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ARSLOCK

trying to use a new motor with the old tracks...

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So in the past year or so I've fully embraced being an AFOL and dug out my old childhood train set http://brickset.com/sets/7722-1/Steam-Cargo-Train-Set

I have a complete loop of the old style track but want to use a new engine. I picked one up and it seems to have trouble staying on the track with my test train. I have the magnet train car joiners and am using the old wheels for the cars from the original set.

Does anyone else do this and have any advice? Maybe I should just try and get the old motor working?

My goal is to make a Christmas Train MOC for around the tree.

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Normaly it shoud be fine, but old track and wheels can give more friction than the new ones. Also taking a switch could give problems, but not 100% sure about this.

How fast are you going trough the bends?

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When I got my Emerald engine I had nor RC tracks and hence I put it on old blue 4,5V tracks. Worked fine. No problems, even with switches.

What kind of new engine doe you use?

Edited by Rumpelmuck

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I only use new tracks but I have a couple of cars with old wheels -- there is more friction but they do fine.

I've seen pictures of various layouts with a mix of old and new trains on newer tracks.

I suppose the problem occurs in between track sections, as the joints in the old tracks are only on the plate, not between rails.

You could try to mitigate or solve the problem with some color-matched duct tape, even just to see if that's the real problem -- I know, ugly, but as an experiment.

Otherwise, go to bricklink to pick up a loop made of new PF tracks. Curves are relatively cheap.

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Could you link to a video or pictures of how your train is running off the tracks? It might be easier to troubleshoot if we can see what is going on.

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it seemed to be mostly in the curves it was failing. i had a basic oval shape, and the track was on a hardwood floor not on baseplates or anything to like that... i'll try and get a picture when i'm at home.

it would go around a few times, and keep getting faster and eventually it would just fall off. maybe my battery box car was just too top heavy or i didn't have enough weight on the engine itself? it was a pretty barebones "proof of concept" train so that might also be part of the problem...

i'm using this motor http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-Train-Motor-88002

i had it setup with a simple single battery box with the 6 AA with just the on/off switch to control it..

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i'm using this motor http://shop.lego.com...ain-Motor-88002

i had it setup with a simple single battery box with the 6 AA with just the on/off switch to control it..

That's the problem there. The new train motor is very fast, and with the heavy 6AA box on top of it, it's quite likely you'd tip over on curves. Normally, people use the train speed remote with the Power Functions receiver to control their trains. However, if you just want to run in a loop without changing speed, it might be worth it to just use the old 4.5V motor that came with the set.

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That's the problem there. The new train motor is very fast, and with the heavy 6AA box on top of it, it's quite likely you'd tip over on curves. Normally, people use the train speed remote with the Power Functions receiver to control their trains. However, if you just want to run in a loop without changing speed, it might be worth it to just use the old 4.5V motor that came with the set.

ah ha! i had set it up previously using the IR receiver from the rock crawler and the remote that it came with. I'll pick up the train remote, but I guess there is no way to have it on a simple on off with a set lower speed?

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-IR-Remote-Control-8885 is what i was using.

this makes so much more sense... thanks a lot!

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If you buy the rechargeable battery box (costly, mind you), you can set the speed in 7 steps directly on that battery box instead of having to use a train remote.

There are advantages and disadvantages though: using this battery box, you don't need a PF receiver, saving space. Also, your train will not suddenly stop when the guy next to you uses his PF remote on the same channel as your train is set, but that's also its biggest disadvantage: if you want it to go slower or backwards, you'll have to manually do that and of course if it auto switches off after 2 hours you'll have to manually start it up again of course.

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Yes, if you want it to go slower use the old motor, they are usually still OK, I have half a dozen of them dated from 1966/7 and they all work fine. They just required cleaning out. You can also easily rig the old 4.5V motors to run with the power functions IR unit if you want to still have remote control. Actually using those old motors it is pretty good the control you can get at lower speeds if you are using it on a very small loop.

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