What parts do I need to motorize an Emerald Night?

[jonwil]

I own an Emerald Night and I also have the Power Functions gear from a 60052 Cargo Train plus a PF M motor. What else do I need to motorize my train and give it remote control?

Are there instructions out there for how to add motorization and remote control to the Emerald Night?

 

[ecmo47]

The back pages of the instructions for the Emerald Night have the instructions and parts list for what is needed to add power functions. Somewhere, I made modifications to improve the running gear but do not have time to look for it now.

 

Edited April 18, 2017 by ecmo47

[pirzyk]

1 hour ago, ecmo47 said:

Somewhere, I made modifications to improve the running gear but do not have time to look for it now.

There were instructions on railbricks on how to improve the running.  The back issues are at: http://brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2017/01/06/railbricks-magazine-now-available-heres-to-the-first-successful-week-at-bmr/

[JopieK]

Basically you need an XL motor and a Power Source. A remote receiver and controller might be handy. There are alternatives and the link by pirzyk is a good one indeed!

[ALCO]

Based on the PF stuff you have... You have everything you need! If you plan on taking the IR Receiver and battery box from the blue diesel locomotive you can use the M motor but it may not be very strong. The official Lego instructions indicate an XL motor, and I have used an L motor. The XL has the most torque. If you use your M motor, it will not be secured by the negative stud plate on the bottom...it will be secured by the technic pins next to the axle.

To sum up, you have everything you need. But the M motor is not very strong and after some testing you may find you will want to upgrade it.

As for the running, the guide to upgrade the running gear is worth it. While the official Lego design works...it does not work very well and the upgrade makes it run smoother.

 

*I am assuming you also have the PF controller that comes with 60052

Edited April 6, 2017 by ALCO

[Duq]

If you have the Emerald Night set you also have instructions to motorise it: check the last pages of book 2.

http://cache.lego.com/bigdownloads/buildinginstructions/4581168.pdf

[jonwil]

Hmmm, I dont have an XL motor nor do I have a way to get one in time for the show. Maybe I could try a different idea and build a tender with a 9V motor in it (the club runs 9V track and I have several 9V motors)

 

[ecmo47]

Found the mods over on Brickset.

http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/15407/emerald-night-10194-running-gear-improvements#latest

 

[dr_spock]

3 hours ago, jonwil said:

Hmmm, I dont have an XL motor nor do I have a way to get one in time for the show. Maybe I could try a different idea and build a tender with a 9V motor in it (the club runs 9V track and I have several 9V motors)

 

Maybe stick a couple of 9v train motors under the passenger carriage.  It uses the train base plate and has the holes to mount the 9V motor easily.

[jonwil]

In this case I have custom build passenger cars to tow behind the Emerald Night (which will be cosmetically modified a bit as well to look more like a Queensland Rail PB15 class locomotive) which dont suit having a 9V motor added. Custom building a tender to fit a 9V motor on the other hand I can do.

 

[zephyr1934]

No matter what you do with the EN, if you want it to run, you should do something about the cylinder (which is discussed in the MODs article above). The cylinder can bind and stop the locomotive. Worst case, if you have binding at the show, you can simply pull the connecting rods that go to the cylinder.

Second, if you turn the EN in to a push locomotive you will also want to bypass the gear train that is used for direct drive from the XL motor. It has A LOT of unnecessary drag when it is not being used for propulsion. Probably easiest to just pull the crown gear on the driver axle.

[Trekkie99]

https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=O4oaXn80ak8

[jonwil]

I have made the cylinder improvements as well as removing most of the gear train so it should run fairly smoothly without binding up.

Of course it wont run at all until I finish rebuilding it from a 4-6-2 into a QR PB15 class 4-6-0 :)

 

[M_slug357]

Please post some pictures soon?!