The Brick Train Awards is a global virtual competition to showcase LEGO train builders around the world. The Awards where founded in 2020 and with a surprising 732 entries last year, the organization decided to run it again this year. Like previous year, the Brick Train Awards is a collaboration between LNUR, Bricks McGee and BMR. The awards are free to enter and judged by members of the LEGO® train fan community worldwide. The entries are op from 1st – 28th February 2021. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on March the 5th.
You have one week to still get your entries in. For more info on the Brick Train Awards, follow the link below.
Funny Freight Contest! Sponsored by Texas Brick Railroad
The Texas Brick Railroad is sponsoring a “Funny Freight” contest. You have nearly six months to design and build your entries – judging will take place at Brick Rodeo (Houston, TX) on Friday, July 23, and all 12 winners will be announced Saturday night.
What It’s About Create a LEGO railcar (or string of cars) that is . . . funny. It’s funny if it makes us laugh. Or at least grin. That’s the only definition. Parody, satire, weird historical rolling stock, plain old absurdity . . . whatever floats your boat. Just keep it rated G or PG, since Brick Rodeo is a family event.
Prizes!! FIRST PRIZE – an 8-wide TBRR tank car kit designed by Edward Chang, with custom award printing. (And maybe more – we’re open to prize sponsorship, and some has been tentatively promised.)
SECOND PRIZE – A new-in-box Brickstuff animated Metroliner billboard for your town. (And maybe more.)
THIRD PRIZE – A LEGO “Charles Dickens Tribute,” 40410, new in box. (And maybe more.)
BUILD BONUS – $100 in booth credit at the Brick Rodeo “Too Many Bricks” booth – for the best physical entry that is actually brought to the show. That is: If the first place winner is an actual build at the show, it will get the build bonus. If the first place winner is not at the show but the second place winner is, the second place will get the bonus . . . and so on.
AWARD BRICKS – We’ll create a dozen “2021 Funny Freight” 1 x 8 bricks, and give one each to the top dozen people who enter.
Details Who can enter? – Any living human being. But no more than two entries per person, please. Judges will be asked not to vote for their own entries.
Required info – We need the name of each entry, your own name (or a screen name), and a means of contact if you win. We will not share your info with anyone, or retain any info after the contest except the names of the winners. We do ask that if you run your entry on our track, you put an identifying sticker on the bottom so we can get it back to you. Scale – From 6-wide to 10-wide, as long as it runs on standard LEGO track.
Judges – The contest will be judged by the TBRR members displaying at Brick Rodeo.
Format: Your entry may be an actual build brought to the show (preferred!), or a photo/video of a real build, or a virtual build. Virtual images or photos should be sent to texasbrickrr@gmail.com, and should arrive by noon on Friday, July 23rd.
Rights – You retain all rights to your entry, but we get to display images of it, and to build one for our layout if we love it.
Awesomeness – When choosing between equally funny entries, the judges will favor real builds over any other format, and will take into account technical excellence, light, sound, and movement effects.
Novelty – Entries must never have been displayed at a Brick Rodeo before. But this is the first Brick Rodeo, so bring out your best!
Q – Can one entry be multiple cars? A – If the joke requires multiple cars, sure, that’s one entry.
Q – Tell me more about Brick Rodeo. A – Ten years of awesomeness, now with a new name. www.brickrodeo.com.
Q – Should I explain the joke? A – That’s up to you. Many good jokes don’t need explaining. If your entry embodies a witticism about court intrigue in the days of Louis XIV, you’d better explain it. But often the title of the entry will be enough additional explanation.
Q – Do I need to include instructions? A – No.
Q – Can I do a funny locomotive? A – What do you think pulls all the funny freight?
Q – Do you have a disclaimer? A – LEGO is a registered trademark of The Lego Group. This contest is not sponsored or endorsed by TLG.
