UK Based Trains In Lego

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this forum.

I've always been a fan of the UK Railways as well as a big fan of Lego so i've decided to combine the two together and make some Lego creations based on various real life UK trains.

Lego nowadays has become super-realistic with many of their sets and themes (in particular with their Technic & Speed Champions Car themes and many of their Movies & Superheroes themes).

While Lego have released many train sets over the past several years, i've always felt they were quite generic and lacking proper detail (with the exception of the 60051 set which reminds me of the German ICE trains and another small set released years ago that was based on an american BNSF locomotive).

Over the last few months, i've designed several Lego MOC's (MOC stands for My Own Creation) based on various UK based trains using a Lego Design program called Bricklink Studio 2.0. Here are pictures of several of my designs:


Network Southeast Class 421 4-Car EMU Train.


Southern Class 313 3-Car EMU Train.


South West Trains Class 444 5-Car EMU Train.


Great Western Railway Class 158 2-Car DMU Train.


Freightliner Class 66 Diesel Locomotive.

I have tried my best to design these trains exactly or as close as I could to the real life trains.

For more details on these designs and many more of my designs, go to my Rebrickable page. Google 'Andy Ps Bricks Rebrickable' and it should be the first result.

For those of you that don't know, rebrickable is a website where users can post their lego MOC's, instructions for that MOC and parts list for that MOC so others can buy the parts and then make the design themselves. You can do the same thing with any of my train designs if you wish.

If you have any further questons, please do not hesitate to ask and I will answer them the best way I can.

 

[pdeaves]

My favourite is the GWR 158. Very nice. The 421 also looks convincing.

Is there a particular reason why the Freightliner 66 appears to have one three-axle and one two-axle bogie, rather than both three-axle?

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

My favourite is the GWR 158. Very nice. The 421 also looks convincing.

Is there a particular reason why the Freightliner 66 appears to have one three-axle and one two-axle bogie, rather than both three-axle?

The Class 66 features a mototised bogie. As far as i know, Lego haven't released a three axle motorised bogie so I had to use a two axle bogie.

The 158 is one of my favourites too.

 

[GatwickDepress]

That 4Cig looks very nice. Might be something I'll have a go at when I get enough time.

 

[pdeaves]

Lego haven't released a three axle motorised bogie so I had to use a two axle bogie.

Fair enough! When I did Lego (lots of decades ago) there was a massive motor block available onto which you could stick wheels. It was super noisy, if I recall correctly, and got through batteries almost as fast as you could change them. No scope for anything resembling side frames without making it ridiculously tall and wide. Might have coped with 1:1 scale...

 

[Fleetmaster]

Cracking pics, I especially like the 66.

It baffles me why Lego doesn't do more with trains, it's a fantastic product and a great way to entertain children and adults alike. I don't know what's available second hand but in the current design, there only ever seems to be two or three train sets (and two track packs) available new. They're more expensive than more typical kids Lego sets, double or even triple, but cheaper than equivalent Hornby train sets I think, and certainly massively cheaper than the Lego sets aimed at serious modellers. I definitely feel they are value for money, given the number of bricks and play possibilities.

Where do you get your wheelsets and couplers? I've only been using what I've got in sets so far, but they are definitely a significant limiting factor. I've got plenty of bricks otherwise. I've combined two of the Pendolino looking sets to make longer more realistic Mk3 coaches with HST ends. I modified the green American looking freight Loco to create a Deltic. I've built assorted freight cars. They're not quite as good as yours though. I'm confident I could do a way more detailed job, but they're good enough to please me and the kids. I was in all honesty frankly impatient to see what could be done. Quite a lot, in very little time!

I found the size of the battery pack and motor bogie to be the limiting factor. You can only really do full sized locomotives or multiple units without having to really engage your Lego designing brain. It's annoying that they're small enough to make a nice Class 9 shunter by volume, battery pack above motor, but I just struggled to get the two connected in a realistic way. Not enough studs on the motor, which is designed more for bogie use.

I also bought the upowered Harry Potter Loco, naively thinking it could be powered easily. Nah. I tried a variety of Loco designs, tender and tank, but couldn't get anything that works. It was just far too difficult for my skills to create workable pony trucks with realistic coupling that survives the sideways movements over points while still allowing pull/drive. I could copy other's designs, but where's the fun (or sense of engineering achievement) in that! A simple 0-6-0T is surely possible, but by then I was sick of it. The wheelsets now sit discarded, as if scrapped! I did at least enjoy modifying the static Harry Potter loco to look a bit more like a real steam engine. Good enough to be displayed for a while.

