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My son has been playing with Lego trains for a while. They're pretty nifty. The motor is fast and they're remote control. While n-scale is something we do together, LEGO (and HO scale) are completely his own thing

 

We're in the US. I was wondering if anyone knows if LEGO release trains in Japan or other countries that are different to what we have here? Thanks.

 

flWc7u4.jpg

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ahh.. Lego trains... brings back memories... I used to have quite a large fleet but they had to make way due to space... it takes a tremendous amount of space to run them (like what you have set up above) thus I had to let them go...

 

I recall the crown jewels being the BNSF and the Santa Fe.... along with the newer Emerald nights....

 

Not that I know off, but there doesn't seem to be any exclusive Lego Japan train for the Japanese market, but there are exclusive airline only sets that are only sold on board planes...

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That's interesting. Lego doesn't seem to be giving the trains specific identities anymore. They're all slightly generic looking and have the same logo - a circle with two arrows. My son decides what they are and gives them new identities anyway.

 

This one is an ICE

 

lvo3Uek.jpg

 

 

Japanese freight (left) and US freight (right)

 

HD1rtdM.jpg

 

 

Christmas train - motor wasn't included and is currently eagerly awaited in the mail.

 

4n3PODh.jpg

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I think Lego tries to keep some generic branding to avoid having to pay for licensing.  I had the full Super Chief, BNSF diesels and container trains as well as a few others, but I recently sold them pay for more N scale stock.  I actually still have the Lego train maintenance shed if you are interested gavino.

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2 minutes ago, Kiha66 said:

I think Lego tries to keep some generic branding to avoid having to pay for licensing.  I had the full Super Chief, BNSF diesels and container trains as well as a few others, but I recently sold them pay for more N scale stock.  I actually still have the Lego train maintenance shed if you are interested gavino.

 

Absolutely!! I'll PM you.

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Actually many old 1970-1980ies sets had proper logos and you could easily identify the actual models. (BR80, TEE, V100, etc.)

 

Then in the 1990ies, came the properly branded american sets and some more european sets, like the austrian and swiss crocodiles. There were some really bad fantasy trains too.

 

The 2000s and the RC era bought the first ICE and some more german sets.

 

The PF era (now) has brought a split between the train line to collectors sets aimed more at adults, like the Tornado, Maersk and TGV sets (they come unmotored but upgradable) and more kids oriented starter sets and a few themed fantasy sets. The starter sets are unbranded but the trains are recognisable in them.

 

For ICE sets, we have two types, the RC era ICE3 and the new ICE4. With a bit of digging you can find the CSX SD40 locomotive the blue one is modelled after and the red one is a european one (a Vossloch) like the yellow one before (a Dispolok EuroSprinter).

 

Anyway, these are kids sets, so not as detailed as the collector sets like the TGV (which you have to buy at least two for a short but complete train).

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Das Steinkopf

Hello Gavin

 

With LEGO Trains they are no longer a standalone theme and have been merged into LEGO City, these days you are likely to see about 3 train sets available in that theme over a 3 year cycle, there may also be another one added roughly every 2-3 years through the Creator Expert range which the Emerald Night, Maersk, Horizon Express and the Winter Village Train are from. For LEGO trains these days are seen more as a supplementary to the City range and it's rare to have additional sets to go with them such as stations and other sets as they have tended to be slow movers, the last train station being a prime example. Contrary to LEGO's attitude to the Trains theme there is a sizable LEGO Train community worldwide, for LEGO though it is difficult as just like regular model railways people have wide and varied tastes and most people build their own trains inspired by or based on those in real life. I was very active in the LEGO train community for about 12 years but after my first trip to Japan in 2015 I went back to traditional model railways, I got bitten by the N Scale bug when I was over there thanks to seeing a MicroAce Keihan Keishin 800 Series in Tokyu Hands in Shibuya, after that I fell down a very slippery slope. I also got back into modelling GWR in OO Scale about a year ago, I had modelled that for nearly 20 years prior to getting involved with LEGO trains.

 

Here is a link to my Flickr albums so you can see my LEGO Train collection, I also have heaps of photos in my photostream that are not in my albums.   https://www.flickr.com/photos/david_stannard/albums

Edited by Das Steinkopf
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Woo, other Lego train people!

Someone mentioned the SantaFe stuff.

My pride is an F7 that I got years ago as a child. It is one if three sets that were never rebuilt/modified and one two sets that never came apart once assembled. The dozen other cars have been reassembled many times, although they'll probably not look like their lego-designed selves much longer.