The Brick Train Awards is a global virtual competition to showcase LEGO train builders around the world. The Awards where founded in 2020 and with a surprising 732 entries last year, the organization decided to run it again this year. Like previous year, the Brick Train Awards is a collaboration between LNUR, Bricks McGee and BMR. The awards are free to enter and judged by members of the LEGO® train fan community worldwide. The entries are op from 1st – 28th February 2021. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on March the 5th.
Categories
Each category of the Brick Train Awards is judged at a regional level: Africa, Americas, Asia, Australasia, Europe & the Middle East. The winners of each category on a regional level, are then pitted against each other to declare global winners in each category. The winner from each category is then entered into the global Brick Train Awards. You can enter each category up to three times with different models. The 13 categories in total:
Best LEGO® Steam Locomotive Award
Best LEGO® Diesel Locomotive Award
Best LEGO® Electric Locomotive Award
Best Other LEGO® Locomotive Award
Best LEGO® Passenger Wagon Award
Best LEGO® Freight Wagon Award
Best LEGO® Other Wagon Award
Best LEGO® Building or Infrastructure Award
Best LEGO® Individual Display Award
Best group LEGO® display
Best TFOL LEGO® Locomotive Model
Best TFOL LEGO® Wagon Model
Best TFOL LEGO® Display / Structure
For more information about each category check out the category page on the BrickTrainAwards website. There is a long list, and compared to last year, this year there more TFOL categories. The reason behind this is that last year the TFOL category was one of the categories with the most entries, which made it difficult to decide a winner since there were so many different entries.
One of my favorite winners last year. Best Group Display – Europe, 2020, DB Bahnbetriebswerk by Julius Theissen & Simon Jakobi from Germany, Europe.
Enter a category.
Entering a category is really simple. Email your entry, including photographs – to bricktrainawards@gmail.com. You must include:
Your name (or alias, handle or pseudonym)
Your country and region
Which category you are entering. Please submit one model per email only.
And that’s it! We’ll announce the winners for each category once judges have made their decisions. You can follow a selection of entries on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. We try to upload as many entries as possible. You can enter models per category. And best of all, it’s all free to enter!!!
Rules
We tried to keep the rules a clear and simple, if you still have questions about the awards you can check out the FAQ page , or contact us trough e-mail or Facebook messenger. Due to time zone differences, it may take several days for us to respond.
Entries for all categories are open 1st – 28th February 2021. Entering the awards is free of charge.
Models must be built with LEGO® bricks, either physically or in digital format (eg, using LDD, Bricklink’s Studio LDraw, or other software). Customized bricks and third-party elements (e.g., custom track, rods, wheels, bearings, power systems) are permitted, but clone bricks are not permitted; please read the FAQs on this page
Models must have been completed in the last 24 months / 2 years (i.e., since February 1st, 2019).
You can enter up to three models per category.
You can enter more than one award category so long as you submit a different model for each category you enter.
You cannot enter the same model in more than one category in the awards.
All award categories accept digital renders, except the Group Display and Individual Display categories. We permit the use of colours for elements that are not made in production in digital models.
You cannot enter a model which won any category in a previous Brick Train Awards event.
Each entry must contain a maximum of 6 photographs, renders or images, and a maximum of 1 video (see “how do I submit video” below)
Builders must be aged 18 years or older at the time of entry. Those aged 13 years – 18 years may enter the TFOL (Teenage Fan of LEGO®) award categories with permission from a parent or guardian. By entering the awards, you agree that you have consent from your parents or guardians.
TrixBrix designs, 3d print and sell LEGO® compatible replacement and custom parts for LEGO® train fans. The also design and print parts on order. TrixBrix has sponsored prizes for each winner in each category, for both regional and Global winners:
Every regional winner will receive:
1x double straight tracks Box 10pcs
1x R56 curved tracks Box 8pcs (half circle)
1x half straight tracks 10pcs
50EUR gift code for trixbrix.eu
Every global prize winner will also receive:
2x double straight tracks Box 10pcs
2x R56 curved tracks Box 8pcs (half circle)
1x half straight tracks 10pcs
60EUR gift code for trixbrix.eu
We would really like to thank TrixBrix for this amazing amount of prices!!