For those who don't know, and as an on and off railway modeller I was surprised at this, the track is especially well designed. A simple system that very young kids can understand very easily, even build, but which is complicated enough to interest adults. A real plus point being the genius connectors that kids can't really break. The track just clips together and snaps apart undamaged, whichever way the track is bent. Quite unerving for someone raised on Hornby fishplates.

It only has one radius but it has turnout points and flex track as well as the standard straights and curves, so if you have the room, you can do whatever a real train set can do, except (realistic) double track curves or more complicated pointwork. My first proper layout was a long oval with passing loop and interior siding. It took 10 minutes to build, and fits on a largeish longish dining table. Enough to have three realistic looking trains on the layout at any one time, and large enough all three could be run around the layout simultaneously, a real control problem (two hands, three controllers!). There's an app that makes that easy, something kids understand intuitively.

The coupling is wonderful too, a magnetic system with perfect attraction, enough to keep interesting consists (Deltic + five freight cars, four car HST) together, but light enough that kids can pull them apart easily without derailing. They run smoothly and look nice.

The power/drive is simple enough for kids, but realistic enough for adults. As long as you don't make the mistake I did and remember the ten speed box has been designed with trains in mind. A basic pony truck will reach warp speed in notch one and tip over on a curve quite easily. But once you have the weight of a train, and indeed the weight of the loco's "body" even, the driving wheels having rubber O rings for adhesion, you can get very realistic acceleration/deceleration.

As you can see from the OPs wonderful pics, the nominal scale (six studs wide) is more than sufficient to create very realistic and playable trains, a Deltic comfortably carpet toy sized. It makes all the difference that modern Lego has vastly increased ranges of colours and brick designs, most importantly, curved surfaces!

The real fun therefore is in building your own stock, but don't forget that with Lego, you can build everything else too, from the lineside equipment to bridges and tunnels, depots and stations. Realistic modeling is great, but it's Lego. If you want your train to breath fire and have wings, or look like something from a cartoon, you can.

I can't recommend it enough.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Cracking pics, I especially like the 66.

It baffles me why Lego doesn't do more with trains, it's a fantastic product and a great way to entertain children and adults alike. I don't know what's available second hand but in the current design, there only ever seems to be two or three train sets (and two track packs) available new. They're more expensive than more typical kids Lego sets, double or even triple, but cheaper than equivalent Hornby train sets I think, and certainly massively cheaper than the Lego sets aimed at serious modellers. I definitely feel they are value for money, given the number of bricks and play possibilities.

Where do you get your wheelsets and couplers? I've only been using what I've got in sets so far, but they are definitely a significant limiting factor. I've got plenty of bricks otherwise. I've combined two of the Pendolino looking sets to make longer more realistic Mk3 coaches with HST ends. I modified the green American looking freight Loco to create a Deltic. I've built assorted freight cars. They're not quite as good as yours though. I'm confident I could do a way more detailed job, but they're good enough to please me and the kids. I was in all honesty frankly impatient to see what could be done. Quite a lot, in very little time!

I found the size of the battery pack and motor bogie to be the limiting factor. You can only really do full sized locomotives or multiple units without having to really engage your Lego designing brain. It's annoying that they're small enough to make a nice Class 9 shunter by volume, battery pack above motor, but I just struggled to get the two connected in a realistic way. Not enough studs on the motor, which is designed more for bogie use.

I also bought the upowered Harry Potter Loco, naively thinking it could be powered easily. Nah. I tried a variety of Loco designs, tender and tank, but couldn't get anything that works. It was just far too difficult for my skills to create workable pony trucks with realistic coupling that survives the sideways movements over points while still allowing pull/drive. I could copy other's designs, but where's the fun (or sense of engineering achievement) in that! A simple 0-6-0T is surely possible, but by then I was sick of it. The wheelsets now sit discarded, as if scrapped! I did at least enjoy modifying the static Harry Potter loco to look a bit more like a real steam engine. Good enough to be displayed for a while.

For those who don't know, and as an on and off railway modeller I was surprised at this, the track is especially well designed. A simple system that very young kids can understand very easily, even build, but which is complicated enough to interest adults. A real plus point being the genius connectors that kids can't really break. The track just clips together and snaps apart undamaged, whichever way the track is bent. Quite unerving for someone raised on Hornby fishplates.

