Tag Archives: Model

Brickworld Chicago 2023 Charity Auction Train

June 2, 2023 Cale Leiphart 1 Comment

Brickworld is soon upon us and I’v been working on a little project for the charity auction this year to settle a promise I made in 2019. And to explain, we’ll need to back up a little bit to 2015.

The Esther Walner Memorial Charity Fundraiser

Each year Brickworld attendees rally together to participate in what has become an exciting and unforgettable event. The Esther Walner Memorial Charity Fundraiser features unique items donated by individuals, groups and companies to help raise money for charity. Proceeds benefit several deserving charitable organizations, including Creations for Charity, Riley Children’s Hospital, FIRST LEGO League, and the Make a Wish Foundation. Approximately 90% of the raised monies will go to these charities. Brickworld supports other opportunities to help kids with the remaining monies. 100% of the money is donated each year.

A Challenge Between Train Builders Begins

In 2015, Anthony Sava set off a chain of events with the donation of a custom built, updated version of his American “Standard” 4-4-0 locomotive, along with decorative display base. Custom models usually generate a lot of interest at the auction, and Tony’s 4-4-0 was no exception. All of us in the train community there at Brickworld that year were speculating on how much the little “American” would bring. There was a huge excitement in the air.

As the 4-4-0 came up to the auction block, several of us train builders, including Tony and I, were sitting together in the crowd. Just before the bidding started, Tony turned to me and issued a challenge. If his model went for over $400, then I would donate a model to next year’s auction. I couldn’t back down from that challenge and agreed.

When the bidding had ended, the 4-4-0 had landed a sale price of $550.00, a full $150 above the mark set in Tony’s challenge. My fate was sealed, at the auction the following year, one of my models would be going up for sale.

The Mikado

So as Brickworld 2016 came, I decided to send off one my locomotives from my existing fleet for auction: my Baltimore & Ohio USRA Light Mikado. I chose this model because it was reliable, sturdy, and had classic locomotive styling. It was a good runner too. All things I felt would make it a good candidate to find a new home.

Tony, not being one to miss a good opportunity for some fun, decided to up the ante a little more for the auction. His proclamation was as follows.

“If this model goes for $1,000.00 or more at auction, I, Tony Sava, will build a custom 8-wide Caboose based on a Texas prototype and gift it to Cale Leiphart.

Furthermore, if the model goes for $1,000.00 or more I will, publicly, in front of all gathered at the PennLUG/TBRR layout at Brickworld, bow to Cale Leiphart and declare him the better train builder.

Further, furthermore, should this model go for $1,000.00 or more, I will build a railcar with a billboard stating Cale Leiphart is a better train builder, and will run it at every Texas Brick Railroad display until Brickworld 2017, including the upcoming Brick Fiesta 2016.”

Not only did my Mikado bring $1,000 at the auction, it hammered home at an amazing $2050. And true to his word, Tony made good on his wager, I even got that caboose after a long delay. It was totally worth the wait though.

Anthony Takes Back the Title

Now we jump ahead to 2019. Tony is once again generously donated a model of his own design to Brickworld’s Esther Walner Memorial Charity Fundraiser. The model this time was an AB set of his fantastic Santa Fe F7’s.

I could not let a good opportunity to challenge Tony pass by, so I threw down the gauntlet. My challenge was as follows.

If Tony Sava’s Santa Fe F7 set could reach the $1,000 mark that he set for me in 2016, I would build a custom caboose based on a Pennsylvania prototype, and gift it to him.

Furthermore, If the F7’s sold for $1,000 or more, I Cale Leiphart would donate a new custom locomotive of my own design to the Brickworld 2020 Charity Auction.

Further, furthermore, If Tony’s models can beat the $2050 price raised by my Mikado in 2016, I would, publicly, in front of all gathered at the LGMS layout at Brickworld, bow to Tony Sava and declare him the better train builder.

Furthermost, if Tony’s Santa Fe F7 set sold for more than my Mikado did in 2016 at auction, in addition to the aforementioned custom locomotive, I Cale Leiphart would build a full train for said locomotive to pull, to be donated to the Brickworld charity auction.

The challenge was on, and Tony’s models smashed it. Anthony’s Santa Fe F7 set brought an amazing $2700 at the auction, the highest item of the night. What had I done?

My challenge was clear, I was donating a whole train to the auction the following year. Tony is still waiting on that caboose, but that’s ok, I haven’t forgoten, and he did make me wait a bit for mine so it’s all fair.

A New Challenger Appears

So a global pandemic called Brickworld 2020 and 2021, and some other circumstances prevented me from building a train for 2022. But despite my failure, there was another epic train model entered in the 2022 Brickworld Charity Auction. Rob Hendrix of Lifelites designed a single truck Shay locomotive and 3D printed the model at 400% scale.

