International LEGO^®
Train Club Organization

ILTCO at the NMRA 2008 National Train Show

For the fourth year, ILTCO will be displaying a large multi-club LEGO train layout at the NMRA's National Train Show. This year's show will be held in Anaheim, CA July 18-20. More information about ILTCO's involvement will be posted shortly. Visit the National Train Show website for more information about the show itself. For information on how to get involved, contact Steve Barile: LEGOSteveB (at) yahoo (dot) com

BrickFest PDX '07

BrickFest PDX 07 will be held March 30th April 1st, 2007 at the Oregon Convention Center (OCC) in Portland, OR. The GPLR (Greater Portland LEGO Railroaders) in conjunction with AMH Productions (Christina Hitchcock) is leading this event. MORE

10171 Holiday Train Images

The LEGO Company has provided ILTCO with some high resolution images of the new 10173 Holiday which will be released later this year. Check out the images in the Gallery.

Big Ben Bricks' #172 Train Handcar Set Review

James Trobaugh reviews the latest offering from Big Ben Bricks, LLC., the 172 Train Handcar. Read James' review in the ILTCO library.

Media Coverage of the 2006 NMRA Show

Articles are popping up on various web sites with coverage from the 2006 NMRA Show. Here are some of the highlights:

• Lego trains tantalize the standard male brain
• A very big show for little railroads

NMRA 2006 Pictures

Numerous LTC's under the ILTCO banner are in attendance at the National Train Show in Philadelphia this weekend. Some of the early photo galleries are on line, check out these early pictures!

• Gallery #1
• Gallery #2
• Gallery #3
• Gallery #4

NMRA National Train Show 2006

For the second year ILTCO will be displaying a large multi-club LEGO train layout. This year the show is in Philadelphia, PA on July 7-9, 2006. For all details see the article here. And visit the NMRA PR page here.

7898 Cargo Train Deluxe RC Train Set Review

Steve Barile was asked to review the soon to be released 7898 Cargo Train Deluxe RC Train. Read Steve's review and check out photos for pictures of 7898 in the ILTCO Gallery.

7897 High Speed RC Train Set Review

Larry Pieniazek was asked to review the soon to be released 7897 High Speed RC Train. Read Larry's review and check out photos of his build in the ILTCO Gallery.

Save 9v Train Container available from LEGOFactory.com

Eric Kingsley has created a Save 9v container on LEGOFactory.com which you can order. Check out the details here.

You can order the container from LEGO Shop at Home.

Save 9v Trains

Eric Kingsley, LEGO Ambassador, has communicated the status and future of LEGO 9v Trains in this LUGNET post and this ILTCO Article. Check them both out!
And check out Steve Witt's original announcement about LEGO 9v Trains.

More 2006 Train Images

The LEGO Group has provided ILTCO with some new images of the 2006 train sets. Check them out in the ILTCO Gallery.

2006 New York City Toy Fair

Larry P. visited the 2006 Toy Fair in New York City and took numerous pictures of the new LEGO Train sets. Visit the gallery to see all of Larry's photos.

2006 Trains!

Images of two new Train Sets for 2006 are starting to appear on the Internet. LEGO has provided the first of what we hope to be several images of the new trains. Check out the 2006 Trains Gallery for new images. LEGO has also provide ILTCO with a high resolution, print quality PDF version of the image.

NMRA 2005 NTS Photo Links

Here are a few BrickShelf galleries of the photos from the 2005 NMRA National Train Show in Cincy:Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, & Gallery 4. There are many more out there too... thanks for looking!

ILTCO Video Special on The Train Show!

The ILTCO "World's Largest LEGO Train Layout" video taped at the NMRA National Train Show in Cincinnati, Ohio will air on RFD-TV on: Wednesday Sept 28th at 2:30pm, Thursday Sept 29th at 12:30am & 6:30am, & Monday Oct 3rd at 7:30am.
Order The DVD of the TV Show at: The Train Show Web Site or Download the show: ~70MB or ~20MB.

