Hello Train Forum

This is my first new topic post in the Train Forum, although some of you may have seen me around the town forum a lot.

Anyway, I wanted to share my train tunnel I have made for my layout. You may remember about a month ago I was asking about tunnels and looking for inspiration. Well I finally designed and figured out what to put on top of it... This is my first go at any sort of real landscaping.

I have yet to test a train running through it as my layout is a bit of a mess at the moment, but I tried to allow plenty of room around the curve for clearance and most likely the only train I will run through it is the red Passenger train anyway.

On top of the mountain is a ruined building, as you can see this area isn't visited very often, hence the plants going wild!

I will hopefully test the tunnel in the next couple of days and get a video of it in action and of course will post it here once I do

Comments and critiques encouraged

It loooks cool! I want to do one as well for my layout but, on the top of it, I want to move my airport. I may take some inspirations ;)

Looks great! I want one as well. I might have to start building one soon.

It looks good, the ruin on top of it is very clever

Very nice rocks...give you a vertical feel for sure!

Very nice tunnel with lots of details. Well done! I especially like the climber.

Very well done - I really like it :) I may be looking off yours for inspiration when I get to my layout....if it ever comes - waiting to settling down to get a layout going.

Looks good. Can't wait to see a train go through it.

That looks really great! Keep up the good work!

Very nice, it looks like th top can lift off, is that the idea?

Amazing work ...very well done!

I like the cliffhanger!

Great build and looks like it will fill a nice corner on your layout.

Nice train tunnel. That remindes me to build one myself.

And a very clever idea putting a ruin on top.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it helps when it's all positive

But I'm glad it's well received as it spent a lot of time unfinished and I eventually put my fist through the first attempt at the rock work because it was annoying me But luckily the second attempt was much more successful and I'm very proud of it. Building landscaping is much harder than it seems!!

Thanks again

It is a very nice looking tunnel and I am glad that you have managed to run a train through it at last. The ruin is a good idea to put on top, often large hills have some defining feature on top of them.

One point I would make and I hope that you do not mind as it is only a suggestion. I think I would have made it a bit higher. It appears that the hillside is simply the right height for the tunnel and not much else, almost like they made an artificial tunnel and put rocks on top of it. It the tunnel was a little higher over and above the level of the tunnel entrances then it would be much more convincing as being tunneled under rather than covered over if you see what I mean?

Still it is very nice landscaping, the little details like the climber all add to the scene and make for an interesting part of a layout that will draw the eye.

Well done. The tunnel over the curve is much more challenging than over the straight track. The slope of the hill is also nice, though I must agree with Hrw-Amen that a little bit of extra height would give it a more genuine appearance. Nevertheless, it would be a great addition to a layout, so keep up the good work.

One point I would make and I hope that you do not mind as it is only a suggestion. I think I would have made it a bit higher.

Well done. The tunnel over the curve is much more challenging than over the straight track. The slope of the hill is also nice, though I must agree with Hrw-Amen that a little bit of extra height would give it a more genuine appearance. Nevertheless, it would be a great addition to a layout, so keep up the good work.

Thanks for the feedback. I must admit I was a little unsure how to finish the hill off, and so just put a few rocks above the entrances, but your suggestion certainly makes a lot of sense. I have a few spare slope bricks so I will see what I can do with them to make a little higher.

Or make the area around the ruin look like it was scraped flat, like what usually happens before a house is built. Maybe add a ruined fence/wall to complete that effect. Add a few small hills or rocks around the ruined "homestead", especially over the tunnel entrances. Just some food 4 thought.

looks good

Yeah, looking really good. Need to do something similar. Thanks for the inspiration ;)

Hi all,

I'm completely new here and would like to ask for some help/suggestions. My plan is to build a straight tunnel for my train where the top is covered by snow so the minifigs can ski on it, the whole thing doesn't have to be too high though, I imagine something similar to this one: My question is: how/where should I start designing it? What's the first thing you do when you have an idea but you don't know how many/what colour/what type of bricks you'll need..? I'm sure it's obvious for most of you - sorry for bothering - but I have no clue!

Edited January 15, 201411 yr by aakos12

Hi,

I hate to be limited by the bricks that I have so I like to design my LEGO creations with CAD. I feel comfortable with computer design (I use AutoCAD at work) so it doesn't limit my creativity.

I've done some design with LDD but I now prefer LDraw. Once I've finished fine-tuning my design (which can take quite some time), I print out the parts list. The fine-tuning includes an attempt to use bricks I already have and replacement of rare and/or expensive parts. If I drool long enough over it, I start filling a zip-lok bag with parts I have and start ordering parts on BrickLink. The goal is to get 100% of the parts in the bag before I start assembling but I've never bee able to reach that. When I have 70% to 80% of the parts, I can't wait to see it "in the brick". I usually end up making another round of modifications to limit the need for parts I don't have.

Dan-147

Edited January 15, 201411 yr by Dan-147

it doesn't limit my creativity

That is the advantage of a digital MOC first, you can use many more pieces than in actual bricks. After building it, one can always optimize the actual built so that it is more doable of course.

Thanks for your answers! Is there any easy-to-use program you'd suggest to start with?

LDD was designed for kids... which is not to say it is easy, but it is probably easier to pick up than LDraw. I personally like LDraw better, the user interface is more intuitive for me (personal preference) and you have greater control over the program (steeper learning curve). Fortunately you can try both for free and pick the one you like best.