TRAIN TECH Help, General Questions & Talk to the Staff

[icemorons]

35 minutes ago, Toastie said:

Did "we" ever have one?

Over in Scale Modeling they have an American diesel train (SD whatnot) in the banner, the Starwars folks have their "feel the force" type banner, but here it was the plain vanilla thing that the front page shows. I can't really remember.

But the Easter-Bunny thing is more than outdated, isn't it? Well at least when looking at the tray with the chocolate Easter eggs: All gone. Since long ...     

I just noticed the banner change today.   Previously, I think it might've been a Halloween-centric one, since someone was doing something with a stormtrooper helmet.   This new color scheme is horrid.

[dr_spock]

It's a spring banner and the bunnies and bees are busy... 

Rail Bunny Mech by dr_spock_888, on Flickr

I think pink/lavender and bunny goes well together.

 

[pirzyk]

i will note my avatar is not on the banner and no articles are marked as unread.  Sounds like a DB type problem.

Edited May 5, 2018 by pirzyk

[ColletArrow]

This sub-forum did used to have it's own banner and scheme, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. It'd be cool to have it back, or design a new one (perhaps with a range of sets on it, from 12v as well as 9v and PF). But I don't really mind.

If you don't like the current theme being displayed you can change it; there's a drop-down menu under the advertisement at the bottom of the page.

[icemorons]

10 hours ago, ColletArrow said:

If you don't like the current theme being displayed you can change it; there's a drop-down menu under the advertisement at the bottom of the page.

Thank you!!!

[Phoxtane]

Since we are missing a banner, I took it upon myself to make a new one! I hereby allow Eurobricks to use this banner as they deem fit, as my gift to the community.

I worked really hard on this you guys

[ElectroDiva]

Hi all - I’ve started researching my next project (Venice Simplon Orient Express) but i don’t really want to run it with a modern locomotive.

 

I’m struggling to find clear source pictures of steam locomotives that have been used with this service.

 

Any suggestions?

[zephyr1934]

On 5/6/2018 at 12:34 PM, ColletArrow said:

This sub-forum did used to have it's own banner and scheme, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. It'd be cool to have it back, or design a new one (perhaps with a range of sets on it, from 12v as well as 9v and PF). But I don't really mind.

If you don't like the current theme being displayed you can change it; there's a drop-down menu under the advertisement at the bottom of the page.

Yes it did (was 9v themed, probably been gone about a year?). Anyway, thank you thank you for the theme change, I can see my unread threads again!

[pagicence]

I have a question for which I can’t seem to find the answer for, and I really need to know this. Can someone help me out?

What is the speed in km/h of standard Lego train straight out of the box?

[Toastie]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 9:35 PM, pagicence said:

I have a question for which I can’t seem to find the answer for, and I really need to know this. Can someone help me out?

What is the speed in km/h of standard Lego train straight out of the box?

Phew - I believe there are too many boxes to come up with a reasonable answer.

What do you judge as a standard LEGO train?

[peterab]

6 hours ago, Toastie said:

What do you judge as a standard LEGO train?

Assume a standard train is a perfect sphere; sorry that's not helpful but I studied physics.

On a more helpful note, if you really need to know how fast a lego train is, you could always calculate it yourself. Start by building a simple track, perhaps the standard oval that comes in the set. Calculate the length of the track, time say ten circuits at top speed for greater accuracy. That gives you enough info to convert to km/h.

[pagicence]

19 hours ago, Toastie said:

I believe there are too many boxes to come up with a reasonable answer.

It doesn't matter which one.

19 hours ago, Toastie said:

What do you judge as a standard LEGO train?

Unmodified PF motorized is what i meant.

12 hours ago, peterab said:

...you could always calculate it yourself.

The thing is I don't have any trains. From a video of a 60197 powered up passenger train, I calculated around 2.3km/h. I'm asking for a speed of PF train, the one with the 9V (AAA) battery. From a video of a 60051 high-speed passenger train I calculated around 1.5km/h. But did someone actually measure the speed? Anyway, thank you, for now this will do.

Edited October 14, 2018 by pagicence

[sed6]

On 10/12/2018 at 2:35 PM, pagicence said:

I have a question for which I can’t seem to find the answer for, and I really need to know this. Can someone help me out?

