Tag Archives: train

She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain…

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It’s been a while without any cars here at The Lego ‘Car’ Blog, so today we’re on to trains. But we like trains. Particularly when they’re as beautifully built and presented as this one.

This huge diorama of a tiny train was constructed by builder Evancelt for the ‘2024 Rocky Mountain Train Show’ in Denver, and a more apt creation it’s hard to think of.

Travelling between two mountain tunnels by way of some cunningly concealed magnets that move under the tracks, Evancelt’s little steam train is a wonderful example of shrinking the scale to expand the detail.

From the micro-scale pick-up truck, fences and trees, to the galleon hidden in the cloud, there’s so much to see, and you can do just that at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where you can also find a video of the train in motion.

Click on the links above to take the tiniest little train journey.

Is It a Train? Is It a Tram?

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No, it’s an NS omC! OK, that’s maybe not as catchy as the famous Superman musical lyrics, but we have at least learned something here at The Lego Car Blog, having had no idea what an ‘omC’ was before today.

What it is, is an ‘Oilmotor Vehicle’, a combustion-engined carriage used by the Dutch Railways during the 1920s as a cheaper, easier-to-run alternative to steam locomotives.

This one – being a ‘C’ designation – is for third-class passengers, which is where you’d probably find TLCB staff. There were ‘BC’ versions too, where first-class passengers such as The Brothers Brick’s Contributors could luxuriate away from the peasants.

Constructed by TLCB debutant Malik Geldermans, this 1:45th scale replica of the NS omC beautifully captures the real ‘Oilmotor Vehicle’ thanks to some truly fantastic building techniques.

Presented perfectly, there’s more of Malik’s model to see at his ‘NS omC’ album, and you can take a closer look on Flickr via the link in the text above.

The Human Centipede

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This TLCB Writer thought they might be still drunk this morning, because what it appeared one of the Elves brought back to the office was – and this is going to sound crazy – a giant train riding not upon wheels and tracks, but fifty protruding centipede-like legs.

After a drink of water and some time away however, we can confirm that much to our surprise it is indeed what the mind of Vince_Toulouse has conjured.

Entitled the ‘Myriapodotrain’, four interconnected carriages are suspended over the aforementioned legs, each of which is a piece from the long (and best) forgotten ‘Insectoid’ range.

An exterior of deep red and gold, domed windows, and some delightfully extravagant mini-figures add to the whimsy, and you can climb aboard Vince’s remarkable transportation system via the link in the text above.

Fresh Donuts

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2023 sadly saw the loss of one of the motoring world’s greats, when Ken Block was killed at the start of the year, when his snowmobile landed atop him.

One of the founders of DC Shoes, Ken raced in motocross, rallycross, rallying, and the X-Games. The top step of each of those championships eluded him, despite some moderate successes, but where Block became a household name to millions was via his utterly brilliant ‘Gymkhana’ videos.

Perfectly designed for the viral-video age, Ken’s ‘Gymkhana’ series took increasingly outrageous one-off vehicles, astonishing car control, and a whole load of sponsorship money, to create some of the most tyre-shredding back-to-back stunt scenes ever recorded, racking up hundreds of millions of views in the process.

Following his death there is only one more of Ken’s ‘Gymkhana’ films to be (posthumously) released, after which we may never see his like again. However Flickr’s Clemens Schneider has created his own ‘Gymkhana’ of sorts, with his unique motorised donuting Mustang vignette, in which Block’s ‘Hoonicorn’ drifts around a donut shop car park.

There’s more to see of Clemens’ tribute – including a video of the motorised Mustang circulating the donut car park in a cloud of brick-built tyre smoke – by clicking here, plus you can see the trailer for Ken Block’s last ever movie via the link in the text above.

She’s Electric*

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Despite supposedly being a car blog, we’ve featured all manner of trains over the years. However they have almost all been steam or diesel powered, which doesn’t really reflect what is actually the prime energy source for moving people and things about on the railways.

Today electricity powers the majority of rail traffic, with it being far more efficient, a lot less polluting, and much quieter than burning fossilised dinosaurs, even if the electricity itself is generated by doing just that.

This exceptional electric locomotive is an SNCF CC6500, published by KMbricklab fresh from a win at the ‘Brick Train Awards 2023’. And they probably know about Lego trains.

There’s much more of KM’s beautifully presented model to see at their ‘SNCF CC6500 Electric Locomotive’ album on Flickr, and you can buy your rail ticket via the link in the text above.

*Today’s excellent title song.

The Lego Train Blog

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Whilst this crumbling ruin in the corner of the internet is (mostly) a Lego Car Blog, we do like a Good Train. Which is probably the nerdiest sentence written outside of The Brothers Brick. Still, this is a very Good Train indeed, and it comes from previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe.

A replica of a 1908 German steam locomotive ‘PtL 2/2 Glaskasten’, Nikolaus’ creation includes gorgeous detailing, some wonderful brick-built valve gear, remote control drive, and custom LED lighting front and rear.

Built for a competition there’s more of Nikolaus’ lovely locomotive to see on Flickr, and you can jump back to Germany in 1908 via the link in the text above.

Elven Argument

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We don’t speak elvish, but nevertheless we still understood the gist of the jabbering, pointing, and jumping up-and-down that occurred following one of Elves’ discovery of this car-transporting railway wagon.

Said creation is a DDm 915 Deutsche Bundesbahn Autoreisezug (apparently), and the aforementioned Elf was trying to convince us that it deserved eleven Smarties for finding it – one for each vehicle on board, and another for the wagon itself.