Silver Sponers:
BrickTracks™ is dedicated to manufacturing high quality custom track pieces for use with LEGO® trains and bricks. Whether you’re building a detailed layout or just laying tracks on the floor, BrickTracks™ tracks expand beyond the standard LEGO® offering to help you get the most enjoyment out of your creations.
BrickTracks have sponsored prizes for all Americas category winners:
2x BrickTracks r104 left and right points / turnouts
Bronze Sponsors:
TrainedBricks provides custom LEGO®-compatible rods and valve gears for LEGO® train fans.
TrainedBricks have sponsored prizes for all Steam Locomotive category winners:
$50 USD store credit; this can be used on products and shipping costs.
A word from Bricks McGee.
BMR spoke to the brainchild and co-founder of the awards, Richard, aka Bricks McGee.
“The idea to hold the awards started after Covid meant all of the LEGO shows my LEGO train club, LNUR, had planned to attend were cancelled. We usually attend an event or two a month, so this left us with quite a gap on the calendar.
From that, the idea of the Brick Train Awards started to form. We talked to Cale and Glenn at BMR about adding their support from America and started to approach judges in the LEGO train community, adding Ryan Evans in Australia, and Masao Hidaka in Japan.
The awards allow us to see some brilliant railway / railroad related models from builders around the world and proved much more popular than we suspected they would. This year, we’ve also invited LEGO User Groups and LEGO fans in Africa and the Middle East to participate, expanding the reach of the awards to new builders.
We had some amazingly generous sponsors last year in TrixBrix, BrickTracks, BrickTrainDepot, and BMR. TrixBrix have stepped up again to sponsor prizes globally, with BrickTracks supplying their track packs to winners in the Americas region, and TrainedBricks adding prizes for winners in the steam locomotive category. The awards would still work without the prizes, but I think they add a nice incentive for builders to enter.
This year, we added more categories for Teenage Fans of LEGO (TFOLs), as I think it’s important to involve younger builders in the community: they become older members of the fandom at some point!
The awards were a lot of fun (and hard work) last year, and I’m sure they will be this year. I love seeing LEGO fans from around the world entering, and the huge range of talent from builders everywhere.”
Bricks McGee favorite winner of last year: Best LEGO® Steam Locomotive 2020, P2 “Prince of Wales” by Samuel Sims from Australia, Australasia.
Announcement video:
A couple of days ago members of both BMR and LNUR recorded a video about the BrickTrainAwards, where we discussed this year awards, check out the video on our BMR YouTube Channel here:
You can find out more about the awards – and enter for free from 1st – 28th February 2021 – at bricktrainawards.com. Were really looking forward to all the entries this year!! Keep on building!
Happy New Year to our followers and supporters. The Brick Model Railroader team hopes you had a wonderful holiday season.
Today we celebrate our fourth birthday. 2020 was filled with many new experiences, new challenges, and new opportunities. We’d like to reflect on some of that today.
Brick Model Railroader launched on December 31st, 2016. We were just a rag tag bunch of LEGO® train enthusiasts with an idea to crate a sort of hybrid blog for LEGO trains. We wanted to take what was great about the old RAILBRICKS, the in-depth articles on the LEGO train hobby, and give those types of articles a new place to be read, free of the constraints of a bound publication.
Our introduction article.
Our mission for the Brick Model Railroader website was and still is to serve the LEGO Train Hobby as an online news resource, and to help promote and grow the hobby of LEGO Trains in all it’s forms. Of course we have since added to that, primarily with our line of Premium Instructions, train parts, and decals. But the main focus of the website here will always be sharing everything great and news worthy about the LEGO train hobby with our fellow hobbyists.
