Andy Glascott

Here you go. The gap on the left is closed on the right using a half length straight. I know they're out there, probably in both metal and plastic, I'm not sure off the top of my head where though. I'm sure others can advise. 9v Parallel Tracks

If you are ok with not having switches connecting the two loops then yes, it’s very possible, but that does limit your options. I have a feeling it may be possible with half length straights etc, will have a play on Bluebrick later and see what I can come up with.

I've seen posts showing a pneumatic system but can't remember if it was here or elsewhere.

I use a thin knife blade to widen the connector a little - simply push it gently into the connector from the end. I’ll post a picture later. EC061B10-842B-4ADD-8471-3D3B14B0C119 by andyglascott, on Flickr Edit - photo added

There’s a full list of what’s in the works here, including a motor.

This is excellent @Hod Carrier. As an Irishman, seeing CIE in the post title immediately conjured up images of black and orange, but no, you created a wonderful model of this unique beast. I’d only ever read one or two article on it, and seen a few black and white photos, but this really brings it to life. Thank you for sharing it, it’s not that often we see locos on here from my old home turf. Ahem.

It looks like Powered Up motor is 2 studs shorter than the original, so it should fit ok, you might need to modify the wheel locations a bit thought. I have several 12v transforms that are approaching 40 years old and wok fine, though that is no guarantee for yours. You can also connect a regular model train controller to the Lego tracks, just make sure the output is 12v dc.

This is fabulous!

If I don’t run my trains for a a week or two they do that bunny hop thing, which I think is probably more to do with dust on the track than on the pickups, so I try and remember to run them at least weekly, which is easier when I’m not in the middle of building a layout... I’m assuming you cleaned the track and pickups, but if you didn’t, use isopropyl alcohol and cotton wool, works a treat.

Makes a lot of sense, though I’m curious about names for the three blue/proposed sizes, XS, XXS and Tiny?

Agreed, which is particularly frustrating given I have 4.5v and 12v wires going back 35 to 40 years that are still in great condition. That said, I still have and run 9v. At least with PuP and PF there are no wires to wear out....

If my memory serves me right from reading a lot of 12vposts on here, if the Lego power unit stops working it can be replaced with pretty much any of the regular model train controllers that give a 12v DC output, probably a lot cheaper than replacing the original, and certainly what I intend to do when one of my 3 remaining ones gives up the ghost.

I modded my croc to run on my 12v layout, there's a thread from a couple of months ago on here about the how. Uses a PF medium motor butchered to pick up from the 12v power rails. And here's the link -

7740 is definitely my favourite owned set, I would have loved to get the Super Chief but didn't have the funds at the time and am certainly not buying it now

I suspect it was just coming towards the end of it’s natural life when you got it.... I’ve had a 9v motor just stop running on me in the middle of a show and despite reading several threads on here about repairs etc I haven’t been successful, which is probably as much down to my electronics limitations as anything else. I haven’t tried it yet, but there is apparently a possibility of taking the motor out of the 9v unit and using it as a power pick up for a PF or PU train motor. One of my locos needs 2 motors so I have a working 9v motor connected to a PF train motor and it runs fine. I think I had to bodge the connections but it works.

I don’t know much about the motors, but for lights you could use the PF lights in the 1x6 bricks that hold the prisms. You’d need a 9v to PF converter cable as well but they do fit.

I'm lost for words, that is simply fabulous, captures everything that is so good about the 12v era - the lighting, playability with the points, signals etc. Always great to see it reaching its potential like this. You've also done a great job hiding the vast amount of wiring too. I take my hat off to you.

I posted a thread 6 years ago about how to use 12v signals on 9v track, here's the link: I'm working on the assumption you have both a 12v power pack and the red/green switch for those signals, if not, there are probably other ways to do it. There's no fear of the two power supplies coming into contact as the circuit on the green button is isolated from the one on the red button. If you have questions, feel free to ask, but ask here rather than bump the original thread.

You can use these on 9v track to stop/start trains. I’ll post the how later, I have 2 on the 9v part of my layout.

I don't, but I use speaker wire on my 12v layout and it works fine. I've used several different brands/types over the years with no problems.

So, I'm curious... Does anyone else have a stage of a build, whether it be a building, rolling stock or, as in my case, complete layout that they have a love-hate relationship with? We move house too often for our liking, so recently I've been building new layouts every 2 to 3 years, and being a 12v based layout it involves a lot of wiring (see below for a bit of it). Much as I love the end result, the wiring drives me nuts and I really slow down in my progress when I get to the point of needing to do it all. Anyone else got "pet peeves" so to speak that are part of the fun? 20200927_115339 by andyglascott, on Flickr

I'd be interested alright. I have plenty of 9v track for my needs but motors are beginning to wear out and I'm trying to stick with just the 2 power/control systems on my layout (12v and 9v) rather than add another one in.

It is possible alright, but some of these wires run 18 or 20 baseplates long and also onto 2 levels.... One day I will build a fully transportable layout to bring to Brickfair or similar.

Fortunately, now that the wiring is in place, I'm almost at the point of having 3 working loops. We have an extra room coming online next week so a lot of the boxes that share my Lego space will move out and make it easier to connect everything and run the trains. Grebling makes a huge difference, whether on a car or a landscape, but yeah, can be a drag.... I did have a table I could hide wires under and drill holes through years ago, now that I have enough baseplates to cover it I don't want to drill through them! Eventually, almost all the wiring will be hidden by landscape and/or buildings. This is a fabulous looking layout! I'd love to have everything on a MILS setup, but the 12v wiring makes that a little tricky... I did have a layout of four boards each 3x5 baseplates I could move around to shows but only did it once.

I get that alright @Roadmonkeytj!