The auction for Robs Big Tiny Shay

Robs not so tiny Tiny Shay brought a crazy $3,4500 at the auction. Complete blowing away both Tony’s and my previous high marks. I was impressed, and also determined. I was determined to beat my good friend Rob and take the title back.

It’s Time to Sell a Train

I’m now less than two weeks away from doing the craziest thing I’ve ever done for charity. I’m going to sell a complete, working, highly detail LEGO model train of my own design at the 2023 Brickworld Esther Walner Memorial Charity Fundraiser.

So here is my plan.

To start things out we have have a steam locomotive and three cars for the regular train. Built to 1:48th scale (8 wide) this Illinois Central freight train is ready to run on your home or club train layout.

The locomotive is an authentic recreation of Illinois Central locomotive no. 790, a 2-8-0 steam freight locomotive now preserved at Steamtown National Historic Park. The locomotive model uses a Power Functions L motor to drive the drivers and features many custom parts. And there may be a surprise or two thrown in, you’ll just have to wait and see.

The caboose is a model of an Illinois Central wood side Baggage Caboose in its late steam era paint scheme.

The boxcar is a Pullman PS-1 40ft car lettered for the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway (also known as the Monon). This is an new and improved version of my old design for this car. The flat car is a Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific AAR 53ft car with Caterpillar tractor load. Also new and improved from my previous design.

But wait, there’s more!

I don’t want to just beat Tony’s F7s, I don’t want to just match Rob’s overgrown Tiny Shay, I want a grand slam. I want to set records and have a heck of a story to tell.

To do this, I’m bringing in some help from my friends. To help set a record, I have three mystery bonus cars to add to the auction. Glenn Holland, Scott Roys, and Conrad Schlenker have each designed and generously donated a car for the auction train. What cars you ask? Well they are going to be kept secret until the auction, but trust me, they are awesome and you will want them. Here is how this is going to work.

Once the auction price hits $2700 (Tony’s F7s price from 2019), we will add on one of the special cars to the train. If the auction price hits $3400 (Rob’s Loco from last year) we will add a second bonus car. If it hopefully reaches $3600 (the record from what I’m told for any item at the Brickworld Charity Auction) we add the final car. If any of the bonus goals are not met, those cars will get auctioned off individually.

And that’s how you do crazy auction things.

Thank You to these Sponsors

Scott Hoffmeyer of Bricktracks will be donating a full circle of R104 Curve track to go with the train set.

Andy Mollmann of OKBrickworks is donating all the decal printing for these models.

Rob Hendrix of Lifelites has donated the 3D printed drivers for the locomotive, and other miscellaneous 3D printed parts for the build.

Final Thoughts Before the Big Event

It is just crazy for me to comprehend that I’m actually doing this. But it is the thrill of the challenge, and the camaraderie of friends engaging in fun rivalry that brings me here. And it’s for an awesome cause. I never been able to bid at the auctions like some out there, my budget is smaller than my dreams. But one thing I can do is build, and I’ve been accused of being an ok train builder. I may not have the paycheck to buy at the auction, so this is how I can give back.

I really hope this train brings a crazy price at auction. Not for my ego, but because it is going to help children’s charities. Helping kids is the greatest reward here. So if you can be there at the auction, bid generously, it’s for the children.

Thank you, and see you at Brickworld.

LEGO® News

OcTRAINber 2022 — Rebuilds & Retrofits

August 26, 2022 Chris Stone 1 Comment

Hello again, everybody! October isn’t quite here yet, but it’s just about time to get rolling for this year’s OcTRAINber. We’re going to be making a couple tweaks to the format this year that I’ll explain later in the post, but for now let’s get into the rundown on this year’s theme: “Rebuilds & Retrofits“.

Railroads have had a long history of taking old cars or engines and trying to use them for as long as possible. Railroad equipment is expensive, after all. Old equipment is kept repaired and patched up as best as it can be, but sometimes these old pieces of stock end up being changed for something very different. Locomotives may be altered significantly to help them better fit in a different role, such as a tank engine having its tanks removed and replaced with a tender. Sometimes old passenger cars end up heavily rebuilt for a non-revenue role and go on to serve as Maintenance-of-Way equipment. Some freight cars end up rebuilt as passenger service cars, or stripped down and turned into a bridge.

That, ultimately, is what this year’s OcTRAINber is all about. We’re looking for models of Railroad equipment that has been rebuilt or retrofitted to serve a different or altered function from its original intent. In addition, we’d like to see two LEGO models, one of both the before AND after – show us how the subject has changed!

Hammond Lumber Co.’s 2-6-6-2t #6 was later converted to a tender engine and sold to Southwest Lumber, where it was re-numbered to #12

The Challenge

Ultimately, we’re looking for major changes in the modeled subjects. While a boxcar with friction-bearing trucks getting an upgrade to roller-bearing trucks does indeed count as a retrofit, it’s not a very large change and won’t score many points. What we’re really looking for is something that has been changed to operate in a significantly different way, or something that has been altered to look drastically different.

