Getting Started with Lego Trains

honestpuck writes with his review of Getting Started with Lego Trains from No Starch Press. "I have a confession to make. There is one small part of my childhood that is constantly returning; every few years it breaks out and I find my apartment covered in small pieces of brightly coloured plastic: Yes, the Lego addiction strikes. One of those recent episodes involved a train set (perhaps I indulged in a few pieces of track and an extra car or two - but that's all, I swear) so I was pleased to see this book." Read on for the rest of his review. Note that the Bricks on the Brain site is down at the moment; you might want to try the google cache instead. Getting Started with Lego Trains author Jacob H. McKee pages 101 publisher No Starch Press rating 7 reviewer Tony Williams ISBN 1593270062 summary Good book on building Lego trains. Not terribly large.

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.

Comments

Ob "Mighty Wind" quote..

[Anonymous Meoward]

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?"

Re:Ob "Mighty Wind" quote..

[kfg]

When I owned an R/C car racetrack people used to ask me what my wife did. I told them, "She makes trains from kits provided by the parent factory."

Extrapolating from the context in which the question was asked, that of model cars, they usually responded with something like, "Oh, yes, I understand that model trains are still a big business. People like trains."

Then I had to correct them.

"No. You don't understand. She makes trains. Locomotives to be specific. She goes to work in the morning, picks up huge slabs of plate steel, and turns them into trains. She's a welder."

Kinda like Flashdance, only different, since she's a belly dancer.

The cool part is that once she's "assembled a kit" she often gets to drive it out of the assembly shed into the yard.

Can't do that with a Tyco or Lego.

They won't let me take a crack at one though. When the subject comes up they just mumble some legal crap about "liability" or something.

Damn lawyers and insurance underwriters won't let anybody have any fun anymore. I'd really like to have a go at it, there's this move I saw in a cartoon once, and I think I can do it.

KFG

Hmmm.

[insanecarbonbasedlif]

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?

No, really?

[Some Dumbass...]

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?

LUGNET

[Anonymous Coward]

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've read the book, too

[Bombcar]

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!

Pricey sets!

[GillBates0]

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.

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.

Re:Slight Error

[LEgregius]

And you misspelled "misspelled," but whatever. :-)

Lego is a Gateway drug

[blair1q]

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".