On Saturday, September 21st, 2019, American Steam Railroad Preservation Association, Inc will be hosting an event, An Evening with a Legend of Steam: Ross Rowland, to benefit the ASR’s “Fire Up 2100” campaign for the restoration of Reading locomotive 2100. Brick Model Railroader will be attending the event to display our LEGO® model of 2100 and support the restoration.
From the American Steam Railroad Website:
It’s a seldom opportunity that we are able to review a new official LEGO train set here on Brick Model Railroader. But, at long, last, we have again been blessed with a new train, even if it has a well-known mouse at the throttle and his friends in tow. Regardless, a new train is a new train, which, I think, is cause for celebration. Further still, this set happens to include a steam locomotive.
I’ll be providing as in depth of a review as I can, detailing the build, some of the interesting techniques and features I caught, and finally I’ll offer some of my own thoughts on the set as a whole. This is going to be a pretty lengthy article.
I should say here before getting too far into anything. Brick Model Railroader was not offered a set to review. We were aware of it’s existence at the same time the rest of the world was, even though we’re the only dedicated LEGO train news website around. We would have asked for it, but we cannot request to review sets that we don’t know exist. While annoying, our spirits are not dampened. I personally went to my local LEGO store after work on Wednesday, August 21st and picked up a copy of this set and began building it that night with the intention to write this review from a train modeler’s perspective.
Without further delay, let’s dive in.
Continue reading Review: 71044 Disney Train and Station
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:
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?
Earlier this year we announced the first official locomotive kit from Brick Model Railroader, the Reading T-1 4-8-4 steam locomotive. Since then we have be a bit quiet about this project, only releasing a few minor updates, but this does not mean that progress hasn’t been made. Today we have big, and hopefully informative, update to share.
Brickworld Chicago, being one of if not the largest gathering of AFOL train builders in the world, is often a time of incredible conversation about the hobby as well as announcements regarding new models and products.
This year saw new innovations and a wonderful announcement from BrickTracks, which is today’s topic.
This is comes as a very welcome breath of fresh air since ME Models stopped producing track. As a community, we’ve largely been stuck to straight track in 16-stud multiples. Unless you’re alright with cutting up track here and there, there hasn’t been anything smaller than that for those of us who need it.
Wait no more. Scott Hoffemeyer of BrickTracks is now offering a solution. Enter the Short Straight track pack, available from BrickTracks for $19.95 USD.
Brickworld Chicago is now in full swing. After a setback in travel, BMR (just Cale this time) is at the event and enjoying the fun. Unfortunately I (Glenn) can’t be there due to prior obligations, so I’m tasked with writing the article this time.
At long last, after months of work with our largest instruction book yet, our International Car Company Extended Vision Caboose Premium Instructions Kit is now available.
The idea for this kit was taken from our NMRA 2018 exclusive kit, which was a Missouri Pacific version of the same car. The plan was to release a more generic version of the car, so I decided we would include instructions for one of each style of caboose – centered cupola, semi-offset cupola, and offset cupola. Each car would have it’s own interior faithful to the prototype. Cale, however, convinced me that three cars would be limiting for the consumer, so we decided to expand the plan once more and onclude instructions for six unique cars.
The book is laid out much differently than our previous models. The approach we took is a modular design, reflected in the instructions. Instead of building a caboose from start to finish, the builder first builds the many sub-models appropriate to the caboose in question, and then builds the framework of the caboose and adds in the sub-models. Part lists are included separately at the back of the spiral bound, 164 page book.
Continue reading International Car Company Extended Vision Caboose Vol. I Available Now
If you’re a registered attendee of Brickworld Chicago this year, we would like to extend an exclusive opportunity.
Similar to our NMRA 2018 National Train Show exclusive, we are happy to announce that an exclusive Premium Instructions Kit is now available for registered attendees of Brickworld Chicago 2019 to pre-order.
To celebrate the Sesquicentennial of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States, I chose to model a B-50-25 “Challenger” Express Boxcar.
I’ve always had a taste for shorter (in height) boxcars, as well as clean but attractive paint schemes. This car checks all of those boxes. This particular car has been an interest for me since I first saw Nate Brill’s rendition of one a few years ago. It was a striking grey and red scheme with a stylized “The Challenger” to the right of the doors.
Continue reading Brickworld Chicago 2019 Exclusive Premium Instructions Now Available
It’s been a while since we’ve posted any update on our work behind the scenes. Allow us to offer some insight today, as well as a surprise announcement at the end.
We’ve been hard at work in getting our next Premium Instruction Kit ready to go. I’ve modeled the International Car Company Extended Vision Caboose in fine detail, and Cale has been working non-stop to bring the book to completion. We would have had this model available by now, but we have drastically expanded our vision and approach to the kit, and thus have taken more time to ensure we are checking all of our boxes. We’ll have more details in the announcement article at the time of release, but I can definitely say that this will be the most comprehensive kit we have ever done. We are now in the process of editing the 164-page book and building test models.
This article was submitted to BMR by our good friend Gareth Ellis, who discusses his experience with DelTang control systems in his models. Thanks Gareth!
DelTang RC Control systems is a well-designed radio control platform, with many benefits for a growing LEGO® model train community. The system comprises of a transmitter and receiver, bound with each other for discrete, individual and reliable control.
The basic principles of DelTang radio control for battery locos, in its simplest form are a transmitter and a receiver that has an integrated Electronic Speed Control unit which in turn is connected to batteries and a motor. When the throttle knob on the paired transmitter is moved the motor increases or decreases in speed accordingly.
DelTang currently produce many transmitters and receivers for a wide range of model control, we will focus on Model Train specific variants of the transmitters and receivers. As there is such a wide range we will cover the TX22 Transmitter and the Rx-65 (22) specifically. At the time of writing this, the TX2 was on V207, and the Rx-65c (22) was on V611.
We know you’ve been waiting for our next Premium Instruction kit. Well, the wait is over, and to make up for the delay, we have not one, but two new Premium Instructions for you: the Thrall 61′-1″ Bulkhead Flatcar, and the Pacific Car & Foundry 50′ Insulated Boxcar. These cars are available for purchase now, and will begin shipping next week. Let’s take a closer look at our new models.
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