What is the speed in km/h of standard Lego train straight out of the box?

My 60051 passenger train, engine only, covers 1.25 meters per second which works out to 4.5 kph. 

Edit: That's 2.8 mph for my imperial and US friend.

Edited October 15, 2018 by sed6

[pagicence]

20 hours ago, sed6 said:

My 60051 passenger train, engine only, covers 1.25 meters per second which works out to 4.5 kph.

Thanks, I appreciate the info. And that is a good speed for just the locomotive. This is helpful.

[peterab]

I've had another thought, most of the PF train sets will derail in curves at top speed, so any videos will be at some speed less than that.

[pagicence]

Yes, I’ve noticed that. Powered up derails at speed 10 but can hold the turn at speed 8, and PF trains when you add wagons (cars) to them, they just slowdown from the weight, so the longer and heavier the train is, the safer you are in turns (I think), which is perfect for me.

[RuffDraft]

Hello everyone! 

I'm a newbie, and don't yet own a Lego train (I'm into the modular buildings), but I've always been fascinated by model trains since I was a kid, and though I've never owned any train of any kind, I'm thinking of getting the Lego Holiday Train set with the kit to motorise it. I'm really not up on the train knowledge that you guys all have, but I would really like the Holiday Train set to go with my Winter Village Toy Shop (10199) and partner the Holiday Train Set with the Lego Winter Village Train Station. 

I have a few questions though: 

• I noticed that once you motorise this train set, there really isn't anywhere to place your mini figures. Are there any carriages that I could add that would match this set nicely, and still work well with the train? 
• I noticed from Jang's review that the larger wheels tend to slip, and he suggested using a rubbed band to resolve this problem. Did anyone else come up with any other workarounds, or is this a fairly common trait of Lego train sets that have larger wheels? 
• Is there any way to power trains through a mains plug? If not, which batteries do you recommend to buy? 

I'd also be interested in a little bit of history of the trains, and reasons why Lego moved to a new motor etc. if anyone could point me to any threads that discuss this and the advantages / disadvantages of the move. 

Thanks everyone... I'm aware this train received a mixed reaction when it was announced here... I realise that it's a much smaller train, and very unrealistic, and a slight upgrade from the previous version, but I do love Christmas, and I think for a small city, this train has a great look to it! I'll only ever have a small space for my modular buildings, unless I move into a bigger place, so a small track and small train are about all I could use... because of this, I think it's a sound purchase, especially as I'm into the Christmas sets... I love my big Christmas Tree from 10199 for instance! 

Looking forward to learning from everyone. I know nothing about trains! I can't express this enough. 

[ALCO]

1 hour ago, RuffDraft said:

Hello everyone! 

I'm a newbie, and don't yet own a Lego train (I'm into the modular buildings), but I've always been fascinated by model trains since I was a kid, and though I've never owned any train of any kind, I'm thinking of getting the Lego Holiday Train set with the kit to motorise it. I'm really not up on the train knowledge that you guys all have, but I would really like the Holiday Train set to go with my Winter Village Toy Shop (10199) and partner the Holiday Train Set with the Lego Winter Village Train Station. 

I have a few questions though: 

• I noticed that once you motorise this train set, there really isn't anywhere to place your mini figures. Are there any carriages that I could add that would match this set nicely, and still work well with the train? 
• I noticed from Jang's review that the larger wheels tend to slip, and he suggested using a rubbed band to resolve this problem. Did anyone else come up with any other workarounds, or is this a fairly common trait of Lego train sets that have larger wheels? 
• Is there any way to power trains through a mains plug? If not, which batteries do you recommend to buy? 

I'd also be interested in a little bit of history of the trains, and reasons why Lego moved to a new motor etc. if anyone could point me to any threads that discuss this and the advantages / disadvantages of the move. 

Thanks everyone... I'm aware this train received a mixed reaction when it was announced here... I realise that it's a much smaller train, and very unrealistic, and a slight upgrade from the previous version, but I do love Christmas, and I think for a small city, this train has a great look to it! I'll only ever have a small space for my modular buildings, unless I move into a bigger place, so a small track and small train are about all I could use... because of this, I think it's a sound purchase, especially as I'm into the Christmas sets... I love my big Christmas Tree from 10199 for instance! 

