All posts by Cale Leiphart

I'm the train master.
LEGO Train News

The Coming of a New Era in LEGO® Trains

5 Comments

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several months, you’ve probably seen the new LEGO® train sets coming out in August. We here at Brick Model Railroader have been quiet on the subject so far. The LEGO Group has been very quiet themselves on the new line until very recently, and in light of the lack of information, we decided to wait before publishing anything of significance on the matter. Wild speculation and secondhand rumors are not the kind of news we wish to write about; we would rather wait until we have accurate information and can make a fair and educated assessment of the facts. This hobby is very important to us, and we wish to be good stewards of it.

Now with the release of the new trains coming closer, LEGO has begun to open up a bit about the new sets, and the new Powered Up system that will be replacing the Power Functions line as the power/control system for them. LEGO has even released a handful of sets to LEGO Fan Media organizations for them to examine in depth. And while unfortunately we here at Brick Model Railroader have not been able to see a set in person yet, we are grateful to those who have for sharing their findings with the train community. There is enough information out there that we feel we can talk about the new trains in a hopefully informed manor. The two new trains sets in question are of course the 60198 Cargo Train, and the 60197 Passenger Train. While we could say much about the designs of the new sets, we will wait until we have them in person before writing a full review. Rather what concerns us today is the new Powered Up system that is behind them and what it means to us LEGO train fans and our hobby.

These new train sets, more than any others in recent years, will have a huge impact on the way we experience the LEGO train hobby. That is because for the first time since the end of the 9v train era, the LEGO Group is introducing a new power and control system for their train line, the Powered Up system. On the surface, not much may seem to be changing, the trains are still remote controlled, the track is still all plastic, and the trains receive their power from on board batteries. The Power Functions system we’ve had since 2009 has been governed by the same principals. But when you dig deeper into the new system, you’ll find that it has a number of key differences. So let’s take a look at what we’re getting so far.

Continue reading The Coming of a New Era in LEGO® Trains →

About BMR

Northeastern Caboose Shipping Delays

5 Comments

Hello all. This is just a short message about shipping of our Northeastern Caboose Premium Instruction Preorders. As you may have read in our article from last week, we had hoped to have kits shipping out this week. Unfortunately fate has a way of making dreamers into fools.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have delays in getting two key components, our instruction books from our printer, and lighting kits from our lighting supplier. This is not to say the delays are the fault of the suppliers. Sometimes things happen beyond any ones control, and both suppliers have been working to get us the items as soon as possible. I feel that ultimately the responsibility falls to BMR and me.  Both the instructions and the light kits were ordered after the close of preorders. For the lighting kits, this was our first time offering this type of item. With the investment involved and not knowing the market, I hesitated in finalizing our lighting order until preorders closed. The instruction books were delayed in editing, which again falls to me for not being more proactive. I had still hoped that both the books and lights would come in this week, and that with everything else ready, I would be able to start shipping as soon as I had them in hand. As I’m learning though, I need to plan for the unforeseen, and make sure key items are ordered all ahead of when needed in case delays come up. I’m told that our instruction books will be shipping today, and lighting kits ready Friday.

This will of course push back our shipping schedule. This troubles no one more than me, as I feel I have not lived up to my promise. Rest assured that BMR will be doing it’s best to ship kits ASAP once the books and lights come in. We will post updates when we know more.

Thank you for you understanding and patience. If you need to contact me regarding your order, please send and email to cale@brickmodelrailroader.com

Cale Leiphart
BMR

About BMR

Brick Model Railroader May Updates: Moving Cabooses and Building New Things.

2 Comments

Hello out there to all our readers. We wanted to take a little time to update you on a few things with the store side of BMR.

Northeastern Caboose Shipping

We had a very successful pre order for our North Eastern Caboose kit and we are great full to all of you who placed an order. We know many of you out there are waiting to hear when they will be shipping. Things are nearly inlace, we’re just waiting on instruction books, and lighting kits from our suppliers. Both of which should be here sometime next week. In the mean time we’ve been getting wheel sets, and kit boxes ready so that when everything comes in, we’ll be able to start shipping right away. Which if everything goes according to plan, should be next week. Thank you all for your patience on this.

The Northeastern Caboose model

And the next BMR Premium Instruction Kit will be?

Continue reading Brick Model Railroader May Updates: Moving Cabooses and Building New Things. →

About BMR

Northeastern Caboose Premium Instructions are Open for Preorder

6 Comments

It’s taken a while but our first Premium Instruction Kit of 2018 is ready to preorder. We will be taking orders for this kit until April 30th. Once ordering is closed, we will go into producing kits and expect to start shipping late April, early May.

You can find the Northeastern Caboose Premium Instructions, Decal Sets, Optional Lighting Kit, and extra wheel sets, in our Brick Model Railroader Store.

Northeastern Caboose without Lighting Kit

Northeastern Caboose with Lighting Kit

Northeastern Caboose with optional Lighting Kit installed.