Welcome NMRA/NTS visitors

The show so far has been a smashing success! We're glad you had a chance to stop by and talk to us... if you've come looking for club info, go here to link to individual clubs. Please feel free to explore the other links on the ILTCO website for more information.

Trains at BrickFest 2005

Dont miss the all the TRAIN antics at BrickFest 2005 on August 12-14th in Washington, DC! Bring your train/town MOCs to run on the huge train layout and be sure to attend a train session. Read more about it at LUGNET or go and REGISTER right now!
Contact: Pierre Normandin (NOSPAM-Pierre_normandin@hotmail.com) for Train layout. Steve Barile (NOSPAM-Sebarile@sstanamera.com) for presenting a session.

10170 TTX Intermodal Double Stack Car Set Review

LEGO has graciously provided a copy of the new 10170 TTX Intermodal Double Stack Car set to ILTCO for review. Read Mike Walsh's review of 10170.

New Article by Didier Enjary

A new article by Didier Enjary (FreeLUG) titled LEGO Trains - Decorative Color Schemes is now available in the ILTCO library. Didier discusses the use of slopes bricks combined with offset techniques for diagonal striping. He cites many great models from the LEGO Train community as well. Big "Thanks" to Didier for his submission and language translation talents!

LEGO 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car

ILTCO has received preliminary pictures and box artwork for the upcoming 10170 TTX Intermodal Double Stack Car. For more background on this new set, read this article. Visit the ILTCO Gallery for more images.

New Article by Jason Allemann

A new article by Jason Allemann titled A Close Coupling Technique for Shared Bogies is now available at the ILTCO library. Not only does it describe in detail a great close coupling technique but is also a great example of a 2.5 page concise ITLCO article. I would encourage anyone who is interested close coupling the have a read. I would also encourage anyone that has an idea or technique to submit an article! Thanks Jason!

EJLTC joins ILTCO

ILTCO is pleased to announce that the East Japan LEGO Train Club (EJLTC) has joined ILTCO as an Active Club. EJLTC is the first Asian club to join ILTCO.

LEGO Trains on MillionairePlayboy.com

MillionairePlayboy.com has published a nice article on the joy of running a LEGO Train around your Christmas Tree.

ILTCO BrickFest 2004 Slides Published

The ILTCO briefing presentation delivered by Mike Walsh at BrickFest 2004 has finally been published. You can view the slides in the ILTCO Gallery by visiting this album.

Welcome HUNLTC

ILTCO is pleased to announce that HUNLTC(the Hungarian LEGO Train Club) has joined ILTCO as an Affilate Club. HUNLTC is our third of what we hope to be many European member clubs.

ILTCO at the National NMRA convention

Summary / Action Items:

1. ILTCO is invited to the National NMRA convention in Cincinnati July '05!
2. We have been assigned the largest available layout space out of all the other gauges!
3. All TLC's are welcome to participate as are individuals and small club constituents.
4. The number of LTCs within 1 day's drive of Cincy exceeds the space we have so sign up now!
5. Direct all question back to the list (if not of a private nature)
6. Contact Paul Janssen for sign up (janssen.10@osu.edu)

Playing with L-Gauge

Jan-Albert Van Ree has authored an article which appeared earlier this year in RailMagazine. The original article was in Dutch, Jan-Albert has translated it into English and contributed it to the ILTCO library. You can view scans of the original article in the gallery.

Click here to read Jan-Albert's article.

New LEGO Classic Freight Train Set

The LEGO Company has created a pre-packaged bundle of sets from the My Own Train Line and is offering them as set 65537. This new set contains the following:

• Large Blue Steam Engine & Tender (x1)
• 10017 Hopper Wagon (x1)
• 10013 Open Frieght Wagon (x1)
• 10153 Train Motor (x1)
• 4548 Speed Regulator (x1)
• 4515 8 Straight Rails (x1)
• 4520 8 Curved Rails (x2)

Welcome LowLUG

ILTCO is pleased to announce that LowLUG (the LEGO Users Group of the Lowlands) has joined ILTCO as an Affiliate club. LowLUG is our second of what we hope to be many European member clubs.