Looking forward to learning from everyone. I know nothing about trains! I can't express this enough. 

Hello RuffDraft, Welcome to the wonderful world of Lego Trains!!

I have two copies of the winter holiday train. At first I thought it was chinsey but now think it is really cute, and I just love it! At the back of the instructions is how to motorize it using PowerFunctions. Once these components are installed, it can be difficult to get the driver in the back of the locomotive due to the wires. However, you can make him hang on to the gold hand-rail at the back of the cab. For this set, there is no need to get other traction tires because the wheels that are powered are the four in the front pony-truck, not the two large "driver" wheels in the back of the locomotive. The front four wheels already have traction bands on them. In my experience, if you add too many additional cars, the slipping is because the locomotive is very light, and does not have enough weight to press the wheels to the rails very well. But, if you are only running this train with the cars provided in the set, then you should be fine. For me, it ran great around my Christmas tree all last Christmas with no problems at all.

As for why Lego changes the the motors and power systems. I would say they want to keep up with technology. At one point it was very novel to have 12v with center power rails. Then the technology changed and elements began to become more advanced so they changed to the 9v system with metal rails and track looking more like it does today. I think partly this is because the old track would fall apart if the clips got worn-out. There was a lot of frustration from the switch to PowerFunctions (PF) and all plastic track. This is because the old 9v train motors cannot run on the plastic track but the new (at that time) PF trains which are battery operated could run on any track. Also this meant TLG would stop producing 9v track so that track is getting very expensive if you have a large collection of 9v trains. Personally, I think the switch to PF was more about upgrading the technology. With PF you can now run multiple trains at the same time and can run up to 8 trains on one controller. If you are building very small locomotives, this can be a challenge because you now have to figure out what to do with the battery box, the IR receiver and the motor. I think this makes trains especially steam and diesel locomotives more realistic in the sense they have to carry their fuel with them instead of picking it up from the rails. This also give us greater flexibility in what motors we can use to run our trains. We can now use the Technic motors like the XL motor as used in the Emerald Night that came out a several years ago. Using Technic motors we have control over the gearing by using technic axles and gears. As for the switch from PF to PoweredUp (PU), this is also due to keeping up with the technology. The blue-tooth receiver is now incorporated in the battery pack but I think at this point it is still too early to tell how flexible and adaptable this will be. There was what i call a half-step between 9v and PF called RC which was awful, but I think that only lasted for one product cycle and they learned a lot from that and used that information to develop PF. This is all my understanding and opinion some of which may have some basis to it, but I think this should give you some idea. Everyone here is really helpful and friendly. Though sometimes opinionated when it comes to the merits of 9v vs. PF.

If you have any questions, just ask! 

[RuffDraft]

1 hour ago, ALCO said:

Hello RuffDraft, Welcome to the wonderful world of Lego Trains!!

I have two copies of the winter holiday train. At first I thought it was chinsey but now think it is really cute, and I just love it! At the back of the instructions is how to motorize it using PowerFunctions. Once these components are installed, it can be difficult to get the driver in the back of the locomotive due to the wires. However, you can make him hang on to the gold hand-rail at the back of the cab. For this set, there is no need to get other traction tires because the wheels that are powered are the four in the front pony-truck, not the two large "driver" wheels in the back of the locomotive. The front four wheels already have traction bands on them. In my experience, if you add too many additional cars, the slipping is because the locomotive is very light, and does not have enough weight to press the wheels to the rails very well. But, if you are only running this train with the cars provided in the set, then you should be fine. For me, it ran great around my Christmas tree all last Christmas with no problems at all.

