Breakdown

I own: 182 (4.5) Blue era 727 (12V) Blue era 7715 (push) grey era 7722 (4.5) grey era (part of the set) 7745 (12V grey era So 4 full sets. Which is coincidentally how many cars I own.(cars that I drive in, not lego people), there's about half another car's worth in parts in my cold room. I wish that I had more of both. I also bet that lots of people with 12 trains wish they had an equal amount of cars. I like collecting crap . . . what can I say.

Honestly, I want to break into your house and steal this setup. But unfortunately I'm on the wrong side of the ocean, so you and your train set will be safe . . . for now. Well done.

Much of my extra 4.5V track came from that store, after I got my first train set, my mom took me there and with Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas money we bought all sorts of track. I was only 9 years' old and was just learning about money and got some really ill-conceived ideas about how far a little money would go. The legendary store was closing out stuff and hence we capitalized on close-out stock. To the best of my knowledge they wouldn't have imported 12V sets. Without some huge warning labels that could really screw up someone's Christmas - unpack set, build and watch it do absolutely nothing. You may be a little older than I am, but I cannot remember seeing any of the 12V sets other than the Cross-over piece and I think that's only because they discontinued the 4.5 only one early, you see piles of blue ones, but barley ever a grey one. I don't have the most concrete memories of hi-way market other than the floors and those crazy escalator things without stairs - don't even know the proper names for them. If there was one place in Ontario that would actually carry this stuff, it would have been Hi-Way Market. Where in Canada are you?? Also, my boasting (if it appears that's what I'm doing) that I have the biggest 12V layout in Canada is just hot air, I would be more than happy for someone to tell me that they have something bigger . . . more complex, etc, it's just this stuff in North America is pretty much non-existant.

A guy's selling a lot of power switch 7745 train, signal (don't yet have one) and three switches (one power) and precious straight track. It's also local which means no tarriffs and no shipping, both of which really hurt the pocket book and jack up the prices, one of those beggers can't always be choosers things. Ideally I'd like a 7740, but the asking price on those is very high, in the end I may use it to barter with.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah from Kitchener Ontario . . . . . Canada. Till someone shows me something more substantial, home of the biggest most complex 12V lego train layout in the nation. There's only one 12V set that I can recall being sold here and it was the 7857 crossover track to my knowledge. Everything else had to find it's way here via a number of different countries world-wide. My interest was primarily spurned on wanting and then receiving lego train set #7715 one Christmas in the 1980's. I was young and thought that it would be much cooler to have 7715 plus the stupid battery set, over 7722 which had the battery operation more "integrated" let's say. But what got my interest going in the 12 volt stuff was seeing the mini-catalogue that came with the 7715 set and displayed 7745, 7866 and other great late sets in the 1980's grey track collection. It might seem funny, but I always thought that set # 7860 was stupid, because as a child I just assumed that it was like the illuminating bricks, look, the light is changing, I didn't know that it actually could stop and start the train remotely. So . . . here I am today, and most of this layout has been in the basement like this for a while now. There's three 12V engines and in this layout - both ends of 7745 are equipped and one in the 727 train. Even though it looks pretty integrated, it's not there's two completely different circuits and then two completely different transformers with them. Long story short,I was moving a bed into the room (it's in pieces) you can see the mattress and boxspring on the wall there, and invited my now 7-year-old nephew over to play with the big train just one last time and then had some friends over (adult friends) and we went nuts playing with it, and I'm thinking that the bedroom in the basement can wait. Proof that I'm Canadian lies in the outlets and the hockey puck collection on the wall. Just some shots of the honest beginnings. The end goal is something more city-like and visually appealing, a Youtube video and then probably a tear down to be honest or move so that I can get that double-bed in there. I'm looking at a local opportunity to acquire another 7745 train, along with some more track components (honestly, i have absolutely no idea what another one of these is doing here??) Some pics to enjoy, I've been looking through this thread and trying to see similar and not many layouts. To be very honest, this layout is Very space efficient! Hoping to update weekly and we'll see if I can't turn this into something to be proud of.