We realize that this year’s theme requires building two models – but we’re very open to options. There are several acceptable ways to reach this criteria:

1. Build both versions of the model in LEGO Bricks.
2. Build both versions of the model digitally
3. Build one version in LEGO, and one version digitally
4. Build and photograph one version in LEGO bricks, then actually alter it to the second version and photograph that. Both versions need not exist simultaneously; they just need to be photographed and submitted together in a single entry

Southern Pacific removed the engine components from 9010 and rebuilt the nose, turning it into a camera car and re-numbering it to 8799

Rules

Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no Mods (thus also no sets), only original MOCs.
One entry per person, per category. You can enter as many categories as you like, but you can only enter one model in each category. We want quality over quantity. So pick your best model and make it shine.
Third party parts are allowed, clone bricks aren’t. We know this can be a thin line, just walk it wisely, and we’ll do our best to judge fairly on this.
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 August 1st 2022 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 does not count as entries! These threads will open on September 1st.
We will be accepting entries from Midnight on September 1st to Midnight on November 1st (meaning October 31st, at 23:59 PDT). Due to the scale of the competition as well as helping efforts to expedite the judging, we’ve opted to start OcTRAINber early instead of having it run long into the holiday season. This also means there will be no extensions this year, so make sure you’re all ready by the end of October!
Digital entries are allowed, and will be competing in the same categories as the physical models. As mentioned before, we are accepting “mixed-media” entries due to requiring two models, so you are welcome to submit one Physical and one Digital model to complete an entry.

A second deck has been added to this New Haven flatcar to facilitate maintenance on the electrified lines

Categories

There will be four categories to enter this year, with a winner for each. There will also be an extra Grand Prize winner, as we’ve done in some previous years, for a total of five prizes.

The Categories are as follows:

1. Steam Locomotives

2. Other Locomotives (E.G. Diesels, Electrics, Rail buses, anything that provides its own motive power)

3. Rolling Stock (E.G. Freight, Passenger, MOW, etc)

4. Buildings and Structures (E.G. repurposed stations, rail cars that have been repurposed as bridges.)

If you are building something that could go in multiple categories, for example a flatcar (rolling stock) that has been repurposed into a bridge (structure), then we’d recommend entering it in the category that best fits what it has been adapted into. In this example the flatcar has been turned into a bridge, and should be entered as a structure.

This ATSF Boxcar was converted into a bridge over a canal

Judging and Scoring

Entries will be judged primarily on these three criteria:

1. Accuracy to Prototype — How well do your models represent their real-life counterparts? Proportions, detailing, and functionality all help out here.

2. WIP Story — Include pictures and information on the real-life counterparts to your build, show the build process, and highlight the differences between the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ versions of your model.

3. Transformation Factor — This is focused on how significant of a change took place. Something like changing the trucks out to reflect a bearing type upgrade will score much lower than something that has been changed to operate or be used in a significantly different or unique way; or has been altered to look drastically different.

As always, keep in mind that OcTRAINber is a ‘quality over quantity’ building event. This means that we encourage (and give higher scores for) higher-quality entries as opposed to several sub-par ones. Build your best, and don’t rush yourself to try to hit something in every category.

While we’ve tried to give several examples for things that will fit into the theme, the examples listed are not exhaustive. We encourage you to explore and find some really amazing things to enter, so if you find something that you feel really grabs the spirit of the theme then go ahead. If it’s something really out there that won’t fit into one of the listed categories, feel free to ask for clarification.

Final Words

The last couple years, the judging for OcTRAINber hasn’t exactly been the quickest, and that’s something we would really like to change this year. November and December are filled with Holidays and train shows, and mixed with the growing number of entries it’s been getting quite difficult to find a good time to get through everything once Thanksgiving starts to hit.

To help alleviate that, for all of you as well as for the judges, instead of extending OcTRAINber into November, we are going to start it earlier this year and will work to have the judging taken care of before the big holiday season starts up. Starting September 1st is certainly change, but we still end it in October, so it totally counts, right?

We will have more articles posted in the coming months with more information as needed.

OcTRAINber has always been fun for us, and we’re excited to see what you all come up with to enter this year. Thank you for reading, and we hope you have as much fun with the event as we do.

Happy building!

NYC’s #5344 Hudson has run both with and without the streamlined panels

About BMR, Products

St Louis Refrigerator Car Co. 36ft Beer Car NMRA 2022 Premium Instructions Update: New Special Limited Scheme for July 4th.

