Emerald Night 9V Mod with custom car

[snowvictim]

Hi, folks!

I recently changed my Emerald Night to 9V. The reason being that I mostly use the 9V system (most of my trains are 9V), and I also don't have any PF/RC track set up. I think it runs better on 9V, although I only had it powered with an M-motor as I don't have an XL motor... Here are the pics!

Waiting for passengers at the train station.

So majestic... In my opinion this is the most beautiful Lego set released. I was stupid enough to throw it away and I had a lot of problems rebuilding it (as you can see with the "chimney" and lantern).

I added the "coal" to the tender to hide the pieces of lead that I use as weights. Obviously the tender is very light and without any additional balast it wouldn't provide the necessary thrust to power this badboy.

9V motor on the tender with an additional train wheel assembly. It looked quite bare without it so I added the extra wheels. I'm expanding the tender anyway so that it will support 2x 9V Motor for additional power. I'm happy with the speed it's going now, it can outrun my Super Chief on a straight track segment, but I don't want to strain the motor.

This is my custom "cargo" car. I wanted something similar to the 10173 Holiday Train so I ended up with this. It's a shame I didn't have any 2x4 Light Bluish Gray Curved Slope 2/3 for the roof - got these ordered yesterday, but with Christmas and the holidays I'll probably get them next week earliest... So the black slopes will have to do for now. The undercarriage is the same as on the stock car, but I made it in reddish brown to match the barriers.

Back view.

I got another car ordered but it's parted. The prices for original set ones were ridiculous - especially the tan windows. 10 Tan Windows cost 54 Euros!!! I'll just use the non-train ones. Also, I don't have the counterparts (reddish brown bricks with "LRTS" and "First" on them), but I don't think that's much of a problem. Mind you, the parted car costs a quarter of the original one. Scam...

Hope you liked it!

[3797]

ridiculous

Yes, it is.

And those tan windows sure are expensive. Also, try better lighting when taking pictures. Your's turned out a bit blurry.

[pirzyk]

I recently changed my Emerald Night to 9V. The reason being that I mostly use the 9V system (most of my trains are 9V), and I also don't have any PF/RC track set up. I think it runs better on 9V, although I only had it powered with an M-motor as I don't have an XL motor...

I ran my EN the other weekend on 9v track and it worked fine, no difference than PF track (it gets stuck on any little elevation change. If you want an XL motor, better get it soon, they are on sale (clearance) at S@H.

So majestic... In my opinion this is the most beautiful Lego set released. I was stupid enough to throw it away and I had a lot of problems rebuilding it (as you can see with the "chimney" and lantern).

I agree, this is the best looking Lego train, but too bad it's the worst running (at least of the PF trains).

This is my custom "cargo" car. I wanted something similar to the 10173 Holiday Train so I ended up with this. It's a shame I didn't have any 2x4 Light Bluish Gray Curved Slope 2/3 for the roof - got these ordered yesterday, but with Christmas and the holidays I'll probably get them next week earliest... So the black slopes will have to do for now. The undercarriage is the same as on the stock car, but I made it in reddish brown to match the barriers.

Please post and update when you get all pieces in place, I am intrigued.

[fred67]

I agree, this is the best looking Lego train, but too bad it's the worst running (at least of the PF trains).

It actually runs pretty good when you remove the gearing in the engine and use this 9V mod snowvictem demonstrated. I actually started with the 9V mod, but then reverted it to PF. I only get the opportunity to leave a layout up for any amount of time around Christmas, and tried the EN on the 9V track using the PF motor (XL), and didn't think it was a very pretty sight. I was surprised how slow it ran.

But again, if you ignore the attempt to make it run from the XL motor, and use 9V or come up with a better scheme for it... and no matter which way, make sure your driving rods are offset, then it doesn't run terribly.

Edited December 23, 2014 by fred67

[snowvictim]

Yes, it is.

And those tan windows sure are expensive. Also, try better lighting when taking pictures. Your's turned out a bit blurry.

I ran my EN the other weekend on 9v track and it worked fine, no difference than PF track (it gets stuck on any little elevation change. If you want an XL motor, better get it soon, they are on sale (clearance) at S@H.

I agree, this is the best looking Lego train, but too bad it's the worst running (at least of the PF trains).

Please post and update when you get all pieces in place, I am intrigued.

Yes, that's a shame. But it's just because the driving mechanism is so complicated. I removed everything gear-related and the rods before putting the 9V motor on. Works great now.

It actually runs pretty good when you remote the gearing in the engine and use this 9V mod snowvictem demonstrated. I actually started with the 9V mod, but then reverted it to PF. I only get the opportunity to leave a layout up for any amount of time around Christmas, and tried the EN on the 9V track using the PF motor (XL), and didn't think it was a very pretty sight. I was surprised how slow it ran.

But again, if you ignore the attempt to make it run from the XL motor, and use 9V or come up with a better scheme for it... and no matter which way, make sure your driving rods are offset, then it doesn't run terribly.

True, it doesn't look nice. You've got this huge cylinder in the driver's place with the XL motor. 9V allows you to have the driver in there, and potentially a few pieces of decoration. I definitely recommend running the EN as a 9V model.

[fred67]

"Remove the gearing," not "remote the gearing." Sorry for the typo.

Yes, the motor itself makes it look bad (compared to the base model without the motor); not just the motor but the wiring, too, although you'd need extra wiring in the 9V method in order to have the front light.

But what I meant is that It just didn't run that well compared to 9V. It may be true that it can pull more, but who is pulling 15 cars with the EN? Someone in a train club with a giant layout maybe, but not the typical user, I think. Besides, you can always add 9V motors to other cars. Doing something like that with PF just becomes silly unless you have one IR receiver and run wires from car to car to car.

I'm not bashing PF - I completely understand what happened and why, and it's hard to argue about it.

[pirzyk]

It actually runs pretty good when you remove the gearing in the engine and use this 9V mod snowvictem demonstrated. I actually started with the 9V mod, but then reverted it to PF. I only get the opportunity to leave a layout up for any amount of time around Christmas, and tried the EN on the 9V track using the PF motor (XL), and didn't think it was a very pretty sight. I was surprised how slow it ran.

But again, if you ignore the attempt to make it run from the XL motor, and use 9V or come up with a better scheme for it... and no matter which way, make sure your driving rods are offset, then it doesn't run terribly.

I'm all PF, I have 0 9V equipment. I've even converted over the Santa Fe and created a PF version of GP-38 in red/gray/ SF colors. The EN was the set that brought me out of my dark ages.

I do have 4 cars I pull with my EN and as long as the track is pancake level, it will run. I have done the mods mentioned in RailBricks.

[codefox421]

I do have 4 cars I pull with my EN and as long as the track is pancake level, it will run. I have done the mods mentioned in RailBricks.

I've found the EN needs a little more modification that what's detailed in RailBricks. I focused my attention mainly on the back truck and got it to run well up and down inclines. Maybe I should do a write up sometime. Anyway, it still has trouble pushing things; there's not enough weight over the front truck. Solving that ought to be my next EN project.

[snowvictim]

It's a beautiful model, but because of the details and sophistication it has a lot of problems when powered up... Guess you can't have everything.

Anyway, I've continued to work on the cargo car. I found some black 2x4 curved slope pieces and I rebuilt the cabin so that it would fit better visually with the rest of the model.

[snowvictim]

Replaced the roof (missing 1 light bluish grey slope):

Added a "lamp post":

Edited January 5, 2015 by snowvictim