mr_jrt

I've been meaning to do this mod for a couple of years now...I "fixed" the tender to an 8-wide beastie right away, but stalled whilst trying to figure out the gearing to get two medium motors in the boiler (didn't want to lose the cab to the XL) and not have it rip itself apart :) Annoyingly, it never ocurred to me that the front of the boiler was wrong, but having seen your efforts, it so clearly is and I suspect that would've give me the room I needed to pin down the motors. Might pick this project back up! :) Thanks! I do wonder if a better approach for the Emerald night might've been a dual tender loco with seperate coaches rather than just having the one and no reasonable way of getting more.

*sigh* ...and people like that are exactly what ruin everything, which is why we can't have nice things. Now the only people who end up with these beautiful trains are those who actively seek them out and can afford the profiteering, usually grown adults, and not the poor kid browsing the Lego website or wandering around the Lego stores. Such a shame. eBay was ruined for me in much the same way - anything goes for cheap it gets bought and re-listed by the buyer, sometimes before they've even received it yet. Stops actual buyers for ever being able to get something cheap, and just makes me sad. Everyone's just out to make a quick buck. :(

...or, you could just use the 3rd party clones stuff instead (i.e. Enlighten). Lego would have no say in that, surely?

I have a special fondness for 7777. Just before I entered my dark ages I wrote a letter to Lego asking for replacement instructions for my 12v sets, and I left the letter under my bed. My mother found the letter and sent it off, and I got a reply from Lego saying that they were no longer producing 12v parts, as they were focussing on their new 9v system. they sent me 7777 free as a compromise :D Oh how I used to dream of that lovely tender engine...

You can solve the 12v gaps easily with cheese slopes. ...the 9v/PF points on the other hand...more of an issue.

First thing I did when I emerged from my dark age was to fulfil one of my childhood dreams - Brinklink a second carriage for my 7745 I think it came to about £25 or so, though I never did get around to getting the tap. Getting the exact same base, the windows, and the roof bricks I believe are the expensive bits. ..and now you've put the idea of another car into my head The other childhood dream was some 12v points...but seeing as my dark age was ended by the Emerald Night, I'm stuck as I don't want to (nor can think of a way to) mutilate it down to 6-wide (or at a pinch, 7-wide). Even when I shrink down the drive rods it's at best 8-wide, so 12v points are risky. Anyway. Congrats on some lovely 12v goodness!

How anyone can argue high speed of construction is a good thing is beyond me. The joy of LEGO is building everything, thus by the same argument that pre-built tracks are better then monstrosities like this are better too! :( I'm a 12v fanboy, but I did dislike the centre conductor rails. Thus, the new ME Models metal modular tracks are what I'd have expected LEGO to have produced when they introduced 9v. Smaller identical parts means the moulds are smaller and simpler, and thus cheaper. I'll be buying a lot and converting everything over to PF motors with 12/9v pickups as soon as I can (I missed 9v completely so have very little 9v track). ...and those extra sleepers on the 9v curves are a pain when you want to attach 12v conductor rails to them for some dual-electrified track sections ;)

...which reminds me. When considering future product ideas, should you ever stretch to points, please consider a motorised version :)

Good to see this stuff. My "dark age" started when they introduced 9v. I was very upset at the loss of all the advanced 12v stuff (though I was too poor to even have any 12v points - let alone signals or decouplers!), and especially disliked the single-piece 9v track as it was so anti-Lego (not to mention, the brain-dead sleeper placement on the 9v/RC curves prevents you attaching 12v conductors to it!). I could never understand why Lego wouldn't make their own metal track this way...it's just so obvious. Take a big moulded piece like a straight track, then split it into two identical rails and some standard bricks for sleepers. The moulds et al. for that are a lot more cost-effective, surely, and you can then use the parts more flexibly in other kits (witness how the rails used to be used for things like crane gantries, etc.) The Emerald Night brought me back, and I've since grudgingly accepted PF, but I want metal rails to charge the battery box (I'm also planning on having some dual electrification so my 12v stuff can run as-is). I have assembled a small amount of 9v track, but can't bring myself to buy and disassemble a fully working 9v motor for use as a pickup, nor can I find a cheap broken one. Long story short, offer a 9v pickup (or a dual 9v/12v one!) and you can complete the dream, and save some poor 9v motors being cannibalised ;) I'll be buying a great deal of the straights for my sidings, and once points are on offer so I can have a consistent look, I'll be buying a lot more for a full layout. :) Yay!