July 1, 2022 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

BMR’s model of the St Louis Refrigerator Car Co. 36ft Beer Car is commemorating the L-Gauge Modular Standard LEGO® train layout that will be on display at the NMRA 2022 National Train Show Premium Instructions. If you have not reserved one, then read on and see what the car is about and be sure to reserve yours before the 11:59pm EST July 4th 2022 order deadline. And if you have already reserved a car, then skip ahead and take a look at a special bonus scheme for the car that we are only offering for the July 4th weekend.

Test model with printed parts seen at Brickworld 2022. Note red pin stipe has not been applied yet.

The St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company (SLRX) was a private refrigerator car line established on February 3, 1878, by Anheuser-Busch brewing company. SLRX was formed to facilitate large-scale distribution of Anheuser-Busch’s products via the U.S. rail network. The SLRX not only built its own bunkerless reefers, but maintained and operated them as well.

In 1919 the firm was acquired by Manufacturers Railway Company (MRS), another Anheuser-Busch transportation subsidiary that provided switching service to the brewery and interchange connection with the common carrier railroads serving St. Louis.

BMR’s Limited Edition model faithfully recreates one of the Iconic cars of the St Louis Car Company. This 36ft bunkerless refrigerator car was used from 1913 through to the 1950s. Our model represents this car in its post World War II scheme with white cars sides, an enlarged emblem, and a maroon stripe along the bottom of the car side.

For this model we are offering the choice of decals printed by OKBrickworks, or a printed parts upgrade on new, genuine parts printed by BrickForge. One decal set, or printed part set will be included in each instruction kit. Each decal or printed part set will come with an individual car number so that no two cars will have the same car number. We are also offering extra decal sets and printed part sets for those who want to build more than one car.

Special Liberty Bonds Paint Scheme Only Available for July 4th Weekend

Liberty Bonds scheme used during World War One

Of course the “Late SLRX” paint scheme we modeled on the standard car is not the only scheme these cars used over the years. And while digging through archives we found one that we thought was pretty neat. During World War One, many railroads had equipment painted in special schemes promoting causes in support of the American war effort. The Saint Louis Refrigerator Car Company did so by painting an undetermined number of cars in a special paint scheme to promote Liberty Bonds.

A Liberty Bond was a debt obligation issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in conjunction with the Federal Reserve. Also known as a Liberty Loan, it was a war bond, issued in four installments in 1917-18 as a means to finance the U.S.’ participation in World War I and the Allied war effort in Europe.

As a special bonus, BMR is releasing this paint scheme as an add on to the celebrate the United States Independence this July 4th weekend.

We are offering this special scheme in the choice of decals printed by OKBrickworks, or a printed parts on new, genuine parts printed by BrickForge. You will of course still need the standard Premium Instruction Kit to build the model as the Liberty Bonds Scheme is just being offered as a decal or printed parts add on. Each decal or printed part set will come with an individual car number so that no two cars will have the same car number.

Orders Close 11:59pm July 4th

This is Limited Edition Model and will only be available for a one time run of Instruction kits. Pre orders for this model will end on 11:59pm EST July 4th 2022. Once pre orders close, Instruction Kits will be produced to fill those orders. Expected shipping date will be late July to mid August.

Be sure to order your copy of this special model and the bonus Liberty Bonds paint scheme at the link bellow before it’s gone for good.

St Louis Refrigerator Car Company NMRA 2022 National Train Show Products

About BMR, Decals, Products

BMR is celebrating its 5th Anniversary, BMR is attending Brickworld, and We Have a Special New Car for the 2022 NMRA Show

May 31, 2022 Cale Leiphart 1 Comment

It’s hard to believe, but Brick Model Railroader is 5 Years old this year. Launched on December 30th, 2016 as a LEGO train news and informations website, BMR has grown to include a YouTube channel, a line of custom train instructions, and custom LEGO@ train accessories.

Check out our nifty 5th Anniversary logo.

We’re are still committed to our original purpose of bringing you LEGO train news, showcasing awesome models built by those of you in the train community, bringing you informative articles on building techniques and layout design. Yes I know we’ve been quiet around here lately. Such is life, it sometimes takes you away from things you should be doing. But we ready to get back into the groove of writing some great articles for you. There is some exciting stuff coming up in the hobby this year, and we want to be there to share it with you.

Now let’s cover some of the other cool things coming to BMR.

Continue reading →

Events, Layouts, LEGO® News

Great Scale Model Train Show: February, 2022 L-Gauge Modular Standard Layout

May 26, 2022 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

On February 5th and 6th, 2022 several LEGO® train builders gathered in Timonium, Maryland for the Great Scale Model Train Show to put together and display a L-Gauge Modular Standard (LGMS) train layout. The layout was planned and coordinated by Monty Smith. Contributors included Justin and Jesica Rupp, Nate Robinson, Eric Swanson, Robert Tebeau, Cale Leiphart, Glenn Holland, Brandon Burt, Robert Douthwaite, Bob Hayes, Jason Miller, and John Albright.