It only has one radius but it has turnout points and flex track as well as the standard straights and curves, so if you have the room, you can do whatever a real train set can do, except (realistic) double track curves or more complicated pointwork. My first proper layout was a long oval with passing loop and interior siding. It took 10 minutes to build, and fits on a largeish longish dining table. Enough to have three realistic looking trains on the layout at any one time, and large enough all three could be run around the layout simultaneously, a real control problem (two hands, three controllers!). There's an app that makes that easy, something kids understand intuitively.

The coupling is wonderful too, a magnetic system with perfect attraction, enough to keep interesting consists (Deltic + five freight cars, four car HST) together, but light enough that kids can pull them apart easily without derailing. They run smoothly and look nice.

The power/drive is simple enough for kids, but realistic enough for adults. As long as you don't make the mistake I did and remember the ten speed box has been designed with trains in mind. A basic pony truck will reach warp speed in notch one and tip over on a curve quite easily. But once you have the weight of a train, and indeed the weight of the loco's "body" even, the driving wheels having rubber O rings for adhesion, you can get very realistic acceleration/deceleration.

As you can see from the OPs wonderful pics, the nominal scale (six studs wide) is more than sufficient to create very realistic and playable trains, a Deltic comfortably carpet toy sized. It makes all the difference that modern Lego has vastly increased ranges of colours and brick designs, most importantly, curved surfaces!

The real fun therefore is in building your own stock, but don't forget that with Lego, you can build everything else too, from the lineside equipment to bridges and tunnels, depots and stations. Realistic modeling is great, but it's Lego. If you want your train to breath fire and have wings, or look like something from a cartoon, you can.

I can't recommend it enough.

Thank you for your kind words.

The wheelsets and couplers for my 6-stud wide train MOC's are the same type found in the Lego City Train Sets. For a dummy bogie set, I use the Magnetic Coupler and Buffers piece (product code 29085c01, one per bogie set), Train Wheel Holder piece (code 2878, two per bogie set), Train Wheel piece (code 57878, four per bogie set), Chrome Silver Bar piece for holding the train wheels in the train holder (code 57051, two per bogie set) and a 6x4 Top Bogie Plate With Pin (code 4025, one per bogie set).

For a motorised bogie I use the Lego Powered Up Train Base Motor piece (code 28740, one per bogie set), Decorative Side for Train Motor piece (code 2871b, two per bogie set), Train Wheels with Axle Holes piece (code 57999, four per bogie set), 6-length Axle piece for the train wheels (code 3706, two per bogie set), Battery Box piece (code 28738, one per bogie set) and Powered Up Controller piece (code 28739, one per bogie set).

Usually I would buy the pieces on either Bricklink or as a Job Lot on Ebay. Another method is waiting until a Lego City Train Set is on a good offer at the shops, buying it, keeping all the parts needed then selling the rest on Ebay and getting most of the money back.

If it's just the wheelsets and couplers that you need, I think buying them as a Job Lot on Ebay is probably the best option. They might cost a few quid (probably somewhere around the £20 range for two dummy bogie sets) but won't be anywhere near the price of a full set. If you do purchase on Bricklink, you will need to use the product codes that I have mentioned in the search boxes to find them.

Hope all of this helps.

I do think Lego should go down the Model Railway road and release a second radius curve to go with the current radius that they use (the small flexible pieces that they provide are ok but not great).

The goal for my train MOC's is making them look as realistic as possible but at the same time use as many common and/or cheaper pieces as possible to make it affordable to others if they wish to build them as well.

 

[Cowley]

Brilliant stuff Andy.

We’ve had a few Lego threads over the years. These ones are probably worth a look:

Lego Buses and Trains

Found these on Amazon, anyone else seen any British Lego Transport models?: Class 47 Large Logo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Own-Lego-Class/dp/166108513X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3SCVXD6YISGE2&keywords=british+lego+transport&qid=1582216024&sprefix=british+lego+tra%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1 Class 47...

www.railforums.co.uk

L gauge

I have seen a very old post relating to Lego train modelling. I cannot remember the username, but let it be known, he is not the only one. I have made an iffy :oops: version of a 91 in a messed around version of BR blue to haul ex express passenger train 60051 coaches as part of the recovered...

www.railforums.co.uk

Lego Buses

Hi Everyone I thought I'd share with you my design for a Lego Leyland National finished in London Transport red. It's 6 studs wide, seats for 8 minifig passengers plus a driver, luggage rack, detailed cab area, visible engine at rear. Comments and suggestions welcome, it would cost approx £40...

www.railforums.co.uk

This is all making me want to get the Lego out of the loft.

