How to Hack LEGO City Train Junctions for Short Crossovers

Reading Time: 2 minutes

LEGO city trains used to be blessed with lots of different sizes and shapes of track pieces. This is how to moc hack the LEGO City Train Junctions to create tighter and closer crossover points.

Before we carry on, I want to make it clear that I was not happy cutting track pieces to hack them into shape. But, I’m very glad I did!

Why did I do this? I wanted to be able to run two LEGO Train Tracks and be free to have my trains swap. But I couldn’t because the gap between tracks when you connect two junctions meant it took up half of our Custom LEGO city (creative embellishment there).

In this tutorial, I will show you how to cut the LEGO Train Junction to go from 16 studs apart to 8 (or even 6 if you need). The idea is to cut two of the sleepers, and then a piece of track and join them together with two plates.

One thing before carrying on: Kids, if you are considering this, get your parents to do it. Sharp things and cutting sharp objects is dangerous!

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How to

To do this, I used a sharp, strong craft knife to cut theme because it gives a smoother finish. Using a hacksaw can give a very “hacky” and rough finish. If you have a power tool, that’ll help.

You’ll then want to finish them with a small file – I used a metal one. Once done, join them with a 2×4 plate across each of the cut sleepers.

Now, for my first time doing this, I ended up with about a 1mm gap which is fine – visible in my Custom LEGO City layout because the table is white, but once I’ve gone and laid the Ballast you won’t even notice the gap.

The LEGO trains don’t notice at all and are happy to be able to switch quickly between the tracks.

Watch till the end as I’ve some video of my LEGO city passenger train 60197 and cargo train 60052 running around the track.

I really hope this helps you save some space and hopefully add crossovers where you thought you couldn’t. And be sure to check out more of my How To Posts!

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