As for why Lego changes the the motors and power systems. I would say they want to keep up with technology. At one point it was very novel to have 12v with center power rails. Then the technology changed and elements began to become more advanced so they changed to the 9v system with metal rails and track looking more like it does today. I think partly this is because the old track would fall apart if the clips got worn-out. There was a lot of frustration from the switch to PowerFunctions (PF) and all plastic track. This is because the old 9v train motors cannot run on the plastic track but the new (at that time) PF trains which are battery operated could run on any track. Also this meant TLG would stop producing 9v track so that track is getting very expensive if you have a large collection of 9v trains. Personally, I think the switch to PF was more about upgrading the technology. With PF you can now run multiple trains at the same time and can run up to 8 trains on one controller. If you are building very small locomotives, this can be a challenge because you now have to figure out what to do with the battery box, the IR receiver and the motor. I think this makes trains especially steam and diesel locomotives more realistic in the sense they have to carry their fuel with them instead of picking it up from the rails. This also give us greater flexibility in what motors we can use to run our trains. We can now use the Technic motors like the XL motor as used in the Emerald Night that came out a several years ago. Using Technic motors we have control over the gearing by using technic axles and gears. As for the switch from PF to PoweredUp (PU), this is also due to keeping up with the technology. The blue-tooth receiver is now incorporated in the battery pack but I think at this point it is still too early to tell how flexible and adaptable this will be. There was what i call a half-step between 9v and PF called RC which was awful, but I think that only lasted for one product cycle and they learned a lot from that and used that information to develop PF. This is all my understanding and opinion some of which may have some basis to it, but I think this should give you some idea. Everyone here is really helpful and friendly. Though sometimes opinionated when it comes to the merits of 9v vs. PF.

If you have any questions, just ask! 

Thank you for such a lovely opening message! It's a pleasure to be here! 

Thank you for your help with the wheels - great to hear that you have two sets as well - you must really like it?! Have you linked your carriages together, or do you run them as two separate trains on two tracks?! Glad to hear such great feedback on the Winter Train set too. I'll possibly pick it up in a week or so, and get it built in time for when the Christmas tree goes up! 

Thanks very much for your history breakdown - very detailed and exactly what I was after! I guess I'm better off buying the newer technology?

I have looked at the Emerald Night, as I know it is greatly revered, but I think it's just a vast amount of money at its current price for someone like me who doesn't know much about trains. I hope Lego, at some point in the future, will release a train that is its equivalent or shortly behind its level of brilliance, but I'm sure that I'm not alone in this line of wishful thinking. I do love how realistic the Emerald Night looks, and much prefer that look to the more industrial trains like the Cargo Train (definitely doesn't fit with my city) or Horizon Express (though that looks mighty impressive too - especially when you add more carriages, but I think they're too large for my small setup). The Passenger train set that was re-released this year looks pretty awesome if you have two sets as well, like Jang showcased, but I'd like the form of transportation to look older and more dated in my city; also, there seemed to be some bizarre design choices with that one, as you couldn't gain access to the carriage for a Minifigure etc. I suppose that's why the Winter Holiday Train appeals to me so much. I know that I can get another train that's more realistic in the future, and for the time being, it's a nice, small train that looks older, but has bold colours, which are great and reflective of the modular buildings. 

In terms of track, are there any elements I should set out to buy, as they'll make my train experience more fun, such as switch tracks? 

Also, I noticed how some tracks on some videos have wooden pieces attached to them. Are these any particular types of elements? I think building on the track gives it a higher level of realism - really cool! 

My final question: I have a table that measures 1600 x 600mm (160cm x 60cm), and I wondered if 60cm was wide enough for a train to go around the edge of this table? It's no biggie if not, as I know my table is super slim, and I'll be moving to a larger table in the future, but I thought it'd be cool if I could get it to run on this table that I have now!  

Thanks very much for your help! 

[AE bricks]

4 hours ago, RuffDraft said:

My final question: I have a table that measures 1600 x 600mm (160cm x 60cm), and I wondered if 60cm was wide enough for a train to go around the edge of this table? It's no biggie if not, as I know my table is super slim, and I'll be moving to a larger table in the future, but I thought it'd be cool if I could get it to run on this table that I have now!

I think 60 cm is too tight to fit a loop in standard lego tracks. This is also shown on the box of the 60197 train set.

I would expand to 80cm because that way you could fit two standard 48x48 baseplate or three 32x32 baseplates. 

Edited October 24, 2018 by AE bricks

[RuffDraft]

3 hours ago, AE bricks said:

I think 60 cm is too tight to fit a loop in standard lego tracks. This is also shown on the box of the 60197 train set.

I would expand to 80cm because that way you could fit two standard 48x48 baseplate or three 32x32 baseplates. 

Thank you very much for this advice. It's a shame that it won't fit, but I had a feeling that was the case. The circumference of the winter holiday train set is 70cm - so I'm 10 cm out. Frustrating, but ah well! 

