Being a Model Railroader and AFOL in one, it’s always difficult to make sure a model looks like it’s prototype. As AFOL, you are always trying to use exactly that one piece of Lego that corresponds with a certain greeble, angle or form of the prototype, even though it might not fit 100%. As a Model Railroader, you always want to make sure something fits 100%, meaning that not always you can use a piece of Lego, but for example using stickers, 3d printed rods, or custom track. This difficult trade-off is what makes our little niche hobby (at least for me!) so great. On the other hand, it does mean a lot of extra hassle. Even more, because most of the time both solutions tend to be possible.
Therefore, we thought it might be interesting to look at two amazing renditions of the same prototype, which are build in exactly those two styles: The Model Railroader and the AFOL. The prototype that we chose is the MÁV M40, a Hungarian Diesel Locomotive build in the sixties with a lot of strange lines and greebles. It looks like this:
So, how does this look like when two Hungarian Lego builders, lantlant and Rob, both try to re-build this beast in Lego, the one with emphasis on Model Railroad Realism, and the other with emphasis on Lego Railroad Realism?
First of, let us look at the Lego Railroad Realism:
side 1
side 2
As you can see, Rob has tried to solve all difficult corners and angles that the M40 has with brick built solutions. He has even done some very effective weathering by using dark red, dark grey and even black pieces to illustrate the grease and dirt that these Diesels most probably will be covered in during most of their active duty. However, no stickers means no stickers, so there are no identification numbers, no logos and nothing that explains which exact locomotive this is. For a true Model Railroader, this is of course not done. For an AFOL, this is – with good reason! – perfectly fine, because it’s not about that identification of the one loco, but the rendition in Lego of a whole class of locomotives.
Now, let’s look at the Model Railroad Realism:
side 1
side 2
As you can see, lantlant actually tried to solve quite a lot of parts by using brick-build solutions, but for example the cab and smokestack, plus the diamond pattern warning ‘stripes’ on the front of the loco are all done with high-quality stickers. It gives this loco a bit less of a Lego, and a bit more of a Model Train experience. Also, by some subtle stickering, lantlant has been able to give the shrouding of the wheelsets a bit of extra depth. On the other hand, it does, mostly with the windscreen, feel a bit ‘lazy’ that he didn’t go the Lego way. It does give you a stunning rendition of that windscreen though!
So, what do you, our readers, think about this? What do you think is more important when building, Model Railroaders Realism or Lego Railroaders Realism?
In the LegoWorld 2018 Report Raised promised that somewhere in March 2020 the 2019 article would be published. Since Enrico considered that to be a bit late, he volunteered to write the 2019 article, but in 2019. However, since Raised was supposed to edit, it only goes online now. So you guys know who to blame now!
Choochoos and modern Electrics, everything is possible in Legos!
The Event
LegoWorld is an 8-day event (9 if you include the pre-show set-up day) and is held annually during the Dutch autumn break. The event is the biggest Lego event here in The Netherlands and attracts around 100.000 visitors every year. The event is held in Utrecht and is thereby located in the center of the Netherlands.
Those 8 days ask a lot of our trains, and since the layout is a rather big one and the trains run for multiple hours straight, it asks a lot of our models. They tend to break down every now and then, but also batteries need to be charged. Due to the huge amount of young visitors, we want to have at least 2 trains running at any point, so this event not only ask a lot our trains but also a lot of us.
One of the casualties we had. Raised his NS 6400 derailed in the corner located in the old section of Tijn his city.
The Team and the Layout they built
The team this year was made up by 6 people: Raised, UrbanErwin, Tijn, Gijs, Esran and Enrico. We each contributed a different part of the layout.
The Heroes of Legoworld 2019: Erwin, Raised, BigDeady, Tijn, Enrico and Esran. Gijs isn’t in it because he took the picture, right Gijs?
Unfortunately, we don’t have our own tables (yet), so we are always depending on the tables provided by the venue. Most of the time these aren’t properly aligned at all, but luckily we got more than enough beer coasters to get this fixed. Hooray for beer coasters!
How many Minifigs do you need to fix a bit of plastic shaped like a Utilities Box?
