v6TransAM

Awesome, drawings are no fun when there is no Lego prototype with it

I'm going PF and calling it a day. Its something for my son and I to enjoy, so whatever route gets us there without going broke is the one I'm taking :-) Pass set acquired, Cargo train is here awaiting his birthday next mth. Also bought two more Lego switch packs as well as 10 boxes of straight/curved knock off, so we will be covered in trains lol. I am willing to bet its a combination of all the above. Mostly I would think due to the rise in oil and raw materials(metal) spelled the end for the 9 volt. PF lets them spread it over more of the Lego brand and cutting costs further. Also they only have one expensive resource to deal with versus two. Lostdriveway, care to share your switch mods there to us? I do not have any in hand yet to compare.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am updating this because the Eneloop batteries finally tuckered out after a month of heavy duty use. This is the first day I have had to remove and recharge the batteries since the original install in this thread. 28-29 days of use before recharging was necessary. They also outlasted the original Duracell I had installed as well by a weekish or so(Rayovacs were for pics) Glad I bought another 8 for the cargo train I got for him on sale for his birthday next month. Just thought I would share real battery info with you guys on here

It's Lego, nothing is too hard if you have time and the pieces to do it with. Any set with instructions is easy for the most part. Sometimes instructions ruin the fun because sooner or later you have to take it apart to make modifications or build something better. It's never fun leaving something stock for too long whether your talking cars or Lego

Walmart shows Lego Passenger train out of stock but at $103.xx for price matching if you find one elsewhere. Amazon and Walmart both show the Cargo train in stock at 143.xx and currently available. Best prices for either were pre Christmas at $97 for the passenger set and $134 for the cargo train. It beats TRU mark up at buy one get one 50% off by a large margin.

He does okay all things considered and the Lego track has withstood all abuse since Christmas. Just trying to have some fun. I am sure something will get broken in our future though Thank you for the advice(both of you), I was not aware of issues with the switches so your idea is valid as well(I'll stick with Lego switches). He loves trains and now Legos, so I am getting something for "us" to do, that can be ours alone and he does not have to compete with the 1 yr old for(when he is being good). I know he would be disappointed if we had running issues due to track. a2ztoystore looks to be the best deal going I can find.

I need an exploding head here instead............ I did get the box, but the boxes in the box say 3740 and 3742. Just trying to figure this all out since I couldn't seem to find a good source where it was explained. So it probably had another box/bag containing the color pieces I have the instruction, it shows one larger small steam engine and then the smaller 4 wheeler w/ tender, which is what we built but nothing for what I believe the 3741 is?

I picked up a MOT small engine. It is the blue/black combo 3740 and 3742 tender. Having trouble finding information on exactly what the deal was with it option wise? 3741 is the large engine but has no tender correct? Now the smaller engine/tender has/had 5 colors available? Large engine one color as well or choices available there too? I did receive the box with it and it had the colors marked as well as contents marked, leading to my million questions. Sorry to be asking so many questions, finding stuff and deal hunting for my comrade in arms(3yr old) without breaking the bank if its at all possible. Thanks in advance.

It seems to be held in decent regards here and I have a 3 yr old turning 4 in a month. I am thinking the Cargo train, which he is asking for and a boatload of track would make for some fun father and son times. Anyone know where the cheapest place to acquire said track as well as any opinions and comments on its use? (see what happens when you like trains and legos and he does too................)

I'm new to the "new" Lego trains, but I'm always hunting around and looking for deals. There are not many to be had for the 9 volt stuff sadly. Power Function should be around for quite awhile, so it is probably your best bet dollar wise. Going with quality rechargeable batteries like Eneloops would come out cheaper than buying the Lego setup as well and give you more versatility. I'm still running on the first charge in my sons passenger set.

UP GE AC4400? Going off color and nose slope

I hate you if my son ever see's this post Looking good so far to me

Looking good. Variety as well. How many of them have you actually built so far? I need time to learn LDraw or start teaching my three yr old

Interesting stuff here, two of my three hobbies can use 3d printed stuff and I'm sure my other one would as well.

I'm going all Lego on this one. I have used them in anything in the house that I could put AA, AAA or C or D with the adapters and they fit in every other device in the house, just not in the Lego battery pack. The kid is happy now though and so am I.

I would not waste my time with that, nor trying to build up solder. Just open it up a little and never have an issue again. As far as the Eneloops go, they are on the larger side of things and more common in Europe/Asia than here, but Lego is a global company. I have about 5 different AAA batteries here, some caused issues and some did not. Duracell will not cause issues at all, with Eneloop seeming to be the most intrusive as far as bad conduct goes.. I like to fix things so they no longer cause an issue. I want to play Lego's with my son, not fight batteries in a poorly designed battery pack/case PS Wish I did not delete the completed pics lol It does not look as ugly at all once done, the pics are from the first reaming with the bit