We’ve grown quite a bit from our humble beginnings. And 2020 would continue that growth. So let’s take a look now at what we’ve done this past year.
The BMR Team Adds New Members
In 2020 we added several new members to the BMR family. From Europe we added Gerbrand (a.k.a. Raised) and Enrico Lussi. Both have contributed some great articles to the website and have become our window into the European side of the LEGO train hobby.
Raised (left) and Cale hanging out at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.Enrico fixing (or breaking) Raised’s yellow NS 1600 at Lego World 2019.
We also added three new contributors form the USA, Aaron Burnett, Matt Csenge, and Chris Stone. All three are excellent model builders and also pretty good writers as well.
Aaron Burnett, who has been previously featured on BMRMatt standing between Frisco no. 1621, a 2-10-0, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy no. 9908, Silver Charger in St. Louis, Missouri.Chris Stone: winner of OcTRAINber and featured previously on BMR
We look forward to more great LEGO train articles from our team, and we are looking to add several more in 2021.
Events We Attended in 2020
2020 proved to be a challenging year for events. The Covid 19 pandemic forced the cancelation of numerous LEGO fan events and model train shows across the globe. But the team at BMR was still able to attend a small number of events this year.
Our first event of the year came in January with the Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds in West Springfield, Massachusetts. The New England LEGO Users Group was there displaying their amazing Lego train/city layout at the show again. Fellow PennLUG member Nate Robinson and I traveled up to participate in the display, represent Brick Model Railroader, and experience the show.
Also in February Glenn Holland and myself participated in the Winter Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium, Maryland. The winter show this year was held on February 1st and 2nd, and was the first time a L-Gauge Modular Standard, LEGO train layout was displayed at the show. The display was organized buy Monty Smith, with participation from several area LEGO clubs including PennLUG, Charm City LUG, and WamaLTC.
Bob Hayes concrete arch bridge from the Timonium show.
With the outbreak of the covid 19 virus Allin person events from March onward were pretty much canceled. However some LEGO fan events were able to hold virtual events online. Members of the BMR Team attended several of these, including hosting LEGO Train Roundtables at several of the Virtual Brickworld events.
New BMR Products
This year also saw the continuation of our original Premium Instructions products by adding several models to our regular lineup as well as the introduction of our new knuckle couplers.
This year BMR launched a band new online store.
Our old store served us well, but we were starting to out grow it. As we added new products, it was increasingly hard to navigate and find what you were looking for. Also the look was growing stale, and our products were not being shown off to their fullest potential. So in June we completed moving our store over to a brand new platform. One full of shiny new widgets, and hopefully a much better buying experience for you.
With the new store, we also launched three new Premium Instructions. The Gunderson 60′ High Cube Plate F Boxcar, the American Car & Foundry 70-Ton 1958 Cu. Ft. Covered Hopper, and the Pacific Fruit Express R-30-9 and R-40-9 Reefer as well as a full complement of decals for each.
In October we launched a brand new product for Brick Model Railroader. Our Brick Train Compatible Knuckle Couplers. BMR, in partnership with BrickForge, created a replacement for the old LEGO® 9v era magnetic train couplers. These new couplers are now available for sale in our BMR online store.
We have even more cool new products coming for 2021, including our EMD SD40-2 Premium Instructions.
CONRAIL book cover.
We originally planned to release the SD40-2 in December 2020, but we wanted to make sue we had a few last details completely sorted and not risk rushing out a product that does not meet the highest quality we strive for. So we’re pushing it to January for release. The first four road names offered will be Norfolk Southern, Conrail, BNSF, and Burlington Northern. All four will each offer a choice of two different paint schemes. Look for an announcement on sale date soon.
Burlington Northern
We will also be restocking all our other Premium Instructions next week.
Brick Train Awards and OcTRAINber
In 2020 BMR was involved with he Brick Train Awards, a virtual, global competition to showcase LEGO® train builders from across the world.