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Lego trains are awesome! Mostly.

 

To answer your question, we got more or less the same models in Europe as you guys in the US. The biggest difference would be the trains one made themselfes. i.e. MOCs.

 

I myself love the yellow and black Cargo Railway 4559. I just call it the WASP ^^.

 

20140111_204038.thumb.jpg.29e0486f0e17810c6816496590b99342.jpg

Archival Photo, ca. 2014.

 

btw. It's relativly easy to bank the curves of Lego track when using Flextrack, just add 1x2 plates on the outer end, finished.

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Yeah I've been following his videos for a while, really top notch job! But he opened the train doors too late and closed them too early...  haha  🙂

 

Did you check out his brick built E231-500? It's amazingly well done!

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Actually i've built an E231 too, but in 1:42 (8 wide and scale length):

dsc_4057.jpg

The rest of the gallery with the e231, 115, de10, a kumoya and some others:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=534263

 

ps: Most Lego designed trains are 6 bricks wide (around 1:48) and half length, so essentially shorties. Many builders follow this standard, while some build more proportional to the track gauge and the Lego minifigure height (around 1:42) and also full length. Actually it's easier to get nicer looking shells in 8 wide, but getting the trains to run well in the sharp (scale 18 meter) curves is much harder.

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Wow Kvp san! Very nice of you to share your brickshelf gallery! I really need to take a good look at your creations, I really like the Japanese styled restaurant complete with the Geisha!

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15 hours ago, kvp said:

Actually i've built an E231 too, but in 1:42 (8 wide and scale length):

dsc_4057.jpg

The rest of the gallery with the e231, 115, de10, a kumoya and some others:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=534263

 

ps: Most Lego designed trains are 6 bricks wide (around 1:48) and half length, so essentially shorties. Many builders follow this standard, while some build more proportional to the track gauge and the Lego minifigure height (around 1:42) and also full length. Actually it's easier to get nicer looking shells in 8 wide, but getting the trains to run well in the sharp (scale 18 meter) curves is much harder.

 

These are AMAZING!! Did you just wing it? Or did you follow a plan? 

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4 hours ago, gavino200 said:

These are AMAZING!! Did you just wing it? Or did you follow a plan? 

You mean with the layout or the trains? The layout was built in a hurry to show the trains and has sections built by fellow Lego builders (i built the station and one of the loops).

 

The trains are my own designs and were first drawn in Lego Digital Designer. The first one was the e231, then the 115, then the de10, later from some leftovers the kumoya and the deha and i took the latter apart to make a somewhat shortened 3100 NSE, but that is still unfinished as it needs more parts. There are some brown 11,12,13 series cars around somewhere too (Mpc-T-Mp-Tc) but without motor bogies. I have the design files for most of the trains somewhere.

 

All of the trains are 9V track powered. The e231, 115 and kumoya have B-B power bogies in the motor pantograph cars, the de10 is a B-3 and the deha was a B-2. The 3100 NSE is meant to be a 2-2-B-B-B-2-2. I've also designed an EH10 (B-B+B-B) but it's getting harder to get 9V parts as there are 3 newer generations of Lego trains since then. The newest are tablet operated and everyone is still trying to figure out how to add more than one motor to a train.

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Ah LDD! Amazing planning software, I played a little with it when I was into Lego but never really got into knowing how to fully operate it... 

 

9V tracks! Those cost a fortune nowadays... it seems you also have lights in the signals! Nice ~ 

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8 hours ago, kvp said:

You mean with the layout or the trains? The layout was built in a hurry to show the trains and has sections built by fellow Lego builders (i built the station and one of the loops).

 

The trains are my own designs and were first drawn in Lego Digital Designer. The first one was the e231, then the 115, then the de10, later from some leftovers the kumoya and the deha and i took the latter apart to make a somewhat shortened 3100 NSE, but that is still unfinished as it needs more parts. There are some brown 11,12,13 series cars around somewhere too (Mpc-T-Mp-Tc) but without motor bogies. I have the design files for most of the trains somewhere.

 

All of the trains are 9V track powered. The e231, 115 and kumoya have B-B power bogies in the motor pantograph cars, the de10 is a B-3 and the deha was a B-2. The 3100 NSE is meant to be a 2-2-B-B-B-2-2. I've also designed an EH10 (B-B+B-B) but it's getting harder to get 9V parts as there are 3 newer generations of Lego trains since then. The newest are tablet operated and everyone is still trying to figure out how to add more than one motor to a train.