The plan for the layout was different compared to last year, as we decided to not re-use the diorama style. Instead, we went for the oldschool circle layout, just like most other LTC’s do. This solved two problems: Less track necessary for the staging yard, and all track would be on MILS level instead of having to build a ramp to go down to table level. That system didn’t work out properly last year, because even the smallest incline meant a lot of stalling of our engines, partly due to the way they are build, partly due to flawed powertrains *cough Raised cough* . We christened this our “Christmas tree set up” from a joke Tijn made when we came up with the layout design, because it looks an awefull lot like something that runs around a Christmas tree. Or, in our case, a concrete pillar…
An overhead view provided by BlueBrick, the track planning software we use for LegoWorld.
Let’s
divide the layout for this article into 4 sections: North, East, South and
West.
North
The North
section was a typical Dutch piece of landscape, flat, green and some cows, a typical
Dutch Polder in fact. This piece was mostly built by Raised, who built a beautiful
curve into the track, so it gave a smooth and “prototypical” presentation of
our landscape. The last piece of the North side, all the way into the North
West part was built by Gijs and the r104 curves in the North East side were
built by Enrico, with Tijn providing the small siding with the baseplates surrounding
that. The North West side had a small factory with a siding, which led into the
Shadow Station, from where we could easy do the many repairs that were
necessary for this event.
The East section was Bahnbetriebswerk Neukirche by Enrico, which turned out a bit bigger than expected: 1/3rd bigger than it was, in fact. The Bahnbetriebswerk was connected in the North east by a triple switch made by TrixBrix and the amazing R104 curves by Brick Tracks. The mainline continued on the back side of the Bahnbetriebswerk to the South East part of the layout. In the middle was a turntable with engine shed and a couple of platforms where “passengers” could get on and off. The Bhw had everything to keep a steam engine running, except for batteries… Continuing into the South East part the Bahnbetriebswerk transformed into a museum line which split up into 2 parts.
Both going into a forest bit where one stopped, the other going into the Esran’s amazing Steam Pump and small Railway station.
South:
Esran’s Steam Pump connected into Tijn his beautiful city and Railway Station in French Style, all in beautiful MDF masonry bricks. His city starts at the old Railway station Esran made in the South East part. From there some amazing winding streets and old buildings went down onto the main street where his station is located. Due to the difference in height between his city and the rest of the layout it has got a cool and realistic feel to it.
Passing the
station is the grand warehouse where the parking is located for the station.
Because the parking and a road disappear into the background it looked like the
layout had a lot of dept to it. From there the mainlined continued pass the
last couple of buildings onto the bridge made by UrbanErwin. The bridge might
be simple in its design but it’s 100% made from Lego and didn’t break down for
the entire week!
OK, it did break down, but only after Erwin threw it onto his own layout (and Raised his eanos…)!
West
The West
part of the layout is where our Shunting Yard was located. Here visitors could
see most of our rolling stock which wasn’t running (or which fell apart) and
children where able to ask: “why isn’t that train running?”. Almost all of the
switches were motorized in this part. Your were able to control the switches by
using an IR remote (only bad thing was that some off our trains where set to
the same IR channel). Next year we are just going to use Polarity Switches
instead, but it did give a cool vibe to it, and felt very realistic. The South
West side had some big trees which created a great photo location. The North
West side had a small harbor scene made by Gijs and my ICM “koploper” was set
there with the scaled drawings in front, showing the public that our trains are
built in scale.
The West Side of the layout, Enrico was just fixing/breaking the yellow NS 1600
A typical day in the Yard
“No Kids, nothing is running”
Special Guest:
This year
we invited a special guest, BigDaedy and his MOC’s. He joined us from Friday
afternoon onto the end of the Sunday. It was great having him around and
comparing his MOC’s with ours. He also had some great advice for Enrico’s
Bahnbetriebswerk, apparently all of the signals weren’t placed correctly. That
can happen to everyone, right?
Here is
small piece about LegoWorld from his point of view:
Greetings
fellow train heads and readers of BMR. My name is Raimund, but I’m usually
known as “BigDaedy” on the internet. Thanks to a special invitation
by the Dutch Lego train community I was able to participate at this year’s LegoWorld
in Utrecht. They asked me to write a brief summary of my experiences during my
trip or let’s just say about my adventure going to Utrecht.
Now what
was so special about LegoWorld Utrecht 2019 for me?