The awards started in 2020 as a response to much of the world being in lockdown due to COVID-19, giving a chance for LEGO® train fans around the world to meet and compete internationally. The competition is organised by Richard (aka Bricks McGee) of LEGO Northern UK Railway and Cale and Glenn of Brick Model Railroader, and supported by a range of generous sponsors from across the world.
The 2020 Brick Train Awards had 10 categories for judging the best LEGO® models for locomotives, rolling stock and LEGO® train displays. Each category is judged at a regional level, and the winners from each category then go head-to-head in global awards.
The Brick Train Awards will return again in February 2021. More details coming soon.
BMR’s own OcTRAINber challenge returned again in 2020. This year’s theme was dioramas. We had some really great entries, so good that it’s taken us a bit to get through them all. Yes, we know you are all still eagerly awaiting the results. Soy for the delay. Of course Rased, who runs the OcTRAINber challenge, has been busy with a brand new baby, so that hasn’t helped. But some things are more important than LEGO trains. Don’t worry, we will have our results soon.
Product Reviews
LEGO released two special train sets in 2020 and BMR reviewed them both. The first was the 40370 Steam Engine.
The set is a replica of 7810 a push-along steam locomotive that was released in 1980, and commemorates the 40th anniversary of the 12v train line being launched worldwide.
It was quite a surprise to see a LEGO train set targeted directly at adult train fans, but it was certainly welcome, and is a great set to own and build. We hope this is a sign of more good train sets to come.
We also had the opportunity to review a new book on LEGO trains. The LEGO train project book by Charles Pritchett.
This is a great book for those new to LEGO trains who want to expand their collection or want a couple of interesting designs to use as inspiration.
We did have one more review planned for 2020, the North Pole Railroad train set from BrickTracks. But the US Post Office decided to hang on to our copy for a few extra weeks. So look for this after the new year.
The purpose of this standard is to allow for builders to build and collaborate on intermodal equipment for LEGO® trains and train layouts. It defines standard lengths, widths, heights, and connections for LEGO container and trailer models that are based on real world intermodal equipment sizes.
This new standard will allow intermodal designs from BMR to interact seamlessly with those from Brick Train Depot. This is win for every one. It continues to create a healthy ecosystem for the LEGO train hobby, where builders can freely enjoy models from both of our groups, and any one else following the standard, with the knowledge the they will all work together seamlessly.
This will also hopefully be a welcome addition to collaborations between train builders. Builders can create intermodal models that will work perfectly with those from other builders from across the globe. This is key in being able to bring back the Train Club Container Swaps. Something I’m very much looking forward to.
Look for instructions from BMR based on this new standard to be released in 2021.
Coming Soon from BMR.National Steel Car Co. 3 Unit all Purpose Well Car set. Model by Chris Stone. Instructions coming in 2021
Thank You for Supporting Us
Lastly we would like to thank all of you out there who have supported us this year, visited our website, and read our articles. We love sharing this hobby with you. We will continue to support this wonderful hobby and work to grow our community. Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives. We very much look forward to 2021 and all the cool things that await.
On behalf of the entire BMR Team, have a Happy new Year!
Recently author Charles Pritchett has released a LEGO train project book with 7 unique designs for LEGO trains. This article is a review about the book and the 7 designs which are included.
The Author
First about the author, Charles Pritchett has been building with LEGO for 35 years. He is also a professional graphic, UI, and UX designer. He has authored or co-authored several LEGO books, including Prehistoric Bricks: Building LEGO Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Beasts; Building LEGO BrickHeadz: Heroes; Building LEGO BrickHeadz: Villains; and Expanding the LEGO Winter Village. All these books ,including the Train Projects, are available on Amazon. The introduction paragraph gives an interesting back story on how Charles started with LEGO and how he came back from his dark ages.
