Category Archives: Models

Models built by fans

About BMR, Models

Our First Run of ACF Tank Car Premium Instructions Has Sold Out

11 Comments

First off, if you didn’t get our American Car & Foundry Tank Car Premium Instructions today, don’t panic. You didn’t miss out, but you will have to wait a little longer. We do we have some USRA 55-Ton Hoppers, and Pullman PS-1 Boxcars left in case you missed them the first time.

Our fastest selling kit yet!

Today was crazy! The first run of BMR Tank Car premium instructions sold out in just over 9 hours. I can not believe what just happened. 50 kits gone in less than 1/2 a day. That blows my mind. It outsold our previous USRA hopper car by 24 hours. You, our fans, are amazing. We’ll be playing some serious catch up for the next two weeks.

Getting ready to ship out some tank cars. And a little peak at our upcoming flat car.

I have to give it to our own Glenn Holland, he designed a great model. I’m sure if we could have stocked more, we could have sold a hundred. And don’t worry, we will be stocking more. But first we have to ship out the first run of 50 tank car orders.

For those who missed out on this first run, fear not. You will be able to order, you’l just have wait a little longer. More ACF Tank Cars are will be available in November along with our next kit, the AAR 53ft Flat Car with yet to be revealed load. And we’re working on ways to increase our production runs so can stock more kits from the start. The BMR model team is just two guys working out of my house. We’re still learning, but we’re doing our best to get better. We thank you for your patience.

We still have some USRA 55-Ton Hoppers, and Pullman PS-1 Boxcars from our restock available, as well as decals and wheel sets. So if you didn’t get those, take the plunge. They’re great models you’ll have fun with until we can release more tank cars.

https://brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/shop/

Thank You.

Cale Leiphart
Brick Model Railroader

About BMR, Models

The ACF Type 27 Tank Car Instructions Are Now Available For Order

Leave a comment

We’re returning with our third premium instructions kit!

Announcing the Brick Model Railroader, American Car & Foundry Type 27 Tank Car premium instructions available for order here.

See our video review here

The Type 27 tank car was built by the American Car & Foundry Co. from 1927 into the late 1940’s. The Type 27 was available in capacities from 4,000 gallons up to 12,000 gallons, and could be ordered with multiple compartments (each with its own dome) for hauling separate liquids in the same car. Model designed by Glenn Holland, our instructions can model 6 different versions. The two most popular tank sizes, 8,000 gallon and 10,000 gallon, each with one, two, or three domes.

As with all premium instructions, we will include the custom elements needed to build the model. All you need to do is gather the standard Lego parts from your own collection and you’ll be on your way to a great tank car model.

You can build the car in the color of your choice, or you can purchase decals to build the car in one of the following authentic railroad paint schemes bellow.

US Army Transportation Corp

US Army decals for the 10,000 gallon single dome model.

Shell

Shell decals for the 8,000 gallon single dome model.

Shippers Car Line

ACFX decals for the 8,000 gallon triple dome model, based on the car in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Esso

Esso decals for the 10,000 gallon double dome model.

1920’s OCTAN with Logo design by Shawn Kelly

1920’s style OCTAN decals for the 8,000 gallon double dome model. Logo by Shawn Kelly.

1940’s OCTAN with Logo design by Michael Gale

1940’s style OCTAN decals for the 10,000 gallon triple dome model.

 

In addition to releasing the tank cars, we will also have more of our original premium instruction kits, the Pullman PS-1 40′ boxcar and USRA 55-TON Hopper Car.  We still have decals available for these cars too.

And, of course, we will have extra wheel sets available for purchase for those wanting to build more than one car. All of the products mentioned above; the hopper and boxcar premium instructions, decals, and wheel sets will be available in our online store.

 

About BMR, Models

Announcing the USRA 55 Ton Hopper Premium Instructions

7 Comments

We’re finally back with our second premium instructions kit!

Announcing the Brick Model Railroader USRA 55 ton hopper premium instructions.

USRA Hopper Box Cover

First constructed by our own Cale Leiphart, we decided to pass this model on to the community in the form of premium instructions. As with all premium instructions, we will include the custom elements needed to build the model. In this case, that will only include the ball bearing-equipped wheel sets which are used in the trucks. All you need to do is gather the standard Lego parts from your own collection and you’ll be on your way to a great hopper model.

You can watch our full review of the hopper instructions by following this link.

