How I 3D Printed My Own Lego-Compatible Train Bridges

March 16, 2026 by Lewin Day 37 Comments

Lego train sets have been available for decades, now. The Danish manufacturer long ago realized the magic of combining its building block sets with motors and plastic rails to create real working railways for children and adults to enjoy. Over the years, Lego has innovated through several generations of trains, from classic metal-rail systems to the more modern IR and later Bluetooth-controlled versions. The only thing largely missing over all that time, though…? A bridge!

Yes, Lego has largely neglected to build any bridges for its mainstream train lineup. There are aftermarket solutions, and innovative hacks invented by the community, all with their own limitations and drawbacks. This glaring oversight, though, seemed like a perfect opportunity to me. It was time to fire up the 3D printer and churn out a fully-realized Lego rail bridge of my very own.

Bridges Are Hard

I’ve experimented with building Lego rail bridges before, using standard track and household objects like cardboard, books, and beer. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to support the track evenly at the joints which occur every 150mm, and derailments are common. Credit: author

There’s actually a good reason Lego bridges aren’t a big thing in the company’s own product lineup, beyond a few obscure historical parts. This is probably because they aren’t very practical. Lego locomotives are not particularly strong haulers, nor do they have excellent grip on the rails, and this makes them very poor at climbing even mild grades. Any official Lego bridge would have to be very long with a shallow slope just to allow a train to climb high enough to clear a locomotive on a track below. This would end up being an expensive set that would probably prove unpopular with the casual Lego train builder, even if the diehard enthusiasts loved it.

There are third-party options available out there. However, most rely on standard Lego track pieces and merely combine them with supports that hold them up at height. This can work in some cases, but it can be very difficult to do cool things like passing a Lego train under a bridge, for example. It can be hard to gain enough height, and the short length of Lego track pieces makes it hard to squeeze a locomotive between supports. Continue reading “How I 3D Printed My Own Lego-Compatible Train Bridges” →

Is This The World’s Smallest N-Scale Train Layout?

January 23, 2024 by Kristina Panos 7 Comments

There’s just something about miniature worlds — they’re just so relaxing to look at and ponder. Think you don’t have ample room for a model train layout at your place? You may not be thinking small enough. [Peter Waldraff] knows a thing or two about hiding train layouts inside of furniture (that’s one solution), but this time, he’s built a track in plain sight that’s meant to sit on the bookshelf. The whole thing is just 5.5″ x 12″.

This N-scale layout was three years in the making, mostly because [Peter] was waiting for just the right little powered chassis to come along. For the layout, [Peter] started by creating custom flexible track by removing pieces with a sharp knife. He glued down the track to pink foam and used nails to hold it in place while the glue dried. He also built a wood frame around the base to stabilize it and hold some of the electronic components, including a switch made from an old ballpoint pen.

Then it was time to start decorating the thing, beginning with a couple of buildings made from more pink foam that are both lit up with LEDs. Eventually, [Peter] added a bunch of details like streetlights, animals, and garbage cans that really make the layout pop. As far as the engine goes, [Peter] picked up a Tomytec TM-TR02 on eBay and built a trolley out of two broken cars. [Peter]’s build is something you just have to see for yourself — fortunately for you, the build and demo video is after the break.

Like we said, [Peter]’s usual territory is hiding train layouts in end tables and coffee tables and the like, so it’s nice to see what he can do given different constraints.

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3D Printed Train Set Aims For Speed

May 12, 2020 by Lewin Day 32 Comments

For most involved in the hobby, model trains involve buying track from off-the-shelf suppliers, and lots of delicate painting and finishing. Conversely, [Ivan] just wanted to make something fast and fun, busting out the 3D printer in due course.

While the title of “World’s fastest toy train” is somewhat dubious, the build has its value as an interesting way of doing things. The train is 3D printed, with pressed-in ball bearings and metal shafts for the bogies. Differing from usual practice, this train carries its power supply on board, in the form of a LiPo battery. It’s hooked up to a brushless motor and controlled by a standard RC car setup.

The track is an impressive structure, consisting of 3D printed rails and supports. These are assembled and then screwed down to plywood baseplates, which are hot glued to the flat concrete floor of [Ivan]’s workshop. Strings were used to align everything as straight and true as possible. The track features a steep banking which helps with cornering. However, the straights remain banked in an effort to avoid the complex modelling of a transition. This leads to some derailments at higher speeds on the flat sections.

