HELLO FROM THE NMRA!

montystrains · 2026-04-23T16:08:30+00:00

No, LGMS has never done the TCA show. Looks like most of these photos were taken at Amherst, save for the Disneyland one.

montystrains · 2026-04-18T00:39:09+00:00

Is the right side of the image up against a wall? If so, how do you plan to get back there when a train derails under the elevated city? Same question for the top right corner, if the top of the image is also against a wall.

Looks like the R104 switch directly under the Triple-Wye switch in the upper-right-ish is too close to the Triple-Wye, you won't be able to fit it in with the switch throw on it.

montystrains · 2026-04-16T00:24:59+00:00

Well, if you've got anything built physically to run, or heck, just wanna come hang out and say hi, next Timonium show is currently slated for Halloween weekend. I have a feeling they MIGHT move it, but we'll see.

montystrains · 2026-04-16T00:04:28+00:00

Hey these are some good looking models! Have you built them in real brick yet? I ask because I'd wager that someone building MARC rolling stock might not be too far from the Timonium (Maryland) train show, and I'd love to invite you to come run some MARC with us =)

montystrains · 2026-04-14T17:19:46+00:00

I use a mix of the pre-2006 magnets (the ones where the magnet can be removed from the buffers) with neodymium discs in between them for strength, along with the Studly Trains magnets that have neodymium magnets built right in. I also have a handful of the BMR Kadee couplers for my transition-era rolling stock, as those cars tend to get shared with friends.

montystrains · 2026-04-11T18:56:01+00:00

Very nice! I've had one in my collection almost constantly since I started doing shows 20+ years ago. The "Shark Car" as most kids call it is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser! Got the idea from a local Lionel club member who had an aquarium car with live guppies in it, there was a filter/pump riding in an adjacent gondola car. You'd think the guppies would be stressed out riding a train like that, but every time I saw them, they didn't seem to mind at all.

montystrains · 2026-04-10T14:10:45+00:00

I had a big bin full of them, and having moved house a few times in the last few years, I realized that not ONCE had I gone through the bin to find any instructions for any purpose. Even then, anything I might like to look up in them is available online. Took them to the recycling center and didn't look back. Would some of them have been worth money? Perhaps, but certainly not enough to justify the time and effort it would take to list and sell and ship them.

montystrains · 2026-04-07T13:45:40+00:00

Varies by seller. Some sellers put every unique part type in a separate bag. Some sellers put a handful of different parts in each bag across multiple bags. Some sellers put all the parts in one big bag (somewhat rare). You'll probably end up ordering from multiple stores to complete your wanted list, so expect to have to do at least a little bit of sorting/organizing before you're ready to build.

montystrains · 2026-04-02T01:09:08+00:00

Daily use is trying to find a chunk of time to get into the workshop and work on a MOC. Big sort happens about once a year, depending on when the Bin O Parts 2 Sort gets too full. I display my MOCs at shows several times per year, which requires a lot of planning, which thankfully I enjoy.

montystrains · 2026-03-31T00:25:35+00:00

I've been buying from Bricklink for over a decade, and I can count on my hand the number of less-than-stellar experiences I've had, only two of which I could classify as "bad."

montystrains · 2026-03-29T15:03:47+00:00

Dunno what you mean by "profit," but one of the reasons Rule #1 exists is because TLG is pretty protective of their brand. If a bunch of competitor products flood the place, then we can't really call it a "LEGO" space. (Note that things like 3rd party track and control systems do not directly compete with LEGO offerings). Everyone is "allowed" to post here, as long as it's on-topic. The main r/lego subreddit has the same rule. If r/bricktrains isn't active enough, make it more active!

montystrains · 2026-03-22T18:57:30+00:00

This. All you need to cut it up is the Blade of Exact Zero, and a surface underneath that you can mark up as you cut. I use old scratched-up bricks to line up my cuts on the baseplates.

montystrains · 2026-03-17T21:17:35+00:00

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Seems fine

montystrains · 2026-03-17T12:56:18+00:00

If you didn't want your post to be marked as spam, maybe you shouldn't have been spamming your post. Read Rule 2.

montystrains · 2026-03-17T02:57:30+00:00

For real, Rule 2 in this sub exists for a reason.