First,
this would be the first time for me to meet the masters of Dutch train building
and their mocs in real life. Then it would’ve been the second time ever for me
to be part of an event like this, the first time being at an event in a different
country (since it’s still within the EU it’s not really a big deal) and the
very first time to actually see how my MOCs would perform on a larger scale
layout, other than a circle of R120 lying on my bedroom floor. So, there is
room for lots of things to go wrong, but fortunately in the end everything
turned out perfectly. As a matter of fact, this weekend has been one of my most
pleasant experiences so far in my life. I’m still baffled and overwhelmed by all
the hospitality, generosity and overall cheerfulness I’ve received by all the
people and amazing builders I’ve met during my stay. Please let me take this
opportunity to express my deepest thanks to the whole Dutch community – You
guys rock and make this such a wonderful hobby!
That
being said, let’s get back on the road again. LegoWorld in Utrecht is actually
really easy to reach. You stumble out of the central station and all you’ve got
to do is to literally walk across the street and you’re already inside. Raised
picked me up at the entrance of the show and guided me directly towards the
layout, giving me lots of info and advice on what to expect during the next 48
hours. I guess it’s safe to say, that I must’ve experienced some sort of
sensory overload during my first few minutes at LegoWorld. Strolling through
countless amazing builds felt like walking in a wonderland and left me stunned.
I think that’s what an unsupervised child must feel like in an “all you
can eat” candy store. Anyhow the rest of the herd gave me a wonderful
welcome and showed me around the layout, pointing out all the little details
scattered around. Now it was time for me to unwrap all of the nice things I’ve
brought with me. Luckily my rolling stock didn’t take any major damage, so I
was quickly set up and ready to go. The first trial run of my consist was
indeed very successful. As a matter of fact, my Traxx was so reliable and fast
that it blew over some of the foam boards at the side of the track due to its
airstream. Partly cause of this incident a speed limit was imposed for it, as
the other guys were quite “scared” of the speed of my train and
worried that it might derail in the curves. Luckily for me, my design proved to
be quite sturdy, I’ve lost less than ten parts during the two days and my
trains seemed to handle the inevitable accidents quite well. Most derailments
actually happened cause someone’s *cough Raised cough* mocs lost vital parts
during their laps on the layout. I really enjoyed discussing all the different
designs and techniques used on both the rolling stock and the layout, so I’ve spent
most of the time taking mental notes on what designs to steal and incorporate
in possible future builds or collabs.
Raised and BigDaedy discussing the different designs they have.
At the
end of the day there was an official part by TLC. Two Lego Star Wars designers,
Jan Neergaard Olesen & Kurt Kristiansen, held a presentation about the
creative process and how a set is designed what changes it has to go through in
order to be released to the public. Very interesting behind the scenes
information and we’ve even got a sneak peek on what’s coming up next. Once the
presentation was over, the attention shifted to the more community related part
of the evening. There were speed building challenges and of course every
participant received a large Lego gift. Sadly, I didn’t get one, as I was only
a guest, but this will surely change next year!
I was also able to get an autograph of the two Lego designers on my engine. How awesome is that? Looks a little bit like graffiti but a lot cooler!
Thumbs up for the Traxx!
Saturday
turned out even better than the day before. A seemingly never-ending crowd of
people, especially children gathered around the layout fascinated by the moving
trains, the huge engine shed, Tijns city, Esrans factory and all the tasty
little details on the countryside. Since I don’t speak any Dutch, it was kind
of difficult to answer the questions of the visitors, but there was always one
of the guys around who patiently translated everything into English for me.
Being a little know-it-all, I also used the chance to point out a few mistakes
on Enrico’s Bahnbetriebswerk, mostly regarding the signaling. Sorry mate
couldn’t help myself!
The overall performance of the rolling stock was quite good. Only a few crashes happened and none of them were really disastrous (for me). We also had lots of room for trying different compositions of the trains and comparing the individual performances of the locos. Of course, this led to debates on what traction system is superior, like geared L-motors or ordinary train motors and the consent that ball bearings should become mandatory. UrbanErwins automated train operation was also very fascinating for me. Looks like there is indeed some potential within the new PU system.
Once the
show was over for the day Tijn invited us over to his place, where he and his
wife cooked us a delicious dinner (compliments to the cooks once again!). More
stories were told, we drank some apple cider, which I’ve brought from home,
together and we laughed and laughed and laughed. A perfect ending to an awesome
day, if I might say so.
