGO trains of the 1940s & 1950s

Niels Thomsen saw we shared his 1960s Christmas card the other day and, in response, posted pictures from his collection of LEGO wooden trains! LEGO made wooden toys from 1932 through 1960, the year in which a fire ravaged the wooden toy warehouse.

LEGO made a wide variety of wooden trains, and these represent a few of them. They appear to be from the period of the 1940s and 1950s. Enjoy these images of historic wooden LEGO trains, and be sure to thank Niels for sharing. While you’re at it, check out his wonderfully diverse collection of wooden toys! (click here)

Niels even photographed the engines alongside one another. This really gives you an idea of the variety of sizes these trains came in.

25 Days of Holiday “Trainvertising” #15: Walking in a Windsor LEGOLAND

Today’s images come from a booklet advertising Christmas at LEGOLAND Windsor in 1999. How did the UK LEGO park celebrate Christmas that year, you might ask? There was a Peter Pan live show, Santa & his toy factory, the 12 Days of Christmas rendered in brick and “the widest selection of LEGO toys anywhere in the UK!”

However, the real treat was Miniland decorated with Christmas lights. The centerfold features Miniland London lit up at night and, yes, there are trains!

Brick Model Railroader December 2017 Shipping Delays

We’ve lost our bearings. Unfortunately, this is no laughing matter.

Hello to our Brick Model Railroader fans. We want to update you on shipping delays we are currently experiencing with our Premium Instruction products. Specifically, we are experiencing a temporary shortage in the bearings we use to make our custom wheel sets included in each kit. On November 1st, we ordered bearings from our normal supplier for our upcoming release of the AAR 53ft 70 Ton Flat Car, as well as our restocks of the USRA Hopper and ACF Type 27 Tank Car. At the time, we thought our order would arrive in it’s entirety well before our release date, as they have in the past. This unfortunately was not the case. We are not sure what went wrong, but our supplier shipped us less than half of our order.

We contacted our supplier several times to resolve the issue, and we were assured that the rest of the order would be coming in time. So far, we have not received these bearings and have no idea if they are even coming. We have been shipping kits with the bearings our supplier did send, but we have now exhausted that supply and can wait no longer. Earlier this week, we began ordering the bearings we need from a new supplier, so that we can finish our remaining stock of Premium Instruction kits and provide an adequate stock of Assembled Wheel Sets  for our store, to fill orders in the immediate future. We hope to have this new order of bearings sometime next week.

We are very sorry for this delay in shipping BMR Premium Instructions and Wheel Sets to those who have ordered. We have been let down by our previous supplier, but even worse is the delay in filling orders from you, our loyal supporters. We find this totally unacceptable and will be working to ensure a problem such as this does not happen again.

On the bright side, we have been able to ship a majority of the orders we’ve received since the release of the of the AAR Flat Car. The few remaining orders we have yet to ship will go out as soon as humanly possible once our new order of bearings come in next week. We have contacted the customers who are affected, so If you have an order with us and have not received an email, you can rest assured your order is on it’s way to you. For the affected customers, we can’t guarantee delivery by Christmas but will do our best. If you are giving one of our kits as a gift, please contact us and we will try to work something out.

Again, we apologize for this delay. We will be doing our best to correct this issue and make sure it does not happen in the future.

Thank you for supporting Brick Model Railroader.

Cale Leiphart
BMR Creator

25 Days of Holiday “Trainvertising” #14: The Snowy Sixties

Flickr user Niels Thomsen (aka bricklick) has a wonderful vintage LEGO collection, filled with many unique and unusual items. Thanks to him, we are able to enjoy this circa 1966 LEGO Christmas card.

The card features the train from set 114, which was first released in 1966. It has a very special non-LEGO passenger. Santa Clause appears to be typical of the figures that were produced in Japan back then. To see more cool vintage LEGO items, be sure to visit Niels’ flickr page.