On December 8th and 9th, Brick Model Railroader members Cale Leiphart and Glenn Holland attended the 17th annual Cantigny Park Christmas Train Show in Wheaton Illinois as special guests of Brickmania and the Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club.
Show Flyer
Cantigny Park is a 500-acre park in Wheaton, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago. It is the former estate of Joseph Medill and his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publishers of the Chicago Tribune, and is open to the public. Cantigny includes large formal and informal gardens, two museums, a 27-hole golf course, a picnic grove, a playground, hiking paths, restaurants and a gift shop.
Each year, for the past 17 years, the Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club has been invited to set up their train display for a special Holliday event the second weekend of December. Over the years the show has grown to include vendors and special displayers in addition to NILTC’s own ever growing display.
Good news! It took a bit longer than expected from our side (and we again apologize for this), but we can finally reveal the winners of this years OcTRAINber!
First, let us again say that we really enjoyed all the builds, the WIP stories and all those beautiful pieces of foreign rolling stock. I’d say it’s no strange thing to say that the community really added the TRAIN in this years OcTRAINber again! And yes, just like last year it was a challenge to judge them, but just like last year, in the end we managed.
Prizes & Judgement
Due to a difference in prizes compared to last year, we have come up with some new winning categories for this year: Grand Prize for Real Life Entries, Grand Prize for Digital Entries, Prize for best Foreign Factor and Prize for best WIP Story. The winners of the Grand Prize are allowed to choose between the new Powered-Up Cargo Train and the PFx Brick Holiday Train Conversion Kit, with the winner of the Grand Prize Real Life having first pick. The winners of the categories get two prizes: First a choice between PFx Brick 4MB + XL Speaker and Bricktracks R56 curved tracks, and second a choice between Lego Rails and PF pack, with the winner of the Foreign Factor category having first pick in both. Oh, and ofcourse you can only win once. So if you win in one category, you are obviously out for any other prizes in this years’ OcTRAINber.
Just to shortly tell something about the judging itselve: All four of us (being Cale Leiphart, Glenn Holland, Holger Matthes and me) gave all entries points between 0-10 in three categories: Credibility, Foreign Factor and WIP Story. These points were added up (meaning you could get a max of 120 points for the Grand Prize, and 30 for a “Best of” Prize) and then compared between all the entries, with the one with the highest number of points wining. Yes, it’s that simple 😉
So now that we have established the prizes and the judging, let’s go on to the awards!
GRAND PRIZE REAL LIFE
It’s Hod Carrier with his amazing Ferrobus!
Everything just worked in this entry. The WIP story, the credibility, the scale, the little pieces of rust and chrome, but definately also the absolute amazing foreign prototype. Who would have ever thought that a bus would win in a train contest? Well played Hod Carrier!
GRAND PRIZE DIGITAL
Congratulations Bricknerd with his FM H15-44!
A great WIP story from day one, including microscale and Halloween versions of his build, but also one of the stranger diesels that have been running around in the US (if you are familiar with those boxes on wheels, that is) that was captured really well with some great sideways work. A true digital winner.
BEST FOREIGN FACTOR
That’s ofcourse no other than Alexander with his Lartigue Monorail!
Most probably the most wonky Foreign build of this year. Yes, some of us had once read about this thing. And yes, even back in the days when it was build it was weird. But seeing it build in Lego, with a functioning drive unit? Thats a whole other trainyard!
BEST WIP STORY
Lastly, it’s Donát Raáb with his Wiener Linien ULF tram!
Even though he came pretty late to the party, Donát Raáb gave us a really good insight in how he build that thing. Including puns like “Flag Day” and how he managed to keep it just also Ultra Low Floor like the prototype, it was awesome seeing his updates coming in day by day.
HONORARY MENTIONS
Just like last year, some builds came really close, but just not close enough. These are our honorary mentions. No prizes, but just a proper reminder to keep up the good work!
A Hudswell Clarke “Ganges” class with skips (part of his full narrow gauge consist) by Mike PiantaKП4 by ErikKorail V-Train (aka Baekdudaegan Canyon Train) by kellelely5Lencse-005 by Nicholas BondDRG Class 99.22 HSB 99 222 by Robert D.
Lastly, we would like to again thank our sponsors; FX Bricks, Bricktracks and The Lego Company. Without them these awesome prizes would have never been possible. We are really gratefull for their effort in supporting the community!
And, ofcourse, we hope to see all of you again for OcTRAINber 2019!
Now that OcTRAINber 2018: The Foreign Challenge is officially over, we first would like to thank all the participants who made this such a great month again. It was amazing to see all the WIP stories showing up on the Flickr feeds, FB timelines, but also on the well-beloved Train Tech forums over at Eurobricks for example. So thank you all for that!