 

[Fleetmaster]

Thank you for your kind words.

Thak you for the inspiration!

The wheelsets and couplers for my 6-stud wide train MOC's are the same type found in the Lego City Train Sets. For a dummy bogie set, I use the Magnetic Coupler and Buffers piece (product code 29085c01, one per bogie set), Train Wheel Holder piece (code 2878, two per bogie set), Train Wheel piece (code 57878, four per bogie set), Chrome Silver Bar piece for holding the train wheels in the train holder (code 57051, two per bogie set) and a 6x4 Top Bogie Plate With Pin (code 4025, one per bogie set).

For a motorised bogie I use the Lego Powered Up Train Base Motor piece (code 28740, one per bogie set), Decorative Side for Train Motor piece (code 2871b, two per bogie set), Train Wheels with Axle Holes piece (code 57999, four per bogie set), 6-length Axle piece for the train wheels (code 3706, two per bogie set), Battery Box piece (code 28738, one per bogie set) and Powered Up Controller piece (code 28739, one per bogie set).

Usually I would buy the pieces on either Bricklink or as a Job Lot on Ebay. Another method is waiting until a Lego City Train Set is on a good offer at the shops, buying it, keeping all the parts needed then selling the rest on Ebay and getting most of the money back.

If it's just the wheelsets and couplers that you need, I think buying them as a Job Lot on Ebay is probably the best option. They might cost a few quid (probably somewhere around the £20 range for two dummy bogie sets) but won't be anywhere near the price of a full set. If you do purchase on Bricklink, you will need to use the product codes that I have mentioned in the search boxes to find them.

Hope all of this helps.

Cheers. Absolutely. I know the part codes or can find them easily, but I take one look at the mass of people out there selling bricks on the assorted marketplace websites, and I get anxious. And Ebay is Ebay. Have you any reliable or preferred suppliers on BrickLink?

There seems to be vast gulf between the safety of retail and the vast wild west of the internet market, for all its bulk new and secondary variety goodness. I actually quite like toy fairs for second second hand gear, and even surprisingly cheap new sets (albeit before Covid I guess) but haven't been to one since I got into the trains in a big way. Don't recall ever seeing any Lego stalls at model train shows though. Perhaps it is taboo?

I did what you did, got most of my wheelsets by buying trainsets on offer. The rest was at retail price but in sets I was going to buy anyway. The idea of selling bricks is sacrilege to me, but clearly you perhaps have ten times or more bricks than I! It galls me to think how much I love your NSE design, but probably don't have enough dark grey for even one unit. Or certainly not four! And yet I have the track, motors and wheelsets to make proper use of it, station and all.

Realistic NSE infrastructure is easy too I bet, just whack up a few precast grey slabs and large window pieces, some drab flat roofing, of which I have plenty, and stick a few red, blue and white lines here and there. Everyone has red, blue and white, for obvious reasons. Teethmarks and all.

I do think Lego should go down the Model Railway road and release a second radius curve to go with the current radius that they use (the small flexible pieces that they provide are ok but not great).

Absolutely. Even just releasing some more railway related sets would do me. More trains, and more stations. The only seem to do a tiny few City things and Harry Potter.

The goal for my train MOC's is making them look as realistic as possible but at the same time use as many common and/or cheaper pieces as possible to make it affordable to others if they wish to build them as wewell.

I certainly think it's mission accomplished. My Deltic by comparison has a very simple but realistically profiled nose in the right shade of yellow. I'm already confident I can add lights, headcode and the like, once I get around to it, but your gear has given me even more ideas, like using the little lamps as horns! Great stuff. Slam doors too! So easy, yet never even occurred to me to try. I can totally build that Class 66 with what I have, even the roof details, I just have to be content with black for the actual roof tiles. That technique though looks really good, a other new one on me.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

A big thank you to everyone for their kind words. it really means a lot.

If you want to design your own lego trains, I strongly recommend you download and use Bricklink Studio 2.0. It's an online studio program where you can digitally build and create your own lego designs. It's basically the online equivalent of having a large tub of loose lego pieces in front of you.

