and_ampersand_and

Glad it's working for you. I'll need to retry my L motors with the latest version of Pybricks. Perhaps they've made a change that's fixed the issue. When you connect the hub to the browser, then run the program to save it to the hub - it's actually running the program at that time. So it starts to try connecting to a remote, and if it's successful you can start controlling things with the remote. Since it's connected to the browser, data will be outputted into the console. Most importantly, if there's a crash it will tell you the error message and the line of code that it crashed on. If you run into any issues again, let us know what the error message is.

Hey, is PyBricks giving you an error message if you try running it while connected to a computer? I've noticed some issues with L motors recently with the script. I haven't been able to recreate the errors in a brand new script. The error I'm encountering appears to be with interacting with the motor at all. Trying to set or read the speed fails. It's acting like the L motor has been disconnected. The program would start fine, but as soon as you would hit a button on the remote it would crash. The issue only started showing up in newer versions of PyBricks. I was able to roll back the PyBricks version (3.2.3) and the issue went away. However, that means newer features like Broadcasting isn't avaliable. I found someone asking the Pybricks devs directly about the error here, back in December: https://github.com/orgs/pybricks/discussions/1320 Knowing that more people are encountering the issue and not just me is a bit concerning. I'll revisit trying to fix the issue.

I emailed them a week ago with a question and haven't heard back. Hope everything is ok with them.

Nice, I like the implementation of including hubId in the data so each hub knows which commands are for it. I was planning on looking into two trains on one remote as well, but was probably going to have the first train broadcasting to a second train, instead of a central hub broadcasting to two different trains. You way would solve the problem of the two trains getting to far away from each other and out of broadcast range as you could just move the master hub closer. Although I don't really know the broadcast range these hubs have or how far apart they'd have to be for the broadcast to fail.

Some of you may be aware of Lok24's excellent script for controlling trains using Pybricks, a third party firmware for official Lego hubs. It's a great script that automatically detects which motors you are using and provides a lot of quality of life features to controlling Lego trains: Recently, I've been working on the script to add some new features. I'm excited to announce that I've added the ability to control multiple locomotives on one train at the same time, allowing you to simulate Multi-unit and Distributed Power setups like real trains use, or just to add more motors to longer trains to give them more power. This works by utilizing a recent feature added to Pybricks, which allows Hubs to broadcast information for other hubs to read. One locomotive will be the main hub, which connects to the remote and then broadcasts it's speed information. Your other locomotives will be observers, which will listen for the main hub's broadcasts and match speed with it. This is useful in a number of scenarios: -If you're running a train with a locomotive at each end (i.e. if you bought 2 copies of any of the recent official passenger trains and run them as one big train with a locomotive at each end) -You have multiple locomotives double/tripe/etc-heading your train or spread throughout, like how many trains are run today -You have a single locomotive on a train, but it isn't strong enough. You can add a powered piece of rolling stock to give the train more power Theoretically, you can connect any number of hubs together this way, although I've only tested it with 3 hubs. You can have multiple sets of hubs running at the same time, each on their own bluetooth channel. This only really works if all powered units in your train use the same motor/gearing/wheels, as each motor will be running at the same speed. While there may be a slight amount of lag, it's not typically noticeable unless one of the hubs is actively connected to a computer and it has never interfered with running trains for me. This is all on top of the various other benefits this script adds, such as running dual motors on one Hub and setting their direction correctly, smooth acceleration instead of jerkily switching between speed steps, and access to speed control on Technic motors instead of them only running full speed while the remote buttons are held. The Broadcasting feature is optional, so you can still use the script for these benefits and keep broadcasting off. You can find the script here: https://github.com/and-ampersand-and/PyBricks-Train-Motor-Control-Script Here's a video from Youtuber BatteryPoweredBricks going over this new feature: Additionally BatteryPoweredBricks has a video going over the install process, which is super simple. This was made before the broadcasting feature was added, so it isn't covered here. Special Thanks to Lok24 for writing the original script. It's made running Lego trains so much more enjoyable. Also special thanks to BatteryPoweredBricks for helping test this feature and making videos covering it! Please let me know if you have any questions!

@Lok24 thank you! And all thanks back to you for the origional script. It's made Powered Up trains such a better experience.

Both of these were in Series 3 but didn't make it. Glad to see they are back for Series 4, hoping they make it! https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1440/American-Steam-Locomotive https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1472/0-6-0-Switching-Locomotive

The wheelbase on the tender should be fine, Lego has released 2 axle rolling stock with 8 studs between wheelsets before, for instance the livestock car from 60052 or the box car from 3677.

It's a brand new mold for this set.

Same here. The locomotive isn't perfect but has a lot of nicely designed features about it. It's actually not much shorter than the Emerald Night. It just looks tiny compared to its coaches, while the Emerald Night looks huge compared to its coach. From the pictures I've seen, the Emerald Night looks tiny when coupled up to the coaches, especially it's tender. Also, as I've discussed previously, the engine's length is still well within scale compared to the length of the coaches. We're all just used to tiny lego coaches ala the Emerald Night.

