Andy Glascott

Hi all, another appeal to the collective EB mind, maybe particularly to my fellow 12v enthusiasts. I'm installing all the wiring and controls on my new layout, and the lights on the level crossing don't flash. The flashing is controlled by this piece, and I suspect it's just getting old.... (I probably bought it 35 years ago.) Have any other 12v fans had this issue? Is it solvable? I've tried the usual checks of reversing the plugs, connected a light directly to the unit on a single short wire etc, but they will only come on and stay on rather than flash. While I'd rather not open it, if it's possibly repairable I'm willing to try, because I don't need it to just have the lights on. Alternatively, is there a simple piece of electronics I could wire in between the control unit and the lights to add flash back in? (I have little to no soldering skills.) Thanks, Andy Ok, update already.... When I looked at this listing for a replacement the seller mentioned turning the unit upside-down. And the light flashes..... Any thoughts? Update 2 - The control buttons are a distance away from the 12v power pack, so connected via a wire. Switch the plugs on that around and the lights flash.... Feeling slightly dumb, but rather than remove the post I'll leave it up to hopefully help others out.

Used to live in the UK, but was never young enough.... Great idea, I’ve seen some great stuff from teenage British builders. There’s also an active LUG in Ireland with probably a number of TFOLs but not enough for a viable standalone group, it might be worth reaching out to brick.ie to see if there is a way to partner.

Hi all, My croc arrived a couple of weeks ago and got built last week. I put one of the 12v Technic motors (image below) in it and improvised a working, albeit imperfect, power pickup for the 12v centre rail. When I apply power I can hear the motor is wanting to work, and when I lift the centre unit (I haven't attached the end units in tests yet) off the tracks and supply power directly to the motor, it works fine and the wheels turn. Put it on the tracks, with power directly from the 12v power supply and it won't move, so my guess is that the rather old motor just doesn't have the power to get this wonderful loco moving.... Any insights or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks, Andy

It works! Here's a shaky, handheld phone video of it moving under it's own, ahem, steam.... The track is still quite dirty, a regular 12v motor was stuttering on it as well, but I'm delighted it works. I'm working on a new layout at the moment, this was a bit of a detour. Once the layout is up and running I'll work to get it a bit more reliable (clean the track for starters...). As it is, with only one set of pickups it won't go over the crossing track on this loop. Speaking of the pickups, here's a pic of what I used: CrocWires by andyglascott, on Flickr I drilled two small holes through a 1x2 plate and threaded two quite stiff wires through it. One end is twisted into a loop so I could connect the PF motor's wires to the set-up and the other is bent to connect with the 12v power rails. I can take more photos if folks would be interested in more.

Just stunning. Very well realized across the whole consist.

Thank you, will try that tomorrow.

An update, as promised. The good news - a medium PF motor seems to have plenty of torque for the job. I was able to connect it directly to the 12v power pack via a combination of 9v - PF extension cable and an old 9v wire I've hacked by replacing one of the 2x2 plates with a 12v plug. All good so far. I then cut off the pf plug from the motor ready to hack onto my improvised pickups (which still need a bit of work to be more reliable) and found Philo's work describing the workings of pf - https://www.philohome.com/pf/pf.htm. By my reading of it I needed to strip the outer two wires from the pf cable and connect them to the power source, but when I did that nothing moved.... Am I connecting the right two wires to my 12v power source?

I'll keep ye posted, going to try the less destructive gearing options first and will update in a few days.

Thank you both. @XG BC, I have that official pick up piece, unfortunately there’s no way I can see to incorporate it into the croc. @Toastie, I have a PF motor I can play around with, and I’m fairly sure I have seen enough tutorials on here for such adaptations to have a go.

Even without the pickups in place and powering directly it wasn’t moving.... I’m away from my layout right now but the pickup is a 1x2 plate with 2 small holes drilled through it to hold wires brushing against the power rail.

According to Wikipedia there is one steamer preserved, on display in Roanoke, VA. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginian_Railway

Always good to see an Irish loco on here, this version is definitely closer to the original, grand job.

Thanks for sharing your insights. I keep, toying with the idea of a narrow gauge mining style train on one of the mountains on my layout and this kind of track would be ideal as it’s very easy to put in that setting. The “sleepers” could easily be buried under ballast, old coal and rubble.

Love it. I built a few like this inspired by those sets too back in the day, I remember one in blue and black cos I didn’t have much red at the time.... Might have a photo I could scan (yes, it was that long ago ?)

This is just amazing Holger. As others have said, it proves the point about the functionality of 12v, takes it to another level.Thank you for sharing another inspiring creation.

I miss Irish, and particularly Dublin, English American English just doesn’t have the same vivid expressiveness.

Mine just got pushed back to “will ship by August 1st” according to the email. The order detail switched from “waiting for new stock” to back ordered.... Still, it will give the parts I’ve ordered to power it for my 12v layout a chance to arrive before I build it.

Yup, I got there a little late and it's on back order.... Oh well, it's the first time I've ordered something on release date.

Hi, your best purely Lego bet might be to use some of the old 9v Light and Sound pieces, you'd need both this and this to get the 2 red and 1 orange lights in. The light elements fit into either a technic hole or a headlight brick so you can filter the light through trans red/orange round plates/tiles. Both have two settings built in - always on and flashing, to alternate you just turn the brick around. Power source is any 9v battery box with the appropriate connector wires, though the old 9v ones are more expensive and harder to come by. Feel free to ask if you have more questions.

I use a similar ballast set up on my layouts, though typically I only raise the track 1 plate and it’s on my 12v track. I haven’t got nearly enough though to cover the whole layout, it’s a gradual process to build it up. Ps, I was in Nottingham near GCR North before moving over here.

Looks fantastic, reminds me of the different UK heritage lines, I lived near a few when I lived in the UK.

That’s looking really good, great progress. Looking forward to seeing more.

Personally I’d love to see a small, compact steamer from anywhere, but I know it’s an unrealistic wish with the battery box etc requirements for powering it. The origin of a loco doesn’t worry me, I have Irish, British, (continental) European and American locos, all 6 wide and 28 to 36 studs long, so the Croc would dwarf them.... I really like it as a set, but am not sure about how it would look on my layout, so if I get one it’s likely to be display only, which is ok but for me not ideal. Either way, it’s great to have a new locomotive, hopefully more to come in due course.

I’m still occasionally spending daft money on 12v stuff, so who am I to say no....? Granted, I lived through both 12v and 9v eras and now have more money than I did then. If you’re passionate about it, you’ll find a way to do it, so go for it. One way I’m hoping to reduce costs is looking at using dead 9v motors to pick up power (after taking the motor out) and connecting it to a PF train motor to actually move the train. Needs a bit of creative wiring but have got it working with a live 9v motor.

That is fantastic, love the fact you've got the movement in there as well.