It does take a few hours of learning and getting used to the program but there are tutorials for the program from Bricklink themselves as well as many YouTube videos.

(for those who don't know, Bricklink is an online shopping website similar to ebay but specialises in lego bricks of all different types).

One important trick that is used in most, if not all, of my designs is a technique called Studs Not On Top, also known as the SNOT technique. I will give you an example using my NSE Class 421.


Here is one of the ends of the completed Class 421. You may notice that the part where the drivers door is (represented by black pieces) and where the red stripe goes up is actually built sideways all the way to the grey pieces.


This picture is the same as the previous picture but the sideways pieces mentioned before are gone. Now notice one of the white bricks which has a stud on it's side. This stud is used to hold the previously mentioned sideways pieces in place. On this occasion, I used the SNOT technique here so I could make the end of the NSE livery more realistic looking.


Here are the sideways pieces mentioned in the first picture as their own separate little build. The black end of this separate build attaches to the stud seen in the second picture to create the finished product that you saw in the first picture. The stud at the top in this picture attaches to the roof of the train and helps lock the sideways build in place so it doesn't move or jiggle about.



If you do decide to download Bricklink Studio 2.0, here is a very handy tip to know about brick sizes.


This picture shows a standard 1 x 2 sized lego brick.


This picture shows the exact same brick but with a couple of measurements created by me using Microsoft Paint. What this shows is the height of this particular brick is three fifths of the width of the brick (as another example, if you had a 1 x 4 brick instead, the height would be three tenths of the width).


This picture shows a standard 1 x 2 plate. In lego, plates are one third the height of bricks and, as this example shows, the height of this particular piece is one fifth of the width.

Knowing the sizes of these pieces and other pieces is very handy when creating your own designs.

I hope this post helps and isn't too confusing.

Thak you for the inspiration!

Cheers. Absolutely. I know the part codes or can find them easily, but I take one look at the mass of people out there selling bricks on the assorted marketplace websites, and I get anxious. And Ebay is Ebay. Have you any reliable or preferred suppliers on BrickLink?

There seems to be vast gulf between the safety of retail and the vast wild west of the internet market, for all its bulk new and secondary variety goodness. I actually quite like toy fairs for second second hand gear, and even surprisingly cheap new sets (albeit before Covid I guess) but haven't been to one since I got into the trains in a big way. Don't recall ever seeing any Lego stalls at model train shows though. Perhaps it is taboo?

I did what you did, got most of my wheelsets by buying trainsets on offer. The rest was at retail price but in sets I was going to buy anyway. The idea of selling bricks is sacrilege to me, but clearly you perhaps have ten times or more bricks than I! It galls me to think how much I love your NSE design, but probably don't have enough dark grey for even one unit. Or certainly not four! And yet I have the track, motors and wheelsets to make proper use of it, station and all.

Realistic NSE infrastructure is easy too I bet, just whack up a few precast grey slabs and large window pieces, some drab flat roofing, of which I have plenty, and stick a few red, blue and white lines here and there. Everyone has red, blue and white, for obvious reasons. Teethmarks and all.

Absolutely. Even just releasing some more railway related sets would do me. More trains, and more stations. The only seem to do a tiny few City things and Harry Potter.

I certainly think it's mission accomplished. My Deltic by comparison has a very simple but realistically profiled nose in the right shade of yellow. I'm already confident I can add lights, headcode and the like, once I get around to it, but your gear has given me even more ideas, like using the little lamps as horns! Great stuff. Slam doors too! So easy, yet never even occurred to me to try. I can totally build that Class 66 with what I have, even the roof details, I just have to be content with black for the actual roof tiles. That technique though looks really good, a other new one on me.

Bricklink is definitely a much more trustworthy marketplace that Ebay in my opinion. Bricklink is actually owned by Lego nowadays (they bought it a few years ago). There is a much higher percentage of trustworthy sellers and bricklink are very quick to boot out the bad sellers.

The way shopping works on bricklink is quite different to ebay. You add all the parts that you need to purchase into your Wanted List. Then press the Buy All button on your wanted list and it will give you a list of the shops that have the highest percentage of parts that you need (not necessarily the best prices so it's best to look at several shops first). It will be up to you to choose which shop(s) you want to purchase from. You'll more than likely have to purchase from a few different shops depending on how much is in your wanted list (if you've got a lot of parts in your wanted list, it is highly likely that not one shop will have every single part that you want).

