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Steve Jackson Shows Off the Texas Brick Railroad (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the choo-choo-chug-chug-and-the-quiet-whir-of-a-monorail dept.

Imagine game designer Steve Jackson and a bunch of friends building Lego trains and tracks and scenery, including buildings and other props. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? The group calls itself the Texas Brick Railroad. A lot of members have children, so their meetings tend to be family affairs. Plus, as they're doing here, they often display their train sets at public events where -- yes -- their trains attract children like crazy. This video shows off both current Lego trains and some of the classic, no-longer-sold Lego trains that members have collected over the years, including the highly-prized monorails. There's a transcript, but face it: This is basically visual material, and worth checking out on a computer or handheld that runs Flash if your normal one doesn't. (We've requested an upgrade from Flash-only video, but don't hold your breath. It might be a good while before we get it.)

11 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. How do I download the video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dear Slashdot, it would be nice if you could provide flash video in a format that would run on the open source Gnash player or that could be downloaded using a script like youtube-dl. Please do not use ooyala.com to host videos. I am unable to watch them.

  2. That's not a model railroad! by idontgno · · Score: 2

    It's a play table for GURPS: Railroad!

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  3. Its good! by Servaas · · Score: 2

    Its good to be a geek to be honest, look at all the fun their having.

  4. Meeting Steve Jackson by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you want to meet the man in person, he'll be at DEXCON in Morristown, NJ from July 3-7. dexposure.com

    1. Re:Meeting Steve Jackson by lexsird · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I met him at a game shop owner's convention in New Orleans back in the mid 90s. He was pushing his "Illuminati" card game at the time. My customers tried it out, and it received a tepid at best response. Magic the Gathering was young back then and was steam rolling other card games trying to compete. GURPS didn't take so well with my customers either, sadly. I still carried it. You need a selection to contrast and compare in a game shop, plus it adds to the atmosphere.

      He was friendly and decent to talk to. I told him I had been a fan of "Car Wars" since I was a kid. He thanked me, and said he now felt old.

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  5. That not a LEGO monorail. by cnaumann · · Score: 2

    THIS is a LEGO monorail:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn5Wb88qnRs

  6. Request an upgrade? by Hatta · · Score: 2

    You can do it yourself. 'mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -o video.avi video.flv' Then post a plain old download link.

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  7. ho scale lay outs are cool and DCC tech does a by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    ho scale lay outs are cool and DCC tech does a lot.

    1. Re:ho scale lay outs are cool and DCC tech does a by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Informative

      Details of how to do it here: http://www.lgauge.com/trains/dcc/dcc.htm

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      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  8. Hard-to-find Monorail? 3-D printing to the rescue! by west · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have to say, at least for the mono-rail track, 3-D printing seems the clear way to avoid prowling E-Bay for hard to find and expensive pieces.

    I wonder if owners would consent to have their pieces scanned to produce a blue-print.

    (Of course, then we'd see whether Lego wants to dare the bad publicity of preventing a trade in replica pieces that Lego no longer sells.)

  9. Re:Steve Jackson seer of the future by xhgcqreq · · Score: 2

    Paranoia is great and so is Steve Jackson. However, it's not one of his games...