Look closely at the top of the batteries, Eneloop is more upright and round, the Eveready is more rolled over towards a tip. Duracell literally come to a point on top of the battery. This is what you start with as you get it from Lego. Notice the round holes on positive end are very small compared to the positive ends of the batteries? You can see where the problem lies; the small hole as well as the contact strip being inside of it nearly completely. How do you fix this? Take off the battery cover, then remove the four screws holding the secondary cover on the case. Be careful and work slowly since it is tight and there are wires present. You will need the following: Small philips screwdriver Fluke or equivalent electrical meter 7/16 drill bit 3/8 drill bit X-Acto or razor knife/hobby knife This is what it will look like after you ream out the holes slightly with the 7/16 bit(by hand). I do recommend keeping pressure/finger on the outside of the contact while reaming. Your worst case scenario here is you break the small melted plastic pin holding down the contact strips. It would be easy to fix with a hot glue gun. This is what the center battery holder positive terminal will look like after reaming. Put the 3/8 bit across the case and use it to keep the 7/16 your using to do the reaming(by hand) with located more towards the top of the terminal hole. Once you get this far, you can use the 3/8 drill bit(by hand) to clean up where you reamed out the holes with the 7/16 bit(by hand). Then use the razor/hobby knife to clean it up and you will have to know or look real good to notice anything is different. I would have more and better pictures, but was doing this on my new laptop so some of it got jumbled up and lost. Then, insert one battery at a time and test each one by using the meter on DC volts. Test it by using the metal contacts on the outside of the case. It should match the voltage you get just testing the battery with the meter. Remove battery and check the next set of terminals until you work your way thru all six holders and the numbers on the outside of the case match what you tested the battery as. If you feel that any of the terminals are in danger of coming loose from the plastic pins, a hot glue gun will be your best friend. If I have any issues with mine I will do it for some reinforcement, they are kind of cheaply made, if you take one apart you will see it as well. This will cure ANY fiddling with batteries that you had to do before the modification including in the future. It will be done on any future PF battery boxes my son or I end up with(unless Lego see's this and does something about it) Bottom line, I spent maybe 30 minutes total here from start to finish. End result is a happy dad and an ecstatic 3 year old who has his train back and running. My question is, "Lego, why did I have to do this? You should modify the mold slightly so others do not have to." First post with fix/mod, so I hope it seems decent enough for you guys.

I am going to tackle this later today at some point. I am currently thinking enlarging openings will be the easiest route, just hate taking apart the darn battery case again. got to find the set of jewelers screwdrivers I have around here lol Will also try and take some pics for it as well

Batteries aren't quite making contact. Her and I were screwing around with it a bit. The positive end has a slightly larger shoulder on it. Hangs up on the plastic ever so slightly. Tried the rolling, reinserting, poking, prodding, etc(we still talking about batteries? ). Nothing seemed to matter but looking at it with a Duracell and an Eneloop in there and it looks like that shoulder is just hanging up. I did test the batteries in something else when I got them in and again after I charged them. Hmmmmm, now do I dress the positive of the battery or disassemble the battery box again and slightly ream the holes out so it contacts the metal........?

So far, no such luck and I ordered the blessed thing pretty much for this reason. What I can guess and see is they have an ever so slightly larger positive post on them than anything else I have around. Swap the old weak Duracell in, get the green light. Swap fresh, new and charged Eneloops in and no green light. Also the eneloop triple AAA are only 1.2v and this is the problem period, but Lego even says lower voltage will only affect speed(this is common among rechargeable batteries). Anyone else run into this? Noticed it earlier and actually took the battery box apart and from what I could tell inserted one at a time it seemed to do fine as far as contact went and you could see the metal contacts flex slightly. Might be coming apart again to wallow out the holes a bit for battery contact. Anyone else been here done that? Need to get it fixed before Wedns. afternoon, he gets his train back if he is good in school. Not making a good living for the battery companies on triple AAA's would be appreciated.

v6TransAM, you see this or 3.8TransAM on the internet its probably me so say Hi!. My three yr old loves his Lego trains(so do I), so here I am. I do cars, hence the v6TransAM, Transformers cause their awesome and now back to Lego because I have a future gearhead, Transformer loving Lego train building three yr old. He did not have to twist my arm

I looked at it a few times, of course he had to see the Emerald Night when I was poking around online....... lol Kind of like how he locked on the Cargo Train because he saw it on the box. I just wish of all the train stuff I literally had in my hands the last 10 years I would have bought lol. Of course until we put it together I did not know if it would be acceptable to him because it was not "Thomas". I am a big time Transformer as well, got a few bites on folks willing to trade for extras that I have, but unsure as to what they have train wise.

Howdy all, Been lurking on and off here for years more or less. Haven't been active in Lego's for years minus goofing around with my nephew. I have a 3 yr old who is train crazy to the point he can probably lecture most adults on steam locomotives, rolling stock and diesels. We sit down and read Trains every month when it comes in the mail. Needless to say I began to experiment with small Lego sets to see how they went and he loved them. So when Christmas time came, so did a 7938 passenger set along with the Train Station. Only kid I know with a Thomas train table full of Lego train I won't lie, love Lego as a toy and it makes kids think as well. Trying to share that with my little bozo and since we both love trains, its a natural for us. Only downer so far is Mom yelling at us for getting pieces all over lol He turns 4 in March, so I'm sure a cargo train is in his future, he was begging for it when he saw it in the instructions. The part that breaks my heart is he keeps asking for a Lego steam engine, finding a good deal on a Emerald Night set is hard to do(I even had one in my hands years ago when it was released, always a toy lurker lol)