Now, let’s go over the timeline. In the next coming weeks our judges will go over all the entries and score them according to three criteria: WIP Story, Credibility and The Foreign Factor. This might take a while because BMR is a labour of love, meaning we all do this stuff next to our real life lives.
However, for now we would like to make a short round-up of all entries and also to show you some of the key statistics of this years OcTRAINber.
Now that the last weekend of October is (almost) over, it’s time for a preliminary recap post.
First of all, we have already seen a lot of great entries and some awesome WIP stories. Great to see everybody enjoying this challenge as much as we do!
Second, as we said in our first post, we do have the possibility for a grace period in case some BL orders were delayed. Question now is: Does anybody need this grace period? If yes, please let us know asap so that we can make this official. This can be done by just posting in the comment section below. If nobody replies, the deadline stays at October 31st, at 23:59 PDT.
UPDATE: We have decided to extend the deadline untill the end of Sunday November 4th. Hope this will be enough for all to finish your builds!
“We are allowing digital entries and real life builds, but everyone is limited to one entry only to keep things fair.”
To indeed keep things fair (definately with all these prizes) we have decided to stick with this rule and limit to one entry. This means that we would like to ask all contestants that entered more than one entry to decide which is their ‘official’ entry. Feel free to do this in the respective entry threads at the BMR Flickr Page.
As promised in the first part of this three-part article of OcTRAINber 2018 prizes, we would go out with a bang, and what a bang to go out with! Here at BMR we have always been enthusiastic about the PFx Brick, because of the options it gives to customize your engines when it comes to light, sound and power, making sure your models look more and more like the original.
So, our friends over at Fx Bricks have decided to supply us with a very special gift. You know how Lego last year sponsored 10254 Holiday Train? Well, this year Fx Bricks is going to help you add light & sound plus superior controls to the whole thing with their Holiday Train Conversion Kit (link = movie)! As already announced, this will be the second of the two Grand Prizes for our Real Life and Digital Entries!
OcTRAINber Grand Prize, however keep in mind: Also including a PFx Brick 4MB, but minus the 10254 itself. That one was already last years Grand Prize.Light, sound, action!
And that’s not all, they have also decided to supply a second prize, a 4MB PFx Brick plus XL Speaker!
The second prize from FX Bricks: PFx Brick 4MB…… Plus a XL Speaker!
Now that OcTRAINber is in full swing and the first entries are coming in we would like to take this opportunity to at least show you all the prizes you are contesting for. We are very glad to announce that three of our favorite brands have decided to sponsor us, meaning we have some pretty awesome stuff to give away. Again, for the sake of the Hype Train, this post will just talk about that first of the three.
With September drawing to a close, and October quickly approaching, the time has come to announce our latest installment of our OcTRAINber build competition!
Following the AWESOME events of NMRA 2018 in Kansas City last month, there’s been a lot of discussion about what people are trying to get out of the hobby, defined as “LEGO Trains”. Put another way, why are we (you, me, etc.) here? What kind of reward do we seek from this niche hobby within a niche hobby?
Allow me to offer a few of my own thoughts and experiences which remind me why I’m doing what I am.
The participating AFOLs from the 2018 National Train Show
The new Passenger and Cargo Train sets are our first introduction to the new Powered Up System, and also the first new City trains in a few years. Naturally, these new sets are of great interest to the LEGO train community. The Powered Up system in particular has been a very hot topic, and has many potential ramifications to how we build our trains going forward. However, we didn’t want to confuse the new system with the set, even though they come as a pair. We want to review the new trains on their own merit. We will have a more extensive review of the Powered Up system itself, and what it has to offer the more advanced builder, in an upcoming article.
The new Powered Up battery/receiver, controller, and train motor included in the new train sets.
For these reviews we are looking at the new train sets based on how good they are as actual train sets. A train set is really the gate way to the larger model train hobby. It’s where almost every LEGO train fan, and modeler starts. It may be a set received as a present under the Christmas tree or for a birthday, or a set purchased from a store to add to your growing AFOL collection. The train set is where most of us start our LEGO train hobby because all the basic building blocks to creating a running train are there in a single box, and will be the gateway for new builders in our hobby for the next several years. Let’s take a look now and see what the new Passenger Train set has to offer us. Continue reading Review: 60197 Passenger Train with Powered Up System→
At long last, way too long probably, Brick Model Railroader has built and reviewed the new Powered Up train sets from the LEGO City line!
The complete 60198 Cargo Train set.
Unfortunately, and quite obviously, we are pretty late to the review party for these new trains. While BMR is a Recognized LEGO Online Community (RLOC) and we do have some benefits from that, we were not able to obtain the new train sets before the official release, but we did try. Cale ended up buying one of each anyways so we could provide a decent review for our audience, being the only Train-specific LEGO media around.
Let’s dive into the new 60198 Cargo Train with Powered Up!
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
You must be logged in to post a comment.