As the
sun rose on this beautiful Sunday morning, I was hesitant to wake up. Being in
Utrecht amongst all these wonderful people was so enjoyable that I’ve really
wanted to stay until the end of the show. Sadly, I had to be back at work on
Monday, so I spent the morning filling up with my mind with more pleasurable
memories, until I had to catch my train back home on the afternoon.
And
that’s how my adventure at Utrecht went by. Thanks for sticking through until
the end and I wish happy building to everyone out there.
Cheers,
Raimund
Line-up’s:
On Saturday
night we decided to stay a bit longer and before we noticed, we started from
lining-up all the TRAXX locomotives at the show, into sorting all of our trains
by their colors. This resulted up to 2 line-ups: the red and the yellow one.
On the
inside corner there was from front to back: A Snngs made by Urban Erwin, 2 double-decker
coaches made by BigDaedy, a Eanos made by Raised and the red 1600 made by
Raised.
On the
outside corner there was a 0-6-0 Tank Engine made by Esran, a Vectron and TRAXX
in 6 wide made by Gerard Salden, BigDaedy his 2 TRAXX locomotives and as last
again Raised his “FYRA” TRAXX.
On the
Siding going into the Shadow Station were Raised’s NS 6400 and Enrico’s V100.
Lets start at the front and work our way into the back. On the front siding: Enrico’s ICM “koploper” (because it needed a lot of repairs, he wasn’t confident enough to place the entire train at this line-up).
On the
second siding: Tijn his Sik, Raised his yellow 1600 and a ICR coach in 6 wide
made by Gerard Salden.
On the
Third siding: The IC Direct TRAXX made by Gerard Salden, the NS 1100 provided
by a member of our crew from the layout last year (Christiaan), the NS 1200 by
UrbanErwin, and the Plan W coach by Christiaan again.
On the
Forth siding: Mat 64 (“Apenkop”) by UrbanErwin.
On the outer
corner: Enrico’s NS 2454 locomotive and Raised his ICR 8 wide coaches.
Traxx line up
The third of the special line-ups held at the event was the Traxx line up. 2 from BigDaedy and 1 from Raised.
That’s how you make pictures!
The Backdrop:
Last year we learned a very important lesson. To get the best view of the layout itself, it a good thing to not be able to see the chaos behind the layout, aka the repairing of broken trains and us eating lunch. Last year we fixed this problem by using a blue linen backdrop with wooden rods to keep it all as straight as possible. It looked fine, but just didn’t work as planned: It was too instable due to its own weight, not so easy to set up, and mostly a bit too high. So, if you were standing in the front of the layout you couldn’t see what happened at the back of the layout, which isn’t that handy if you know 50% of our track was behind the layout last year…
White Foamboard backdrops. Fixing pictures since 2019!
Luckily, we
fixed that problem this year by using foam plates as a backdrop. These were held
together by using Lego pieces on the top and the bottom. The provided a great
backdrop so that visitors were able to see the train running on the layout but
not our lunch. However the organization managed to placed us in a way that we
had 2 concrete polls right in the middle of our layout, obstructing our view,
so trains were still able to stop running for 5 minutes before we found them.
This picture made from above truly shows how busy LegoWorld can get, this day we sold out with 15000 visitors
Impression of the layout.
Here are
some more pictures/videos of the layout for you to enjoy!
Last year we published the results on December 9th, this year we are doing so on January 6th. Not everything can be a tradition after three years, but it seems that slow judging is definitely one of them.
So, I’d say it’s nothing more than fair to cut the chase and just announce the winners of OcTRAINber 2019: The Technic Challenge!
And, ofcourse, our Guest Judge Mahjqa also had something to tell about this design:
“Denis H Garnier: Very unique concept, good looking model. “
Prizes
Yes, prizes, the most important part of any contest! This year we have been able, thanks to our sponsors FX Bricks, BrickTracks and TLC, to arrange five Prize Packs. Since we know that every builder might have some different ideas how to use any of these items, we are giving the first winner the first chance to pick one of these five Prize Packs, the second winner the second chance, etc. etc. all until the Winner of the WIP-story category, who will receive the final Prize Pack. One of us here at BMR will reach out to you on short notice (we promise, it won’t be as long as you have been waiting for the results) to arrange things with all five of you!