Despite being mildly impressed the Elf could count into double-digits it won’t be getting eleven Smarties, so whilst we have that argument you can check out more of the neat railway wagon that caused it courtesy of Thomas Reincke of Flickr via instructions by fellow Flickr-er BigDeady. Click the link to take a look.

Absolutely Trolleyed

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If someone is British, posh, and drunk*, they may well be ‘trolleyed’ (amongst an almost unlimited array of other verbs). Cue a tenuous link to this ‘Wickham Trolley’, a petrol-powered railway engineering personnel carrier, as built beautifully by Liam Biggs. Cunning building techniques and lovely attention to detail abound, and there’s more of the model to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks. Get absolutely trolleyed via the links above.

*This TLCB Writer is currently two out of three. We’ll let you guess which!

Smokin’

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This is a Baureihe 57 / Prussian G10, a German steam locomotive built in the 1910s-’20s for heavy goods transport. Around 2,600 Prussian G10s were produced, with an extra one – pictured here – arriving courtesy of Pieter Post, who has recreated the steam train in beautiful detail. Powered by a hidden Power Functions L Motor and BuWizz bluetooth battery, Pieter’s Prussian G10 is depicted navigating a wonderfully constructed forest track, complete with a transformer building and the best pine trees we’ve ever seen. Top of the billing however, is the smoke – which looks as real as anything made from plastic bricks could possibly be. Click the link above to smoke your way through a German forest in the 1920s.

Insert Out-of-Fuel DeLorean Here

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This steam locomotive might look familiar to you… Built by Rogers Locomotive and Machine works in the 1890s, locomotive ‘No.3’ was a coal and later oil-fired steam locomotive used for various steam locomotive things; hauling freight, transporting passengers, and constructing various railroads across California during the early 20th century.

After three decades of service Locomotive No.3’s owners, the Sierra Railway Company, went bankrupt during the Great Depression, and it was laid up for fifteen years in a siding. The locomotive somehow dodged being melted down for the war effort, and after the Second World War ended it was acquired for film use, whereupon ‘No.3’ began a career that saw it star in around forty movies and TV shows, including ‘High Noon’, TLCB favourite ‘The Great Race’, and – perhaps most famously – ‘Back to the Future, Part III‘.

Restored in the 2010s, Locomotive No.3 is still running today, and thus may yet add even more stardust to an already incredible legacy. This wonderful recreation by firefabric of Eurobricks captures probably the world’s most seen steam train beautifully, and it includes a LEGO Powered-Up motor and LED lights hidden inside.

There’s much to more of the model to see, including full build details, at the Eurobricks discussion forum, and you can step into one of almost forty movie sets via the link in the text above.

Prussian Journey

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Today’s beautiful brick-based image comes from previous bloggee Pieter Post, who – in collaboration with two other builders – has created this gorgeous Prussian P8 steam locomotive, tender, prisoner car, post and luggage car, and passenger coaches, along with the stunning heather-landscape in which it is pictured.

Produced for a Lego train show in the Netherlands, Pieter and his compatriots’ 1920s steam train includes a BuWizz bluetooth battery powering bespoke LED lighting and three L Motors concealed within the tender and boiler driving custom wheels.

Full details can be found and Pieter’s photostream and you can traverse the heather on board his Prussian P8 steam locomotive via the link in the text above.

Crossing Japan

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This is a Japanese National Railways Class EF66 electric locomotive, which we definitely knew for ourselves and aren’t just quoting the builder KMbricklab. Rather than show off our considerable and extensive knowledge of all things trains here, we’ll simply direct you to KM’s excellent ‘JNR Class EF66 Electric Locomotive’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to journey across Japan.

Nightrain

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Loaded like a freight train
Flyin’ like an aeroplane
Feelin’ like a space brain
One more time tonight

No, we don’t know what Axl Rose was singing about either, but seeing as we also don’t know about sci-fi it seemed like a good fit.

There’s more to see of Oscar Cederwall’s fabulous floating freight train at his Flickr photostream, and you can listen to Guns N’ Roses singing about, er… something possibly train-related by clicking here.

Hauling up Hills

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This is a BR44, a heavy steam locomotive built from 1926 to 1949 to haul giant loads across Germany’s mountainous regions.

Able pull 1,200 tons through the hills, or 600 tons up steep inclines, the BR44’s were hugely impressive machines. We suspect much of what they hauled from the late-’30s was rather different from that originally intended though, with a simplified versions (ironically given the least simple title of ‘Übergangskriegslokomotives’) designed to speed up production during Germany’s phase of, er…. European ambition.

This brilliant brick-built recreation of the BR44 comes from Bricks_n_Trucks, who has not only replicated the design beautifully, there are two Power Functions L-Motors and a BuWizz 2.0 hidden inside to bring it to life.

There’s more of Bricks’ creation to see on Flickr, and you can travel into the mountains of wartime Germany via the link in the text above.

Tiny Tracks

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We’re often guilting of favouring enormous million-part creations here at TLCB. This is because we’re eight, and also because ‘subtlety’ isn’t really in the TLCB Elves’ vocabulary. To be fair to them though, very little is in their vocabulary. Anyway, today we are going small, because Thomas Gion has produced this lovely micro-scale railway vignette, complete with the tiniest trees, teeniest tracks, and littlest locomotive. All look wonderful despite their miniature size and there’s more to see (although not that much more) at Thomas’ photostream. Click the link above to go on a teeny tiny train ride.