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February 22, 2008
January 28, 2008
BayLUG’s Preferred Parts Vendor, Uncle Dan, now has a web page setup to keep people up-to-date with his schedule. He will also now be able to notify us of LEGO treasures he finds in his shipments. Please point your web browser to:
http://www.uncledanstoys.com
December 20, 2007
January 6, 2008: MoAH Holiday display ends
January 13, 2008: member’s only BayLUG meeting
January 26, 2008: BayLTC NMRA meeting
February 24, 2008: BayLUG meeting @ MoAH
March 8, 2008: BayLTC NMRA meeting
March 14-16, 2008: TCA Cal-Stewart Spring Meet
April 20, 2008: BayLUG meeting @ MoAH
May 3-4, 2008: Maker Faire
May 31, 2008: BayLTC NMRA meeting
June 22, 2008: BayLUG meeting @ MoAH
July 13, 2008: BayLTC NMRA meeting
July 18-20, 2008: NMRA NTS in Anaheim
July 26, 2008: BayLTC NMRA meeting
August 3, 2008: VVFF/BayLUG meeting
September 27-28, 2008: Great Train Expo in San Jose (tentative)
October 12, 2008: BayLUG 10th Anniversary meeting @ MoAH
November 2008: Great Train Expo in Pleasanton (tentative)
December 2008: MoAH Holiday display starts
December 13, 2007
Dear all,
As promised in the first communication from the 1st of October we, are informing you of decisions regarding the development of the new LEGO Power Functions train system. Using all the valuable feedback we received from the AFOL community, we have now reached some basic decisions about the scope of the future train system. We are still working on the details of the new Power Functions train system; however, there are certain features that have been decided. Some of these features are a new designed remote control with speed regulator, a new size rechargeable battery box with a built in speed regulator and finally we are exploring and seriously considering new track geometries thanks to the use of plastic rails.
As you know, this has been one of the most requested features from the AFOL community over the years. In late April 2007 we arranged a workshop for a group of 5 AFOLs involved in the LEGO train community, and they worked on some of the possible solutions and defined the basic needs for a new LEGO Power Functions train system along with the LEGO design and engineering team.
In this workshop it became clear what sort of elements and features to include in the new train system. The result of this workshop was the design of prototype elements. Detailed decisions about the specifications of the elements are still in discussion and will be for the next couple of months. We wish to continue the cooperation with the AFOL community in the development of the Power Functions train system and in late November we had another workshop where we built on the experiences from the first workshop. In the November workshop there were ten fans from around the world: Denmark, USA, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and United Kingdom. The idea was that the AFOLs and the LEGO team would build with the prototypes in order to determine what additional features to include, what to add to the concept and, finally refining it. This ensures that the new Power Functions train system gets input from the AFOL community and also ensures the features are as close as possible to what is requested by the AFOL community. However, please keep in mind that the new train system first and foremost should be suitable for the use of children, and therefore it is consequently being tested by children as well as AFOLs. There is an established budget for the initial development so while we would like to address all needs that are expressed; there is a high likelihood that we will be unable to address all needs. You will be updated on the results of the workshop and the continued development of the train system early in 2008. We continue to value and appreciate your feedback and suggestions with regards to this project.
Richard Stollery, Head of LEGO Community Development
December 5, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA - The Bay Area LEGO Users Group (BayLUG) and Train Club (BayLTC) are pleased to announce our 4th Annual “Living LEGO-cy” Holiday Display at the Museum of American Heritage.
Saturday, December 8, 2007 to Sunday, January 6, 2008
Museum of the American Heritage
351 Homer Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.moah.org
Show Hours:
Friday-Sunday 11am-4pm
Admission: Donation
BayLTC will be presenting a self-running 12′x25′ layout with several loops of trains running through downtown, waterfront, and suburban scenes. The theme of this layout is “Holidays in the Bay Area,” and will feature locally-based scenes with a holiday theme. In addition, BayLUG members will have a variety of other models on display. In addition, you can read the latest newspaper article featuring BayLTC here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_7560504
October 1, 2007
LEGO 9V Train CommunicationBillund, Oct. 1st ’07
Dear all,Many of you are aware of the on-going discussions on the 9V train system. We
would like to thank you all for the input you provided to us directly and
through different channels. Based on critical business decisions and the
consultations and discussions with various AFOLs we have decided to focus on one
single solution in order to avoid the complexity of maintaining two systems in
parallel and in order to solve the issues we have with the actual 9V system and
the remote control City train system. We envision one upgradeable train system
for all ages in the future.