From my experience, the biggest online shops with the highest variety of parts tend to be the more expensive ones. I tend to find the 'medium' sized shops offer better prices but also offer a decent range at the same time. I actually run a bricklink store myself but I only started mine not that long ago. It's still in the growing process but these stores do take several years to properly buuld up. I've got an 'ok' range but probably not anywhere near the range of the medium and large sized stores.




Here is my latest lego train design and probably my favourite so far. This is a GWR Castle HST Set.









I have tried to capture as much detail as possible on this design and I am really happy with it considering that the Dark Green colour doesn't have the biggest variety of lego pieces.

Each MK3 Carriage is 31 studs in length and each Power Car is 25 and a half studs in length. Thw width of all coaches is 4 studs. I would estimate the total length of the train to be between 4 and a half and 5 foot.

I have posted this on my Rebrickable page along with the inventory and instructions. The approximate cost of all parts in the inventory is just over £150. To find it, Google 'Rebrickable Andy Ps Bricks' and it should be the first result.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The Class 66 features a mototised bogie. As far as i know, Lego haven't released a three axle motorised bogie so I had to use a two axle bogie.

The set my older brother had when we were kids had a co-co loco (which I think was based on a DB BR103 as seen in my profile pic) with a powered three axle bogie. However this was a system I believe is no longer used, which used a central power rail powered from a 12v controller.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Here are a few of my latest designs:

Intercity 125 HST Set. Two Power Cars and Two MK3 Carriages (loosely based off the Hornby R43011 set).





BR Blue Class 313 (based on Southern's 313201).



Class 66 in DB Livery (unlike the previous two, this is six studs wide, has a motor and is compatible with standard lego track).




The roof is easily detachable and gives access to the on/off switch of the battery box inside.

 

[Virgin Voyager]

Here is a DRS 20 I made a few weeks ago. Took about a day to build. Btw my bricks aren't sorted and are basically in various boxes / bags around my house so finding the correct pieces took a while. It's 8 wide so this gives me the ease of hiding the battery pack by one standard 1 wide brick either side. It uses the bogies from the blue diesel freight set.

 

[Cowley]

Here is a DRS 20 I made a few weeks ago. Took about a day to build. Btw my bricks aren't sorted and are basically in various boxes / bags around my house so finding the correct pieces took a while. It's 8 wide so this gives me the ease of hiding the battery pack by one standard 1 wide brick either side. It uses the bogies from the blue diesel freight set.

That’s really good. Love the multiple working sockets.
Loving this thread actually.

Here are a few of my latest designs:

Intercity 125 HST Set. Two Power Cars and Two MK3 Carriages (loosely based off the Hornby R43011 set).
View attachment 134952
View attachment 134954
View attachment 134953
View attachment 134955

BR Blue Class 313 (based on Southern's 313201).
View attachment 134956
View attachment 134957

Class 66 in DB Livery (unlike the previous two, this is six studs wide, has a motor and is compatible with standard lego track).

View attachment 134959
View attachment 134960
View attachment 134961
The roof is easily detachable and gives access to the on/off switch of the battery box inside.

They’re all good but the 66 is really clever, definitely captures some of the character of the real thing.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Here is a DRS 20 I made a few weeks ago. Took about a day to build. Btw my bricks aren't sorted and are basically in various boxes / bags around my house so finding the correct pieces took a while. It's 8 wide so this gives me the ease of hiding the battery pack by one standard 1 wide brick either side. It uses the bogies from the blue diesel freight set.

That looks really good, fantastic details all around.

I was thinking of making a 6-wide class 70 at one point but where the body is thinner in the middle, I couldn't think of a good way of building around the battery box. Your class 20 build has given me a few ideas though and I may be able to make it now.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

That’s really good. Love the multiple working sockets.
Loving this thread actually.


They’re all good but the 66 is really clever, definitely captures some of the character of the real thing.

I am proud of the 66. I may make some 6-wide aggregate box wagons to go with it. I think they would go well with some of the lego technic industrial and digger sets that have been released over the past several years.

 

[JonathanH]

I was thinking of making a 6-wide class 70 at one point but where the body is thinner in the middle, I couldn't think of a good way of building around the battery box.