So first, maybe we should review what LGMS is. The objective of the L-Gauge Modular System (LGMS) is to provide a platform for realistic group layouts where a number of participants can bring LGMS modules to an event and assemble a coherent, reliable, and plausible layout suitable for public display, realistic operations and switching, or loop running where applicable.

LGMS uses a carefully designed set of standards for building layout modules so that every one is bringing a module can seamlessly mate up to any other module following the standards. The most up to date standard can be found on the LGMS website.

The Layout

The show layout measured 67ft long x 15ft wide, with several bridges, sidings, industries, a branch line, and a staging yard incorporated into the layout. Monty Smith, the layout coordinator, did an awesome job working within the confines of the space we were given by the show while still designing an interesting layout with some creative running opportunities.

Here is a video tour of the layout.

February Timonium Show Layout Tour

And here are some of the trains we ran over the weekend.

Trainspotting!

And here are my still photos from the show.

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzRxZZ

Operations

On Sunday morning of the show, we held a mini operating session. What is an operating session you ask? The typical model railroad operating session seeks to model how the real railroads operate on a daily basis. Just like a real railroad, one can perform tasks on a layout such as delivering and picking up freight cars to and from industries, classifying (sorting) cars in the yard from arriving trains, and building outbound trains. Passenger trains make station stops and can be assembled and broken down in the passenger yard. Traffic control, a train dispatcher and signaling can also be involved.

For this op session, we really just wanted to play around and get a feel for what we could do. It was a pretty laid back, made up as we go fair, but was quite fun, and a good learning experience for future op sessions.

Robert Tebeau and myself staging our locomotives in preparation for the Op session.

Myself, Justin Rupp, and Robert Tebeau took the role of running freight trains and switching on the layout. Each of us controlling our own locomotive. Bob Hayes operated a passenger train, stopping regularly at stations and taking priority on the main line. Monty played the role of dispatcher, instructing each freight train/switcher on what cars to pick up and set out and where they needed to go, while also directing the passenger train schedule.

As I said, it was pretty laid back, and maybe could have done with a little more advanced planning, but we all had a blast and operated for close to an hour before stopping as the show crowd picked up and we went back to running trains normally. It was a great learning experience and we plan to try another op session based on our experience at the 2022 Brickworld event coming up in June.

In Conclusion

This show was a ton of fun. The layout was planned well, and there were some great modules making up the display. We ran a wide variety of trains, from Steam to diesel to moderns high speed trains, and there was no shortage of excellent rolling stock to pull.

A big hand goes out to Monty who was our LGMS coordinator and layout planner for this show. This was not Monty’s first LGMS layout, he has coordinated two previous LGMS layouts the Great Scale Model Train Show and also one for Brickfair Virginia 2021. He is also helping with the track plan for two upcoming shows, Brickworld, and the NMRA National Train Show, coordinating for the Brickfair Virgina LGMS layout, and will be coordinating the October GSMTS LGMS layout. Monty has got this layout planning thing on lockdown and his hard work is much appreciated. And he also builds some cool trains.

Some of Monty’s Diesel handiwork in the staging yard.

For more information on LGMS and also upcoming shows featuring an LGMS layout you can visit the LGMS website and join the LGMS Facebook group. Links below.

LGMS.org

LGMS Facebook Group

Events, Models, People

Rail Car Secret Santa 2020 Part 4

December 18, 2021 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

We’re back with the final installment of our look at the cars from the Secret Santa Rail Car Exchange I participated with in 2020. If you are just joining us, take a look at part one, two, and three of this series to catch up on the what, how, who, and why and see the cars you missed. We have some time.

Rail Car Secret Santa 2020 Part 1

Rail Car Secret Santa 2020 Part 2

Rail Car Secret Santa 2020 Part 3

Alright, let’s dig in to the next group of cars.

Continue reading →

Events, Models, People

Rail Car Secret Santa 2020 part 2

December 16, 2021 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

We’re back to look at a few more of the cars from the Secret Santa Rail Car Exchange I participated with in 2020. If you are just joining us, take a look at part one of this series to catch up on the what, how, who, and why. We’ll wait for you.

Rail Car Secret Santa 2020 Part 1

Alright, let’s dig in to the next group of cars.

Roadrailer: Trevor’s build for Monty

Trevor drew Monty’s name, and the car he built to gift was perfect for Monty’s fleet. Trevor choose to model one of the more interesting pieces of intermodal equipment to come out of the 1980s, the Roadrailer.

The complete Roadrailer kit. The truck sitting beside the trailer is used when connecting one roadrailer trailer to another roadrailer trailer.

RoadRailers were specialty trailers that could easily be moved from the highway to the rails without having to be loaded onto a flatcar. The technology dates back to the 1950s. The trailers were built with integrated railroad wheelsets that could be lowered into position when the trailer was pulled behind a train. However it was not until the 1980s that the idea finally gained traction.

