LegoDW

60044

Set builder. Like to build an official TLG set then add a few pieces here and there to customize. I do plan on building some MOC when I get the time.

Maybe it was just a US thing? Don't recall multiple GWP sets during the last holiday season. I was not going to get the train but caved. It is a very nice set and glad I got it.

This gift with purchase seams to be very popular with the Lego community. Hopefully this will be a yearly thing.

2019 Holiday season held off TLG purchase till 40338 was available. Unfortunately by 11/30 was sold out both on line and at my local Lego store. Was able to get 40337 a few days later. This got me thinking. Did TLG intentionally under stock the 40338 last year? I have never seen my local Lego store run of our gift with purchases, definitely not as fast as the 40338 was unavailable. Also it kind of didn't make a lot of sense why the mini gingerbread house gift with purchase ( 40337) was available so quickly after 40338. Why was 40338 (valued at $20 US) available for only 3 days and a $120 purchase minimum where as 40337 (valued at $20) was available for 12 days and a minimum purchase of $100 US. Also why was the Christmas Tree given a production number 1 greater then the mini Gingerbread house? Was the Gingerbread house designed first? Then why did TLG come out with 40338? They didn't need it and appears under stocked it for some reason. Free Exclusive Mini Gingerbread House (40337) offer is valid for purchases online at LEGO.com, in LEGO® Stores and LEGO Catalogue telephone orders from 6/12/2019 to 24/12/2019, or while stocks last. Christmas Tree (item 40338) offer is valid on LEGO.com and at LEGO Stores on 11/29/19 through 11:59pm EST, 12/02/19 or while supplies last only. Anyone have any inside information on these gift with purchases?

Played around a little more with the code and sensor. Still getting sensor color errors. Not sure what block is "report a color". I just put in code to have if any color seen, a different sound goes off. Can see the code change too when a color is seen. Going to try lowering the sensor closer to the track. Is there a block for the train stop slowly? The only way I have found is to just use a motor block with speed setting. For a stop, just set the speed to 0. This makes a very sudden stop. Would prefer a nice stop that takes a few seconds. Also nice if could ramp up the speed vs the engine just taking off full blast.

All my trains run on battery PF, lighting will be on its own power supply/circuit. I do have some stand alone TLG motors running a few amusement park rides. Was planning on getting separate power supply for them, but might be able to use a common one. Maybe 12 V is the way to go for my application too. Looks like I have a 300W 5VDC and 350W 12VDC power supplies already.

This is great starting point for my DIY lighting upgrade. Follow up question. I have messed around with some color pixel LED's for a holiday display. Both 12V and 5 V. 12V can run these displays at much greater distances. Was their a reason you went with a 12V power supply vs 5V?. My layout is 6' by 12', was thinking one power supply should be good for my lighting needs. Will run some sorta electrical bus system under my table, either 14 or 12 AWG (have some left over from a wiring project) and just tap in the smaller wiring. Thank you for sharing how you designed your lighting..

I was unaware can run multiple coded run sequence at a time. This helps. Have some experimenting to do. Thank you. Currently I have two headlight bricks on the sensor and suspending it thru the square hole. With the motor cable in there too just not enough room. I have the bricks you referenced will attempt some thing similar. I was unfamiliar with the report color code. Will experiment. Thank you. I was using plates not tiles. Will change. Thank you.

I have not had the best luck with a powered tender pushing an engine. On some curves and points, the tender tends to push the engine in a straight line causing the wheels to go over the tracks and not follow the curve (derailment). This engine with its 0-6-0 configuration will make this a challenge. Will need to make the center wheels independent of each other. Nice job getting that Powered up motor in the engine. How does it run? With the battery right over the drive wheels would think good runner.

Waiting impatiently for moc videos on adding power to this set. Anyone have any links to share?

