Thomas & Friends — Powered Up and Acting (Up), Endo(o)rsed, Suspended, and Taking A(ir) Br(e)ake

Dear all,

Thank you very much for your kind support!

Originally, our dear builder just wanted to showcase our lighting. Then he remembered a particular piece in bright orange. Then one piece led to the next:

Please note that two additional Lego lights were used for the special effects and therefore the compressor and whistle had to be disconnected for the picture.

Finally, a big thank you to all the kind Lego sets who lent us pumpkins, leaves and all the other marvellous props.

We wish you all a wonderful autumn.

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas

Dear all,

Thank you very much for your kind support!

There have been many improvements to our little project, so this update can only serve as a brief overview:

Our train now uses 4 Lego Train Hubs (with 4x2=8 connections) to run 

a) a new switchable face that relies equally on built and printed details and complements the previously presented versions.

b) a new chimney, which is more realistic in its overall proportions and its negative curvature along the vertical axis.

a) a new twin auxiliary drive for both axles (instead of just one drive for the front axle). Above all, this increases the driving performance of our train and also perfects the symmetrical shape of Annie and the symmetry of both coaches with respect to each other (see last picture). The two Technic Large Motors can be clicked in vertically (after removing the roof) and turn with their running gear.

b) a new remote-controlled air whistle whose valve is opened and closed by a Medium Linear Motor. The centre compartment wall can be easily removed before the motor is clicked in vertically between the hubs (after removing the roof).

a) an improved compressor whose Technic Large Motor can simply be clicked in horizontally (after removing the roof).

b) a Lego pneumatic tank that supplies Annie's air whistle via an air hose

Annie and Clarabel have been given completely redesigned floors and running gears made from a combination of Lego Technic and Lego System parts. The floors are more robust, lighter, they merge more beautifully into the side walls, especially at the front and rear (e.g. the lower warm gold panelling now goes all the way around the coach) and can be connected via a working air hose (like on real railway carriages from this period). They have also been given bright red highlights to indicate their Technic functions (and can easily be changed back to black).

The following picture shows the air hose connection and some of the Technic features highlighted in bright red, i.e. Clarabel's pneumatic brake rod mechanism and the suspended (front) brake, which mirror Annie's air pipe housing and (rear) auxiliary drive:

Unfortunately, our dear builder does not yet have the brick for the left cheek in medium stone grey, so this cheek was recreated with photomontages, as were most of Thomas‘ face prints.

The interaction of the compressor, brake and whistle is controlled by Powered Up programming (so that the whistle can be triggered at the touch of a button and then recharges automatically). Please note that the hose ending and the whistle chamber (bright red) must be precisely aligned with each other. Once this has been done, the configuration is quite stable. The number and duration of the whistle signals are of course limited by air pressure and air volume. At the moment, Clarabel only accommodates one air tank, which is emptied very quickly — but there is still room for more tanks. The susceptibility of the brake is lost when whistling, as the compressor first has to rebuild the pressure. There are ways to remedy this, e.g. by decoupling the whistling system before depressurising. The pneumatic valve has an unused output that could be used for this purpose. It could also be used to connect to the locomotive. Our dear builder is still undecided about this and has also asked us to apologise on his behalf for the blue pins. This is only the first version.

Now, brick length adapters largely decouple the construction of the coach side walls from the floors, which previously had to mediate between tiny displacements of the walls through a complex brick tessellation. Our dear builder had originally discarded the adapters for what he calls philosophical reasons (and others may call snobbery), but eventually came to his senses.

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas