Brick Model Railroader will be at BrickFair in Chantilly, Virginia, August 2nd to 6th. I’ll be there with my club PennLUG and our train layout for the weekend. I will also have 10 of our Pullman PS-1 Premium Instructions for sale at the yard sale Thursday and Saturday nights, as well as decal sets, and stickers. So stop by, talk trains, buy some stuff to support BMR and enjoy the event.
Today I’m bringing you some sweet new prototype technology from our good friends at 4DBrix. Tom Lowa was at Brickworld recently to show off something he’s been cooking up, and I have to say, it’s a pretty sweet idea. I’ve been emailing Tom about the concept and here is the information they gave me.
4DBrix has engineered a way to transmit power via the magnetic couplings on train cars. A short video is posted below:
It’s a pretty ingenious idea. For those that enjoy building passenger trains with detailed interiors (and lights) this is a great way to eliminate those ugly wires between the ends of cars. It also eliminates the need for bulky connectors between cars, which can be difficult to plug in and are also unsightly.
We posted these few photos on the BMR Facebook and Instagram pages on Sunday, and I felt they’d be fitting to throw in this article.
For those that don’t already know, Brick Model Railroader came into existence after the previous Lego train community hub, the online publication RAILBRICKS, fell apart. Many of the contributors and staff members got busy with other aspects of their lives, and so could not channel energy into RAILBRICKS.
The creator and original editor of RAILBRICKS is a gentleman by the name of Jeramy Spurgeon. Before stepping down from the Editor position, he managed to sell a couple limited edition kits. Both of these kits are 6 stud wide models but are still packed with detail.
Brick Model Railroader is in issue 46 of BrickJournal magazine.
Issue 46 cover of BrickJournal. Cover photo by Cale Leiphart.
For those of you not familiar with BrickJournal, BrickJournal magazine is the ultimate resource for LEGO® enthusiasts of all ages. It spotlights all aspects of the building community, showcasing events, people, and models in every issue, with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more!
For issue 46 myself and BMR contributors Glenn Holland, and Matt Hocker team up to write several articles for this LEGO train themed issue. Inside you’ll find articles on the creation of BMR, PennLUG’s train layouts, the story behind my building of Norfolk & Western steam locomotives, adding sound to your trains, and a history of LEGO train advertising. Also you’ll find instructions for building a small RR hand car. You can purchase the issue, in print or digital download, through TwoMorrows Publishing or better yet, subscribe and get all the great LEGO fan content that BrickJournal provides, delivered to your door bimonthly.
BrickJournal issue 24. Cover photo by Cale Leiphart.
While your buying BrickJournal issue 46, you can also still pick up issue 24. BrickJournal 24 is also a LEGO train themed issue. And though it predates the birth of Brick Model Railroader, a few us here at BMR, including myself, can be found within either authoring articles, or the subject of them.
Every year on July 4th, we here in the United States celebrate the birth of our nation. But in 1976, upon the 200th Anniversary, we threw one heck of big a party. For the US Bicentennial every one in the nation was getting into the spirit. Everything, and we do mean everything, was getting a patriotic Red, White, and Blue treatment. The US railroads were no exception. Railroads across the US were painting locomotives and other equipment in celebration of our country’s 200th birthday. Our Canadian railroad neighbors even got into the spirit. The result of all this stars and stripes hoopla was some of the most interesting and colorful railroad equipment ever seen in North America.
As we all know, model railroad hobbyists, even us LEGO® variety, gravitate toward modeling the interesting and rare. The Bicentennial RR locomotives and rolling stock has been a popular modeling subject ever since that great celebration in 1976. So today, on this July 4th, we’re going to take a look at some Bicentennial models created in LEGO
Bicentennial locomotives from several railroads on display.
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