In fact, Mahjqa reviewed all posted models, so we thought it would be good to post these as well, just so you guys know what to do to score even better next year!
“ColletArrow: Solid model, lots of functionality in a small package.
Brett Wiebold: Gorgeous model, doesn’t skimp on functions.
The Chestertonian: Very entertaining concept, works like a charm.
Sparks Again: Great concept; wish the function was more functional instead of just decorative.
William.Cooper: Love that you managed to fit a very functional mechanism in such a tiny model.
Beck: A very solid effort overall.
JMChisel: Very out-of-the-box, it’s obvious a lot of effort went into this.
Brickmodder: Hilarious function, very appealing.”
Final Words
First of all, you guys might remember we had a Direct Drive and Indirect Drive category where entries could be submitted. In the end we decided to combine both categories, because it turned out our differentiating between both categories was very unclear, even for us…
We were again stunned by the high quality of the entries and the amazing functionality that you managed to cram into your designs. Even though some of you weren’t able to finish in time, and some even weren’t able to do so after the extension, we have seen some great stuff from all of you. Even after three years of OcTRAINber, the creativity still amazes us. Congrats to the winners, but definitely also kudos to all other builders that participated!!
It has been a lot of fun for us here at BMR to organize this event for the third year in a row now. Yes, some things could have gone smoother, and we apologize for this. Running BMR, writing articles and also keeping a contest afloat takes a lot of time, definitely because it’s just as much a hobby for me as it is for any of you.
Oh, and yes, we still very much would like to receive some feedback on this years OcTRAINber, and the two previous editions, so that we can come back with an even better OcTRAINber 2020. Feel free to drop your feedback in the comments!
Just a very short update from our side regarding the wrapping up of OcTRAINber 2019. Just like last year it has proven to be a quite busy number of months here at BMR, specifically for me (Legoworld, our biggest show of the year in the Netherlands, plus the whole aftermath of that) which means the judging has taken some delays again since coordinating the judging is my little task. However, last night I finally finished the Judges Excel Sheet so final judgement has just commenced. We will try to get it done in maximum 2 weeks, so hopefully we will be able to announce the winners before the end of 2019. We will keep you updated on this proces as much as possible.
In the same time, we would also like to ask you guys for some feedback. OcTRAINber has been a succes for three years in a row for us over at BMR, but we are wondering how you actually think about OcTRAINber. What do you guys like about the contest? What are the reasons to participate, or not to participate? What do you guys think could be done better next year?
We look forward hearing from you, to make sure OcTRAINber 2020 will be even better!
Happy last days of OcTRAINber! We hope you are enjoying this month as much as we are. In the last couple of weeks we have seen a lot of great WIPs and even some amazing entries being posted in the Brick Model Railroader Flickr Group. We are again stunned by the amount of creativity that the community has to offer.
However, we also saw several not-yet-finished builds, that look very promising, but might get into trouble finishing before the end of the month. We know this challenge, due to the heavy involvement of Technic and moving parts, is a bit more out of the comfort zone for many builders than the previous two installments of OcTRAINber. In fact, some of us here at BMR (being me) try to ignore all of Technic when it’s possible, so kudos to you all for trying!
So, anyways, long story short: we have decided upon a grace period of two weeks, to make sure all of the current WIP builds will be posted in the respective entry threads. Even though this means OcTRAINber will now end in the middle of November, but hey, space already had their month with this years SHIPtember!
NEW DEADLINE FOR OCTRAINBER:
Novvember 14th, 23:59 PDT!
Please be sure to ONLY post entries in the appropriate thread on our Flickr group. This is the only place where we will look for entries – showing us an entry on social media or elsewhere does not count.
As we announced a bit over a week ago, this year BMR will again run the OcTRAINber contest. OcTRAINber is a contest meant to get outside of your comfort zone and build something you haven’t thought of before. You know, that one truly special build that will spice up your layout like no other has before. All within the realm of Lego Trains, but with a twist. So, let us officially introduce you to the contest and let’s get rolling!
OcTRAINber
First of all, the name. It’s called OcTRAINber, if somebody had not noticed after two years. Why OcTRAINber? Well, because it’s a great intermediate month between SHIPtember and November. Also, TRAINS. Mostly TRAINS. TRAINS.
“The Technic Challenge”
Second of all, the subject of this years OcTRAINber. Why the Technic Challenge?
