Mr Hobbles

It’s a pretty random backdrop though if it is unrelated. Why not some art related to the Crocodile, or other Lego trains they’ve released? This art is unrelated to either the Crocodile or other Expert Lego trains, and they’ve put it on full display on a stand in the room. It also seems to be the only one they bothered with.

I saw this too, was going to post something about it. I also wondered if it was a teaser, what with Jamie Berard stating the Crocodile was potentially the start of a revival of adult trains. It would be interesting if the next train was American steam.

Yeah, actually that’s possible without any BLE feedback. The Technic/SPIKE/Boost motors are capable of their own speed regulation, watching rotations and increasing/decreasing its own power usage appropriately. I don’t think that’s what’s happening here however. Really low speeds cause the motor to buzz rather than move, suggesting non regulation of power to maintaining speed. So its likely just the good old fashioned power mode rather than speed. Really it’s not doing anything different than the train motor here. The train motor is also capable of 100 speed increments, but LEGO chooses not to use them, instead increasing in increments of 10. Here though they’ve seemingly opted for increments of 1. It’s true, this one is just a bit nicer. :) Personally I’ll still be using the handheld physical remote with the app.

Yep, that’s all correct. :) I imagine it looking for attach messages with a device ID matching that of the Technic L motor. So it doesn’t care what port it’s on.

Only the train motor and basic motor (dumb devices) use resistors for identification. The rest are “smart” devices that use a UART serial protocol to exchange information. They typically have for me, I’ve received packages with GWP’s alone. Here in the US at least.

That seems to me to be exactly what's going on. I can only assume it does it this way so it can autodetect the port the motor is attached to, rather than them fixing the port. They look for _any_ port that has that motor attached to it.

Just got a shipping notification for mine, woop! Looks like I got in before it became backordered. You never know, they might have only made 50 of them worldwide. :p

My solution is a pure Lego solution, using a Raspberry Pi (or any computer, also my MacBook Pro) as the brains. * I use a LEGO Dacta Control Lab (Interface B) to control 9v components - Power Functions LED lights (for signals), Power Functions LED motors (for switches), and a 9v track wire to control 9v trains. This is plugged into the Raspberry Pi via a USB-Serial cable. * I use the Raspberry Pi's onboard Bluetooth to control Powered Up trains. * I use LEGO Education WeDo 1.0 hubs and the WeDo 1.0 distance sensor to detect trains. The hubs are also plugged into the Raspberry Pi via USB. (I could also use old 9v IR sensors plugged into the Dacta Control Lab, but the WeDo distance sensors are more reliable) The programming language is Node.js/Typescript. I made a post here about how to control trains, signals, and switches using a Powered Up Bluetooth controller here. I'm in the middle of moving house, but once I get a chance I'll make another post about automating it using the WeDo sensors.

I just downloaded the latest Powered Up app to try out the controller for the Crocodile, and well, I'm a little impressed. Firstly, it doesn't work in 10-speed increments - it's smooth 1-speed increments all the way. Secondly, there are two wheels - one for speed, and one for braking. Using these two you can set a maximum speed and control with that. For example you can set speed at 50% permanently, and use the brake to stop or go up to that maximum speed.

I’m US west coast and new sets go up at midnight on east coast time. So I got my order in at 9.45pm PST - 45 minutes after it went live. It seems to be max 3 per person, although since I’ve woken up it’s on a 60 day backorder...hopefully my order still gets here pronto. :) EDIT: Got the promo too.

So I follow the SBB on Instagram, and right on time, they went and posted this beautiful picture. I guess I gotta go start designing 6 wide passenger cars! :D EDIT: How have I only just noticed the similarity between the SBB logo and the Lego trains logo...

I agree on the no-seperate-skus - I was however saying that Lego has historically been hesitant to putting more than one or two cars in the set to keep piece count down, especially if other cars can be built with mostly the same pieces. In effect 1) Lower piece count, 2) One car instead of three, 3) Drive sales of more sets (annoys consumers as they end up with redundant locomotives, but ah well). If they do decide just to put one car in the set, perhaps they could be persuaded to put the extra pieces in so that the car could be any one of the three pictured. My bad, I missed that. :) Another incentive for Lego to put less cars in the set. However they have made Ideas sets with more pieces than that...

