Slashdot Mirror
Getting Started with Lego Trains
Getting Started with Lego Trains is a fairly good guide to designing and building Lego trains. The writing is a clear, simple style that should be understood by anyone, the layout is clear.
Jacob McKee, the author, is webmaster at Bricks On The Brain, a good site which acts as a portal to build instructions. He also has a section devoted to the book which has three example pages and some links to other sites useful to Lego train builders. Both the book and the site itself promise at least a couple of articles by McKee but these are still "to come." I hope they come soon as McKee promises (in the book and on the site) an article on using decals and I'd like to know his sources and methods.
The book starts with two chapters that are absolutely basic; most of the information here is included in the Lego documentation you get with the train kits, such as how to hook up the electrical power and the different train and carriage sets available. There are still some useful nuggets such as the 'Studs Not On Top' technique for getting bricks pointing away from the vertical and interesting trivia such as a short history of Lego trains. McKee also adds some details that may be hard to glean from the Lego manuals such as how an active passing line can cause a short circuit in your track.
The third chapter is only two pages, which once again detail some fairly obvious information such as the various parts of the train couplings and bogies. From that point on, the book gets interesting. The real core of the book consists of the three chapters that McKee has devoted to three different train models. Instead of just giving you the plans to build the locomotive and two carriages, McKee has shared the design process itself and gives some useful design and building tips before showing you the instructions.
The first model is a glorious model of a GP-38 locomotive (if you want to see the finished models then you can get decent-sized pictures on McKee's site). It might have been better to have had this model last of the three, as it is the most complex and I found it the hardest to make with my Lego collection - there are more specialized parts in this model and I to change the design in a couple of spots. Given the great look of the finished model, this isn't too much of a complaint.
The second example is a refrigerated car (or "reefer car" in train yard slang). I found that I couldn't build this car in the all-green of the book design but had the parts to build it in red. Since, as McKee points out, these sorts of cars are to be found in dozens of different paint jobs I don't feel this was a problem. There are considerably fewer specialized parts in this model.
The third example is a container car (with containers), which is the easiest to build and uses few specialized pieces you are unlikely to have if you own a train set already. Once again my only real problem was one of having exactly the same colour as the book -- one of my containers has red doors instead of white, for example.
I hope from my descriptions of the chapter you can see why I think the model order is wrong -- I'd completely reverse the order of these three chapters.
For an early teen (or older) reader, the strength of this book is the tips and encouragement McKee gives in these three chapters for designing your own locomotives and carriages. There are dozens of little tips and tricks on creating a visually pleasing and playable model design. Younger readers may not appreciate McKee's excellent advice on creating your own designs as much as older readers, but they will enjoy building the models all the same.
There is a final chapter on building track layouts, including some useful tips on building track inclines, and finally two short appendices, one on where to buy Lego and a glossary (McKee labels it "terminology").
Originally (before publication, that is), this book was advertised at $24.95. The actual cover price is $19.95, though, and No Starch have dropped the price again. At the new price of $14.95, it becomes much more attractive and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in designing and building their own Lego train locomotives and carriages. The readable, simple style and clear build instructions make it enjoyable for quite young readers and older, more dedicated builders will appreciate the design tips. Lego have train sets that they advise are for 8 years old or older, and I believe the average seven-year-old would have no problem understanding the build instructions in this book.
You can purchase Getting Started with Lego Trains from bn.com. (They're asking the full cover price for now, but that may change.) Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Party-goer: "So I build model trains in my spare time."
Dullard: "I like model trains! Why, without the model trains, how could they build the real ones?"
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
There is a slight error in the article body. "No Starch Press" is mispelled once as "No Start Press".
anyway, what reminded me of that was the fact that the last 'lego' I remember playing with had blood and guts all over it.
A 'Lego' Map in Unreal Tournament that is.
That would require me to lego my ego.
The second example is a refrigerated car (or "reefer car" in train yard slang). I found that I couldn't build this car in the all-green of the book design but had the parts to build it in red
Who knew the fast-paced and glamorous world of Lego trains would carry such a dark, drug-driven underside?
Just because I doubt myself does not mean I find your position compelling.
Note that the Bricks on the Brain site is down at the moment
Is it just me, or should this disclaimer be a part of every story posted on SlashDot?
no story on non-childhood Lego is complete without a link to LUGNET, an online forum site dedicated to, um, "older kids" who make all kinds of cool stuff with Lego as an artistic medium -- and of course as a toy.
I am sure there are a lot of us that played with, or still occassionally play with Lego. My parents just made me take my old Lego bins and I played with them a bit. Now they are into my closet for long term storage.
My question is, of those of use that played/plays with Lego, who actually cares about Lego trains?
A good book, but a little short.
Highly recommended for children who like trains, or adults getting into Lego Modeling for the first time.
But it is not as advanced as some of the Lego mindstorm books, but still, at the price it is a good deal.
