Holiday Train 10173 + Power Functions?

[jamzee]

Hi all

I'm struggling to add Power Functions + lights to my 10173 Holiday Train (squeezing in all the P/F parts, where to locate the motor and receiver etc!)

Has anyone successfully managed it?!

I'd be really grateful for any suggestions!!

Many thanks in advance...

Edited November 28, 2011 by jamzee

[kyphur]

Since the Loco is a Steam Engine it doesn't really take to PF components very well.

I'd suggest either making a PF Tender (containing all PF Components) or a PF Baggage Car (again containing all of the PF including the power train)

[HenrikLego]

There are two different approaches shown here:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48965

I actually did my own version of Cecilie's idea yesterday, with all the PF-equipment in the caboose.

I tried to put the engine under the tender, the reciever on top of the tender and the battery box in the passenger car, but my problem was that my tender wasn't heavy enough to get a god grip on the rails.

With all the PF-equipment in the caboose that problem was solved. The only minor issue I see is that I can't have lights on the locomotive with this approach.

[kyphur]

The only minor issue I see is that I can't have lights on the locomotive with this approach.

Actually you could light-up the whole train if you want by running The PF Lights & Extensions between the cars all the way to the Engine.

[jamzee]

Thanks everyone for your ideas.

Last year I put the motor as the first set of wheels in the passenger carriage but this year I'm determined to contain everything in the engine or tender.

I'm pleased to say I've just managed it - the receiver is in the cab of the train and the motor is powering the tender with a set of those nice 'wheel covers' to make it blend in. I've had to modify slightly the back of the tender to accomodate but am pleased it is all self contained. Also, the lights follow the tank of the engine from the lamps at the front (raised slightly on a 1x1 round tile each side) and disappear unseen into the cab under a 2x1 inverted black slope each side.

I can now add the passenger carriage to my Emerald Night now and again as it is completely independent!!

[kyphur]

Pics or it didn't happen... This is the internet after-all!

[jamzee]

Pics or it didn't happen... This is the internet after-all!

Here it is! This is all self-contained and MOC'd using only the parts of the original tender... it did take quite a while to sort.

Enjoy!

Edited December 1, 2011 by jamzee

[jrtoy]

Where do I get the "wheel cover" for the power function motor so it matches the rest of wheels?

[zephyr1934]

Either buy it from a third party off of bricklink, or call lego customer service and ask for replacement parts.

[Myadultlegoworld]

I realize this topic is really really old! But 10173 has been the ONLY train I use in my winter village. I have the one from 2016. Never opened it. I may pick up the newest one just so I can have the polar bear.  Anyway, this year I wanted to motorize my train. I couldn't find any instructions to do this. I watched multiple youtube videos and came across two that gives you an idea of how to use power functions for this train.

I'm not a big MOC builder. But I had to figure out how to do this on my own. After a couple of hours of fiddeling, something clicked. My brain caught up to what I was trying to do. And it just happened. I got it done. The motor makes the engine sit slightly higher. The receiver sits nicely inside the back. I don't have a lot of extra train parts so I had to figure out a way to add one of the original wheel carriages to the back of the engine. I only added ONE brick height (an extra green 1x8 on each side) to the second car (I don't know the names of these things), put a 1x8 black plate on each side on top, the two bricks (1x2 with hook & the four 1x1 bricks to hold the garnish on the sides) I turned the hook side from inside to outside, I turned the four garnish bricks right side up. This allows the battery box to sit in the second car. Because I put the 1x8 plates on top, that allowed me to take all the extra ribbon and lay it flat on top of the battery box and I used a black 1x6 plate to stretch across the battery box to hold the ribbon down.

I didn't have to change anything in the front of the 2nd car but the brown wood "log" pieces there just isn't room unless I pile them on the battery box. And I don't like how that looks. I found this subject here only after I had already done what I wrote.  There is a caveat though. I'm using the regular battery box. It doesn't seem powerful enough to pull the entire train. I loaded up the gift car and put presents in the car for the trees. The weight was too much. I took the gift car off (it's sitting in my North Pole behind Santa's workshop) and took the gifts off the tree car and it works great now! I'm confident the bigger battery box would easily pull this train loaded down, but I don't see how it could go anywhere other than the passenger car. So you would need an extended power line to go from the receiver in the engine to reach the passenger car area. Or put the receiver in the second car and the regular length cable would reach the box in the passenger car.

This is all to say yes, you can add power functions to this train!