What got you into lego trains!

[mrfuture]

I'm not realy a trains guy but as a kid i had a model trains and only some of the 4,5V trains in Lego.

But when i got back to lego, i bought the Horizon Express and needed rails and motor to power it. Bought then 2014 version of passenger train. The Emeral Night followed soon after. Then a bit back to what i love.The monorail 6990 and the Space era.

For some time i had an idea for a custom build train after seeing one of my fellow LUG members creations. But project has not been started. Recntly i got 7740 to get some of the parts i need for the project.

Moustly the rails and powersupply.

So ma be ths develope in to something.

Edited November 17, 2015 by mrfuture

[Ashi Valkoinen]

I always had LEGO-bricks at home, since the very early years of my childhood, but I never wanted to build a train - until I started daily travelling by train to my university 60 km away from my location. There I met the first generation of Stadler FLIRT electric motor units and after couple of weeks of travel I decided that they should have a LEGO-replica as well. Since the first model was built in 2010 there is no stop for me, I publish 2-3 times a year a new, Hungary-related train MOC. :)

[weeble1688]

Although I played with Lego from about 1978-85 as a kid, I never got into the Trains aspect ... too much into the Classic Space stuff . My dad did have an O-gauge train layout back then, so I guess I could scratch any train itch with that.

So my first Lego train set was when I was an adult, set #4561, which gave me everything I needed in one box - and at half-price too! Not a wonderful train for someone who likes American rolling stock (especially cargo trains), but a great way to get the pieces needed to make other train stuff. I only wish I'd had enough sense to pick up several at that price just for the 9v track & motors, old couplers, etc. Ah well - glad I picked up the last #60052 (blue) Cargo Train in my local Lego store yesterday!

[Bloodwave]

The first train I've received was the 7720 Diesel Freight train, I think it was for Christmas 84. As a 5-YO litlle boy, I was very happy, but the 4.5 volts system was so frustrating when I saw the 12v trains in the lego catalogues and all that wonderful remote controlled stuff and of course, that marvellous 7740. Fortunately, during the second half of 80's, parents and other family members bought me the 7735 Freight train, 7823 Container Crane, 7815 and 7819 Wagons, 7866 Road Crossing, manual points, crossing, extra rails, train lights, 7864 transformer and even a 7865 12v Motor in order to allow the 7720 to get more speed. Yes, happy childhood. Cannot count the number of hours I spent looking to those trains cruising in my bedroom.

I almost cried when the 9v system appeared. 9V is maybe the reason why I 've definitely turned my back to trains for castles, the other theme I used to play at the same time.

Even if my darkage lasted more than 20years, I kept every of my childhood train sets (boxes excepted, stupid idiot I was...) and now I play with those trains (and newer) with my own kids. And last but not least, I've just bought that 7740 Inner city that made me dream 30 years ago :)

[Xris]

Ever since I can think I had those LEGO 4.5 V trains (blue period). During my childhood, I got some more cars (no engines, I just had a single 4.5V steamer, everything else had to be created by myself). My father also owned a Märklin HO model railroad, which became more and more interesting due to the fascination of automated electric remote switches, signals, decouplers etc. Then I got envolved into RPG and board games and entered my dark ages in the late 80's.

Years later, my father reactivated the old idea of building a HO scale model railway and cleared his basement from my of LEGO collection. Sorting and rebuilding all the old LEGO sets, I looked for part list and building instruction for sets from the 60's to 80's and stumbled over some great AFOL websites. Thus, my dark ages ended in 2005. I started building LEGO castles again and finaly got the idea of blending some of my old hobbies: LEGO building, model railroading and electronics. First, I ordered some more 4.5V rails before I switched to the 9V system just when LEGO recently had dropped that system.

Currently, I am planning a big 9V track design with motors modified to support looped-in bidirectional DCC decoders and motorized switches.

Xris

[Farmer Harv]

I remember looking through my dad's O scale stuff when I was quite young, and then he and I built a quite large HO layout that I worked on until my mid teens. I was always frustrated by the trains never running smoothly due to oxidation on the rails, and spent much more time cleaning track than ever running anything down them.

Fast forward 30(ish) years to when I came out of the darkness and rediscovered Lego, Star Wars specifically, and started looking at all of the great stuff I had missed. I found an Emerald Night I was just going to have as a static display, but after doing a fair bit of reading thought I'd give one of these newfangled Power Functions things a go. And Wow! It was amazing! No track to clean, no shorts to worry about, some "give" in the track so it didn't have to be laid perfectly...railroading was suddenly fun.

So from a rather innocent start with one display piece, I now have 5 different trains, a couple hundred pieces of track, a significant percentage of the rec room taken over and a whole new way to drain money out of the bank account at a rapid rate. Wifey doesn't seem quite as enthralled as I am, but I'm sure she'll come around eventually. :-)