Two years ago we had a ‘build your longest’ theme, and last year we were all about ‘building that foreign dream of yours’. Both of them produced some really nice models, but, in essence, they were all static. Yes, some of them were motorized, and yes, some of them even had very fancy motorization that not even us had thought of before. However, in the end motorization was just a nice have-to, not a requirement, which is strange when you think about it. Therefore, we have decided that this year everything is forced to move. The more movement, the better!
“Everything that happens once can never happen twice. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”
If there is one thing at BMR that this could apply for, definitely now that September is coming to a close, it would be the month of OcTRAINber. And yes, just like last year, we would like to announce that this year there will indeed be another OcTRAINber building challenge!
Just like last year and the year before, OcTRAINber isn’t just a regular challenge, it’s a themed challenge. Two years ago it was all about ridiculous long trains, last year it was all about foreign trains, and this year the challenge is…
The Technic Challenge!
As you know, OcTRAINber is all about building outside of your comfort zone. Ofcourse, all of us motorize our trains, be it with PUP, PF, IR, 9V, 12V or anything in between. But in real life, not only the wheels move. There is so much more going on in trains and trackside structures that moves around, or wiggles, or turns, or whatever it does, as long as it makes a movement.
So, for this year, we thought it would be fun to challenge our Lego Train community to come up with as much train-related stuff that makes movement, other than just the regular motorization of a locomotive. And, different than the last two years, this time it doesn’t have to be a train, it can also be a trackside structure! As long as it has a form of movement not necessary to let it run on the tracks, you are good to go!
Rules
As per tradition, we won’t tell you as of yet any of the specifics we will use to score builds until October 1st, but, as per tradition, we will give the general rules that are necessary to enter your builds and start planning!
“Moving” is defined as: A movement of any locomotive, rolling stock, structure, or other railroad-related item that is NOT indented to propel the item forwards or backwards on track. Of course, the item can have these movements (we even recommend doing this, because static trains are soooo boring), but you will only be scored on extra movements, like doors opening, or running vents, or a moving telehandler on a goods dock… So, you can enter your newly build Acela Express, and it can be 9V powered, but it needs to have some extra modes of movement included as well, otherwise we will disqualify your entry. I’m sure you get the point.
Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no MODs, only MOCs.
We are making no rules for the scale you choose to model in. We are welcoming models of 6, 7, and 8 studs, and anything in between or beyond! However, we appreciate detail and accuracy. Reasonably sized models are usually better for that, but we don’t knock anything or anyone with serious skill.
NEW BUILDS ONLY. We are willing to accept anything unpublished or anything that was not published before September 1st 2019 as new. We want to inspire and promote a challenging build, entering an old model doesn’t quite work in that regard.
Entries MUST be made on our Flickr group in the appropriate thread. This is the ONLY place we will be looking for entries, nowhere else. Sending photos to us on social media or showing us in person do not count as entries!
We will be accepting entries from Midnight on October 1st to Midnight on November 1st (meaning October 31st, at 23:59 PDT). There is possibility of a grace period to ensure those that need that one final Bricklink order have a fair chance.
Entries and Prizes
Keep in mind that OcTRAINber is a ‘quality over quantity’-building event. This means that we rather encourage you to build one amazing build than several sub-par ones. That’s why, just like last year, we will restrict the number of entries to only one per person. We are not accepting digital entries this year to emphasize the spirit of the challenge.
We haven’t finalized on prizes yet, but since this is a building challenge, we will for sure have some, just like in previous years.
Just like last year, we want to encourage you to show off your WIPs this year as well, to make OcTRAINber really a month that is all about trains within the Lego community. Therefore, extra credit will be given to the best WIP stories and/or pictures during the event. Specific information about WIP points will be mentioned in the kick-off article, but the rules will be pretty much in line with last year’s event.
We will pick the winners after we have announced the official close of the competition and have stopped accepting new entries, which will be some time after November 1. Once the judges (who, just like last year, will be announced in an upcoming article) have come to a sound conclusion regarding the winners, we will post one final article announcing them, and then we will be in contact with those winners regarding their prizes.
So, that’s it for now. We are very excited about this years’ installment, hopefully the same goes for all you train-heads out there! Stay tuned for updates on the start of the challenge, the judges and the scoring when OcTRAINber starts on October 1st.
