Tiny Loco

I do enjoy when I see a small collection of parts ingeniously combined into something nifty. When you first glance at this little locomotive by builder Cole Blaq it just looks like a train. But when you look closer you’ll start to see things, like the boiler is a chest, and the catcher is minifig hands. It’s all as clever as it is small.

All Aboard!

I love a well-executed train scene. It’s likely from growing up at with my dad fairly active in the NMRR, and going to lots of train shows. Allan Corbeil’s “Going West” is an excellent diorama of a 4-6-0 steam engine chugging through the woods. The engine is well executed with a billowing cloud of coal smoke. The choice of using the old 9V powered track gives the rails a metallic shininess. I’d love to go on about the train but the vegetation is equally impressive! The simple cat’s tails in the pond are great, and add to the forest’s undergrowth well. There are 4 different style trees with a variety of greens for the foliage colors which adds to the realism in the build. This excellent build captures the Age of Steam well, I can hear the hiss of steam, the smell of coal smoke, and feel the earth rumble as the train chugs along.

The Gingerbread Express

The holidays means a lot of things to a lot of people, and a great many traditions. One in our house is a mild obsession with gingerbread. I’ve made no less than four batches of gingerbread men this season, I just ate one while my tea was steeping this morning in fact, and the bag is taunting me as I type this. We’ve built houses in the past, but never anything even remotely as whimsical and wonderful as this train by builder Tim Lydy. It’s adorable, and looks delicious.

Now Departing From Platform 9 3/4

While the notion of boarding a train to be taken off to a far away school is absolutely foreign to me, it sure seems pretty nifty. I don’t know if 11 year old me would have thought so, but then again I’m only a muggle. This micro scale of the famous Hogwarts Express by vitreolum boasts some of the coolest micro mountains I’ve ever seen (and the train is pretty spiffy too).

The Train From Solo

Solo is less than a week away, and I'm happy to say I'm still pretty much spoiler free (don't do anything to change that). This is from the trailer, an ominous and exceptionally cool train that runs over and under the track. It looks like it's going to be an exciting scene, and has inspired M. Mipi to build this fantastic little diorama.

Christmas Village

I'm running out of doors to open on my Star Wars advent calendar, it smells like gingerbread in my kitchen and the corgis keep knocking ornaments off the tree, we must be close to Christmas day. Another hint is the loads of holiday themed LEGO creations on Flickr, like this absolutely fabulous winter village by builder nolphiplays. Not only is it a charming and inviting large scale diorama, it's got a working train and it's positively brimming with scale lighting from Brickstuff. Check out the video and click through for loads more pictures of this amazing MOC.

Gingerbread Train

The 2017 holidays seem to be in a hurry to get here. There was stuff in Micheal's a month ago, my truck insists on playing Christmas carols on my iPod and now here's a gingerbread train from builder Swan Dutchman. Yes, it's a bit early, but just look at this charming little train, you can practically hear the sleigh bells and smell the gingerbread.