After seeing some AFOL having success with train automation using this sensor thought I would give it a try. First, I am not familiar with TLG's coding so took a bit to understand what all the symbols mean. Got it after a bit. Stumbling a bit in these areas, if anyone has had some success would appreciate some tips. 1) Mounting the sensor in 60197. To me the only place it could go was in the square hole in the 20 something stud by six stud base. Senor unable to read colors when mounted above this base (senor in the cab). Relocated below the base, but not a lot down there to connect it too. Its mounted but not very secure. Sure someone smarter then me figure out a good way to mount this thing. 2) Color reading. My sensor picking up the colors was very inconsistent. The lighting is not the best for my city, that may affect things. Get the most false trips with Blue and Yellow selected for sensor. I have green felt down under my tracks and got a few false Blue color reading when no color present. When Yellow selected senor would read yellow if it saw yellow, lt gray, white and red. If might have read more then this i just kinda gave up on yellow after that. What colors work best for you? 3) The proximity sensor, my dreams of having chasing trains came to a crash literally. Mounted the sensor to the front of my 60197 engine (front yellow piece removed). Out of the box it tripped on anything I had close to my tracks, buildings, RR signals, etc (sensitivity set at 5). I had to turn down the setting to level 2 to get it around my layout. I set another train on the track (PF 1) and let 60197 chase it. Running around 50% power. Could not stop 60197 fast enough before it would hit the other train. Believe if I removed the RR signs and pushed my building back from the RR could increase sensitivity of sensor. Concerned as I cannot stop it fast enough the trains will still hit each other. Not that I don't enjoy a good train smashing another train action, but when I put carriages on concerned going to get some derailments with this crashing. 4) Coding, Is there a way to code the app that it can react to colors without following the loop? My simple loop code could only react to what the next color in the code was looking for. I could work around this by listing each color the train would see as it traveled the track (say white, black, red, red, white, black. etc.) but if it missed one (say one of the second red) then it would not look for the next color till it saw this missed color again (for my example I would miss my two white/black color actions). Any help greatly appreciated.

Two questions. 1) How hard is it to work this size wire between bricks? Or do you have to take bricks out. Seen some really small stuff that will go between bricks and is not too noticeable. 2) How far can you run this wire without voltage drop concerns? Assuming the more Led's you have connected to a wire the shorter you can run it. One of my typically buildings will need around 6 to 8 LEDs. I would have a few feet of wiring in the building and then maybe 5' getting under the table and connecting to a larger gauge wire.

I wouldn't mind a stand alone tram set released this year. Something easy to add PF too.

Question, what gauge wiring are you using in your DIY LED lighting?

60182. Great build. Hoping TLG come out with something similar to these. ( I own the orange one....pining way for the blue one)

Not sure what type of plug you have for your lights. You could hide a small USB battery pack in the passenger car. Then you could place the standard PF battery in the tender to power your train.

Picked this set up the other day. Nice little build. Main build the Toy Shop good. Train 3D sign fantastic. Side build rocket ride works close to last years give away set. Bakery good too. Have not build the Flower Shop yet. Highly recommend.

My local Lego store had tons of these promos. Not like the Christmas Tree few months back, that was sold out like day 1.5 of promo!

Bummer.

I would return the set.

Disappointing TLG does not offer everything to build yourself on the bricks and pieces.

I was all set to order last night. Turns out replacement bricks don't count toward the $100 minimum for eligibility. That was a bummer! I still ordered my bricks thou. This 40th train was just going to be a dust collector for me anyways, may as well let it go to someone who will enjoy it more. Edit. Visited my local Lego store and bought enough product to qualify for the set. Not sure what I will do with it, but box looks good.

The Bricklink sets I was referring to were made from new, not used Lego bricks.

Had a thought. Bricklink last year came out with a few sets of their own (new Lego bricks). Don't see why they couldn't come out with Space or Castle sets. Now that TLG owns Bricklink seams like a great way for them to expand their market a bit and appease a few AFOL. The more I think about this....the more I like it.