When you do the extra wires, just plug them into the current wires coming out of the Transformer, and enure that you match them positive and negative and extend to a far away portion of track?? Have two transformers and one track, you're suggesting, that I can actually do this? What if I accidentally (wouldn't be very hard) put one transformer in reverse while the other is going forward - wouldn't I have issues?? In parallel would be transformer 1: connection to track, transformer 2: connection to track, series would be Transformer to transformer then to track?? One last question: What on earth is that 13+ Volts outlet for anyhow??

It's been a while since I've been "in the loop" unfortunately living in Canada has its disadvantages, one being that you cannot find a single soul to talk about lego 12V trains with. I've built some decent sized layouts. Right now, I have a pair of layouts that appear to be connected but aren't. They share the 7866 level cross-over track, but never actually connect via track. I've got a couple of questions. Right now, I have 3 motors, and 3 trains, and two Transformers (I also have an Austrailian one if anyone wants to buy it, I have no idea where to get a converter for it!!?!?). I have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 9 switches, unfortunately only two or three that have power to them. I'm wondering: 1.) Can I use multiple transformer on shared track - I'm assuming no? 2.) Specific instructions to boost power to the tracks, I once had a huge layout and so many issues with trains slowing down because of the shear length of the thing. What's safe, obviously these motors are getting harder and harder to come by, so I don't want to damage one. I use 110 -> 220 inverters for both Transformers. In Summary: "Mono" means one, and "rail" means rail: This concludes your monorail training. Thanks all!

The best solution would be a third 12V motor. We'll see if we can make that happen. I love how the 7745 train runs with motors at both ends. We'll see what I start needing in terms of track upgrades once I get further into my layout. What told me money and weight would work. When a train is stuck on a hill, put your finger on top, don't help in forward just apply a little weight, it'll move on it's own . . . . provided that it's on.

Ive been messing around with my new layout and one of my biggest challenges is getting the 12V engine to climb some of my ramps to the bridge that I'm putting into the layout with rolling stock behind it. So here's my idea and I think that this gives the train more speed on the regular tracks as well. Start filling the back of the engine with money. It provides more weight on the engine and reduces tire spin kind of like a Front Wheel Drive car uses the engine weight to climb hills in the snow. Ima have to queue up the movie sometime soon, the DVD's around here somewhere!!

Two comments that I'm shocked that no one has mentioned. 1.) With the layout on the floor you can walk through it. Set up the train and then add the decorative touches, you cannot do this on a table. It's somewhat dangerous but I've never had a mis-step. I have long arms, but they can only reach so far, so you either build like you paint a floor, or you make a sprawling long setup. 2.) Videoing and taking pictures. One way to get the most layout in one shot is to go high for some pictures. In my video I have a camera mounted on a tripod that's atop a desk and pointing down. Eagle-eye view, you simply cannot accomplish this or it gets comprimised by having your track up on a table. Unless you have a vaulted roof or 12' ceilings, etc.

Just a little about me. Yes, I'm featured in the damn video below (can't see my face) trains run much more coherently right now. That layout is now in a thousand pieces in the basement, I've just bought a 2nd 220-110V converter in order to step down for a second transformer, I actually have three. Anyone need an Aussy one??? I'm planning a duo-layout with a large ZNAP bridge, the ZNAP bridge is nearly complete and then it will be time to build a city and track around it, unfortunately it's a tight fit, I'm hoping that it works out. The train had to be moved since it was taking up the entire family room. It's current room is approx 16' X 10.5' and I can expand a little into a closet in a pinch. Me?? I'm completely insane, watch my other youtube videos. Highlighted by my battery operated wrench, and washing machine race a la Simpsons. Should warn you that some vids are offensive or maybe offensive to just about everyone. Other interests: An incredible amount of hockey. Photography and my Grand Prix's. I'll be living in the train area of the forum predominately. Looking forward to publishing some picture updates of the layout as it materializes.