Some might say that engines that look like a big box have no soul. That they are just what they are, big boxes with no aesthetic value. I however tend to differ. Just like how American diesels have found aesthetics in absolute utilitarianism with all kind of weird vents and other hood elements sticking out of the weirdest places, so do boxes on wheels have a certain beauty in a ‘form follows function‘ way of thinking as well. In fact, the box on wheels is the European version of exactly that, the absolute utilitarian engine. So, little surprise that I was blown away when Dennis aka TECHNO posted his rendition of the BR 143, the absolute max in German boxes on wheels.
According to the builder, it is meant as a birthday present for one of his colleagues who – luckily for both – don’t use social media. Which means that we have now seen the model sooner than the intended new owner. Talking about the privilege we have as a community!
Currently it’s now powered, but Dennis aka TECHNO has semi-promised us he will in the future build a second, fully functioning, version. I for one definitely look forward to that version as well.
One more thing: Some people might say ‘yeah it’s a box, it’s not that hard. Just try to model a GE ES44AC with all it’s vents and quirks, and after you finish doing that, we will talk again. To those people I say: Well… Boxes aren’t that easy to do either. Ironically, because they have so little design elements, they look way off if you just mess up one. Point to prove is the render that Dennis aka TECHNO made before building. Just have a look at all the little details, the slightly sloped windscreen, the cheese graters on the roof, etc. etc. Point made.
Now that it turns out that TLC has officially phased out the Li-Po battery packs for PF, I’m wondering how we as a community are going to power our PF motors from now on. The ‘easiest’ way would obviously be to switch to PUP (not really, because of the exact same lack of LiPo boxes available), but for people like me, who still have a bunch of M and L motors laying around, this isn’t an option.
So, what are the options in the mean time? Well, after some discusion over at the EB Train Tech forums, we concluded there are several solutions currently out there:
Batteryboxes with regular recharchable batteries Annoying because you have to dissasemble the whole thing all the time. However, the most sustainable solution since you can keep on changing batteries. Even my old 9V boxes still work perfectly fine, so the same will most probably happen with these.
Buwizz with build-in remote Not the ideal step if you for example want light & sound and thus want to include a PFx Brick, or if you are totally hooked on SBrick or the Lego IR receiver
Modding your existing PUP, PF or even 9V boxes and installing a LiPo pack in them yourself. A solution for the few of us with the proper knowledge of electronics. More difficult than you would think, since you would also need to include protection circuitry to keep the LiPO cells from running down too low and overcharging
FX Track Sytem Only being released in 2020 and a whole different ballpark to begin with.
Our well known clone friends from China The ‘clonebrand that shall not be named’ is currently producing Li-Po battery packs that look almost 1-on-1 like the TLC Li-Po packs. However, officially they should be shutting down after the raid, so is this really sustainable? Also, in a matter of ethics: Are we really willing to sponsor them? (in this case I’d say yes, since TLC decided to ditch the Li-Po PF battery pack, so there’s no alternative anymore)
So, what are your thoughts? Have we forgotten any that deserve some attention, and what are your experiences with the different solutions that are currently out there?
As promised, this is a follow-up to the post by BigDaedy and me about how the both of us designed our Bombardier Traxx’es.
The people who know me, know that most of my Lego projects can take weeks, months, even years to finish. It’s something I’m not especially proud of, but on the other hand, I know it’s just my way of building. For some reason I never mastered the art of Digital building, so everything I build, is build IRL. For me that makes the process even more lengthy, because I also tend to delay my BL orders. However, every now and then you meet somebody who seems to be having the exact same project and lengthy building process, and can actually stimulate you to finish a build. This post is the result of one of those projects.
For me, this story started the moment when the Dutch Railways (NS Hispeed more precisely) started operation on the High Speed Line between Amsterdam Schiphol, Rotterdam and Brussels. Because the ordered 250 km/h High Speed EMU’s weren’t ready when the HSL was finished, NS Hispeed decided as a stopgap measure to use the Bombardier Traxx F140 MS and IC carriages instead for what they called their “Fyra” service. Fun fact: The name comes from the same people that came up with the nonsense word “Thalys“.
A short note: Officially this consists isn’t high speed at all, but after a bit of re-gearing they could run 160 km/h. The main reason then wasn’t the speed, but the reliability and operationability: The Traxx was at that point in time the only locomotive that was able to run on the HSL to begin with, due to troubles with the special version of the European Train Control System that was used at the HSL at that time.