Note that Jake McKee works for the Lego company, but this is an unofficial book.
See LugNet for more information on Lego!
Fellowship 9/11
now I have a great new project in my mind for my mindstorm set- train wrecking killer bot! It can't be too hard to make people who fret over the color of their train cars matching the book cry. muhahahaha
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
This book is, obviously, by no means perfect. But McVee's enthusiasm is most definitely infectious on the subject and certainly won me over from Scalextric and Tomy electronic trains. The useful tips are really the defining feature of the book, and helped me overcome the slight obstacle of the sets of track having dicky connections due to bad metal foil imprinting on the inner curvatures. Great book for the beginner.
- Amtrak Press
I read it, and although it doesn't go into too much "new" detail on techniques, it was still entertaining to see someone else's methods for lego construction.
i recomend this to anyone and everyone who's played with legos, knex, or any of the crazy new toys people come up with these days.
if you must, but someone's gotta do it.
Brick Testament
Abston Church of Christ
Brick Movies
The Dalai LLama
glad his kid's old enough to start digging on Legos
My sig could be your sig!
Ofcourse, they should also be able to afford the Lego sets. I love Lego, and had 2 sets when I was a kid...they used to keep me engaged for days at a stretch.
Sometimes, I feel like going out and buying a set or two, but they're too expensive for my liking. For any decent sized model train set (stations, wagons, etc) , you could end up paying around $200.00.
Take a look at the prices on their Train set page. Any decent sized kit is $150+
In general, I wouldn't mind paying around $100.00 for a *general* set of bricks....but these specialized kits are *too* restrictive, and after building the model, you usually have to buy a different set to build anything else.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Maybe you should do your job/get a job/stop pointing out that you have free time to read Slashdot at your leisure and I don't...
Heh, I had a lego train set, which ultimately became just a power source for all my other electrical implements, it was quite an educational toy. I was pretty young but I found things got more interesting when you connected some 9 volts to it just right.
So you're not reading for leisure now? I hate first posts too, but...uh...this is an article on Legos. Unless you're a book publisher or work for Lego, you pretty much have to browsing this on your own leisure time.
[sig] 10 + 10 = 100 [/sig]
No way, I'm too busy hanging out with ninjas to worry about pirates. Pullleeeeeze.
There are no trolls. There are no trees out here.
Imagine how cool it would be to put an oz. in the car and have it go around your track. It would really be cool if you built your "reefer car" out of psycedelic colored blocks.
did you know that lego is short for "leg godt" which in danish means "i assemble", and also means "play well" in latin.
My Legoherpes Simplex III broke out a couple of years ago when the Star Wars legos started to hit the market.
It led to my catching eBayphylis, which led to PayPal Withdrawal symptoms.
Now I limit myself to 4 "Funny" karma points a week. They don't do anything, but somehow they still make me feel good.
Please. Help me out by modding me "Insightful" instead of just "Funny".
cause I never had enough legos to ever get "addicted" to them. I preferred cold war artifacts like GI Joe.
"Zach was a Legomaniac. Then they treated him with Thorazine. Now all he does is watch T.V."
Getting Started with Lego Trains:
:)
step 1) Give up any and all chances of getting laid
???
Profit - not having a life is cheap... you will however spend whatever profit you make on a) Lego b) a klingon outfit c) an extensive collection of pr0n or d) all of the above...
I am posting AC, so I'll admit to c
Here is some more information on the book. You can even download a part of Ch5. Also, it can be purchased on this web site for $14.95 instead of $24.95 (USD).
DrkBr
Besides, pirates already have Sep 19th, Talk Like A Pirate Day. Until Legos and Ninjas get their own day, pirates need to just take a seat and wait patiently for the ultimate battle for control of the universe.
Goals for 2011: 1. Stop plate tectonics. 2. Prevent animal predation. 3. End supernovae now. 4. Rid the world of evil.
BN Price - 19.95, (You save $5)
yet in the publisher's description (on the BN website), it shows the price as $14.95
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Yeah..yeah.. go ahead.. mod me a troll
I don't give a shit.
Slashdot is a total waste of time anyway.
As a Ninja Pirate, your scenario distresses me greatly.
Let There Be Lego
The liver is evil and must be punished.
It's a *railway* with *trucks*, *wagons*, *vans* and *coaches* and the swivelly things with the wheels on are *bogies*. We ought to know we invented the things. [1]
"Britain and America, two nations divided by a common language" - Oscar Wilde
[1] Actually I believe it was the greeks who first invented a tracked wagon way. We came to them late, the 18th century. [2]
[2] My local village railway station is 161 this year. It was opened in 1844.
You're a ninja pirate? Cool, but I'm a ninja pirate built from lego!
wouldn't all the leggo become unstable and lead to a horrible derailment, the loss of life would be shocking, all those lifeless looking beadly little eyes and those little legs detached from those hard little torsoes. Oh the humanity!!!!
Ohh my spleen