North America – At least we had 4.5 Volt (1982)

August 31, 2017 Matthew Hocker 4 Comments

Back in the 1980s, 12 Volt trains reigned supreme in the UK, continental Europe and Australia. Meanwhile, across the pond we “Yankees” were less fortunate and missed out on the joys of 12V trains. Fortunately, we were able to get push trains and 4.5V battery-operated trains.

This hard-to-find brochure is from 1982 and advertises the 4.5V system for the North American market. The front cover features a charming illustration of set #7720, displayed with a mix of LEGO and traditional model railroad landscaping. We might not have had all the bells and whistles, but at least we had trains!

History

“Trains with unlimited possibilities” (1983)

August 23, 2017 Matthew Hocker 4 Comments

If you walked into a toy store in 1983 and saw this, how could you not fall in love with LEGO trains? The following illustration comes from a set of photographs of dealer displays distributed to toy stores in Germany. This display designed to promote LEGO trains is absolutely gorgeous and features an operating signal light. Other themes covered in the packet include Town, Classic Space, Fabuland, etc. However, only the train-themed display featured functional lighting! Were any of our German readers fortunate enough to see this display in stores?

LEGO® News

Coming Soon – Winter Village Station!

August 22, 2017 Elroy Davis 3 Comments

The LEGO Group released an announcement today that should please fans of official LEGO train sets. As an addition to the popular Winter Village series, the Winter Village Station will be available October 1st!The set looks like it will have tons of playability, especially when combined with the Winter Holiday Train (10254).

Winter Village Station Photo Gallery

The official press release:

10259 Winter Village Station
Ages 12+. 902 pieces.

US $79.99 – CA $99.99 – DE 69.99€ – UK £74.99 – DK 649.00 DKK

*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.

Head home for the holidays with the Winter Village Station!

Head for home with the festive Winter Village Station holiday set, featuring a snowy railroad station with wreath adorned lampposts and clock tower, platform, mailbox, green trees, snowy grade crossing with twin barriers and lights, and a beautiful, festively decorated bus with opening doors and a luggage rack with removable luggage and gift wrapped packages. This LEGO® Creator Expert model also includes a ticket counter with a timetable and a transaction counter window with room for sliding out tickets to travelers, plus a coffee shop with a serving hatch and a detailed interior with an espresso machine, cups, cash register and a menu. Includes 5 minifigures.

• Includes 5 minifigures: a bus driver, barista, grandmother, child and a ticket agent.

• The festively adorned Winter Village Station features a snowy train station with a clock tower, platform, coffee shop, ticket counter, grade crossing with twin barriers and lights, lampposts, mailbox and green trees, plus a bus.

• Ticket counter features a timetable and a transaction counter window with room for sliding out tickets.

• Coffee shop features a serving hatch and a detailed interior with espresso machine, cups, cash register and a menu.

• Bus features festive decoration, opening doors, luggage rack with removable luggage and gift wrapped packages, and a removable roof for accessing the detailed interior.

• Drive the happy passengers to the station.

• Raise the barriers to cross the track.

• Grab a newspaper and relax with a warm espresso from the cozy coffee shop.

• Man the ticket booth, serve the travelers and slide the tickets under the serving window.

• Gather the family for some festive LEGO® building!

• Accessories elements include buildable wreaths and wrapped gifts, plus 2 mugs, ticket, newspaper and an envelope.

• Special elements include new 1×1 round plate with horizontal shaft, 4×6 roof element in dark blue, gray microphone element, printed ticket element and shield elements with printed clock-faces.

• Includes 4 straight track pieces to connect with the LEGO® Creator Expert 10254 Winter Holiday Train.

• Winter Village Station measures over 7” (19cm) high, 11” (28cm) wide and 5” (14cm) deep.

• Grade Crossing when closed measures over 2” (6cm) high, 5” (13cm) wide and 5” (14cm) deep.

• Bus measures over 3” (9cm) high, 5” (15cm) long and 2” (7cm) wide.

Available for sale directly through LEGO^® beginning
October 1, 2017 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone:

US Contact Center 1-800-453-4652

CA (English) Contact Center 1-800-453-4652

CA (French) Contact Center 1-877-518-5346

European Contact Center 00-800-5346-1111

Models

Union Pacific SD70ACe Heritage Fleet – 6 Locomotives!

August 15, 2017 Andrew Mollmann 2 Comments

One of the things I dislike about modeling real locomotives and rolling stock is how dull and monochromatic the colors tend to be. I’m always on the lookout for bright and colorful things to build and when I came across these Union Pacific heritage units last year, I knew what I had to build next. Union Pacific had these SD70ACe’s painted special to commemorate 6 different rail lines that they acquired throughout the years. Missouri Pacific in 1982, Missouri-Kansas-Texas in 1988, Denver and Rio Grande in 1989, Southern Pacific in 1986, Western Pacific in 1983, and Chicago & North Western in 1995. I built the Missouri Pacific right away and held off on building the remaining 5 pending the construction of some other projects.

I never actually planned on making all 6 but had several people ask me when I was going to complete the set. I mentally scoffed at the idea of making 5 more of the same locomotive. Well, here we are today and all 6 are now complete. I think it was my friends Cale and Nick that finally convinced me to do it. Nick was also very generous with sharing brick in rare colors to help me. I did all the vinyl stickers myself on my vinyl printer/cutter Roland BN-20. I take custom orders and enjoy doing stickers for other Lego train fans. I can print full CMYK + white ink and cut on any color vinyl including metallic colors and clear. Just shoot me an email to legoman666@gmail.com.

Anyway, here’s the first one I did, the Missouri Pacific aka MoPac.

Continue reading Union Pacific SD70ACe Heritage Fleet – 6 Locomotives! →

LEGO® News

BrickFair Virginia 2017

August 13, 2017 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

BrickFair Virginia 2017 was the last of the big AFOL convention I was planing to attend this year. Taking place last weekend, August 2nd to 6th, it was an awesome event filled with trains and fun. Though BrickFair may sometimes seem a little less prestigious compared to Brickworld when it comes to LEGO trains, BrickFair can no doubt draw a wonderful and diverse train presence with no less than seven clubs displaying train and monorail layouts, as well as numerous models from individual builders. BrickFair was also host to a Train Olympics competition, run by Adny Mollmann and Nick O’Donell from OKILUG. And there were a few fan voted trains awards given out too. So let’s recap the fun.