After the introduction, the book starts off with an explanation on how the book is laid out and where you can gather parts for the designs which are featured in the book. It also gives a link the useful XML files to use if you want to upload the designs to Bricklink. This paragraph is useful for first time builders or builders who just came back out of the dark ages. However, for the more experience builders this paragraph is a bit useless and will be skipped.
The Designs
The book features 7 designs: a coal gondola, a milk tanker, an open hopper, a depressed flatcar with electrical load, a passenger coach, a powered box car and a locomotive. The designs themselves are featured in a way that is visually interesting. The instructions and the parts list are clear, simple, and easy to use. All designs, except the locomotive, also have a couple of alternative color scheme featured, which shows the design in an alternate version and can be a cool change if you’re building multiple of the same design.
The contents of this book.
All the designs are 6-wide builds and more in a City train style. They are all neat and cool designs and go perfectly with the standard Lego train city sets. But, for a more experienced builder, they are all more simple. \
Is this a bad thing? It depends. If you already have the City trains in your collection and want to expand them with a couple of interesting builds, these designs will then be perfect for you! If you’re an experienced builder and have been building MOCs for a while, then these will not really speak to you as a builder. For 6-wide builders in general the book shows how you can build interesting designs in a 6-wide space.
For the designs themselves, I haven’t got that many things to point out/say. There all interesting if you’re a 6-wide builder and if you built in the city train scale/theme. There all pretty good looking and straight forward and haven’t got anything really important to mention, except for the locomotive.
The EMD FL9
The locomotive is the final design featured in the book and is the most complicated/biggest built in the book., and is in my opinion the best looking. The design is an interesting one with a great shape and colour scheme. It’s an EMD FL9 diesel locomotive, sixty units were built between October 1956 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (the “New Haven”). The locomotive is designed in the famous orange, white and black color scheme.
An Electro-Motive builder’s photo featuring freshly outshopped New Haven FL9 #2033 circa 1960.(source: american-rails.com)
Like mentioned above the locomotive is really good looking especially for a 6-wide model. The way the orange and white cross each other is achieved with a really intricated building technique using cheese slopes. The locomotive has got a lot of detailing on all sides to give it a really realistic look.
The EMD FL9 locomotive.
So, the design is good looking, but there is a small problem. The locomotive isn’t powered. For the motorization the locomotive can use the Powered Box Car featured in the book. I find this disappointing. First of all, I personally prefer if a locomotive can power itself along the tracks secondly if you look at the design featured in the book, it can easily be powered with Power Functions, 9V or Powered Up. I’m personally really disappointed that the locomotive design isn’t powered, and it feels a bit like a missed opportunity.
In Conclusion
In my opnion, this book is just about worth the 15 dollars/euro/pounds. It’s a instruction book which shows 7 pretty interesting design and that’s about it. I was hoping for a bit more background information about LEGO trains, and maybe a bit more history. There are already so many great and interesting LEGO train books out there. I feel it’s really a missed opportunity. It doesn’t even point out which power systems LEGO has made to be able to power your train.
In short, I recommend the book for 6-wide builders who want to expand their collection or want a couple of interesting designs to use as inspiration. For more experienced builders, this book hasn’t got that many things to offer. It is, however, interesting to read trough the instructions to get a general idea how the designs work and what you can achieve with a 6-wide build.
If your looking for a book that has got it all. Check out Holger Matthes his book. It’s a bit more expensive but has it all. From LEGO train history and power systems, to help and instructions for beginners and amazing builds for experience builders. Holger has written the book in a very calm and enjoyable writing style, which can make difficult and complex topics easy to read. The book contains a lot of interesting background story behind a couple of his most complicated builds.
Hello, dad joke of a title aside, I am very happy to be writing this article! My name is Cameron Miller. I founded Iron Horse Brick Co. (https://www.ironhorsebrickco.com/) with Aaron Burnett in September of 2018. I have been out of my dark ages since 2014 and have jumped head first into the world of LEGO® trains. Since the closure of Iron Horse Brick Co., I have become an owner of Brick Train Depot (https://www.bricktraindepot.com/) and that is what ultimately brings me to writing this article.
