Cale Leiphart

  • Cale Leiphart wrote a new post 4 years ago

    It’s that time of year again. The air is turning colder, strings of lights are going up, and Christmas music is playing somewhere in the distance. Trains and the Holidays were made for each other. We here at B […]

  • 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 […]

  • Brick Model Railroader is proud to bring you our latest product. Our Brick Train Compatible Knuckle Coupler. BMR, in partnership with BrickForge, has been work- ing on a replacement for the old LEGO® 9v era mag […]

  • Yes, we should have them available for sale very soon.

  • Hi Ben

    Our couplers will be very easy to install, no tools, or glue necessary and will come fully assembled. Our draft gear boxes are designed to work with existing Kadee couplers, the 743 and 747, and adapt them to LEGO® train use. Just like a genuine LEGO part, these have studs and will snap into place.

    We will be releasing the new…[Read more]

  • By Sal Ciofani

    So you’ve decided to step beyond just laying LEGO track on baseplates, so you have added ballast and reddish brown or black ties to really make your track come to life.  You might even say it […]

  • Article by Conrad Schlenker

    In the past, we have seen great and highly informative articles from Hod Carrier and Matt Csenge on simple but good-looking details anyone can build to add detail to their track. […]

  • The Brick Train Awards 2020 has officially come to a close and now it’s time to announce the winners. This was the first year of the awards, and it was an awesome success. We had some spectacular entries from L […]

  • We have a very special announcement for you today. BMR, in partnership with Brickforge, has been working on a replacement for the old LEGO 9v era magnetic train couplers. Today we are ready to officially reveal […]

    • This is GREAT news. I have used KADEE couplers in G, ON30, and Z scales for 30+ years. Their slim magnets that mount under the track will allow remote uncoupling that is easy. BMR sign me up.

    • I have been quietly using the Kadee #806 couplers since buying my first BMR freight car instructions just two years ago. I was new to the hobby and figured I better keep a low profile as I was breaking a couple of the “rules” by using non-Lego parts and glue. It just seemed like a bad idea to me as someone just entering a growing hobby to hitch my wagon to a coupler that was made of parts no longer in production. I also wanted to have a small switching layout and desired the magnetic uncoupling feature of the Kadees. Since I have a lot of the #806 still on hand I am hoping that you will be selling the draft gear box separately and that the #806 can be substituted for the #743.

      • As of now we only plan to sell assembled draft boxes with couplers and springs installed, mostly because of the complications of assembly.

        The 806 boxes will be sold with 743 couplers. The coupllers are the same except the latter is metal. We had designed around the 806 before the 743 was put in it’s place, and just kept the name.

      • I have not as yet built one of the BMR cars (haven’t bought the plans either), but I’m in the planning stages of an outdoor garden railway with custom trackwork for Lego Trains. One of the primary features I’m planning is a large switching yard, so using Kadee couplers would be ideal. Are they hard to install with existing Lego? (Glue, screws, both?) And did you have to modify the design much to accommodate? Very interested to know more, Robert. Thank you!

        • Hi Ben

          Our couplers will be very easy to install, no tools, or glue necessary and will come fully assembled. Our draft gear boxes are designed to work with existing Kadee couplers, the 743 and 747, and adapt them to LEGO® train use. Just like a genuine LEGO part, these have studs and will snap into place.

          We will be releasing the new couples latte this month.

    • Do we have a potential release date.
      This would be a great Christmas gift to myself.

  • If you’ve got some free time this Saturday, June 27, then there are some cool LEGO® train activities happening online for you to enjoy.

    Monty’s Trains Layout Tour during NMRAx

    Monty Smith of […]

  • Today is the big day. Brick Model Railroader is launching our new and improved online store. And we have three band new Premium Instructions for sale along with an array of new decals for each.

    Our old store […]

  • The Brick Train Awards are a community-led event for the LEGO train fan community, by the LEGO train community. The awards were created by LNUR, a LEGO train club in the UK, and Brick Model Railroader based in […]

  • This week at Brick Model Railroader we are taking a pause from our usual LEGO train blog. BMR endeavors to cover LEGO trains from around the world, but as many of you know, most of us who contribute are from the […]

    • Thanks Cale for writing this article. It is very articulate about a very difficult issue for “just a simple blog about Lego trains”. I myself feel very passionate about these issues confronting us, but have a very difficult time discussing those feelings. Hopefully others will spend the time reading this.
      By the way I have also been to the Roanoke museum. It’s been many years but it is a great venue.

  • Hello again, LEGO train fans and Brick Model Railroader supporters! We’ve got some great new articles in the works for you, but today we wanted to update you on a few things going on here at Brick Model […]

    • TUNNEL MOTOR 😀 😀 😀
      very interested in how that spartan cab was done to compary it to my baby tunnel motors cab

      • my bad the sd40t-2 is the tunnel motor, gonna experiment around and try to build that once this comes out lol

        • I can confirm you won’t be the only person modding it into a tunnel motor! For me, I’ll probably build it into Milwaukee Road livery first, before maybe modding it into a D&RGW SD40T-2, and I know a certain other Rio Grande fan who will definitely make one too…

  • 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 pu […]

    • I really like the little br 80, but this set is lego corporate policy in a box. Small series, limited premium model, and intentionally designed to never run and never be played with. And twice as many parts as the original despite being a 1-for-1 copy.

      There is going to be a lot of sad dads when they have to give their firstborn the Explanation, and most of them are going to buy a pair of red bumpers the morning after.

  • Announcing an L-Gauge Modular Standard layout for BrickFair Virginia in Chantilly, Virginia 2020. BrickFair Viginia is one of the premier LEGO® fan events in North America, bringing together hundred of LEGO […]

  • Recently I had the pleasure of participating in LEGO train displays at two train shows here in the Northeast United States. The first was the annual Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show with the New […]

  • Cale Leiphart wrote a new post 5 years ago

    2019 CANTIGNY PARK CHRISTMAS TRAIN SHOW

    On December 14th and 15th, Brick Model Railroader members Cale Leiphart and Glenn Holland were once again invited by the Northern Illinois LEGO® Train Club to attend […]

  • Thank you so much. This brought a smile to our face.

  • Cale Leiphart wrote a new post 5 years ago

    It’s that time of year again. The air is turning colder, strings of lights are going up, and Christmas music is playing somewhere in the distance. We here at Brick Model Railroader are getting into the Holiday […]

    • Not gonna spoil anything, but THANK YOU for the catalog! Not even just happy about the upcoming stuff (SO excited!), but the way the whole catalog is presented and laid out is so professional but also really fun; the writing is fantastic, and the way it’s organized is great too! Heck, I just like seeing all the re-rendered versions of all the decals in your shop! Having something physical with all the stuff you guys offer is so nice to have. Something about the whole thing brought me back warm memories from getting the little free promo catalogs they’d have at my local model train shop, and re-reading them endlessly.

      Thanks a lot for bringing me that nice nostalgic moment, you guys really do amazing work, all around.

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