While it’s not yet perfect, [Ivan] has done a great job of demonstrating a quick and easy way to build a model railway out of almost entirely 3D printed components. We can’t wait to see improvements to the rails and railcars, and hope to see speeds increase significantly in future tests. 3D printing tends to bring some interesting results to bear on the model train world, such as this vertical hanging setup. Video after the break.

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Live Steam… Chugga Chugga

May 16, 2015 by Brian Benchoff 4 Comments

At Maker Faire this weekend. tucked in between a building full of homegrown foodstuffs and a rock polishing booth is the Bay Area Garden Railway Society (BAGRS). They’re running a few live steam locomotives, and they’re beautiful works of engineering and modeling. None of these trains are electric; they all move by boiling water with either coal or butane. It’s a true, proper locomotive running on 45mm gauge track.

[David Cole] of BAGRS gave me the walkthrough of their booth. It’s a simple oval track that took a solid day to level out. There are technically three sets of tracks, two G-scale, and another O scale sharing a rail with a G-scale track. Each and every one of these locomotives is powered by steam produced when water is heated by either coal or butane. Butane is the fuel of choice because of its ease of acquisition, but BAGRS had a few coal-fired locomotives with tiny shovels shoveling anthracite into tiny fireboxes. After loading up with water and getting the firebox nice and hot, these locomotives will cruise around the oval track for about half an hour, with the speed of the locomotive controlled by a servos and RC gear.

Maker Faire isn’t the headline event for BAGRS; in July 2016 they’ll be hosting the National Garden Railway Convention in San Francisco. If you’re local to the Faire, it will be a cool event to check out.

Crowdsourcing Plastic Model Kits

September 25, 2013 by Brian Benchoff 8 Comments

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Flexiscale, the company that crowdsources and crowdfunds model kits, made a showing at the World Maker Faire. We’ve seen their work before, but this time we got to touch base with [Chris Thorpe] and get a handle on the future of user-requested model kits.

Right now there are over one hundred proposals for what Flexiscale should do next. They’re mostly narrow gauge railroad locomotives and rolling stock, but [Chris] tells me they’re looking to branch out into larger projects including American locomotives as well as planes, ships, and buildings. This is a really, really cool project, and if you’re into models at all, you should at least be aware of what Flexiscale is trying to do.

If you have an idea of what Flexiscale should do next, write up a proposal. I made one for the PRR GG1 electric locomotive, and if enough people support it, [Chris] will scan an engine and make a kit.

Train Set Built In A Suitcase Does More Than You’d Think

December 25, 2012 by Mike Szczys 15 Comments

[Mario] can take his train set on the road with him because he build the thing inside of a suitcase. That in itself is pretty neat, but he pulled off more than just laying down a ring of track and surrounding it with realistic scenery. This train set is automated.

The suitcase itself looks a bit funny and that’s because it started as a portable phonograph. Removing the turntable and it’s requisite parts made plenty of room for the N-scale railroad (that’s really small stuff!). An Arduino with a motor shield drives the train around the loop. A reed sensor below a section of track provides feedback on where the locomotive is in the circuit. When it reaches that point the train stops and a bridge is lowered over the track for some invisible traffic to cross. There is even some audio flair which can be heard in the video after the break. It includes the whistle of the train and the ding of that bell mounted on the top half of the case.

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Small Server For Model Trains

October 26, 2012 by Brian Benchoff 13 Comments

For reasons we can’t comprehend, model train layouts are incredibly popular in Germany. [Gerhard] is one of those model train aficionados that has moved far beyond a layout with a transformer controlling the speed of the train; he sent in a tip for a very tiny Rocrail server he built to control the locomotives moving across his layout.

[Gerhard] uses Rocrail – a control system for train layouts large or small. Rocrail comes in both client and server configurations. The client is able to run on iDevices or Android. [Gerhard]’s server runs on a very tiny Linux computer tucked away under the layout.

Instead of a Raspberry Pi ([Gehard] couldn’t get one in time for this build), he used a Carambola board. The Rocrail server is installed on this single board computer and connects to a CAN bus controller. It’s a step up from [Gehard]’s previous CAN/Ethernet gateway built around OpenWRT, and makes the entire device much smaller.

[Gehard] doesn’t have a video of his layout in action, but after the break you can see how much the German people love their model trains at Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg.

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