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I unfortunately have been sick the last few weeks and won’t be able to partake in the CSC Locomotive Weekend this year. It’s been a serious health issue and I need to fully recover before I can do another train show.

I want to thank @rcgrier3406 and @joshhall for working so hard on the layout to try to fit the bridge. Hopefully by giving a week’s heads up, there’s still time for you guys to plan ahead and put the railyard back where the bridge was planned.

I will plan to participate with the coming Home and Garden Show in March and to provide my trains and Behemoth Bascule Bridge for that exhibit.

Thanks,
MPL

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@rcgrier3406 thank you for finalizing the layout and for getting that bridge in. The layout looks great.

I’ve gone ahead and signed up for full day shifts Sat and Sun. I may logically come in Friday afternoon to set up the bridge before the show but might not be able devote a full shift/cup for that day with work obligations so I left that blank for now. Either way, I will get the bridge up and running with the SCL / Locomotion Weekend banner on the side.

As an update, I’ve ordered the four rerailers to give to you guys at the CSC show (two per each outer loop). Should be arriving at my place this week. 🙂

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@rcgrier3406 That’s great to see the layout working. Clever use of the half baseplate at either end to line things up. I appreciate the effort. This looks good to me.
I can generate another banner for the bridge to promote the LUG logo and the Loco Weekend Event.

I don’t know if it helps but I heard Ikea has adjustable legs that may allow for that final table height adjustment. @joshhall

On a plus note, I am certainly planning on getting some of the new official Lego rerailer track pieces for the LUG, in time for HG show in March. If I can get them soon enough, then I can hand them over at CSC for the track master to implement them later on the modules. Each one takes the space of one straight track and should only need the 1×1 tiles from the ballast. Maybe I can build my little trackside defect detector panel box to go with it as a Maintenance of Way scene. 🙂

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I’m not a programmer guy but if you got it showing faster speeds, I definitely approve! XD

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Fancy! Sleek. Modern. Looks good in dark mode.

Any chance from the coding side of things that photos will upload easier? (Sometimes when uploading four jpegs, it only uploads one or two on the current website format.)

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Amazon has some black table cloths and skirts for cheap. @joshhall you want to consider them with LUG budget?

I could also take a look at waterfront Michael’s art store fabric department to see if they have anything in bulk on discount. I’m going there tomorrow-ish and could report back to you on anything I find (not buy in advance but report).

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If it’s the 43212 Disney 100 Celebration train that has everything on the base brick with wheels, you could try getting a 9v train motor and building the locomotive over it. 🙂

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The longest reply is only under 12k characters? As a writer by night, I should use my purple prose here and easily beat that. 🙂

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@joshhall @rcgrier3406, @gabevistica

As long as we can have that 40″ gap (4 baseplates) via a couple custom made tables, I can make the bridge work within the tight footprint. If the bridge is on the narrow end, I can forgo the cargo flask platform on the Schanbel and it should be able to fit the R104 curve leading into the tower module. It’ll be both blue ends fused together which is standard mode for Schanbel cars going to pick up cargo at a site. (That rattle you hear in the flask are the connector pins for that mode.) 🙂

If we put the bridge on the back and forgo the railyard, then the Schnabel can be full length and my extra trains would go on a back row of overflow tables along the wall as we’ve done in the past. (If they allow us that overflow table again as it’s really useful for battery and maintenance away from the display.

Let me know if either way seems feasible in your layout drawings. I really appreciate Josh’s willingness to make some custom tables for the cause. I would be glad to verify any final LxW dimensions prior to fabrication.

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Welcome to the LUG. Glad you had lots of fun at The Ultimate Brick Show.

I’m THE Lego STEM train guy with three tables of trains at TUBS so if you have any questions about getting trains to work, ask away. 🙂

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If we can figure a way to make the tables work, or provide two small custom tables to fit the allotted parameters of the middle back table with 40″ gap, we could run the bridge on the back broadside as I don’t want to take from John’s winter village. That’s always a cute front facing attraction and the industrial looking bridge is tall enough to be visible from the back. Fortunately, it’s a 360 walk around display so people will still see it there.

I’d be willing to forgo the railyard and swap trains on a back table like in years past. Or have disconnected side tracks on remaining layout modules in that area to showcase static rollingstock.

If that’s possible to do, great. If not, it’s okay if the bridge waits till HG show. I’m quite happy with how well it worked at The Ultimate Brick Show. I don’t know if Josh has any custom small LUG tables to fit here but maybe he can check. 🙂

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Thanks for trying to fit the bridge in the layout. I can probably run the blue Schnabel car without the flask in the center to make it around the corners and right through the bridge tower modules without extra straight track before it to straighten out, if needed. I think there’s enough clearance to make the corners work so we can save space as you suggested. 🙂
Big Boy and Challenger I think were fine with the R104 corner overhangs relative to the tower columns.

So if we can get some more space for at least the drawbridge part to be 40″ clear that would be great as it has underside structure below the track deck that can’t go over a table. The bridge in action would be a great showpiece at CSC; but, if CSC says no extra room, the bridge can wait till the March HG show. Keep me posted on developments and whatever seems best for the LUG and our allotted display space.

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And a cool cutaway view I did in photo editing. XD

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Thanks, @dales. It’ll be the train to build in the new year.
Here’s a render of all my atomic energy themed educational train models, from raw ore to spent fuel waste and a spy satellite launch car.

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Sure thing, we can talk at TUBS. I figured we can look at the TUBS layout and estimate out how much space is actually needed if we want to utilize the bridge at CSC.

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Oddly enough as we prepare trains for TUBS, CSC Locomotion Weekend is only 2 months away. Are we planning on a layout large enough to feature the Behemoth Bascule Bridge? Or are we expecting the same footprint, more or less as previous exhibits there?

I can bring the bridge if you guys want it for this show too.

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Thanks. The more curve slope pieces Lego makes in transparent colors, the more options I can have without resorting to custom stickers. 🙂

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Finished building the Phoenix 1 GT. It’s a great model IRL. That dark blue is beautiful.

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Hope you recover quickly. I’ll be sure to an onboard train POV video and share the link. 🙂

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Working now on an oil pump field next to a farm. If you look closely, you can see the Lambo tractors I made, inspired by Clarkson’s Farm show as well as few other of my unusual trains, like the SD40 switcher.

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Welcome to the LUG. You’re in luck because the LUG does have showings with the local Steelers and Pirates. (Ask Bob)

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Awesome. Hopefully the Carnegie Science Center can get that 3d exhibit soon. XD

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Final overview:

The model diorama itself was efficiently modeled using subgroups as replicating components with randomized features. So the main pyramid structure was built out of four quadrants, each having 9 layers of stepped retaining walls. Each layer of retaining wall had its share of modular components. Smaller pyramids have fewer layers, using the upper layers of the larger model. The terrain has techniques to appear covered in random foliage cover.

Overall it is buildable IRL, with some additional infill and the mountain class train was used in South America and beyond, though not necessarily a Pennsylvania version of the mountain train.

As for the psychic animal, it’s an Easter egg reference to the Mew carving from the Pokemon movie. You’re gonna need a bigger boat for the other Easter egg. LOL.

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Still more views:

Some say the Mayans foresaw future means of transportations. Others say they made carvings of a peculiar animal with psychic abilities…
All we know is that this display as MILS modules took over 20000 bricks in Studio.

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More Views :

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