The Integration of Trains & Boats

[WesternOutlaw]

The Integration of Trains & Boats

With LEGO's new 2011 Harbor/Marina City sub-theme, boat fans will be excited over the new line up! Unfortunately, space is always a limiting factor for adding those marinas and coastal freight ways to one's existing Train Town.

As I recalled some wonderful images of 12V and battery operated (4.5V) trains, I had to do some digging to find a late 80s catalogue that illustrated the integration of LEGO Boats with LEGO Trains. The picture is one of a few that LEGO shared with its fans to demonstrate how the two themes, both relating to travel in the world of LEGO, could be blended for a harmonious combination of track and waterway transportation.

So my question, do you plan or have you integrated trains and boats in your Train Towns or Floorvilles in a manner similar to the catalogue image above?

Do your trains transport goods to a nearby harbor sharing cranes for lifting cargo containers to floatable boats in a Maersk to Marina fashion?

(or)

perhaps your freight cars may be transporting boats for a more unique integration?

Are only Cargo Trains acceptable in a Seaport Village, or can an Emerald be side-by-side with a Harbor Transport?

Share your thoughts on this Train & Town Crossover Topic, to be found only in the Train Tech forum. Pictures most welcome!

[AussieJimbo]

Nice old promo material and great discussion point.

I'd like to do a nice wharf with train tracks and maybe a tracked gantry crane like the one from cimddwc's awesome cargo terminal.

How about real water integrated into the layout for those floating boats. Now that's a challenge.

Once you've got that sussed, you'd want a working Falkirk Wheel with floating canal boats. You could have a nearby train station for the tourists and maybe a transhipment point for cargo to and from the canal.

:classic:

Edited May 13, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[Piranha]

The new grain harbor and the new upcoming cargo train with ballast loaders will look great together, I might have to make a few more to load the grain and don't forget the source from the farm!

[Legoist]

This sounds like a great idea... I've never thought about that, probably because I largely ignore boat/ship sets and themes.

Perhaps it would be nice to create a diorama inspired by PC games such as the Transport Tycoon / Locomotion series, displaying for example a cargo-switching centre where trains, trucks and ship exchange their loads, or a mail-switching centre (trains, vans and airplanes), or passenger of course.

[cimddwc]

Interesting topic... Well, since I'm planning for when I'll have the space for my big layout, I've been thinking about some boat integration, too, but I don't think I'll build a cargo harbor, rather a bay/river mouth with a pirate ship (Queen Anne's Revenge) as tourist attraction, a little beach, some smaller boats, maybe the Creator lighthouse – I'm not planning to buy the marina set, though. And a nice train bridge across the river at the edge of the layout. So no real train&boat integration, though the station won't be far away so tourists arriving on the Emerald Night can easily reach the beach...

No real water, though, even if AussieJimbo's idea is intriguing. :)

[AussieJimbo]

I'm toying with the real water idea (though I can't see myself doing it).

You'd start off with blue base plates underwater so you could build submerged rocks, bridge footings, islands, etc.

The base plates also let you put your non-floatable boats like the Maersk container ship, pirates, etc on concealed stands.

For the floatable boats, you'd use the base plates to mount some technic gears and a great long chain underwater to which you attach the boats so you can sail them around automatically.

Should be able to find some sort of square or rectangular pond liner to mount it all in. Too easy. -biggrin-

:classic:

Edited May 13, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[Odyssey]

That's sweet. I've always been thinking about that real water thing (also back when I was planning a "normal" modell railroad - which never came to pass in the way I wanted it ;) ).

I think the real challenge would be to make things water-tight. You'd either have to somehow glue parts to get them watertight or build the whole landscape (or at least the parts with water in them in a water-filled basin but high enough so they stand out of the water...

[ManitobaMoe]

I love how it is going to tie together the train habor and farm this year. i need so much more space now

[frogstudio]

Since I started planning my layout (which I will never be able to do, due lo space problems)it has alway had a harbour area with trains in it... :)

Here's the complete layout

And here'sa detail of the harbor area

[WesternOutlaw]

It's really interesting to read the comments on this topic.

Frogstudio: What an awesome layout! I'm so impressed with the fact the you have even identified the different areas for the new 2011 sets, like the harbor and the lighthouse. If you ever manage to build this coastal layout, it would incredible. I'm loving the incorporation of the various water plates and how they blend with the baseplate geography of your town.

This was the extend of my coastline before converting it to dry land due to construction needs:

It didn't give me much space for a marina or even a single freight ship.

In fact, even my river was just about dried up:

Unfortunately, the surfer dude's wave never came in like anticipated:

I could go on...

But seriously, your layout is incredible!

How about real water integrated into the layout for those floating boats. Now that's a challenge.

Great thought! I'd love to have a train bridge passing over some real water.

[Legoless]

I'm toying with the real water idea (though I can't see myself doing it).

You'd start off with blue base plates underwater so you could build submerged rocks, bridge footings, islands, etc.

The base plates also let you put your non-floatable boats like the Maersk container ship, pirates, etc on concealed stands.

For the floatable boats, you'd use the base plates to mount some technic gears and a great long chain underwater to which you attach the boats so you can sail them around automatically.