Modern roadrailers do not include integrated railroad wheels, but ride on regular trucks that do double-duty, serving as articulation points between multiple trailers in a train. Each regular truck is equipped with one fifth wheel at one end and a connector plate at the other end. The connector plate slides into a female receptacle on the rear of the trailer in front and is secured with a steel pin. At the head of a Road Railer train there is an adaptor truck equipped with one fifth wheel and one regular AAR Type “E” or Type “F” automatic coupler. Each semi-trailer has one king pin at each end. Because the truck (bogie) is significantly lighter than a rail flatcar or well-car, roadrailer freight trains are much lighter and therefore are more energy efficient than traditional intermodal trains.

Though the use of road railers has waned in recent years, Triple Crown still uses them. The “TCSZ” on the trailer is the AAR reporting mark for Triple Crown Service. The trailer number beginning with 464 indicates that the trailer was built approximately 1999–2002, and weighs only 1,000 lb (454 kg) more than a regular highway-only trailer.

Frisco Express Reefer: Jeffry’s model for Bradley

Those of us who know Bradley, know he has a bit of a love for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, or as it’s more commonly known, the Frisco. Love may be an understatement, I swear he eats sleeps and breaths nothing but Frisco. So when Jeff pulled Bradley’s name, the road choice was obvious.

With the road choice nailed down, the choice of car type came next. Bradley has already modeled a very nice Frisco train depot, so Jeff played into that and built a piece of head end equipment to compliment Brad’s depot. And what head end car is cooler than an express reefer. Pun fully intended.

Jeff’s Frisco Express Reefer in front of Bradleys awesome train depot.

Express refrigerator cars were used to carry perishable crops like berries and melons to distant markets at passenger train speeds before spoilage could occur. Normally, they were operated at the head end of passenger trains, which required that the cars meet the same design standards as steel postal cars in terms of high speed trucks, passenger car brake systems, air, steam and signal lines, passenger car buffers as well as passenger paint and lettering schemes.

This car was built by American Car & Foundry, AC&F. The car is 50ft in length and featured passenger style trucks and of course is lettered for Bradley’s favorite road, the Frisco.

Matt’s Northern Pacific Wood Chip Gondola for Jeffry

Matt drew Jeff, and the resulting car is a really nice wood chip gondola. Here is some more info from Matt on his car.

My build was for Jeff Fonda. His railroads and era of choice were Northern Pacific (NP) or Great Northern (GN), and mid to late steam (40’s to 50’s). The first step was to find a prototype, one that hadn’t been modeled already by Brick Model Railroader (BMR) or Brick Train Depot (BTD) – meeting all three of these criteria would prove to be tough!

In the beginning I quickly realized that both these roads had woodchip gondolas, which was a type of car I personally hadn’t seen done in Lego before (which meant BMR and BTD certainly hadn’t done it). The problem was that the majority of the cars I was seeing were later than Jeff’s chosen build era. I briefly started looking at other types of cars, but since a woodchip hopper had been something I’d wanted to build for a while I came back and searched a bit harder. Eventually I found the NP 52000-52749 series of cars, which were drop-bottom gondolas built in 1937.

Northern Pacific wood chip car in Pasco, Washington. Photo by Ron Hawkins.

By now you’ve probably seen the photos of the car, and may be thinking, “Matt, don’t you know anything about math? 118837 is not between 52000 and 52749!” You would be correct. These types of wood chip cars, like wood chip cars on many other railroads, were in-house conversions from existing cars. The few 52000 series cars that were converted for wood chip service were renumbered to NP 118500-118540. Now you might think, “OK, but you’re still 297 cars off…” I also found the NP 118800 series of cars, which were very similar 40’ drop-bottom gondolas converted to wood chip service. In my research I learned that these wood chip cars were used in captive service to specific mills and the extensions were to increase capacity were designed by the mills, thus the design varied between each class.

W&R Enterprises HO Scale Brass Northern Pacific Wood Chip Gondola by Jeff Lemke Trains, Inc.

The resources I found for the 118500 series were very scarce, and the few photos I found showed the cars in 1980 being prepped for retirement and wearing much different livery than they would’ve in the 40’s or 50’s. I also found very few photos of model cars, and these were low quality and only from the side. The source I had found for the 118800 series cars had a number of very large photos of a very well-detailed model. There were some features of these cars that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get right, so I decided to merge the two designs. The fact that each mill had different designs for the cars that it was served by in my mind lent credibility to my design.

Once the prototype was settled upon, it was time to design the car! Some of the prominent details that I tried to capture included the corrugated ends and ribs of the gondola, the flat, smooth sides of the extensions, the rods to operate the door mechanisms, and the gap between the floor and the trucks, due to the need for the entire length of the car to be able to dump, which also puts the underbody details on display.

