mostlytechnic

1. Yes, you remove the one screw on the back panel to access the battery compartment. 2. There's no "programming" needed. The two knobs control the speed of two motors (if you have two...). The red button below each is a "stop" button. The black sliding switches reverse direction (so if you want clockwise to mean "forward" and it actually makes your train go backwards, flip the black switch to reverse it). The center orange slider chooses between 4 channels. On the IR receiver, there's a matching slider. So set the remote and receiver to the same channel, and then the left knob/button control the left output on the receiver, and the right half of the remote does the right half of the receiver. To control 2 trains (assuming 1 motor per train), attach the motor from train #1 to the left output of the receiver, and put the remote and receiver on the same channel. On train #2, put the receiver on the same channel, but attach the motor to the right output. Now the two dials will control the two trains individually. If you had more trains (or other things), just set their receivers to different channels and move the slider on the remote to control them. In general, I think the instructions for the remote are in the manuals for the sets that it comes with (so check the manuals online for the 7938 / 7939 / 3677 trains if you can find them) and I guess Lego assumes anyone buying the remote alone knows what they're doing already ;) Hope that helps!

And I doubt we have to worry about Lego getting a Nintendo license, since Knex currently has one (at least for Mario Kart).

Not the greatest deal ever, but pretty good I think... won an ebay auction the other day for 7939 Cargo Train (~$200) 7996 Double Switch track (~65 on bricklink) 4519 Rail Crossing (~25) TEN 7896 track packs (so 80 straights [~2] and 80 curved [~0.50] track pieces) Current value is about $485. I won it for $330. I plan to sell off parts of it and keep some to expand my train layout :)

The EN was my first train, and now I've got it, the Maersk, the 7939 cargo train, the 3677 train, and bunches of track. We're currently in the planning stages of a largish (probably 8x10 feet) layout in our basement :) So yes, trains can get addictive fast!

Yes, you do. In that photo, the gear at the bottom is the drive coming into the square. The top gear is connected to the tower to power this windmill. The side two have shafts going out the sides of the hut to connect to two more windmills once I have my layout setup. You can see the shaft coming out the right side in that same picture.

During Target clearances, I picked up 10 of the 3180 set for cheap. I don't really need 10 tank trucks, but I could use some new train cars. So I made this: I also tried replacing the solid 6 wide black plates under the tank with wedges (6 wide at the ends of the car; narrower in the middle) but I only had dark grey handy and didn't like the color. I might try again with black wedge plates. Right now there's only 1 ladder - I might leave it that way, or I might get some more and add a matching ladder to the other side of the car. I'm also not sure I have enough of the large steering wheel for the top, but I can always bricklink some more. I figure it'll be a while before our basement layout gets built, so I have time to play around and tweak the design before making 10 of them :)

Yep, roaminstudio, I like your shorter wagons too. Decided for my layout though, I'd rather have the longer cars w/ double axle trucks than the short style tanks. I especially like how you used the license plate stickers on the tanks - might have to do that to mine. Just a nice extra touch of detail.

Yep, I'll definitely be changing the building. Probably a dark grey or something more industrial. This was just enclosing it to get an idea of size as-is - the final building will be bigger too to enclose the battery box as well. I just didn't want to dig through the larger part collection to find better building pieces, and I had the log bricks handy.

We're planning a large train layout, so we need to build some big stuff. One part will be a cliff, so we want some old grey (light and dark) to make it more interesting... I'm hoping that maybe someone has a pile of random old grey (and old brown too) bricks/slopes/whatever they don't need. My preference is trading, but I might buy if the price is right too. Take a look around my bricklink store (http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=virocolor) and see if anything interests you.

9V and 12V are older systems that have metal on the tracks themselves to provide power for the train, much like a "typical" model train. Power Functions use all plastic rails (the same size as the older 9v rails) and batteries in the train for power. Basically, the older systems are more like a regular model train, but are getting very expensive now that the motors and track are no longer made.

Has anyone bought a K box from the Columbus OH store? That's the closest to me, so I figured I'd see how they are about it before I make a special trip...

My wife and I will have a weekend in Chicago in mid-Sept. I know there are 3 Lego stores there - what's the best? We have a Lego store locally, so I'm mostly interested in the PAB wall... looking for interesting parts for a large train layout. The wall here is smallish and mostly 2x4 bricks. I want plants, curves, anything interesting like that. So if I can only hit 1 store, which should it be? We'd mostly likely visit on Sunday afternoon, if that makes any difference.

Thanks. I've never been there, but I've heard James MacDonald speak before. One time was in college - a tornado came through the town and knocked out the power. He preached to a room of 3500 people with no amplification or light other than a small flashlight for an hour. Crazy night...

Thanks, that's exactly the info I was looking for. We'll be staying by the airport and going downtown for some medical stuff on Monday, so none are particularly close (considering I can hit my local store in about 20 min from home) but we're planning to visit Harvest Bible Chapel on Sunday morning - and the Schaumburg store is close to that church, so we'll probably stop there on Sunday.

