BryanKinkel

I was disappointed when LEGO had the Thomas license and only released Duplo products.

Very nice. Thanks for posting. Looks like the track pack is a mix of straights and curves with a couple of flex-tracks thrown in.

I think the Ideas page would benefit with some super high quality renders of the LXF files. I would help out, but this is something that is way beyond my knowledge.

James - Simply gorgeous. You have my vote.

Been done a couple of times before. I don't think it was ever successful. Back in 2001 LEGO had the My Own Train line. It was originally a LEGO online exclusive. But a large set with track eventually made it to Toys R Us. Individual cars where briefly sold at Target and eventually heavily discounted. Some Gray Era cars such as 7818 Passenger Wagon, 7820 Mail Van and 7814 Crane Wagon were sold individually in the US through the JC Penny catalog. But I think the days of LEGO selling a complete train system are long gone. There is always the possibility that if the right market conditions come along, LEGO will make individual cars. But I think it is unlikely. Toys today have a short shelf life. And parents like to purchase products where everything you need is in one box. It's a shame.

Thanks for sharing the inspiration for the engine. There certainly is some strange looking stuff in the real world of trains. But it does fit with the "old world charm" of the Winter Village. My desire for a black/red German style train is simply due to Gray-era nostalgia.

#9, #21 or #27. #9 with red wheels and details would probably be best. I'm looking at this shot: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3539623 -- Bryan

Hey James - I love this train and think it fills an obvious gap in the Winter Village line. I was just discussing how to setup our annual Christmas LEGO village with my wife this morning. This is the first design I have supported on LEGO Ideas! My favorite parts are the blue passenger carriage and the luggage trolly. But I'm sure there would have to be lots of changes done to get this down to a reasonable price point. My only real suggestion is on the engine. I would change it to use a more recognizable design and color scheme such as the black and red used by the German steam engines. Maybe 7810 using modern techniques and pieces. As designed now, can this accommodate a Power Functions engine? -- Bryan

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but it looks like the map tiles combine to create a larger map.

I believe I still have a few pages of that article. When I was a kid back in the 70s/80s I kept all my instructions and catalogs in a shoebox. Pages from that Natgeo World article were tucked away in there too. The contents of that shoebox are still all together somewhere.... I will see if I can't track down the pages and post a scan. -- Bryan

Here are some items of note at the King of Prussia, PA store as of 5/19/2012. This is clearly not a complete list - just what I saw & could remember. White flowers Green flower stems Brown chairs White horses round brick 2x2, trans blue brick 1x1, lime green, orange brick 1x4, orange brick 2x2, light blue brick 2x4, light blue, green, brown plate 2x4, brown plate 1x1, trans yellow tile 1x4, green, brown tile 2x2, yellow tile 1x1, trans red round plate 1x1, clear cheese slope, trans orange

I guess it just needs more folks to do the updates. I will have to take the template to my store next time I go there.

Then kill this topic. Thanks.

I see your point about volunteers and keeping the the threads clean. >> Plus if regular members aren't updating the current thread, I wonder if these new threads would be updated? My point is not that regular members are not updating the current thread. They certainly are. It is just nearly impossible to find a *timely* answer to "what does store X have on the wall?" At one end of the spectrum we have Brickbuildr - which uses a very data-centric approach for tracking the inventory. In order to update, you download an Excel template, fill it out by position, the email it to the site admin. It could be argued that updating does not take a lot of time. But it involves another site, email, waiting for the update etc. Dashing off an informal forum post at Eurobricks seems much easier than that. On the other end of the spectrum is the PAB Cups:What Did You Get thread. Currently at 41 pages, it is a slightly chaotic, but fun to browse, listing of acquisitions and discussion. However the lack of structure makes it difficult to search. PAB cup listings are posted as images, lists, spreadsheet screenshots, etc. Sometimes the store is listed, sometimes not. Perhaps the answer is a set of post formatting rules to make searching easier?

The PAB thread has lots of posts asking "What is at store xxxx?" - and the answer is usually "check brickbuildr" Brickbuldr is great - and I check it often to see what other stores have and get an idea of what might come to my local store. But it is often way out of date. Perhaps it is tedious to update with what is in each slot at each store. I don't know. But how about this - a new LEGO Store Reports section here on Eurobricks with a permanent thread for each particular store. There the threads could be updated with what is on the PAB wall whenever members visit their local stores. For example a store report might look like this: On my recent trip to the King of Prussia, PA store, I found: bricks, 1x4 orange bricks, 1x1 orange & lime green tiles, 1x4 green & brown tiles 2x2 yellow plates, 2x4 brown white flowers, green stems trans orange cheese white horses (!) etc. Members are would still be encouraged to post their awesome PAB haul pictures in the existing thread. (I really enjoy that thread ! ) But since the PAB update format is just a forum posting, the list of what is available on the PAB wall at each store might be easier to keep up to date. And it would be easy to quickly navigate to a given store without having to wade through a single huge thread or search the Buy/Sell/Trade/Finds section. Just a thought. -- Bryan