You possibly could do it 6-wide, but would need to use vertical plates and tiles on the middle portion around the battery box between the cabs.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Class 70 Freightliner design is complete.






I was thinking about making it 7 or even 8 studs wide but I settled for 6 in the end.

The trickiest part was probably covering the battery box. At one point I was even thinking of making prints for the sides of the battery box but in the end I used brackets and tiles. They do stick out a little bit but it was the best I could do.

Another tricky part was finding a steep slope to go either side of the windscreens at the fronts. There is a lack of availability from Lego for yellow ones. I settled for grille pieces attached to brackets in the end.

One of my favourite bits is probably the light clusters at the fronts. While I was designing, it was looking a little bland at first but the light clusters is definitely what brought it to life. Another favourite bit is the fencing on the sides using bar pieces.

Like the 66, the 70 uses the same bogies and also uses the Lego Powered Up Bluetooth system that all Lego City train sets use nowadays. There is even room for a minifigure in each cab.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

It's been a few months (i've been busy so haven't had too much time to make many new designs) but I managed to finish this one up today: A Lego Class 221 Super Voyager 4-Car DEMU Train.


The train coupled together.


Front end. The lights were pretty tricky to perfect.


One of the driving carriages with a door open using a clever hinge system. I did try to perfect the big X near the front of the train which is represented here by the yellow and purple pieces (i'll let you be the judge of how good or bad it looks).


One of the middle carriages.


The other middle carriage with doors opened. This is the carriage that features the power system (motor bogie and battery box inside the carriage) which is why one of the bogies (the left one) looks different to the others.

Go to my Rebrickable page for more details. Search Andy Ps Bricks Rebrickable on Google and it should come up (I'm not sure what the rules are of posting links on the forum, that's why I said search on Google instead).

 

[Russel]

Some of these are really good, my son would love them, he's a huge Lego fan.

I'd recommend a visit to Legoland Windsor, they have an HST and DLR train.

 

[tedbaker]

It's been a few months (i've been busy so haven't had too much time to make many new designs) but I managed to finish this one up today: A Lego Class 221 Super Voyager 4-Car DEMU Train.

View attachment 141259
The train coupled together.

View attachment 141260
Front end. The lights were pretty tricky to perfect.

View attachment 141261
One of the driving carriages with a door open using a clever hinge system. I did try to perfect the big X near the front of the train which is represented here by the yellow and purple pieces (i'll let you be the judge of how good or bad it looks).

View attachment 141262
One of the middle carriages.

View attachment 141263
The other middle carriage with doors opened. This is the carriage that features the power system (motor bogie and battery box inside the carriage) which is why one of the bogies (the left one) looks different to the others.

Go to my Rebrickable page for more details. Search Andy Ps Bricks Rebrickable on Google and it should come up (I'm not sure what the rules are of posting links on the forum, that's why I said search on Google instead).

That looks great! Have you ever considered doing a Class 170? I’d love to see it in the same livery

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Some of these are really good, my son would love them, he's a huge Lego fan.

I'd recommend a visit to Legoland Windsor, they have an HST and DLR train.

Thank you. I've never been to Legoland Windsor but it is on my to-do list.

That looks great! Have you ever considered doing a Class 170? I’d love to see it in the same livery

Thank you. I may make a 170 one day (getting the front of the train right would easily be the trickiest bit though).

 

[315801]

I wonder how lkng it will be before a merseyrail 777 appears in lego even though my preference is and always will be for the class 507 and 508 units

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

I wonder how lkng it will be before a merseyrail 777 appears in lego even though my preference is and always will be for the class 507 and 508 units

A 777 would probably be quite a pain to make (mainly because of the front end). I have made a 4-stud wide version of the class 313 so converting it to a class 507 or 508 wouldn't be that tricky to do.

 

[Virgin Voyager]

Modified my Lego DRS 20 to run on Guage 1 track. It's a bit under scale due to the fact its been built with lego scale in mind and not 1:32.
I'm now on with building an 86 in 1:32 scale but made out of lego. It's 10 studs wide and I think scaled down the body is 52cm.

 

[315801]

Can I ask please how you get the profile of the loco, unit or other rolling stock to precisely match that of the real thing.

Whenever I tried build trains out of lego they looked like boxes on wheels if my brother and I tried build a unit of 3 coaches maximum, this was mainly due to amount of lego available at the time and not being able or knowing where the correctly shaped / profiled pieces were to build them properly. Fortunately our sister had other interests and never bothered with the lego.