BNSF Diesel Announced at BrickFest 2004

During the Saturday (14 August 2004) Keynote Jake McKee announced the LEGO 10133 BNSF Diesel Locomotive. The new set contains a large quantity of the new dark green. Check out the pictures from BrickFest.

Welcome rtlToronto

ILTCO is pleased to announce that rtlToronto (A Group for LEGO Enthusiasts in the Greater Toronto and Southern Ontario area) has joined ILTCO as an Active Club.

SPLTC Club Representative Change

Robert Powell has replaced John Gramley as one of the SPLTC ILTCO Representatives.

WamaLTC Representative Change

Ken Rice and Jim Foulds have been named WamaLTC's ILTCO Representatives replacing Denise Jadud and Greg Kramer.

Spider-Man 2 Stop-Motion Movie Short

There's nothing like stop motion LEGO trains! So here is a link to the Spider-Man 2 LEGO trailer (3:50). Click Here

Two New Train Sets!

Images from two new train sets have started appearing. Later this summer LEGO will release the two cars (locomotive and passenger car) from 4511 as individual sets. Check out these images of the new sets.

Welcome FreeLUG

ILTCO is pleased to announce that FreeLUG (the French Enthusiasts LEGO User Group) has joined ILTCO as an Active Club. FreeLUG is our first of what we hope to be many European member clubs.

ILTCO exclusive Metroliner Discount!

ILTCO is pleased to present another exclusive opportunity for ILTCO members to purchase LEGO train items at a substantial discount. LEGO Shop-at-Home North America is offering a special deal on the 10001 Metroliner. The details are as follows: Buy one 10001 Metroliner set, Save 30%. Buy two or more 10001 Metroliner sets, Save 50%! There are no limits, buy as many as you would like! That\'s right - no limit. This offer will be an ILTCO exclusive until 5/19/04 at which point it will be offered to the entire community via an announcement on LUGNET (assuming ILTCO members don\'t buy them all). This special pricing for the Metroliner is being offered on a \'first come, first served\' basis, so don\'t hesitate - you may miss out! The offer runs from 5/14/04 through 5/24/04 and is only available to customers in countries served by LEGO Shop at Home North America (i.e. US and Canada only). Orders can be placed over the phone or via Shop at Home\'s web site (http://shop.lego.com). To get the special pricing on the Metroliner, please use the following special codes: USA Source Code = MT4U CAN Source Code = MT4C Offer is not good in conjunction with any other offer. Prior sales excluded. Offer expires May 24, 2004. Good in U.S. and Canada only.

2004 SpiderMan Sneak Peeks

LEGO has provided ILTCO with early images of three of the 2004 SpiderMan sets which are likely to be of interest to train fans. These new sets have a lot of 'Town' aspects to them and should provide numerous elements to expand train layouts. Check out the Sneak Peek.

Article: Power Control Ideas for Public Display Layouts

David 'Zonker' Harris of BayLTC has contributed another article to the ILTCO web site. The topic this time is 'Power Control Ideas for Public Display Layouts'. Read the article.

Article: Making heavy-duty powered LEGOŽ Track Connections for Public Display Layouts

David 'Zonker' Harris of BayLTC has contributed another article to the ILTCO web site. The topic this time is 'Making heavy-duty powered LEGO Track Connections for Public Display Layouts'. Read the article.

High Quality LEGO Train <-O-> Images Available

Jordan Bradford has created a set of <-O-> images (the logo LEGO trains employ). The logos and a description of their use can be found in Jordan's ILTCO article.

Steam Drivers !