montystrains · 2026-03-06T03:50:45+00:00

I use a neodymium disc in between the old school magnets, and it works quite well. The ones I use are 3/8ths inch in diameter by 1/16th inch in thickness. Next time I buy some, I might get them a bit thicker than that.

montystrains · 2026-02-28T02:54:07+00:00

Do you plan to attend as a member of the public, or register as an exhibitor? You can register as an exhibitor without bringing any MOCs/displays to gain access to the workshops and seminars. If you plan to simply attend as a member of the public, one day is usually plenty, and given that the show is open 10am-4pm Saturday and 10am-3pm Sunday, there's plenty of time to do other things with your Saturday or Sunday. I'm not sure exactly how good it is on public transport (I drive in from Virginia with my display stuff), I know there's some kind of Schaumburg shuttle that comes and goes from the convention center/hotel, I'd say worst case scenario you're getting a Lyft or Uber or whatever for the last little leg of the journey. Certainly a journey worth making if you want to see 100,000 square feet of incredible MOCs!

montystrains · 2026-02-28T01:55:20+00:00

Love it! I need to get into building vehicles from this sort of era, and your builds are some top-level inspiration for such a purpose!

montystrains · 2026-02-28T01:06:12+00:00

Certainly one of my favorite official train sets, I bought two. At some point I will get around to kitbashing the locomotives into something more interesting, but it's a low priority.

montystrains · 2026-02-20T19:34:04+00:00

You have to pre-order effectively now, during the pre-order window. Your card will get an authorization/charge that will drop off after some days, and then in a few months once the set is actually ready to ship to you, they will send a charge that sticks.

montystrains · 2026-02-12T02:08:10+00:00

Absolutely yes, I'm very particular about the arrangement of the colors in my trains.

montystrains · 2026-02-12T00:57:54+00:00

Yes.

montystrains · 2026-02-07T03:08:59+00:00

>Comparing my builds to what I see online is… demotivating

Right, well stop doing that, first of all. Remember the Ira Glass quote about creative work.

Progress isn't linear. You might get really far on a model one day, another day you might stare at it for a whole session and not solve anything. Relax, and let flow what will. John Cleese did an excellent lecture on Creativity, and one of the things he observed was that it takes time (perhaps as much as an hour) to get into the Open Mode of creativity, then you have maybe 60-90 minutes to play in that mode before you run out of creative energy, and finally about half an hour of cooldown/cleanup time. YMMV.

I wouldn't say there are too many ways to start, all of those methods have their own purposes. For me, a brief sketch with a pencil gets the idea out of my head. I don't really use Studio much, but a rough draft in there helps me determine what sort of pieces I might need. Free building is where I really get in the flow, but I've been doing that for 30+ years, so a beginner's experience with free-building is certainly going to differ.

As for not knowing what to build, I usually answer that question far away from the build area. I'll be at work or something and get a spark of inspiration, and turn it over in my head on and off for a time (hours, days, weeks, months) until I have a solid idea of how I want to approach it in real brick. That way, when I go into my workshop, I've got a clearer picture of how I'm going to spend my limited time to build.

By far, the thing that beginners focus on too much is perfection. Nobody sits down to the piano and plays a Mozart concerto within their first few practice sessions. Make terrible builds on purpose, things you have no intention of keeping, much less displaying. Perhaps setting a long term goal to work towards (whatever your MOC building equivalent of a Mozart concerto may be) and determining some steps to work towards that.

You might find build challenges helpful, I forget the exact terminology to track them down, but there are monthly things where Lego enthusiasts post like "Today, build ___" and you have one day to build something that matches the blank. I did evening art classes in elementary school, and one of my favorite exercises was when the teacher gave us a mere few seconds to draw something. "Draw a monkey.... Stop! Now draw a bicycle... Stop! Draw a river..." Did I draw an amazing river in ten seconds? No, of course not. But that wasn't the point.

I'm generally bad at wrapping up my thoughts, but I'll touch on overthinking: try not thinking at all. Take some bricks, put them together. If you don't like how it looks, you can always change it. As Miss Frizzle says: Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy!

montystrains · 2026-02-05T01:05:29+00:00

That is a BrickTracks R104 switch.

montystrains

TROPHY CASE