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Open Gondola Rolling Stock

The corrugated panel, element 23405, is a wonderful building piece. For larger items such as transport sea cans or walls, it provides a very nice contour. Mike S shared a FaceBook post with me back almost two years ago on May 2020 about someone who put this together. They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.. and I hope so. Here is a picture of the original build and then the two that I built.

As I often share, one has to play the long game to obtain the bricks necessary to build detailed MOCs. This one took me almost two years!

FaceBook Posting of Open Gondola Car
Pair of Open Gondola Cars
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FX Bricks – R72 & R88 Curved Track

It is difficult to contain our excitement. We took the plunge and purchased some excellent quality metal clad LEGO compatible track from Michael Gale at FX Bricks. As a club, we have enough for a complete circle and this will greatly improve our show layouts, for two reasons:
– The trains will be able to operate more smoothly through the larger radius turns, both in that they have less drag for longer trains and can run at higher speeds.
– The layout looks more realistic. Two concentric turns, one R72 and one R88, looks better than two R40 curves side by side.

R72 and R88 Curved Track from FX Bricks

As a side note, for those that are not familiar with the curved track nomenclature, the R stands for radius and the number is the number of studs from the centre point of the circle to the centre of the track. The following image from FX Bricks clearly shows the various possibilities, noting that the standard R40 track from LEGO is not shown. Also, it is standard practice to offset the edge of the track four (4) studs from the edge of the base plate.

FX Bricks Catalog Diagram
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Christmas Train

CLTC wishes a Merry Christmas and the very best to all for 2022. Here is a quick photo of Sue’s Christmas train beneath the tree and her cat Milo watching.

Lego Set 65524 & Christmas Tree