Ben Fleskes (PNLTC) has done it! Big Ben Bricks (BBB) presents custom LEGO compatible 9v train driver wheels.
A link to the Sneak Peek gallery of pictures from the first run of the BBB drivers appears below. The wheels are ~3.75 studs (~1-3/16, ~3cm) diameter at the tread and ~4.6 studs (~1-1/2, ~3.7cm) diameter at the flange edge. There is a cross axle hole in the center and a rivet hole 1 stud off center. The tread and flange size and shape are similar to standard 9v wheels.
After the first prototypes are tested, Ben will be selling these in early December 2003 (www.BigBenBricks.com). He plans to make these available in four colors; black, dark gray, gray and red. There are also plans to include design notes to help the buyer get up and running quickly.
Ben is a mechanical engineer and has been modeling LEGO trains since 1996. He has pioneered many pure LEGO solutions for steam drivers, and has been thinking about and designing variations of these custom wheels for several years. These new drivers are an injection-molded part made from ABS plastic and manufactured in Portland, OR.
Check out the Sneak Peek Gallery to see these wheels in greater detail.

First Member Contributed Article!

David 'Zonker' Harris has contributed the first article for the ILTCO web site. Zonker has written a detailed analysis of the LEGO Track Cleaner available from a 3rd party suppler. Check out the article!

ILTCO LEGO Train Poster Available!

ILTCO is happy to announce the immediate availability of the "Powered By Creativity" Train Poster. Historically, many clubs have distributed catalogs at their train shows. This 22"x17" poster is a replacement for catalogs and represents the coordinated efforts of ILTCO and The LEGO® Company. The poster features an illustration of the 10020 Super Chief on the front and an overview of the current Train Products on the back along with images of several club layouts and the ILTCO logo and URL.

Take a look at the poster images with this Sneak Peek!

Interested in getting a box of these posters? Your ILTCO club representative has the information on how to get them.

Return of LEGO Part 4511 - Sliding Box Car Door!

The new 7045 Hover Craft World City Set brings back a much sought after part for LEGO Train Fans - the 4511 Sliding Door, this time in black! The sliding door is on the dock building in the back of the image.

Additions to the ILTCO Library

ILTCO is pleased to announce some additions to the ILTCO library. Many of the presentations given during the train sessions at BrickFest 2003 have been archived and are available for your reading pleasure here in the ILTCO <a href=http://www.iltco.org/library/>library</a> in both Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Powerpoint formats. These include presentations on - TrackDraw, the highly anticipated layout planning tool - LDCC (both the intro and advanced presentations are archived) - Track modifications - Layout planning - ILTCO's current state Enjoy, and stay tuned for one more big presentation from BF 03 which will be available soon. Our thanks go out to all of the presentation authors for their fine work!

ILTCO Librarian Sought

ILTCO is looking to fill the role of Librarian and is accepting applications. The role entails reviewing submissions, ensuring they are appropriate for the ILTCO site, creating the short blurb text, title, and author credits, and updating the library section of the database as well as other related duties. It also entails fostering the creation of new types of submissions. The ideal ILTCO Librarian would need to work closely with the ILTCO Web Master and would have a keen eye for detail, style, and format, as well as a good idea about how to best organize information as our volume of information grows to aid researchers in locating it easily. Knowledge of MySQL and PHP are helpful but not mandatory. If you are interested in this volunteer position or if you have content (presentations, articles, information of general interest) to contribute, please contact library@iltco.org

More Train Posters! Featured models by Higasi Nakano

Two new train posters are available at Jeroen de Haan's digitalbricks designed by Higasi Nakano. <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl">digitalbricks Home</a> <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl/mocposters.html">digitalbricks MOC posters</a>

Latest Train Poster features models by Larry Pieniazek

A new train poster is available at Jeroen de Haan's digitalbricks. It shows the complete line of current (and a few planned future) Milton Train Works(tm) sets, all of which are the work of Larry Pieniazek. <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl">digitalbricks Home</a> <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl/mocposters.html">digitalbricks MOC posters</a>

ILTCO Membership Committee Established

ILTCO is happy to announce the formation of the <a href="http://www.iltco.org/members/reportMembershipCommittee.php">Membership Committee<a>. Comprised of seven (7) members from Active ILTCO Train Clubs, the committee will be responsible for reviewing and acting on ILTCO Club Applications.

TrackDraw: A replacement for TrackDesigner

Cary Clark has <a href="http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=20807">announced</a> TrackDraw, a replacement for TrackDesigner. TrackDesigner is widely used to design LEGO&reg; Train Layouts but hasn't been updated in many years. The community has frequently voiced the need for a replacement for TrackDesigner and Cary has answered the call.<br> More details can be found on the <a href="http://www.trackdraw.com">TrackDraw</a> web site and Cary will present his work at <a href="http://www.brickfest.com">BrickFest '03</a>.

NCLTC Takes 1st Place @ Raleigh GATS!

The North Carolina LEGO Train Club (NCLTC) took first place at the Great American Train Show (GATS) held in Raleigh on August 2nd and 3rd. Read the complete show report for more details and links to many pictures.

Homebrew 45 Degree Crossing Track by Derek Raycraft

Check out this cool crossing track built from 2 straight tracks by RTL Toronto member Derek Raycraft (purists beware;-) Read Derek's <a href="http://news.lugnet.com/org/ca/rtltoronto/?n=8019"> post</a> on LUGNET for all of the nitty-gritty details.

ILTCO Logos Now Available

The ILTCO graphics department would like to announce the ILTCO Logo Page is now available. For those of you that have requested the use of the logo for your club web site and/or printed materials this is the place to go!

ILTCO Bylaws and Policy and Procedures published!

After many, many months of work, the ILTCO Executive Committee is happy to announce the publication of the ILTCO <a href="/legal/ILTCO_Bylaws_v0-8j.pdf">Bylaws</a> and the ILTCO <a href="/legal/ILTCO_Policy_and_Procedures_v8-1f.pdf">Policy and Procedures</a>. These two documents outline the goals and formal workings of ILTCO.

ILTCO takes on Train Coordinator role for BrickFest 2003

ILTCO is pleased to announce that the ILTCO Organizing Committee has accepted the role of Train Activities Coordinator for BrickFest 2003, with Larry Pieniazek agreeing to take the lead. Working in conjunction with Brick Events LLC, the BrickFest overall organizing committee, and building on the successful experiences of past coordinators, it is our intention to bring BrickFest attendees the most comprehensive track of train related events, activities and learning experiences ever. We have made arrangements for a number of activities as part of the track which we will describe further in a series of independent postings in lugnet.events.brickfest, so as to facilitate specific questions. We solicit your active participation! See this <a href=http://news.lugnet.com/events/brickfest/?n=1418> lugnet.events.brickfest</a> post, and the next 4 after it, for more information

10128 Level Crossing Sneak Peek Photos!

LEGO® has supplied the ILTCO with detailed photos of the new 10128 Level Crossing set. These new high quality images offer the first chance to see this exciting new set. Check out the ILTCO exclusive sneak peek of this set.

Mark Riley develops DCC for the RCX!

DCC (Digital Command Control) is a means of sending electrical signals over tracks to control DCC equipped locomotives and accessories. DCC has been a topic of growing interest in the trains community. Many people have been daunted by the Command Station cost. But many of us have RCX 1.0 programmable bricks kicking around. Mark has completed new firmware that enables the RCX to act as a DCC Command Station. Mark gives more info and downloads <a href=http://home.surewest.net/markril/lego/dcc/index.html>here</a>. More discussion can be found in this <a href= http://news.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/?n=2080>lugnet.trains</a> (and robotics) thread.

Jeroen updates the Train Poster with the 2003 sets!