However, this being the first new Electrics by NS since the NS 1700-series build between 1990-1994, which I build several years ago, they immediately caught my attention. Due to the double curved front shape, I didn’t really know where to start, at one point even contemplating to just saw the Jack Stone car canopy in two. However, being the purist that I was (In my defence, I was a lot younger back then) I decided against it an shelve the whole idea.
In the end of 2014 I finally had my first a-ha erlebnis and realized how to build the double curved front. After trying it out and getting the ‘right’ feeling, I decided I should move forward and try to actually build the whole thing, instead of only the front. However, me being me, it just didn’t work out, and I got stuck with half an engine that I didn’t manage to finish.
Now, this is the moment that normally I would shelve an idea indefinately and just give up. Luckily for this build, this was the exact moment I got in touch with BigDaedy. He was very enthousiast of the build and told me I should just continue. The reason was simple; he had just started his training to become train driver on the German Traxx. In his own words:
“If I remember correctly you started building your first iteration of the Traxx sometime back in late 2014, right when I started my trade training to become a driver.”
Even though he tried to get me enthousiast about a total rebuild, I just didn’t see any added value in that, I had just given up on the loco. BigDaedy however had a different view and got inspired in 2016 to just give it a try himself as well:
“I’ve built my first version in early 2016 after seeing this post in a German forum, 1000steine.”
We kept in touch while I was living abroad for a year, and thus was away from most of my Legos. I did keep the original mock-up of the front, but wasn’t really interested in doing anything with it. Every time when BigDaedy send pictures of his current WIP it kind of gave me the feeling to keep on trying, but in the mean time I had started several other projects, plus it’s really nice weather in Curacao so why bother.
Around the time I moved back to Europe I got another message from BigDaedy: His second version was ready. Ditching the curved slopes he came up with a totally new front design, which didn’t bear any resemblance with mine at all. It’s always impressive to see how different builders can come up with totally different designs for the same prototype, and this was no exception.
This second version however left me with a problem: I got really inspired this time around to start building again, but for the next two months, all my Legos were locked away in a container, waiting to be shippped back from Curacao to Europe. So again, I wasn’t able to actually build anything (and still wasn’t comfortable with LDD either).
So finally, in the beginning of 2018, I was reunited with my Legos and ready to go. I didn’t change all to much from the previous iterations external, but internally I did a lot. As usual however, life catched up on me, and more than that, Legoworld 2018 did.
An then came the build by Dennis aka Techno, and I knew I had a major
problem. Cause Dennis actually managed to get almost everything right
that I never managed to. I had been struggling with certain details in
the front for example that I never got around to fix, and he just nailed
them in his first pictures.
To make matters even worse (or maybe better?) for me was that BigDaedy contacted me again, showing his almost finished Traxx P160 DE ME, the Diesel version of the Traxx, in use with DB Regio. That one set the bar even higher, incorporating some of his earlier design elements from his Electric Traxx, but also some elements that Dennis aka Techno had introduced.
In the meantime I had however finally been able to find my ‘ideal’ front. I combined several types of slopes and techniques, including a nice incline, to get to an as natural possible version of the shape that these beasts have.
So then came the most difficult part (at least for me): Choosing the drivetrain, desiging the frame and building the trucks. All other parts of building a loco are pretty easy with me, but these three always turn out to be a huge pain. Finally I just ended up with a plates + bricks frame that is party hold together by the L-motors themselves. It does very well actually, the loco is really stable, so I can’t complain.
I however did have to exchange gears in the end (and thus come up with a different way of connecting them) because this way it actually slowed down the motor, whereas I wanted an increase in speed. I’m definately not that good with gears…
And that actually leaves at the end of this story. Because when I had these parts finished, the rest just fell in place, and I was finally able to keep up with BigDaedy’s speed. He actually decided to ditch his last version of the front of his loco and change it to the one I had just engineered, so that took him a couple of extra days to figure out how I had attached all those parts. In fact, his V4 and my V2 have been finished within a month of each other. Not bad when you think of it!
To quote BigDaedy for the last time:
“In a few days we’ll see the fourth and hopefully final version. What a long way to go, but perfection takes time. “
And right he is!
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