The LEGO Group has considered the future of the 9v at length, and has come to
the conclusion that there is not sufficient demand for the product line to be
profitable and competitive. The existing machines need to be replaced and
minimum order quantities at external suppliers for motors and speed regulators
are so high that the investment The LEGO Group would have to put in, would not
be rational or reasonable compared to sales figures of the existing 9V system.
The implication of this is that the 9v elements sold now are the last of the
remaining stock and subsequent production of elements for the 9V platform has
ceased.
The LEGO Group will launch elements for a new train system based on the new
electric LEGO Power Functions system in 2009. Using the LEGO Power Functions
system the new train system will benefit from a set of electric elements that
are cross theme, widely available and not completely train specific which allows
us to amortize the development and on going cost across multiple themes. We are
at an early development stage of the new train system and several AFOLs are
already involved in the development process, to ensure that the new system will
accommodate the types of features and functions requested by the AFOL community.
This collaboration with AFOLs is very important to The LEGO Group and we strive
to involve the Adult Fan Community as much as possible.
Holger Matthes, Germany, currently member of the AFOL team which is involved in
the process of developing the new system explains the situation in this way:
“The LEGO train system has to fulfill different needs for different target
groups in a very special way. On the one hand it’s a toy for kids because it is
easy to set up and because of the playability in the kid’s room, and on the
other hand it is also for AFOLs who build huge LEGO train layouts with realistic
looking train models and functionality. The LEGO Group is aware of this and the
company tries to support both needs within the given restrictions (e.g. costs
for a niche product like the LEGO trains).”
Using the universal LEGO Power Functions system for trains will give The LEGO
Group the ability to match the demands and wishes of the AFOL Train community in
the future.
Steve Barile, USA – President of ILTCO (International LEGO Train Club
Organization) and one of the involved AFOLs says about the new train system:
“I am excited that the new universal Power Functions system can make track side
accessories viable and potentially automated and interactive.”
He continues:
“With the track being exclusively plastic the LEGO Power Functions Train system
has the potential for new and innovative track geometries and continued
innovation by both The LEGO Group and the AFOLs.”
These AFOL quotes give you an impression of what will be possible with the
future system and we will keep you up to date on the development of the new LEGO
Power Functions train system. We expect to have more information and details to
share with you before the end of the year.
Richard Stollery, Head of LEGO Community Development
July 25, 2007
Once again BayLUG will be taking part in the Vintage Vehicles and Family Fun Festival in Palo Alto, CA. This event, run by the Museum of American Heritage (where most of our BayLUG meetings are held), is a celebration of old vehicles and family activities. It will be held in El Camino Park, just across from the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.
 Date: Sunday, August 5, 2007
Time: 10am to 4pm (open to public)
Where: El Camino Park, 100 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA
(across from the Stanford Shopping Center)
Admission: free
Note: Club members please arrive between 8-10am to set up.
The Museum of American Heritage will be closed on this day.
Our club will have three clusters of tables, which need to be provided by us. We will have canopies, but as the event is outdoors, LEGO parts may be subjected to UV rays and other factors. We will be located right next to the main entrance.
Bring your latest models to show off, and/or parts or sets to sell.
January 30, 2007
More details are becoming available about the club’s schedule for 2007. Keep checking back for updates!
- January 14, 2007 - MoAH Christmas display ends
- January 21, 2007 - members-only BayLUG meeting @ Dave Porter’s house, Woodside
- February 17, 2007 - BayLUG meeting #1 @ Fremont Main Library
- February 25, 2007 - BayLUG meeting #2 @ MoAH
- March 16-18, 2007 - TCA Cal-Stewart Spring Meet @ Santa Clara Conv. Center
- March 24, 2007 - NMRA Preplanning (members only) @ Mtn View Round Table
- April 15, 2007 - BayLUG meeting @ MoAH
- May 19-20, 2007 - Maker Faire @ San Mateo Expo Center
- June 17, 2007 - BayLUG meeting @ MoAH
- June 23, 2007 - NMRA Planning (members only) @ Mtn View Round Table
- August 2007 (date pending) - BayLUG Space meeting/display @ Chabot Science Senter, Berkeley
- August 5, 2007 - Vintage Vehicles and Family Fun, Palo Alto
- September 29-30, 2007 (unconfirmed) - BayLTC train show, Fairgrounds, San Jose
- October 14, 2007 - BayLUG meeting @ MoAH
- November 24-25, 2007 (unconfirmed) - BayLTC train show, Fairgrounds, Pleasanton
- December 8, 2007 through January 6, 2008 - MoAH Christmas display
MoAH - Museum of American Heritage, Palo Alto.