Thanks to lots of hard effort, the famed Train Poster has been updated with the new "World City" 2003 sets... says Jeroen: "New on this poster are (of course) the new models for 2003; the 4511 High Speed Train and the 4512 Cargo Train; some models have more details (like the 10013 have chains now) or stickers. Also new are the colours (thanks to some people in the LDraw community) and different lighting setup so the colours don't look so washed out." Read <a href=http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=20120 >the announcement</a> on LUGNET(tm). See Jeroen's site, <a href=http://www.digitalbricks.nl/posters.html>digitalbricks.nl</a> for more details.

Paul Thomas and Scott Costello of SCLTC featured in print.

Paul Thomas and Scott Costello of SCLTC were featured in an article that appeared in the San Bernadino Sun on 3/15/03. View the entire article on BrickShelf.

Box Art for 2003 LEGO World City Police Sets!

LEGO® has supplied the ILTCO with box art for the new 2003 LEGO World City police sets. These new images offer greater detail of these upcoming sets than any which have appeared to date. Check out the ILTCO exclusive sneak peek of these new sets. Why are these of interest to train fans? These sets have a grest selection of parts, many of which will be of interest to train builders. These sets are also part of World City which is the notation that Trains are now carrying as well.

Inventory for 10027 Engine Shed on Peeron

Peeron has received a preliminary version of the 10027 Engine Shed inventory. <a href="http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/inv/sets/10027-1?withpics=yes">Check it out</a> - loads of great pieces at a great price.

Box Art for 2003 LEGO Train Products!

LEGO® has supplied the ILTCO with box art for the new 2003 LEGO Train sets. These new images offer greater detail of these upcoming sets than any which have appeared to date. Check out the ILTCO exclusive sneak peek of these new sets.

Train Engine Shed Sneak Peek Photos!

LEGO has supplied the ILTCO with detailed photos of the new 10027 Train Engine Shed (663 pieces). These new high quality images offer greater detail of this set than any which have appeared to date. Check out the ILTCO exclusive sneak peek of this set.
See also the Peeron inventory of the set.

Robert Powell in Local San Diego Newspaper

Right after Robert (SCLTC) finished his presentation on "Building a Scuplted Train Layout" at BricksWest 2003, the local San Diego newspaper interviewed him. A few days later they sent a photographer to his house to take some photos. Here's a large version of the article. This article yields yet another train poster in the media! Can you spot it?

Latest Train Poster

A new train poster is available at Jeroen de Haan's digitalbricks. It shows a circa 1875 Prussian 4-6-2 steam engine and 4 different green tri-axle coaches modeled by Steve Barile. <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl">digitalbricks Home</a> <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl/mocposters.html">digitalbricks MOC posters</a>

Mike Walsh's TV Interview Featuring LEGO® Trains

Mike Walsh of NCLTC was interviewed on the Raleigh NBC news affiliate showing off LEGO® Trains as a promo for their March 2nd, 2003 train show. The NCLTC layout was on display in front of Tom's Train Station at South Hills Mall in Cary, North Carolina. Read Mike's summary of the interview and view the full interview (warning, the file is huge!) on the NCLTC web site.

LEGO&reg;'s Train Design Team Poses with the Train Poster

The LEGO&reg; Train Group (the design team within LEGO) recently posed with Jeroen de Haan's LEGO Train Poster. They are looking forward to the 2003 products being added to it. For more information on Jeroen's posters, visit his web site at <a href="http://www.digitalbricks.nl/">www.digitalbricks.nl</a>.

Shaun Sullivan's American Hudson 4-6-4 Steam Engine featured in LEGO® press release.

Shaun Sullivan's impressive American Hudson 4-6-4 Steam Locomotive is featured in a press release from LEGO®. You can read the complete content of the press release on the LEGO web site. Additional pictures of Shaun's locomotive can be found in his BrickShelf gallery and cool posters at digitalbricks MOC posters.