A couple months back, Cale from BMR, approached me about defining an intermodal container standard for the 1:48 scale (8 wide) trains that Brick Model Railroader and Brick Train Depot sell. I have had some free container and truck instructions published since my time at Iron Horse Brick Co. and have moved them to Brick Train Depot. Cale wanted to ensure that we could offer compatibility between our brands, much like model train manufacturers do with other scales.
Last year, Lego gave us one of my favorite battery powered train sets, 71044 Disney Train and Station. This set, while expensive (but worth it) and at times a challenging build, is still marketed with younger audiences in mind. It’s a proven formula: some kids like trains, but MOST kids love Disney. Put those two things together and you end up with a very desirable product.
I shared some thoughts on that set in an article linked above, and now I have the task of writing about Lego’s newest train again: 10277 Crocodile Locomotive. This new set is the polar opposite of the Disney train; it literally says 18+ on the front of the box, but I’ll touch more on that later. I should also say that once again Brick Model Railroader was not offered a set to review. Again, I went to my local LEGO store (with a mask and practicing proper social distancing, mind you) and purchased the locomotive, Powered Up motor, and Powered Up hub to review.
A sweet box.
10277 Crocodile Locomotive sold out very quickly online and is now backordered for a couple months. However, if you’re lucky and able to, you may still find a few on store shelves.
After several weeks of (intended?) leaks and gossip all over the internet, Lego finally does what we all expected it to do a week before Fathers Day: It released the much anticipated Crocodile! As expected, it’s based on the Swiss Railways Class Ce 6/8 II. The model will be 7 wide, which is a first for TLC, and is meant both as a display model and combined with the Powered Up! Hub (88009) and a L-motor (88013), controlled by the Powered Up! app.
Here’s what Lego has to say about it:
Remember those happy childhood hours spent playing with toy train sets? Now you can escape your responsibilities and head back to those joyful days with this LEGO® Crocodile Locomotive Building Kit – but this time, it’s strictly for adults! Take your time with the build, then immerse yourself in the sublime engineering as you explore the features and functions packed into this impressive model.
Build and display a railway icon. Unwind with this rewarding building challenge as you create an authentic, displayable, LEGO® model version of the iconic Crocodile Locomotive.
Clear your mind and escape the daily grind with this fulfilling building project. If your passion for toy train sets has never really left you, you’ll love recreating the amazing details of the Crocodile Locomotive, a vintage classic from the golden age of rail travel. Impressive attention to detail Inspired by the Class Ce 6/8 II locomotive, first built for the Swiss Federal Railways between 1919 and 1927, this beautiful LEGO® model is packed with realistic details. With side rods that move as the wheels turn and posable pantographs that move up and down, there’s lots to explore. Lift the roof to access the crew compartment and use the 2 minifigures to bring the story of this iconic train to life. Add the Powered Up components (sold separately) to motorize your locomotive. Spark your passion for building The Crocodile Locomotive (10277) is part of a collection of LEGO® model building kits for adults who love beautiful design. This model also makes a great gift for anyone who loves model trains.
• This LEGO® Crocodile Locomotive (10277) model kit is perfect for adults looking to build a vintage locomotive model or for anyone who loves trains and is looking for their next hobby project.
