Cale

Thank you. Thank you. Cale

Presenting my 1:48 scale LEGO model of the Pennsylvania Railroad X29 class boxcar. More photos can be found here. https://flic.kr/s/aHsmUx65ns Between 1924 and 1934, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased or built close to 30,000 of the X29 class of box cars and an additional 5,000 of the auto car variant, the X28. The X29 was a 40ft long, 50-ton all-steel car design.The X29, which made up approximately one third of the PRR’s boxcar inventory for the time, became one of the most iconic Pennsylvania Railroad freight cars of the late steam and transition eras. These cars appeared in every corner of the US and Canada. Many of the cars remained in revenue service up through the 1960’s. The X-29 became a landmark design and copies were delivered to the Baltimore & Ohio, Wheeling & Lake Erie, Central New Jersey, Lehigh & New England, Boston & Maine and Maine Central as well as many more railroads. More prototype info can be found here. https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/580-x29-series-box-car-information-for-modelers This model of the X29 features the Pennsy's 2D-F8 freight trucks, Creco doors, early door track and door stoop configuration, and KD brakes. I've been tinkering with a LEGO X29 off and on for years. This one I think is just about right. This is just part of my dive into this car as the X29 had quite a life span and came in many variations. It's probably one of the most important cars for any PRR steam era modeler. I will be building more of these in several flavors in the future. Thank you to Robert Douthwaite for inspiration on the Creco door design. His B&O version of this car can be seen below. Decal art work designed by me, and printed by OKBrickworks. Cale

Yes, that seems like the most sensible. The 20ft is the simplest and cheapest. Very easy to mass produce. Cale

Normally I don't like to spam the forum with BMR posts, but hopefully you guys will enjoy this one. Today we have a special article from guest writer Cameron Miller announcing a new Modular Intermodal Standard for LEGO® trains co developed by Brick Model Railroader and Brick Train Depot. Read the article here. And for those who want to skip straight to the Standards Document. Modular LEGO® Intermodal Standard v1 Cale Leiphart BMR

Bearings have a precision rating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABEC_scale I recommend using bearings with a rating of ABEC 5 to ABEC 7 or equivalent. If your suppler can't tell you what the bearing's rating is, you probably shouldn't buy from them. Cale

I have never powered more than one axle on a steam locomotive, always relying on the rods to do the job they were intended for, transmitting power to all axles. I've never had an issue with this. I firmly believe that the less gears you can have in a transmission the better. Every gear introduces more friction. Cale

I agree, I've been burned by cheap bearings from eBay before. However I think the $1.00 bearings are overkill for our application. Those are for racing and usually have extra features we don't necessarily need, like heavier shielding when run in a dirt environment. They are for racers looking to shave fractions of a second off their lap times. It does benefit us though to choose a bearing of at least moderate quality. There are several rating systems for bearings, one of them being the ABEC rating scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABEC_scale I generally look to buy bearings between ABEC 5 and 7, and have had good luck with those. Cale

You make a compelling argument for building in a larger scale sir. Beautiful train. Cale

I don't think the aerodynamic properties of the S160 design would lend itself to flying very well. The crash though would be spectacular! Cale

I'm the dummy with the BMR shirt. Cale

I thought the OKB car was dark red, and the CincyLUG was sand blue? Cale

So you're saying I need to get my OKBrickworks car built? ? Cale

Boom!

Just ordered 200 myself, which is enough to do 6 boxcars. Cale

I can now rest a little easier at night knowing that I have not drained the world of this valuable resource. Time make more boxcars. Cale