Very cool, it does indeed seem like we're doing similar things with different languages. :D I love the idea of combining all the LEGO technologies so they all work together seamlessly. I did similar with the LEGO Dimensions Toy Pad a couple of years ago, using it to control Philips Hue bulbs in my house. Here's an old video I recorded: I also created a Node.js library for this, though I really should update it. Maybe convert it to Typescript - https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-legodimensions

I don't recall seeing any differences in the Control+ L and XL motors? There are RPM and power draw differences as Philo documented, but unless my memory is failing me I think the modes, capabilities and version revisions are identical. The same for the SPIKE Prime motors. Regarding 0x4b and 0x4c, I don't think anybody actually has their hands on those motors yet, so we don't know. But I fully expect them to be identical to the Control+ motors and the SPIKE Prime angular motors.

I don't often support stuff on Lego Ideas (I should get better at that!), but I've supported this. :) This is something that I could actually see being picked on Lego Ideas, assuming Lego is happy to put another train set into production: 1. Simple locomotive design, few specialized parts 2. Passenger cars similar to each other, not requiring too many different pieces between them 3. Piece count of less than 1,500 elements for the four car train. 4. I could see Lego perhaps reducing the set to locomotive + 1 car to keep costs down, similar to the emerald night. Extra cars could be built with similar pieces. 5. The VIA Rail license might not be too hard to get, and it opens up extra audiences for this set (souvenirs in train stations, etc). 6. Also appeals to US + Canadian market. The most recent Crocodile appealed more to the European market, so it mixes it up a bit.

I believe he’s on about this, and generally complaining about their prizes: https://www.bricktrainawards.com/ I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere other than a casual post on Brickset a couple of weeks ago.

Yep! I remember we (and many others) helped form the majority of the first 20 pages or so of the "Powered up" thread...credit where credit is due! ;)

My apologies! I forgot to set it public - it should be public now.

Yes, this has been observed elsewhere too. For some reason depending on whether you inspect the mode capabilities on the Control+ hub or the Boost Move Hub, the last two capabilities are different. I'm not sure which hub @Philo did his testing on, but its interesting that different hubs report different modes. Unless this is happening at the protocol level, perhaps the hub is doing its own interpretations? Note the software version is different on different hubs. I use node-poweredup with DEBUG=lpf2hubmodeinfo set to find out this information. Here is the mode information of the Technic Large Motor, attached to the Technic Medium hub (Control+): lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, type 002e (TECHNIC_LARGE_LINEAR_MOTOR) +5s lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, hardware version 0.0.00.1000, software version 0.0.00.1000 +1ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, total modes 6, input modes 011110, output modes 011111 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode combinations [1110] +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 0, name POWER +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 0, RAW min -100, max 100 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 0, PCT min -100, max 100 +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 0, SI min -100, max 100 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 0, SI symbol PCT +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 0, Value 1 x 8bit, Decimal format 1.0 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 1, name SPEED +45ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 1, RAW min -100, max 100 +15ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 1, PCT min -100, max 100 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 1, SI min -100, max 100 +43ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 1, SI symbol PCT +16ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 1, Value 1 x 8bit, Decimal format 4.0 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 2, name POS +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 2, RAW min -360, max 360 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 2, PCT min -100, max 100 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 2, SI min -360, max 360 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 2, SI symbol DEG +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 2, Value 1 x 32bit, Decimal format 4.0 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 3, name APOS +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 3, RAW min -360, max 360 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 3, PCT min -100, max 100 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 3, SI min -360, max 360 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 3, SI symbol DEG +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 3, Value 1 x 16bit, Decimal format 3.0 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 4, name LOAD +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 4, RAW min 0, max 127 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 4, PCT min 0, max 100 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 4, SI min 0, max 127 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 4, SI symbol PCT +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 4, Value 1 x 8bit, Decimal format 1.0 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 5, name CALIB +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 5, RAW min 0, max 512 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 5, PCT min 0, max 100 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 5, SI min 0, max 512 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 5, SI symbol RAW +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 00, mode 5, Value 3 x 16bit, Decimal format 3.0 +31ms And this is the mode information of the same motor attached to the Move Hub (Boost): lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, type 002e (TECHNIC_LARGE_LINEAR_MOTOR) +5s lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, hardware version 0.0.00.0004, software version 1.0.00.0000 +0ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, total modes 6, input modes 001110, output modes 001111 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode combinations [1110] +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 0, name POWER +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 0, RAW min -100, max 100 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 0, PCT min -100, max 100 +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 0, SI min -100, max 100 +43ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 0, SI symbol PCT +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 0, Value 1 x 8bit, Decimal format 4.0 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 1, name SPEED +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 1, RAW min -100, max 100 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 1, PCT min -100, max 100 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 1, SI min -100, max 100 +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 1, SI symbol PCT +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 1, Value 1 x 8bit, Decimal format 4.0 +45ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 2, name POS +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 2, RAW min -360, max 360 +61ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 2, PCT min -100, max 100 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 2, SI min -360, max 360 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 2, SI symbol DEG +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 2, Value 1 x 32bit, Decimal format 11.0 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 3, name APOS +45ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 3, RAW min -180, max 179 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 3, PCT min -200, max 200 +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 3, SI min -180, max 179 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 3, SI symbol DEG +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 3, Value 1 x 16bit, Decimal format 3.0 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 4, name CALIB +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 4, RAW min 0, max 3600 +29ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 4, PCT min 0, max 100 +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 4, SI min 0, max 3600 +58ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 4, SI symbol CAL +31ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 4, Value 2 x 16bit, Decimal format 5.0 +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 5, name STATS +30ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 5, RAW min 0, max 65535 +44ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 5, PCT min 0, max 100 +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 5, SI min 0, max 65535 +28ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 5, SI symbol MIN +32ms lpf2hubmodeinfo Port 02, mode 5, Value 14 x 16bit, Decimal format 5.0 +29ms