Continue reading Announcing the USRA 55 Ton Hopper Premium Instructions →

Model Design, Models

Steam Giants of the Norfolk & Western Railway

5 Comments

I hope you, our dear readers, will allow me to indulge myself once again as write about my own LEGO® train building. Today I finally bring you my two most recent articulated steam locomotive models, the Norfolk & Western A class and Y6b. Those of you who have seen a PennLUG display in person over the past year, or read issue 46 of Brickjournal have probably already seen these, but it’s taken me a little while to finally upload photos and write an article on them for Brick Model Railroader. In my defense, I’ve been busy.

The Last Great Steam Railroad in America: Modeling its Finest Work Horses

My A class and Y6b milling about in PennLUG’s rail yard.

Continue reading Steam Giants of the Norfolk & Western Railway →

Models, People

Building Up Prussian Steam

Leave a comment

Today we’re looking at something with a high cool factor.

Meet Falk Schulz, or “bricknerd” on Flickr, a very talented builder from Germany. He’s certainly no stranger to Brick Model Railroader, having been featured in a past article highlighting some his Prussian electric models. Falk is known for his amazing work with diesel locomotives, having built several North American models. My favorite is probably his Rio Grande SD   40T-2.

Falk’s Rio Grande diesel. 7 studs wide and all the right details. I particularly like the brick-built logo.

However, as can be seen by the title, we’re not focusing on his diesels today. Instead, we’re looking at a steam locomotive. A small one, too.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeist_bouwplaten/6897683145

Continue reading Building Up Prussian Steam →

Models

Union Pacific SD70ACe Heritage Fleet – 6 Locomotives!

2 Comments

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

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

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

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

History, Inspiration, Models, People

Throwback: RAILBRICKS Kits

Leave a comment

We posted these few photos on the BMR Facebook and Instagram pages on Sunday, and I felt they’d be fitting to throw in this article.

For those that don’t already know, Brick Model Railroader came into existence after the previous Lego train community hub, the online publication RAILBRICKS, fell apart. Many of the contributors and staff members got busy with other aspects of their lives, and so could not channel energy into RAILBRICKS.

The creator and original editor of RAILBRICKS is a gentleman by the name of Jeramy Spurgeon. Before stepping down from the Editor position, he managed to sell a couple limited edition kits. Both of these kits are 6 stud wide models but are still packed with detail.

Continue reading Throwback: RAILBRICKS Kits →

Models

It’s 1976 All Over Again

5 Comments

Every year on July 4th, we here in the United States celebrate the birth of our nation. But in 1976, upon the 200th Anniversary, we threw one heck of big a party. For the US Bicentennial every one in the nation was getting into the spirit. Everything, and we do mean everything, was getting a patriotic Red, White, and Blue treatment. The US railroads were no exception. Railroads across the US were painting locomotives and other equipment in celebration of our country’s 200th birthday. Our Canadian railroad neighbors even got into the spirit. The result of all this stars and stripes hoopla was some of the most interesting and colorful railroad equipment ever seen in North America.

As we all know, model railroad hobbyists, even us LEGO® variety, gravitate toward modeling the interesting and rare. The Bicentennial RR locomotives and rolling stock has been a popular modeling subject ever since that great celebration in 1976. So today, on this July 4th, we’re going to take a look at some Bicentennial models created in LEGO

Bicentennial locomotives from several railroads on display.

Continue reading It’s 1976 All Over Again →

About BMR, Events, Models

Brickworld 2017 Event Report

Leave a comment

Brickworld 2017 has come and gone, and I’m almost caught up on all my sleep from the event. If you’ve never been to it, Brickworld is one of the largest, and one of the premier LEGO® fan events in North America. It draws some of the best builders in the country, and even a few from over seas. It is also the largest gathering of LEGO train fans, and train clubs in the US. If you love LEGO trains, you’ll be in good company at Brickworld.

Michael Gale’s excellent model of the A1 “Tornado”.

Continue reading Brickworld 2017 Event Report →

Models

Railfanning, June 2017

2 Comments

Hello dear readers. Yes, I know our regular train content has dropped in recent weeks. Preparing for a major convention, Brickworld, and launching our new store has monopolized much of our time. But we’re back from Brickworld, we’ll have a full report later this weekend once all our photos and video are sorted through, and the store is now going. So lets get back to LEGO® trains.

Nothing too serious today. But I wanted to take the opportunity to spot light some nice LEGO train models that have appeared on line lately. So let’s do some LEGO Railfanning.

Ludborough Signal box with a 455. Models and photo by Gareth Ellis.

Continue reading Railfanning, June 2017 →