At the time and we are talking back in the late 1980s / early 1990s here, the lego I had was mostly the standard stuff commonly used to build houses then my cousin gave us his lego technic set which was when the many attempts at train building began.

The technic set opened up all sorts of possibilities including steam locomotives but the 4 huge wheels onto which coupling rods or something meant to represent coupling rods could be fitted but because of the aforementioned low amount and mismatch of bricks available something resembling a 4-4-0 or 4-4-2 could be built but looked extremely odd due to a total of about 15 - 20 studs width and a narrow looking boiler which would be about 6 or 10 studs wide and easily over 100 studs long if sufficient flat 10 by 6 stud pieces were available for build above the rough representation of a locomotive chassis.

The class 507 / 508 units were the only trains we could attempt to build but they never looked right, in the end we switched to building ir attempting to build the star trek ships, we had better success with them than with trains although we never could achieve the exact look of what we were trying to build no matter what it was.

 

[Class15]

Modified my Lego DRS 20 to run on Guage 1 track. It's a bit under scale due to the fact its been built with lego scale in mind and not 1:32.
I'm now on with building an 86 in 1:32 scale but made out of lego. It's 10 studs wide and I think scaled down the body is 52cm.

That 86 looks superb so far!

I must say this thread has given me the inspiration to make some Lego trains myself, a 90 would be tough to do I imagine but something like a 73 would be easier I suppose?

 

[Class15]

Some of these are really good, my son would love them, he's a huge Lego fan.

I'd recommend a visit to Legoland Windsor, they have an HST and DLR train.

When I was there they had some 47s and at least one 58. Might have changed since then though.

 

[Andy Ps Bricks]

Can I ask please how you get the profile of the loco, unit or other rolling stock to precisely match that of the real thing.

Whenever I tried build trains out of lego they looked like boxes on wheels if my brother and I tried build a unit of 3 coaches maximum, this was mainly due to amount of lego available at the time and not being able or knowing where the correctly shaped / profiled pieces were to build them properly. Fortunately our sister had other interests and never bothered with the lego.

At the time and we are talking back in the late 1980s / early 1990s here, the lego I had was mostly the standard stuff commonly used to build houses then my cousin gave us his lego technic set which was when the many attempts at train building began.

The technic set opened up all sorts of possibilities including steam locomotives but the 4 huge wheels onto which coupling rods or something meant to represent coupling rods could be fitted but because of the aforementioned low amount and mismatch of bricks available something resembling a 4-4-0 or 4-4-2 could be built but looked extremely odd due to a total of about 15 - 20 studs width and a narrow looking boiler which would be about 6 or 10 studs wide and easily over 100 studs long if sufficient flat 10 by 6 stud pieces were available for build above the rough representation of a locomotive chassis.

The class 507 / 508 units were the only trains we could attempt to build but they never looked right, in the end we switched to building ir attempting to build the star trek ships, we had better success with them than with trains although we never could achieve the exact look of what we were trying to build no matter what it was.

Most, if not all, of my lego train builds use a building technique called Studs Not On Top. Basically it means using lego pieces with studs on the sides and building on those sideways studs to make the livery look more like the real life train. If you look carefully at my Cross Country Voyager driving car near the front end, you can see a couple of sideways builds (one for the lights and the yellow of the front end and another for the drivers door).

I would also recommend using Bricklink Studio 2.0 which is the lego design software that I use (it's basically the online equivalent of having a tub full of lego bricks in front of you). Read post #10 in this thread for a couple of tips on sideways building and lego brick sizes.

Hope this helps.

Modified my Lego DRS 20 to run on Guage 1 track. It's a bit under scale due to the fact its been built with lego scale in mind and not 1:32.
I'm now on with building an 86 in 1:32 scale but made out of lego. It's 10 studs wide and I think scaled down the body is 52cm.

The 20 looks really good as does the 86 so far. Look forward to seeing the finished product.

That 86 looks superb so far!

I must say this thread has given me the inspiration to make some Lego trains myself, a 90 would be tough to do I imagine but something like a 73 would be easier I suppose?

A 90 might not be that tricky if you can find the correct angled slope pieces. Trains with flat front ends are easier to design in lego.

 

[prod_pep]

These are just superb and must have taken remarkable patience. All are very impressive but I think that 421 is the highlight.