Should be able to find some sort of square or rectangular pond liner to mount it all in. Too easy. -biggrin-

:classic:

Why not use a pump to circulate the water and create movement that way? Admittedly, the movement would be a bit random, but if you put an island in the middle (brick built- with bridges) you could create a sort of one-way system.

Might even be possible to build a functional PF powered boat with an internal chain-drive to the propeller and axles to distance the motor from any water ingression.

[mrblue]

I don't think that the new harbor set is that bad. the trouble is the price! it's far too expensive for what you get, and imho I would have concentrate more on the container business instead of the coal one.

in my future layout there is no plan to integrate an harbour, but actually I should say there WAS no plan! after looking/reading some posts, I think that I should look for a place to set a small train to boat area, unfortunately the piers will have to be brick built, because the once available 16x32 raised baseplates are no more available or too expensive on bricklink.

have a nice lego day

mrBlue

[Pet-Lego]

My harbour 6542 and the new lighthouse with some custom transfer for boat to train to road will definitely get a place in my layout when it's finally getting build.

For now I'm restricted to a day of trying out new things on the floor and packing it all up again.

[Bernie56]

In my current layout, on carpet, with limited base plates, I had set a rail link to the waterfront but in an abstract way - just a rail spur sticking in to the water - trying to figure out what to do next. Thanks to this thread, and seeing some very nice layouts, I went ahead this Sunday AM and ordered 4642. 4645, 4644 & 4641 from LEGO online. I can see this integration getting serious. Thanks folks.

[Pingles]

In Santa Cruz, CA they have a train that runs along the beach Amusement Park and wharf. This picture shows the track (but cuts of the wharf, which is to the right of the picture).

The pic shows a freight train but a Passenger train runs every summer day.

A nice option for a water/train mix with passenger cars instead of freight.

[kyphur]

I'm planning to have facilities to handle cargo transer bewteen 3 transport mediums on my layout (Trucks, Trains & Ships).

For the water I plan to use blue fabric attached to the tables edges with snaps or velcro so I can remove it for access to the scenery.

I am designing a Cargo Ship that will be built from the waterline up on blue baseplates with a base dimension of 96 studs long and 24 studs wide (2 24 * 40 & 1 24 * 16 baseplate).

The cargo hold will accomidate 6 Maersk (10219) sized containers with walk ways between them and be open deck for stacking.

The aft section will be detachable and contain a stach of 3 sections: The bottom will be the Engine Room which runs from the waterline to the deck. Then the Crew quarters with sit on that and the Bridge will rest atop the stack.

The bow of the ship is undetermined as of yet and may just be empty.

Here are some WIP Pics:

Edited May 16, 2011 by kyphur

[Legoless]

An interesting integration of trains and boats was the Weymouth Boat Train which had to run the final part of the journey along tram lines set into the street (note that the train itself was a full-sized loco hauled train). Here is a picture- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:33109_Weymouth_Harbour_Tramway_August_1981.jpg. I think the bloke hanging out of the doorway was actually meant to walk in front of the train- which proceeded at a crawl (or was supposed to). Note the bell on the front of the Class 33 to warn anyone suffering from some kind of hearing loss that prevented them from hearing the noise of a Sulzer diesel!

Edit- could someone explain to me how to include web links? For some reason this site always shortens them so they don't work anymore.

Edited May 16, 2011 by Legoless

[AussieJimbo]

I just paste links straight into the post and they work for me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth_Harbour_Tramway

Interesting line. Big overhead though crawling along with two blokes walking in front.

I favour a Darwinian approach to these situations. Take adequate precautions and let the idiots fend for themselves.

It would be great to see this preserved and/or turned into a modern tramway but the wiki article suggests the local council wants to remove it.

:classic:

Edited May 17, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[jaster]

I recall seeing this in Detroit almost 4 years ago. It is still impressive today: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2640620

[AussieJimbo]

That's a very cool model. There's probably a train with tipper cars somewhere on that layout.

:classic:

[jaster]

That's a very cool model. There's probably a train with tipper cars somewhere on that layout.

:classic:

If you look closely, the rails are 12v after the switch and have empty space between the ties for the ore to fall to the boat. The train uses regular hopper cars:

[AussieJimbo]

Ah, I missed that detail. Somehow I didn't even see the rails over the chutes, I thought it was using tipper cars from the line alongside.

:classic:

[cimddwc]

Edit- could someone explain to me how to include web links? For some reason this site always shortens them so they don't work anymore.

The text shortening isn't the problem, it still works fine, but the "." at the end of your sentence is included in the URL. :)

[LEGO Guy Bri]

My current layout has a marina next to a harbor, as well as, a rail depot. The harbor is not connected to the rail depot as my room is long and narrow, therefor it wouldn't be space efficient to have the two connected. There would be no room for the beach or marina, so its a short drive to the water. I plan to move it to a larger room and combine the those two and move the public beach and marina a little further away. No clue as to when I will get to this, a lot of work

[Piranha]

It's really interesting to read the comments on this topic.

snip

ohhh 4 Cypress Trees That is a nice layout B, where is the update topic on it? I really like the tunnel I spot, any close ups? Nice Cactus!