January 18, 2007
For the third consecutive year, BayLUG and BayLTC members exhibited imaginative LEGO trains and other creations for the holidays at the Musuem of American Heritage in Palo Alto. The exhibition of “Living LEGO-cy” was open for a month, closing Sunday, January 14th. Propelled by wonderful Bay-Area-wide media coverage, including multiple newspaper articles, web and radio event coverage, the last weekend brought more than 1300 visitors of all ages through the exhibit and musuem. The incredibly popular show again demolished the Museum’s attendance records, set the previous year by the last BayLUG/LTC holiday exhibit!
Once again, a common comment was “I didn’t know LEGO made trains!” The multi-track operating LEGO train layout featured both realistic and fanciful locales. Some of the more prominant LEGO entities shown were: the Calgary Tower, shown below, a large arch bridge, representations of the Island of Sodor, and several parts of San Francisco decorated for the holidays.
Surrounding the train layout were adjacent complemetary displays including a HUGE LEGO castle featuring a Harry Potter theme. Many technic construction equipment, cranes, cars, Mecha, an automatic trolley, and other interesting creations filled the display cases lining the walls.
Club members and Museum leaders were all very pleased, and also relieved as the popular exhibit drew to a close. As a result of its success, there may be a large display opportunity at MoAH for BayLUG/LTC coming this summer.
Calgary Tower, City and Layout Overview Thomas, Tunnels and Trains
 
December 13, 2006
For the third consecutive year, BayLUG and BayLTC presents their Annual “Living LEGO-cy” Holiday LEGO train layout and creations show in the Frank Livermore Learning Center at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto. Last year’s show was a door buster, with record museum attendance, and this year’s promises to be even better! The fabulous train layout and members’ displays will run from Saturday, December 16, 2006 through Sunday, January 14, 2007. Come one, come all and check out the LEGO trains and all of the interesting creations on display.
BayLTC will be presenting a self-running train layout with several loops of trains running through town, farming, and suburban scenes. In addition, BayLUG members will have a variety of other models on display.
Museum of American Heritage
351 Homer Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Show Hours:
- Friday-Sunday 11am-4pm
- Monday-Thursday closed
- Closed December 25, 2006
- Closed January 1, 2007
- Museum donations are appreciated.
Here’s a sample from last year.
Comments Off
November 20, 2006
The Scale Rails Online site has two LEGO Trains forums, one for general LEGO Train discussion, and one specifically for BayLTC discussion, which is sponsored by our club. I am a moderator of both forums, and I have been asked to help promote the LEGO forums. I would like everyone to take a look at the forums and let me know if you have any suggestions for either promoting them or enhancing the content, like more categories, etc. I have already placed links to them on both of our club LUGNET pages, and I would like links to them added to our links section.
September 28, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA - The Bay Area LEGO Users Group (BayLUG) and Train Club (BayLTC) is pleased to announce our schedule for the rest of 2006, and a preview of the 2007 schedule.
October 2006 BayLUG Meeting
Sunday, October 8, 2006
11am-4pm
Museum of American Heritage
351 Homer Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Great Train Expo
Sat-Sun, November 25-26, 2006
Alameda County Fairgrounds
4501 Pleasanton Avenue
Pleasanton, CA 94566
10am-4pm both days
Admission: $7 for adults; Kids 11 & under free
Admission is good for both days.
Palo Alto Museum - “Living LEGO-cy”
December 16, 2006 - January 14, 2007
Museum of American Heritage
351 Homer Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Friday-Sunday 11am-4pm
Monday-Thursday closed
Closed December 25, 2006
Closed January 1, 2007
Admission: Donation
Preview of the 2007 ScheduleBelow is a preview of our upcoming 2007 schedule. All information is subject to change without notice. Please check back for updates.
- January - Christmas show ends
- February - meeting
- March - train show
- April - meeting
- May - TBD
- June - meeting
- July - TBD
- August - meeting
- September - train show
- October - meeting
- November - train show
- December - Christmas display starts
July 18, 2006
 On Saturday, July 15, members of BayLUG converged on the LEGO store in Valley Fair Mall to update the exhibit our club maintains in the “window on the community” display there. The old display, using “Micro-scale Space” as a theme, was removed and a new Castle-themed scene was installed. It will remain there for about six weeks. Stop by the store and see it!
More pictures of the display can be seen in Russell’s Brickshelf gallery.