• Enjoy a rewarding challenge as you bring this buildable model train to life. Then explore the features and functions packed into this set, which celebrates the classic Crocodile Locomotive train. • Discover amazing details with authentic features true to the original Crocodile Locomotive. The 2 LEGO® minifigures with tools, display track and plaque provide lots to explore after building the classic train. • Ideal for model train fans, railway enthusiasts and LEGO® lovers, this building kit for adults makes a creative gift or birthday present to transport building fans to a world of total relaxation. • This train model measures over 6” (16cm) high, 20.5” (52cm) long and 3.5” (8cm) wide, making it a beautiful display piece to show off with pride. • You can jump right into this immersive building project since no batteries are required. To motorize your locomotive, add 1 x 88009 and 1 x 88013 Powered Up components (sold separately). • This building set for adults comes with coffee-table-style building instructions with design details to encourage and inspire you. • Part of a series of inspiring LEGO® building model sets for adults, designed for LEGO building fans, and hobbyists who love elegant design, beautiful architecture and models packed with detail. • LEGO® building bricks meet the highest industry standards, which ensures they are consistent, compatible and connect and pull apart easily every time – it’s been that way since 1958. • LEGO® bricks and pieces are rigorously tested to ensure that every building set meets the highest safety and quality standards, so you can be sure that this set is designed to last.
If you want to read more about the design process of the Crocodile, we recommend you to have a look over at The Brothers Brick, where they have an interesting interview with Jamie Berard about the design!
Now, let’s just dive into the pictures, shall we?
The box art, with the new classy “Adults Only” design:
Lego also made some great photorealistic renders of the Croc:
This being a product meant for adults, TLC was so kind to also send some pictures of an actual adult playing with Lego trains.I can almost see myself pictured in it, hooray for that!
The model can be motorized with the Powered Up! Hub and a motor
And yes, it’s Lego, so you can break it apart!
I’m for one pretty sure I will get one of these, but what do you think? Is this a set that all of you want in your collections? And is the “adults only” label a good thing for the L-gauge community, or not? We look forward hearing from you!
For March of 2020, LEGO® has released gift with purchase set, the 40370 Steam Engine. The set is available until the end of the month at LEGO.com and through LEGO brand retail stores for via qualifying purchase. The set is a replica of 7810 a push-along steam locomotive that was released in 1980, and commemorates the 40th anniversary of the 12v train line being launched worldwide.
I recently picked up a copy through an order to LEGO.com. Let’s take a look at this set now.
Our friends across the hobby have been working hard to deliver new parts for the rest of us. Here is a small update on a couple of them, and a small announcement on BMR’s next show appearance.
New Products from Big Ben Bricks
Any steam locomotive builder is familiar with Big Ben at this point. Ben Fleskes was one of the first people to pioneer realistic steam locomotive driving wheels made specifically for LEGO models, even going back before the Emerald Night. The hobby certainly wouldn’t be where we are now without Ben’s efforts.
Ben has been working to add some new products to his lineup, and they are now ready and available for purchase on his website:
XXL Size Wheels, Flanged and Blind
XXL wheels are available in black, dark grey, light grey, red and dark red.
M Wheels with Grooves and Traction Bands, Flanged and Blind
These wheels are available in red and black and include traction bands of the same color.
New Color: Dark Red
Ben has also added a dark red color option to all wheels on his site.
This is exciting to see, I personally would love to try out some injection molded XXL wheels. So far, I’ve only had experience with Nate Brill’s wheels from Shapeways for XXL wheels. This is a great solution due to the higher level of customization and cost (it costs a lot to create molds), but injection molding always has a better quality, especially for moving parts.
Now I just need to find a suitable locomotive to use M size wheels and give those a shot too…
BrickTracks Progress on R104 Turnouts
BrickTracks is another known name in the community. Scott Hoffemeyer has been working to bring new track geometries in high quality molded parts to the LEGO train third party market. Recently, Scott has shared with us a video showing some testing of his molded R104 turnouts.
Scott tells me that there is still some work yet to go with the molds, a few minor fixes here and there, but very good overall.
Test parts, November 2019. Photo by Scott Hoffemeyer.
R104 Left Hand Turnout. Render by Scott Hoffemeyer.
I’m sure I’m not alone in eagerly waiting for these turnouts to become available.
This year’s convention is at the Wyndham Lancaster Resort & Convention Center on Route 30 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We have the honor of having a booth right next to the American Steam Railroad, with whom we have been working with to produce our model of a Reading T-1 4-8-4.
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!
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