Tag Archives: Train

Premium Instruction Restocks and New Decals Added to the BMR Store

Premium Instruction Restocks

Many have been asking when we will be restocking our first four Premium Instruction Kits, and we’ve been listening. Previously, we’ve made a batch of kits to sell, and when they’ve sold out, you would have to wait until we could restock again. We’re going to do things a little different this time though. Since it’s hard for us to gauge demand for each kit, this time we are going to do a pre-order run. So we are opening up pre-orders today, February 5th and will keep it open until March 5th, and how ever many orders we have for each kit is how many we will produce. Once orders are closed, we will need a little time to get the instruction books in from the printer, parts for the wheel sets, and assemble kits. We hope to start shipping orders in mid to late March.

We are doing this for two reasons. Firstly, we hope by doing this that every one who has not had a chance to buy one or all of the cars yet will be able to get them. Second, as we are looking to produce new Premium Instructions for 2018, we want to focus most of our energy toward those new projects, so we are hoping we can do one last big run of the four original cars before diving headlong into new ones. Don’t worry, the original four won’t be gone for good by any means. We hope you’ll agree with us when we want to offer more exciting and new stuff, ideas for which are more than plentiful.

You can find the Pullman PS-1 Box Car, USRA 55ton Hopper, ACF Type 27 Tank Car, and AAR 70ton 53ft Flat Car in our online store.

Brick Model Railroader Store

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2018 Amherst Train Show Report

Every year late in January or early in February, the Amherst Railway Society holds its Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds (The home of The Big E) in West Springfield, Massachusetts. More than 22,500 railfans and public attended the Show each of the past five years.

This year, the show was held on Saturday January 27th & Sunday 28th. The New England LEGO Users Group was there displaying their amazing Lego train/city layout, and I traveled up to see it, represent Brick Model Railroader, and experience the show.

Maine Central models from Patrick Strawbridge of NELUG

Continue reading 2018 Amherst Train Show Report

NELUG and Brick Model Railroader will be at the 50th Amherst Railway Show January 27th and 28th

On Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 January, the New England LEGO Users Group will be displaying their amazing Lego train/city layout at the 50th Annual Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show at The Big E Fairground in Springfield, Massachusetts.

NELUG layout from the 2015 show.

About the Show

Every year late in January or early in February, the Amherst Railway Society holds its Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds (The home of The Big E) in West Springfield Massachusetts. More than 22,500 railfans and public attended the Show each of the past five years.

Continue reading NELUG and Brick Model Railroader will be at the 50th Amherst Railway Show January 27th and 28th

Brick Model Railroader and PennLUG Travel to the 2018 World’s Greatest Hobby on Tour Show in Monroeville PA

PennLUG, and Brick Model Railroader visited the World’s Greatest Hobby on Tour’s first stop of 2018 this past weekend in Monroeville, just outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Both myself and Glenn Holland were filling dual roles supporting our club, PennLUG’s, LEGO® train layout, and representing BMR at it’s first show in 2018.

Ma&Pa no.43 waits in Red Lion for a passenger train to clear the line.

Continue reading Brick Model Railroader and PennLUG Travel to the 2018 World’s Greatest Hobby on Tour Show in Monroeville PA

Calling in the “Big Hook” A Bangor and Aroostook Wrecker from William Dumond

The Wrecker, or railroad wreck crane/derrick was once a common part of a railroad’s Maintenance of Way fleet in North America. They we’re kept at the ready in railroad yards in a wreck train waiting for the call to service any time the railroad had a derailment or wreck needing cleaned up. Today most railroads subcontract wreck cleanup to outside companies, but a few railroads still hang on to a wrecker or two for emergencies, and many vintage wreckers can be found in railroad museums today. The wrecker is a fascinating machine to model, even sitting idle in a yard it can provide much interest to any one’s model railroad.

Today we’re taking a look at an awesome build of the Bangor and Aroostook’s X127 Wrecker from William Dumond.

Bangor and Aroostook Wrecker from William Dumond

Packed up and ready for the next call to service. William’s model has all the right details.

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Our AAR 53′ 70 Ton Flat Car Premium Instructions are now on sale, plus Restocks!

Our fourth premium instructions, for the AAR 53′ 70 Ton Flat Car are now available for purchase in our store!

See our video review here

Continue reading Our AAR 53′ 70 Ton Flat Car Premium Instructions are now on sale, plus Restocks!

OcTRAINber: A Short Service Announcement

This is a short service announcement for everybody that is eagerly waiting for the final results of the first season of OcTRAINber. We would like to tell of you you that we apologize for the silence from our side, but we are working on the judging as we speak. It has been some busy times for all of us after OcTRAINber ended, which kind of derailed our schedule when it comes to the judging.

We however would like to stress that this has been a great OcTRAINber and we are happy to see so many high quality entries! This obviously makes it even more difficult for us to judge, but it is a price we are more than willing to pay!

So, to keep this service announcement as short as possible: Thanks again for participating and for making OcTRAINber a succes. Our four judges (including myself) are busy judging the entries and hope to finish this as soon as possible. When we have the final results in, we will ofcourse communicate it immediately!

Drifting with Sunder

I agree, this topic title normally makes more sense over at our friends of The Lego Car Blog but thanks to well-know Sci-Fi trains and space builder Sunder, we can now also use this title over at BMR, and not without a reason. Just have a look at this great YouTube video and you know what I mean!

I’m to be honest not sure what is more addictive; that song or seeing 3 minutes of drifting by a Lego Train…

As you can see, Sunder is a great builder who also knows his ways in 3D rendering, which actually gives us the excuse to also feature another of his models which he posted about a week ago. Just have a look and decide for yourself if this is actually a render, or real life bricks…

Want to see more? Just drop by at Sunder’s Flickr for more pictures of these and several other great Sci-Fi trains!

When is a LEGO® Train Not A LEGO® Train Anymore?

Crossing The Purity Line.

If you you’ve been following the LEGO Train Fan Club Facebook group recently you probably have seen the ongoing discussion on Mike Moon’s 3D printed car bodies for LEGO trains. If you haven’t, take a read through here.

Mike’s original post presented his 3D printed trolley car body designed to fit on a LEGO brick built train base. It has since ignited a discussion about what is and is not a LEGO train, and what techniques are acceptable to the community and what ones are a step too far.

Brick Model Railroader’s own ball bearing equipped wheel sets, are certainly not pure LEGO. But are they acceptable in the LEGO train hobby?

Continue reading When is a LEGO® Train Not A LEGO® Train Anymore?

A Tail Of The Blue Comet: The Seashore’s Finest Train In LEGO by Cale Leiphart

My first encounter with the Blue Comet was at the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg Pennsylvania. It was an O scale model of the train made by MTH, sitting on a display shelf in the main display room. I fell in love with the train almost immediately. It was a very striking train, with the locomotive painted in an eye catching blue with gold pin striping, and nickel plated accents. The passenger cars also blue, with an attractive band of white running down the windows. It was beautiful train from a different time, a time when rail travel was king, and a journey on a train was something special. The Blue Comet had caught my imagination like so many before. I knew that I was going to be the one to bring this train to life again in LEGO.

My LEGO model of the Blue Comet train set.
Advertisement for the Blue Comet from the period.

The Central Railroad of New Jersey’s Blue Comet

“A Deluxe Class Train, for a Coach Class Fare”
Continue reading A Tail Of The Blue Comet: The Seashore’s Finest Train In LEGO by Cale Leiphart