It's very common for a company to change their licensing contracts over time or do different contracts with different companies. Maybe those model train companies are working under older licenses from when the Orient Express' owners were less controlling over their property (the Orient Express brand changed hands in 2017 and in 2022 they announced a rebrand and relaunch scheduled for 2025. This includes a new logo which the Lego set features.). Additionally, Model train companies might know their customers care more about realism and might either insist on accurate locomotives or refuse to agree to contracts where the license holders have more control. Or, they might choose realistic locomotives because they already have all the tooling, molds, and parts already made making it cheaper to repackage a real locomotive (or make a new locomotive they can also sell as a non-Orient Express model, splitting development costs between them). Or, maybe this is the most likely thing: model train companies are working under the same license holder influence as Lego. According to Lego, the license holders wanted them to focus on the coaches and that there needed to be 2 of them. Lego couldn't remove a coach to make the engine motorizable. And with two coaches and a strict parts budget and MSRP goal already in place, the designers couldn't put as many parts into the locomotive. Compare that to any Orient Express model train set - scrolling through google, they all seem to have at least 2 coaches. And you would definitely expect that in a model train set. Some even have blue locomotives to match the coaches, which we know is another stipulation the license holders asked for. We can play armchair contract negotiators all we want, but in reality none of us are going to know the real reasons for the decisions made with this set. Buy it if you like it, don't buy it if you don't. I'm happy enough with the set and am glad to see it's easily motorizable. Even if Lego was unable to provide official motorization instructions, I'm very thankful the designers still were thinking of us by leaving plenty of room for the battery box and cable in the tender.

Looking awesome, thanks for the instructions! Have you tried running the whole train with this motorization? How does it do on R40 curves?

Aren't those just 8x16 plates?

I've seen a lot of people complain that the locomotive looks too short compared to the coaches. An dwhile I agree it does look somewhat stubby, I think the length isn't necessarily a problem as much as the porportions of the boiler to it's overall length are. We can see that the locomotive + tender is slightly shorter than a single coach in the set. The Pullman sleeper coaches somewhat similiar to those that would have been on the Orient Express are 63ft 10inches long: https://www.kentrail.org.uk/phoenix_pullman.htm There's been a number of 4-6-0 locomotives that this set has been compared to, one of them being the Prussian P8. I was able to find the overall wheelbase (locomotive + tender), which is the distance between the front axles to the rear tender axles, as 50.92 ft. That's most of the length of the total locomotive plus tender, with only a few more feet before and after those axles: https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Germany&wheel=4-6-0&railroad=ps#1266 Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable for a 4-6-0 locomotive and tender to be slightly shorter than a single coach.

Jays Brick Blog claims that it will run on Lego track but is not designed to be motorized: https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/lego-officially-reveals-21344-orient-express-pulling-into-stations-in-december-2023/ Of course, we the community will find a way. But really disappointed they didn't design a way to do it by default.

Close, but a noticeable difference is the lower running board that doesn't slope down to the buffers level.

Awesome, thanks! Incredible work, it's so cool

Hi all, wanted to let you know that I've added support for 88005 Powered up Lights to Lok24's script. You can find the script here: https://github.com/and-ampersand-and/PyBricks-Train-Motor-Control-Script Lights will work plugged into either (or both) ports. The B side of the controller will always control them, while the A side controls any motors. Holding up or down will increase/decrease the brightness. The red button turns the lights off or fully own. By default, the lights start off, but you can change that by modifying `lightValue` in the user defined values section of the code. Shoutout to @BatteryPoweredBricks for help testing the script!

That's incredible! Definitely going to have to build it sometime. Do you have a video of the motorization running?

If it's 8 wide like the coaches, it's construction probably won't resemble either of those too much. We'll just have to wait for better pictures.

It's been mentioned before but bears mentioning again, remember this is technically a licensed set from the Orient Express company. They certainly had some say in how they set represented them. Everything I've seen from them suggests they really focus heavily on the service you get aboard the train. How luxerious the coaches are. This set emphasises that with the large coaches with detailed interiors, and having 2 coaches with different interiors showing the different types of cars on the train. It's very likely the focus on the coaches over the locomotive was the Orient Express' wishes.

From that site is a picture of a P 3/5H pulling the express, which is a 4-6-0 that others have already mentioned resembles the Lego set. It even has the extended coal bunder on the tender (although the tender has 4 axles instead of 3) That might end up being the basis I go for when I upgrade the set.

A few weeks ago, I noticed 88009 City Hub and 88005 Lights were out of stock on the US site. I contacted their customer support, who said they didn't know why both were removed. A few days later they replied again to say that the City Hub was back, but didn't know when the lights would be back. My local Lego store has plenty of City Hubs in stock but no lights.

Thanks for providing the updated script! I updated my github repo with it. I plan on getting Lights working with the script at some point.

Inspired by Marlow's efforts, I dove into the script and figured out why it wasn't working with PyBricks 3.2.x. Was able to modify the script enough to get it working with my train equipped with a technic motor with PyBricks 3.2.3 I don't have any lights, so I don't know if the script fails with them still. My guess is yes. You can find the file on my github here: https://github.com/andrewdschmidt/PyBricks-Train-Motor-Control-Script/blob/main/motorcontrol_modified.py Let me know if anyone finds any issues with it!