Continue reading Northeastern Caboose Premium Instructions are Open for Preorder →

About BMR

Cabooses or Cabeese? Brick Model Railroader April 2018 Update

1 Comment

Hello out there to all you LEGO® train fans. I know it’s been pretty quiet on the BMR website lately but it’s only because things have been very busy behind the scenes, so here is an update of what’s been happening.

Train Shows!

Being in Pittsburgh territory at the Worlds Greatest Hobby on Tour show, PennLUG made sure that the local train history was well represented with several Pittsburgh and Lake Erie RR models, as well as plenty of Pennsylvania RR locomotives and rolling stock.

The winter season is train show season here in the North Eastern US. Myself, along with BMR partner Glenn Holland have been busy with several train shows that our club, PennLUG, has displayed at, some of which you may have seen articles about here on BMR. Here is where we’ve been over the winter.

Continue reading Cabooses or Cabeese? Brick Model Railroader April 2018 Update →

Events

Nebraska Brick Days LEGO Fan Expo

Leave a comment

Lincoln/Omaha LEGO User Group will host Nebraska Brick Days at the Mid-America Center near Omaha, Nebraska on March 10th and 11th.

LOLUG will be joined by NILTC, ArkLUG and KC Brick Lab and all four LUG”s will display their incredible LEGO Train layouts.
Brickmania will be in attendance and selling their incredible custom sets and displaying the mighty USS Missouri.
Rocco Buttliere will join Brick Days with his incredibly detailed architectural masterpieces.
Outstanding creations from LUG members, competitions, games, and more!
www.brickdays.com for ticket information.

About BMR

Premium Instruction Restocks and New Decals Added to the BMR Store

6 Comments

Premium Instruction Restocks

Many have been asking when we will be restocking our first four Premium Instruction Kits, and we’ve been listening. Previously, we’ve made a batch of kits to sell, and when they’ve sold out, you would have to wait until we could restock again. We’re going to do things a little different this time though. Since it’s hard for us to gauge demand for each kit, this time we are going to do a pre-order run. So we are opening up pre-orders today, February 5th and will keep it open until March 5th, and how ever many orders we have for each kit is how many we will produce. Once orders are closed, we will need a little time to get the instruction books in from the printer, parts for the wheel sets, and assemble kits. We hope to start shipping orders in mid to late March.

We are doing this for two reasons. Firstly, we hope by doing this that every one who has not had a chance to buy one or all of the cars yet will be able to get them. Second, as we are looking to produce new Premium Instructions for 2018, we want to focus most of our energy toward those new projects, so we are hoping we can do one last big run of the four original cars before diving headlong into new ones. Don’t worry, the original four won’t be gone for good by any means. We hope you’ll agree with us when we want to offer more exciting and new stuff, ideas for which are more than plentiful.

You can find the Pullman PS-1 Box Car, USRA 55ton Hopper, ACF Type 27 Tank Car, and AAR 70ton 53ft Flat Car in our online store.

Brick Model Railroader Store

Continue reading Premium Instruction Restocks and New Decals Added to the BMR Store →

About BMR, Events

2018 Amherst Train Show Report

Leave a comment

Every year late in January or early in February, the Amherst Railway Society holds its Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds (The home of The Big E) in West Springfield, Massachusetts. More than 22,500 railfans and public attended the Show each of the past five years.

This year, the show was held on Saturday January 27th & Sunday 28th. The New England LEGO Users Group was there displaying their amazing Lego train/city layout, and I traveled up to see it, represent Brick Model Railroader, and experience the show.

Maine Central models from Patrick Strawbridge of NELUG

Continue reading 2018 Amherst Train Show Report →

About BMR

Coming to the BMR Store in February 2018

5 Comments

Premium Instruction Re-releases, New decals sets, Our first Caboose, and maybe a Locomotive

It’s been a busy winter so far. Train show season is in full swing and Brick Model Railroader has been traveling to several, including the 2018 Amherst Railway Society show which we’ll have a full report on later this week. But as busy as we’ve been, we have not forgotten about our BMR projects. Here’s a run down of what is coming soon.

Premium Instruction Re-releases

Many have been asking when we will be restocking our first four Premium Instruction Kits, and we’ve been listening. Previously, we’ve made a batch of kits to sell, and when they’ve sold out, you would have to wait until we could restock again. We’re going to do things a little different this time though. Since it’s hard for us to gauge demand for each kit, this time we are going to do a pre-order run. Our plan is to open up pre-orders this coming Monday, February 5th and keep it open until Monday, March 5th, and how ever many orders we have for each kit is how many we will produce. We are doing this for two reasons. Firstly, we hope by doing this, that every one who has not had a chance to buy one or all of the cars yet will be able to get them. Second, as we are looking to produce new Premium Instructions for 2018, we want to focus most of our energy toward those new projects, so we are hoping we can do one last big run of the 4 original cars before diving headlong into new ones. Don’t worry, the original four won’t be gone for good by any means. We hope you’ll agree with us when we want to offer more exciting and new stuff, ideas for which are more than plentiful.
Continue reading Coming to the BMR Store in February 2018 →