*Studio render of my final design, missing a few pieces and with large gaps between SNOT assemblies*.

The widest part of the car ended up being 9-wide since the corrugated ends needed to be an even width (8-wide) and the ribs and upper lip of the gondola extended beyond this. The design is almost entirely SNOTed, with lots of internal structure to hold everything in place securely. (It may have been a bit overbuilt, but that probably helped it get to Illinois in a minimal number of pieces!)

*Some of the internal assembly and SNOT holding the car together.*

Once the design was done, it was time to order parts and decals. Lately, my preferred method for ordering parts is to make a wanted list on Bricklink, use the auto-select function to automatically generate carts, then order two or three of these carts at a time. This way I don’t have to make a special order for the one or two missing parts if there’s any parts missing from orders, last-minute changes to the design, or if I simply forget a piece. (I ordered all the parts at once for a boxcar I recently built and was missing a single 2×2 tile in the end…) The downside to this method is that I can’t start building it when the parts start arriving (though I still did that anyways).

Partially assembled bits of freight car.

The last step before shipping it was to photograph the car for my records and to share on social media. Without a dedicated photo area or workspace, this involves dragging furniture around…

My makeshift photo area using a not-so-handy dresser.

Then the last step was to pack it up and ship it out! I’ve heard the motto “if it shakes, it breaks” from the ceramics industry, so I took that advice and packed the box with bubble wrap and paper so that when I shook the box I couldn’t hear movement. As far as I know it didn’t break in transit, so I think it worked!

Lots of paper… and some bubble wrap!

Lastly, here are some more shots of the completed car.

Part 3 Coming Friday

That’s three more cars down, and we still have 5 more models to go. Come back tomorrow to see the next group of cars.

About BMR, Contests, Events

OcTRAINber 2021 “Critters”

October 1, 2021 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

Hello train builders. October is here and you may have noticed that we’ve been a bit quiet on our annual OcTRAINber build challenge event this year. Life as, it sometime does, has kept us busy with things other than LEGO® trains. However, we didn’t want the community to miss this years OcTRAINber. So, we decided that for the fifth year in a row, OcTRAINber must go on!

Last years OcTRAINber, “Dioramas, Dioramas Everywhere”, was a big one. Both in scope, and work for builders and us judging. Since we have not had the big pre announcement of theme, and run up to October allowing builders to plan big projects ahead of time, we have decided this year to head in the opposite direction and pick a theme much smaller in scope.

This years theme will be “Critters”.

“Sweet Toot” a critter style locomotive built by Plymouth for the Domino Sugar co. Now preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum.

Loosely defined, a critter is a light-duty or industrial switching locomotive between 300 to 1000 h.p. weighing less than 100 tons, although most tip the scales at less than half that weight. These small locomotives are usually built to fill a specific need for each customer. This results in these tiny engines often having an odd look about them. They can be found in most industrial settings, such as a steel mill, but can be seen hauling coal at a power plant, clay at a brick factory, as well as junk yards and lumber mills. Some are used by the railroads as shop switchers to move dead locomotives around for maintenance or repair. Critters have been manufactured in standard or narrow gauge. Critters can be diesel electric like their “big brothers”, some are pure electric running on trolly poles or even battery power, and others are gas mechanical with a transmission.

Reading shop switcher 1251 certainly fits the spirit of the critter locomotive.

While smaller steam locomotives are not typically thought of as “Critters”, there are abundant examples throughout the steam era that fit the critter mold perfectly, so we’re going to throw them in as well.

A battery-powered shop switcher at the Chessie System/C&O terminal in Huntington, West Virginia is seen here during May of 1984. The little critter was built by General Electric in 1917 for the Chesapeake & Ohio and today resides at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. Rob Kitchen photo.

But wait, there is more. Locomotives are fun, but rolling stock can be great too. And what use is a locomotive if you have nothing to pull with it? So we adding small rolling stock categories in as well. This can be anything from a mine cart, to a small caboose. Any type of rolling stock that is a bit smaller than usual.

Lehigh Valley 2606 is a classic “Bobber” style caboose. Short in length and with only for wheels. These cabooses were not the best riding cars, but they are iconic of early 20th century railroading.

Like the previous installments of OcTRAINber, the idea of this building challenge is to actually challenge builders. To get us out of our comfort zones. We Trainheads build a lot of trains, but we too often focus on the big fancy trains. The big freight locomotives and the first class passenger trains. But there is a whole world of interesting railroad subjects that while smaller in stature, are just as hard working and important. This is your mission, to build the little unsung heroes of the train world. Unleash the Critters!

Rules

Ok, we do have some rules to go over first. Our intent is to keep things simple here and let you have as much creative freedom as possible, but do have to keep things orderly and fair, so bear with us.

Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no MODs (thus also no sets), only original MOCs.
One entry per person, per category. You can enter as many categories as you like, but you can only enter one model in each category. We want quality over quantity. So pick your best model and make it shine.
Third party parts are allowed, clone bricks aren’t. We know this can be a thin line, just walk it wisely, and we’ll do our best to judge fairly on this.
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 August 1st 2021 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! These threads will open on October 1st.
We will be accepting entries from Midnight on October 1st to Midnight on November 15th (meaning November 14th, at 23:59 PDT). That’s right, you have six weeks of OcTRAINber. Why the late deadline? Well in the past we’ve announced the theme ahead of time, giving builders time to plan and order parts if needed. Since we did not have a pre announcement this year, were giving you all an extra two weeks bast the end of October to get your entries in.
Digital entries are allowed. Keep in mind though that digital entries are competing in the same categories as real physical models. So to be fair we will be looking at digital models as if they are genuine physical models. Ask yourself, can this be built in real life? If not, then it may not fair well in judging. This is where showing your “work in progress” will really be important.

Points

Points will be awarded in three categories: Credibility, WIP Story, and Build.

First of all, credibility of the prototype. This means we will be looking at how much the build represents the real life prototype. If you are sending in a fantasy model, we will look at how credible the build is; would it fit in, does the backstory make sense?

Second of all, the WIP story. This refers to both showing off your building process, but also to how and why you decided to model a certain prototype. The better the story and the more updates you give and the more elaborate your building story is, the better.

Third and last but no less important, the build itself. How detailed is it, how accurate is it, does it look like what it is intended to look like. Does it use pieces in a clever way. Does it use clever build techniques. Does it make every ones jaw drop in amazement.

Prizes & Winners

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.

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 15th. 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.

Final Words

For the past four years, OcTRAINber has been organized by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, a.k.a. Raised. Unfortunately due to a growing family life and career commitments Gerbrand felt the need to step down from organizing this year’s event. We are extremely grateful here at BMR for all the hard work Gerbrand has put into OcTRAINber and we will miss his presence in this year’s challenge. With out him, OcTRAINber would not be what it is today. So let’s all give Gerbrand a big thank you making OcTRAINber the event we all know and love.

Thank you Gerbrand, and we hope some day you find the time to once again have a hand in this challenge. Until then, we will do our best to continue what you started and keep it awesome.

So, that’s it for now. OcTRAINber has officially started. Now the only thing you have to do is start building, and unleash the critters! Happy OcTRAINber!

Gerbrand on the left , and Cale Leiphart on the right, visiting the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 2019.

Contests, LEGO Train News

Contests Contests!

February 21, 2021 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

Hello readers. Today we have two quick little items on some current contests going on in the LEGO® train community.

Brick Train Awards

If you haven’t been following, the Brick Train Awards is back for 2021.

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 5^th.

You have one week to still get your entries in. For more info on the Brick Train Awards, follow the link below.

Brick Train Awards Website

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!

Questions?
Send questions about the contest to texasbrickrr@gmail.com.

FAQ

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.

Events

TRAINS AT BRICKWORLD VIRTUAL Con, OCTOBER 31ST

October 23, 2020 Cale Leiphart Leave a comment

Feeling a little down that there are no in person LEGO® Fan Events this year? Do you miss doing train stuff with fellow hobbyists? Us too. But while we wait for the world to return to a more normal state where we can all attend shows safely again, we can gather together with friends at the Brickworld Virtual Con this October 30th, and 31st.

October Brickworld Virtual Con

LEGO Train Community Roundtable

There will be many activities going on over the two day schedule which you can find here, and we encourage you to take part in as many as you can. But we know you want to here about what train things thee will be. Fortunately there will be two sessions devoted entirely to LEGO trains. The first of which is the LEGO Train Community Roundtable scheduled for 11am central time, 12pm eastern on October 31st.

The Train Community Roundtable is a tradition for Brickworld. It’s a typically laid back session where train builders gather to discuss new products, hobby news, techniques, and many other LEGO train related topics. This time we hope to steer discussions toward trackside scenery and landscaping two tie in with our OcTRAINber contest on BMR. We’ll also devote some time a train builders to show and tell. If you have a model or project you’ve been working on, join in and show it off. BMR will be there with our own Cale Leiphart as host with the help of several other LEGO train fans.

L-Gauge Modular Standard Discussion

At 1pm Central/2pm Eastern October 31st we will have an hour long session devoted to the L-Gauge Modular Standard. For those new to the LGMS we’ll have an introduction to the standard with the what why and how. We also hope to discuss expansion of some of the standard’s definitions, such as overhead track clearances, new module types, etc. And lastly we would like to touch on future shows and events where LGMS style layouts are planned.

So join us on October 31st and let’s talk trains.