I'll just have to look forward to when I get my new layout in a year or two. I'm still living with my parents, so space is tight at the moment, and the reason I am in no rush to build my modular buildings. I'd quite like to have switch tracks too!

Looking forward to having a look around and seeing everyone's train setups on this forum!

I just bought my first Lego Train set! 

Thank you everyone! I purchased the following items: 

• 10254 Winter Holiday Train V29
• 8879 Power Functions IR Speed Remote Controller V95
• 8884 Power Functions IR RX V120
• 88000 Power Functions AAA Battery V46
• 88002 Power Functions Train Motor V46
• 60205 Tracks V29
• 60238 Switch Tracks V29

I doubt that I'll have much use for the extra tracks, but I bought them in case our Christmas Tree is too wide at the base, as we have quite a large metal base for our tree, which we go to buy every year. 

The switch track I thought would be a cool place to store the train and potentially use in a bigger configuration at a later date... If the train could enter from the switch track, then I thought that would be cool... just adds a tiny bit of personalisation to a circular track... no idea if this will be possible, but I assume that it will be! 

I bought the other additional items as that was what Lego recommended to get the Winter Holiday Train up and running. 

Am I missing anything, or does this look about right? Thanks everyone! Really looking forward to the build and having it around our Christmas tree! 

Edited October 24, 2018 by RuffDraft
Adding purchase details.

[Bartosz]

I've just decided to use this thread, as I had pretty unimportant question so didn't want to open anything new :)

...and I've just found out the last post is somewhat relevant, so I'll begin with asking @RuffDraft on how his setup turned out to be? I've bought the same (plus winter station) for the christmas tree this year, and it was cute :) (I didn't go wild with it, just simple loop at the floor around the tree, and I don't have great camera so no good photos...) And even kids did some playing with it, and that's unusual, because they don't really play a lot with trains (which I find deeply saddening :( )

Now, back to what I was about to ask. Since the Christmas is over, I've thought of adapting the station to be "non-wintery". Just replacing the white roof ground parts with different color ( just such trivial mod). But I'm wondering what color would go well for the roof. My current plan is to just fetch the LXF of the 10259, and check it in Stud.io, but I'm struggling a bit now to get it working (I'm on linux). Has anyone tried something like this by the chance :) ?

[RuffDraft]

On 1/4/2019 at 5:11 PM, Bartosz said:

...and I've just found out the last post is somewhat relevant, so I'll begin with asking @RuffDraft on how his setup turned out to be? I've bought the same (plus winter station) for the christmas tree this year, and it was cute :) (I didn't go wild with it, just simple loop at the floor around the tree, and I don't have great camera so no good photos...) And even kids did some playing with it, and that's unusual, because they don't really play a lot with trains (which I find deeply saddening :( )

Hey @Bartosz,

I too purchased a Lego Winter Train Station set, but did not find the time to build it, so my setup, shown in the video below, uses only the Winter Train Set, along with the Winter Toy Shop. I believe the vehicle and the train crossing are from the Train Station set, but like I say, didn't have time to build that this year - I'll be sure to do it next year! 

Hope you enjoy the video - I didn't spend too long on it - I was just testing out the low light capabilities of my camera. This is only lit by the Christmas Tree lights and some ambient light is supplied by the TV. I do have my own video lighting setups, as I do make films for a living, but this test was to see how well the GH5S performs in low light.

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by RuffDraft
Adding @ sign.

[Bartosz]

@RuffDraftoh wow, it looks neat. Straight out of some commercial ;)

[RuffDraft]

1 hour ago, Bartosz said:

@RuffDraftoh wow, it looks neat. Straight out of some commercial ;)

Haha! I wouldn't go that far! I'm going to light the winter village setup next year. I had a new camera for this year, and I needed to test its low light performance for my business and see which ISO level I could push it to without getting too much grain, so I figured the train setup was as good of a test as any. 

Next year, I'm going to properly light it all, and have a go at doing a real commercial level quality film. I really enjoy watching trains go around, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with next year's setup! 

Shame I don't really have much of a space for a LEGO train if it's not underneath a Christmas tree. Maybe when I move out, I'll make something of a small space within the house and then I can enjoy them year round!

Hope your new setup works out well! :)