Thanks for the kind words about the library. :) I'm afraid I don't have plans to do so - I don't use Windows or have access to any machines that use Windows. But of course PR's are welcome from anyone who wants to improve that side of it. However while I've heard Windows BLE support isn't fantastic, other people seem to have figured out ways to get Noble working without changing drivers, see this post on another project of mine, hopefully this helps: https://github.com/nathankellenicki/nuimojs/issues/17 Regarding your reconnection issue though, I'm willing to try helping, but I don't want to clog up this forum with support requests. :) Please raise a Github issue so we can discuss - it's also more useful for posting debug logs, etc.

Hi @legotownlinz, node-poweredup library is actually my project. :) Unfortunately the Raspberry Pi 4 uses a different Bluetooth chipset from the 3b, which doesn't play nice with Noble, the underlying Bluetooth library node-poweredup uses. I'm working on it on slowly, but for the time being you'd need to use a Raspberry Pi 3b. I'm unsure as to the second issue you mention, but it'd be great if you could raise an issue on the GitHub repo so we could discuss there.

There's no one train that's gonna keep everyone happy. European locomotive? Mainland Europe will love it, US/UK/Australia won't care. UK locomotive (Mallard, Flying Scotsman, etc)? US and Europe wont care. US locomotive (Big Boy, Amtrak?) Europe and UK won't care. Going steam? Diesel/electric fans wont want it. Going diesel/electric? Steam fans will hate it isnt a steam engine. The proof is in the pudding with comments on sites like Brickset, which shows user location. US people are saying "I wish it was more well known", while Europeans are saying "I love the Crocodile!". Steam fans are saying "The Emerald Night is the best train Lego ever made. Why isn't it another steam engine." Lego isn't stupid, they know this. They do market research. HUGE amounts of market research. They'll be taking this into account when determining a successful level of sales for this thing. Also bear in mind Europe is 55-60% of Lego annual sales. This also isn't an expensive model for them to produce - no new parts, just a few recolors, two prints, and a sticker. On the other hand, I agree, separate wagons or cars/carriages aren't gonna happen. Maybe bundled with the next locomotive, if there is one. But not separate. And it'll likely be 2-3 years before another locomotive anyway, just because Lego will be waiting to see the sales of this thing, and the fact that it takes 6-24 months to develop a set from start to finish. Myself? I'm a Scotsman living in America, who's had a lifelong fascination with Swiss railways, particularly the Rhatische Bahn, but also the SBB. Its like Lego has released a locomotive just for me. :) But I'm not silly enough to think everyone is like me. This has its market, and it isn't everybody.

I think I saw reports that the weight of the train can cause the magnets to not be able to pull some of the wagons behind it if there's only motors in the front, but I think your mileage may vary. My preferred solution is motors in the front and back just to make sure. :)

Great review! Is there an easy way to stop the LED from shining through the window without resorting to a piece of paper or something? Can you fit some kind of a brick in there?

It's just as well Chrome has an inbuilt translate function... :) @Anio Thanks for the review, it's great! Seeing it for real instead of renders makes it look even better, and some of the little building techniques are cool. Have you had a chance to motorise it yet? Can you add that to the review?