Current plan: Buy this shelf ($80 at home depot): Build as 2 pieces, half that height. Put them under the ends of the main table, with some 2x4s or similar going across first for support in the middle. That provides support, shelves for storage, and still most of the space underneath completely open for larger storage (large tubs). Get a smaller shelf to put the right-hand piece on, but around 6-8 inches lower and have that part of the track on a stone bridge that we'll have to design and build. Probable final layout is shown below. I also stuck the 7997 train station in the map - I have one still unopened that we'll put in the display somewhere, so I added it for a sense of scale for us as we plan. Another thing I like about this layout is that it leaves some space in the front between the track and the edge of the table for building/repairs/etc. Oh, and normally I'd agree that a fridge is mandatory - but we'll have to do without. The real fridge isn't very far away :)

Ok, I've gotten the wife's approval to make a large, pretty permanent layout in the basement. I'll be making/buying tables to put it on, as well as of course, laying track, adding trains and scenery, etc... So, I'm looking for the advice of the collective wisdom here. My space is going to be L-shaped, in a corner, so the back corner of the table is pretty inaccessible (I wouldn't want track back there, since it'd be a pain to fix derailed trains). In the pics below, I left a hole in the corner to remind myself - it may or may not really be a hole in the finished table. Here's 2 layouts I've come up with. Thoughts? If anyone wants to make a better layout, share away! I've got roughly 50 each straights and curves, a few feet of flex, a pair of points, and the 7996 double switch. I want to be able to run multiple trains, but not necessarily just a couple separate loops (I don't need to leave it running attended like at a train show; this is for playing with). Some sidings for train storage would be nice, but I don't want just a big switching yard either. And I can add more track too if needed... For space, I'm thinking about using a 4x8 foot sheet as the main section, with an extra 30" wide strip, 6 feet long, as the base of the L (in the layout below, I used the 30x48" table, leaving a 2'x2' hole in the corner. Both of these layouts would have the trains running clockwise, since the switch in the back is unreachable and I don't have immediate plans to motorize it. (oh, and I'm not worried about the breaks in the layout since I've got flex track to make it work... I just made these quickly in bluebrick without being too picky about spacing and such) Also, recommendations on how to make the table? I want it to be a comfortable height for an adult, and I'll add some stepstools or something for kids to look (my wife also uses part of the basement as a photo studio with small kids, so I don't want it too easily reached)

I don't know about the rack you linked to, but the one I listed is I think the same thing as the "Gorilla Rack" shelves that I already have, and they're VERY sturdy.

To make the table build easier, I'm thinking about getting something like this shelving unit: (sears.com, can't link the photo) The vertical posts are in 2 pieces, so you can make it 2 units half that tall, or 36" each. Use those as supports under the plywood top - provides strong support AND storage :) I need to check the shelves in store though - I know they sell a ton of different ones that vary widely in how sturdy they are. I've got some that I wouldn't hesitate to park a car on top of, and some that are rickety junk :)

I'm not going to baseplate the whole table - don't have that in the budget. I do plan to do some facade buildings along the back wall (unless I raise the track there, in which case I'd probably put some facades between the tracks in the back so the rearmost track looks like an elevated line) Otherwise, buildings and scenery will come over time as we build stuff. I'm tentatively thinking about putting one siding inside the loop and one splitting off in the front center and going down into the bottom right loop to have a longer siding for parking stuff. With time, that one could then be split more (if I bought more points) to make a smallish switching yard. As for the table itself, I'm thinking cheap plywood on a frame with sturdy legs, and then cover the plywood with carpet tiles to make a decent surface. Gotta finish cleaning out the basement space first though, and then sell more stuff in my bricklink store to get the funding for the table :) Thanks for all the advice... I'll post a new layout when I get a chance to play with it a little more.

At this point the leader is a mod of pet's idea, replacing the siding on the back-right side with a pair of sidings. That should give a nice mix of long runs around the track with a couple of places to play and/or park trains that aren't running. I've got small kids, so most of the time I'll be far more likely to see how many cars we can pull at once (and how fast!) rather than pretend to do realistic train operations :) Heck, the kids won't even care if I use the Maersk, EN, and 7939 loco all together in one train!

bluebrick (http://bluebrick.lswproject.com/)

I really like that general idea - I'd probably move the pair of switches to give some sidings somewhere, but otherwise, that's pretty good idea. It'd keep the operator busy too since the 7996 can't work as two parallel tracks :)

Thanks for the input - this is all PF. I currently have the Maersk, Emerald Night, 7939 Cargo, the Toy Story train (not currently powered), and some MOC cars. I'm actually planning to pick an interesting/fun layout to operate, and then we'll add buildings and "purpose" from there since I don't have any buildings built yet. I do have a TON of bricks and lots of ideas though :) Right now, the unreachable switch in the back is mostly because I didn't see a better place to put it, since I have limited reachable space. And in the second layout, it's relatively reachable. That's only a 30" wide board there. And I have thought about some elevation changes - most likely along the back of the layout since that's the longest stretch of track. I've got the 7900 heavy hauler that I plan to mod into a bridge at some point...

I love how you kept the flavor of the Lego Power Puller set (my review of that set here, like the battery box on the sled, the technic figure, the soft axles around the wheels, and of course, the yellow.

I'd be interested...