PennLUG's Pennsy Days Layout (and my Hershey Trolley)

[Brickadier General]

About a month ago, PennLUG (Pennsylvania Lego Users Group) put together a layout for the National Railroad Museum's Pennsylvania Railroad Days event. There were only three of us (Cale Leiphart, Mike Gibney, and myself), so the layout wasn't incredibly huge, but it still had a lot of character.

Cale brought a large engine shed and a slew of 8-wide train engines and cars to go along with them, as well as a town building. In particular, I really love his club boxcar. Mike brought in his cool Pennsylvania farm. I brought a couple things in too, and the only "new" thing I had there was my Union campsite, complete with a church being used as a lookout point and field hospital, a large tent for a general, a few small tents for soldiers, and even a baseball game.

We had two running lines, one train running along the outer part of the layout, and an L-shaped track on the inside for trolleys. The trolley line was a "ping-pong" deal, as the trolleys ran back an forth as opposed to a continuous loop. Cale was able to do this using the Mindstorms NXT kit.

My Brickshelf Gallery

Cale's Brickshelf Gallery

I'd also like to announce my Hershey Trolley, which I finished making about 2 months ago or so. You can read all about it here on my mocpages. I was really happy with the way it turned out and would like to make some more of the Hershey trolleys in the future to supplement this one. Here's a pic of it:

Any comments and questions are welcome about the layout or my trolley. :-)

[Hinckley]

Hey Brickadier General, welcome to Eurobricks. Great MOC, thanks for sharing. I like your guys' layout. Were you at BrickWorld in Chicago? I don't recognize the setup. I would have loved to have seen the "ping-pong" setup.

Personally, I am a fan of trains that have working doors and open windows. I like the use of two 1 x 2 trans-clear bricks as a window, but I would prefer a solid window. I love the color scheme and I especially love the detail in the front. Despite my personal style, this is one of the better trollies I've seen. I like how you built the front, it's rounded and the old style doors make for excellent windows! I really like the (forgive my lack of knowledge for technical train terms) The fan dealy thing that spreads out in front of the trolly, and the 'skylights' on top.

EDIT: What d'ya know? It looks like the doors do open. Awesome! :-D

Again, it's a very impressive MOC and I'm very glad you shared it here! Welcome and I hope to see more from you. :-) *y*

[zouave]

Man you guys are awesome. It's amazing how all that came from just 3 people. Huge *y* 's up.

What I like best of all is your civil war scene. That camp is wonderful. Especially those three guys around the fire. *wub* The baseball game looks great. Go Zouaves Go! 8-

[Brickadier General]

Hey Brickadier General, welcome to Eurobricks. Great MOC, thanks for sharing. I like your guys' layout. Were you at BrickWorld in Chicago? I don't recognize the setup. I would have loved to have seen the "ping-pong" setup.

Personally, I am a fan of trains that have working doors and open windows. I like the use of two 1 x 2 trans-clear bricks as a window, but I would prefer a solid window. I love the color scheme and I especially love the detail in the front. Despite my personal style, this is one of the better trollies I've seen. I like how you built the front, it's rounded and the old style doors make for excellent windows! I really like the (forgive my lack of knowledge for technical train terms) The fan dealy thing that spreads out in front of the trolly, and the 'skylights' on top.

EDIT: What d'ya know? It looks like the doors do open. Awesome! :-D

Again, it's a very impressive MOC and I'm very glad you shared it here! Welcome and I hope to see more from you. :-) *y*

Thanks. :-) Although I should mention John Neal's club trolley, which is where I borrowed elements for the construction of the roof, doors, and front windows.

But the doors don't actually open. The green hinge bricks are actually there to help "round out" the front windows a little bit more. Maybe I can work functional doors into a future trolley. And I was originally going to use yellow train windows, but when saw how much it would cost me I fled and went with brick built ones. I'm glad you like the old doors I used for windows. It's a shame that Lego stopped making them so long ago and that they're only available in 3 colors. They work great in a lot of creations.

I think the "fan dealy" on the front is called a cow catcher, at least I know it is on trains. But Cale thought they had a different name for trolleys, so I don't know. But it's not like I don't know what you're talking about. ;-)

And no, I wasn't at Brickworld, but I think Cale might've been. Maybe I can make it next year. I'd really like to go, as I have never been to a big Lego convention before (although I guess the NMRA counts a little). I think it'd be pretty fun.

Man you guys are awesome. It's amazing how all that came from just 3 people. Huge *y* 's up.

What I like best of all is your civil war scene. That camp is wonderful. Especially those three guys around the fire. *wub* The baseball game looks great. Go Zouaves Go! 8-

[Hinckley]

I think the "fan dealy" on the front is called a cow catcher, at least I know it is on trains.

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

That's the best thing I've heard all day! Oh brilliant. Thanks for making my day!

:-/ I'm not always the most mature.

[Optikal Illushun]

PennLUG...Hersheys...where are u fellas located? im in Pa close to Hershey...

[alex54]

What a nice layout *y* ! I like the touch of humour with gostbuster, Back in the future and other "strange" things!

I like the trees in the garden, the icecream man with all the kids around him: there is a lot of live!

And your trolley is very beautiful! And this "old" family brings a nice touch of authenticity. Nice work *y* !

[zouave]

I recently purchased a book about a baseball playing man in the civil war. And it reminded me of your baseball game. It had some facts about the sport back then I thought you'd like to hear.

Back then the feild was a square instead of a diamond. (You got that part right. ;-) )

There were no bases. Just 4 foot high poles sixty feet apart from each other. And the batter was called a striker.

[highlandcattle]

Hey,

Very nice moc. I love the whole design. I'm a huge tram fan. Sadly your hershey line no longer exists. I'm lucky that I live in a city were the tramways have never ceased to exist. Most of our tramfleet ar PCC's!

[Asuka]

A beautiful layout and a very lovely MOC indeed. *y*

[Brickadier General]

Sorry I haven't been very active, but I haven't had too much time for keeping up with forums or building with Lego for that matter. Thanks again to everyone for the kind words!

PennLUG...Hersheys...where are u fellas located? im in Pa close to Hershey...

Most of us are from Central PA. I live in Palmyra, myself, and the group leader Mike Gibney lives in Elizabethtown. They usually meet once a month (usually on the 3rd Saturday). Meeting locations can very, but Mike's often hosted them at his home.

Here's a link to our yahoo group if you're interested:

PennLUG

I recently purchased a book about a baseball playing man in the civil war. And it reminded me of your baseball game. It had some facts about the sport back then I thought you'd like to hear.

Back then the feild was a square instead of a diamond. (You got that part right. ;-) )

There were no bases. Just 4 foot high poles sixty feet apart from each other. And the batter was called a striker.

heh, I tried. Guess I'll have to tweak it eventually to be more accurate. ;-) I looked for pictures on the net, but I couldn't really find anything of much help.

Hey,

Very nice moc. I love the whole design. I'm a huge tram fan. Sadly your hershey line no longer exists. I'm lucky that I live in a city were the tramways have never ceased to exist. Most of our tramfleet ar PCC's!

Thanks. The Hershey line might not exist now, but I do know when they finish restoring the one trolley it seems as though they are planning to have it running again, but probably only for tourism. It stinks because public rail transportation would be very beneficial around here, such as a light rail.

[tower-city]

cool

[Siegfried]

cool

I realise you may not have the best English skills, but making short posts in several old topics in a row is not cool...