 

I mean the trains. The layout is cool, but the trains are out of this world!

 

I would love to buy a copy of those plans from you if you can find them. Building a Yamanote or a DE10 would be a cool project!

 

Our Lego trains have an infra red remote control. The tracks are not electrified but are the exact same mold as the old 9V tracks. In fact we have a few of the old tracks that connect perfectly. 

 

How did you get all the right blocks? Do you just send Lego a printout list from the Lego design program? 

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Das Steinkopf
21 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

How did you get all the right blocks? Do you just send Lego a printout list from the Lego design program? 

 

 

You're best off going to www.Bricklink.com and checking out the stores there for parts compared to LEGO Shop@Home, the Bricklink stores are generally cheaper for parts and you can find a greater diversty of parts, what you need to do is learn how to master the parts  catalogue so you can learn to find the parts you are after at the best price and location to keep shipping costs down. One word of warning though is Bricklink can be highly addictive and is referred to in the AFOL community as Cracklink, I know myself as 2/3rds of my LEGO budget would be spent on parts from various stores around the world when I was in the hobby, these days that money is mainly devoted to Japanese N Scale as I am trying to divest myself of my ridiculous collection (was around 1,000,000 parts at one stage).

Edited by Das Steinkopf
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2 hours ago, gavino200 said:

I would love to buy a copy of those plans from you if you can find them. Building a Yamanote or a DE10 would be a cool project!

They are free under CC-BY-NC-SA licence. If i can remember where i put them. (if not on brickshelf, then on one of the older computers i have somewhere)

 

The bricks are mostly from bricklink, so you can build them easily. Afaik they can be modded for PF power if you don't mind the battery box inside. The 4 car sets will need two train motors, a polarity switch, a battery and a receiver. The de10 has only a single train motor and a brick built 3 axle bogie.

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17 hours ago, GDorsett said:

Wait, there's another new control system?

Yes, it's just out with tablet + app. control over Bluetooth LP.

 

The full list: push trains, 4.5V battery, 12V analog trafo 3rd rail, 9V analog trafo two-rail (the metal tracks), 9V battery infrared RemoteControl, 9V battery infrared PowerFunctions, 9V battery bluetooth PoweredUp.

 

The 12V era was the most model railway like with working signals, remote turnouts and crossing gates and real train models and maerklin like middle power rail. The 9V era had real metal tracks and classic analog operation and allows technic parts for building signals and other accessories. The RC/PF eras had various IR remotes and battery power. The PU era added tablets and smart peripherals, so you not just power a motor in analog, you give out movement commands on a digital radio network. Lego also removed free connectivity for the one peripheral per port rule we know from USB.

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All my trains are Power Functions too.

 

I was just going over my photographs from 2014, back when I had an elaborate floor layout of Lego trains running. And right after this shot of a small station, I found a series of photos from a derailment. Please enjoy:

 

 

20140112_190806.thumb.jpg.241ff2dffa7d6d3f3ebbbde04c9ed675.jpg

 

 

 

20140119_125456.thumb.jpg.374169f3f73e93436cafe97e82f063d4.jpg20140119_132446.thumb.jpg.694dfd820d343edc1d2cb8b4c14c48be.jpg20140119_133334.thumb.jpg.90815c3c1d0fb873a24d6cd3b9ae8a78.jpg20140119_133349.thumb.jpg.f04a6b8ad8b8c7e16e9344b04181a452.jpg20140119_133419.thumb.jpg.9bddb1a115233545a27fcd98fb6dd33c.jpg

 

 

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Das Steinkopf

All of my MOC's are 9v, I did purchase 2 of the 7898 IR Cargo Trains as well as the 60051 PF High Speed Train but these were all used for parts, I still have all of my models but they are packed away these days.

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I've found some of the LDD designs i've made for the models i've built. I'm not sure these are the last versions, but these are the ones i could find. (some parts are missing on some models, i don't rembember if those were added without cad drawn plans or not) Since i could not upload *.LXF files, i renamed them to .txt. Just rename them back after downloading.

jnr_kumoya-20130712-5.txt

jnr_moha12-20141118-4_colors2.txt

jrn_de10-20130808-1.txt

yamanote-e231-20120629-7.txt

 

ps: yes, i know lxf files are just zip-ed xml-s, but it's the native format used by Lego Digital Designer

Edited by kvp
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