June 19, 2006
A new LEGO trains forum has been created on the Scale Rails Online website. This is a good thing for LEGO trains because this site is for all model railroad scales, and it shows that traditional model railroaders are accepting LEGO trains into the hobby. I have been participating in the discussions for a couple of days now, and these forums are full of very friendly people. I invite all of you to check it out.
Updated: BayLTC has become a site sponsor and they have created a public forum for our club. I will post club news and events here, and everyone is encouraged to participate in the forums.
June 15, 2006
Please note that this information was updated today.
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Russell Clark
rclark@telis.org
408.605.5412 (cell)
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA - The Bay Area LEGO Train Club (BayLTC) is
pleased to announce that we will be displaying at “Transportation in the
Valley” at the Museum on Main Street in Pleasanton. Here are the show
details:
Sunday, June 18, 2006 to Sunday, July 30, 2006
Museum on Main Street
603 Main Street
Pleasanton, CA 94566
Show Hours:
Wednesday-Saturday 11am-4pm
Sunday 1pm-4pm
Monday-Tuesday closed
Admission: Donation
Layout size 12.5′x17.5′
(Set-up on June 17 - members only)
May 5, 2006
BayLUG is pleased to announce a special event: Exploring Mindstorms NXT with Mark Edelman, NXT Developer and Founder of Playing at Learning, a Northern California FLL affiliate.
Find out all about the new version of LEGO Mindstorms, with its all new motors and sensors, 32-bit processor, and built-in Bluetooth among other great new features.
The event will take place on May 13th, from noon-3:00pm in Byrd Hall at Wesley United Methodist Church, 463 College Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306 [map]
The church sanctuary faces Cambridge Ave, and the social hall entrance faces College Ave. There is some limited parking on College, and a large parking garage at Cambridge Ave & Mimosa Lane. If you park there, you will have to walk through the church courtyard or go down Sedro Lane to get to the social hall.
April 30, 2006
We have chosen the theme of “micro-scale space” for the May 14 27 meeting at MoAH. (Note: The meeting was rescheduled to avoid a conflict with Mother’s Day.)
Build a model in a futuristic or science fiction setting, in micro-scale. Micro-scale means that a human is about the height of a LEGO brick, or smaller. There are two categories (micro-moonbase modules, and micro-scale spacecraft) and three age groups.
The contest is for members only. If you’re not a member, sign up prior to the meeting and you can participate in the contest.
For more details, see the event announcement.
March 31, 2006
The Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group will be participating in Maker Faire, along with the creators of MAKE magazine, the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors. This unique event will be held April 22-23 at the San Mateo fairgrounds.
BayLTC will present a 20′ x 30′ train layout and BayLUG members will have various models on display, such as David Wegmuller’s giant Technic crane and demonstrations of controlling LEGO trains using Mindstorms robotics kits.
For more information, or if you have anything to contribute to the exhibit please contact Bill Ward.
A small handful of BayLTC members will be attending the 3rd Annual Bay Area Prototype Modelers Meet on Sunday, April 30, 2006 from 10am-5pm. This event is open to modelers of all abilities, roads, scales, and eras. Steam, diesel, electric, Interurban, freight cars, passenger cars, vehicles, intermodal, MOW equipment, structures, dioramas– you name it, Bring it to BAPM 2006! All are welcome. This is an excellent opportunity to display models to a fairly specialized audience. There will be clinics, displays, raffle prizes, and manufacturers onsite.
It is being held at:
Fremont Marriott
46100 Landing Parkway
Fremont, California 94538 USA
Phone: 1-510-413-3700
Admission is $18 if you bring at least one model to display, or $20 if you do not bring a model. Pre-registration is recommended.
You can view all of the details at their website.
February 21, 2006
We are pleased to announce the 2006 schedule for meetings of the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group in the Frank Livermore Learning Center at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, California. We met there several times in 2005, and had a display there over the holidays which was very popular. We will be meeting on the following days:
- Sunday, April 9, 2006
Sunday, May 14 Saturday, May 27, 2006 (date changed to avoid conflict with Mother’s Day)Sunday, August 13, 2006 (BayLUG will be taking part in the Museum of American Heritage’s Vintage Vehicles & Family Festival at El Camino Park instead of our regular meeting)- Sunday, October 8, 2006 (BayLUG anniversary meeting)
Each meeting will be open from 11am to 4pm (members-only setup at 10:30am, and tear-down starts at 3:30pm) and will feature members’ models on display, bricks and sets for sale or trade, and a contest (details to be announced). Members who wish to display or sell need to reserve their space in advance, and many members will need to bring their own tables.
Special note: The contests are for members only. If you are not yet a member and wish to participate, please fill out an application form before the meeting.
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