mattman

High Speed Train Railway Express Passenger Train Emerald Night However, unlike most people... mine have all been totally ripped apart for MOC's See my siggy ;) The only one close to stock is the EN, however most of the bogeys have been pulled for parts, so I can't really use it.... probably should fix that lol. Matt

4.5V and 12V + cool factor just because they are old and have a very vintage lego look + 12V you get fun stuff like remote switches - cost $$$ 9V + not as dear as 12V, alot of nicer looking sets + still doesn't require a battery box + track more readily available than older sets - track not overly cheap either ($4 each section) - no longer in production/no new sets - like 12V the track does have some small current across it (though not enough to harm really) PF + cheap, new sets coming out, readily available + cheap track - can buy it off the shelf in your toy store + safer being battery operated - nothing nasty exposed - have to cater for battery boxes as part of train I personally run 9V just because I had a set from before I really got into it, but I can also run PF on the same track. I'd probably recommend you start in PF if safety and availability of track/new sets is a concern. Matt

Thanks alot Taz for pointing it out - absolutely stoked!! Anita's been dying to get on there... so it's good that we got on with a joint MOC, she would have killed me otherwise ;) Link for those who missed it - http://www.brothers-brick.com/2011/10/31/a-two-horsepower-train/ Cheers, Matt

Some better photos with the landscape :) (not taken in auto mode :P) Lego Wagon Train Landscape by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Lego Wagon Train Landscape by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Have just rebuilt the hitch mechanism, it's not particularly realistic but it's functional :) Trying to run a hitch back off each horse just gets messy. Cheers, Matt

I have the battery box, but not a micromotor. The problem still lies in what to do with it though. Each wheel is on it's own axle as otherwise the axle would have to run through the middle of the train motor (kind of not possible), and then I'd have to fit in some kind of crazy gearing system to hook it up to all 4 wagon wheels. Believe me - I like motorisation in my trains ... just see my xmas train ;) But I really don't think it's going to happen on this one. Matt

Hi guys, I probably could fit one of the old 9v boxes, OR I could fit a pf motor, but there's no way I could get both in. Also with the front of the cart being articulated, would be very hard especially on the first cart given that's where the train motor is - the cart is built directly onto it. But thankyou for the suggestions, I'm always happy to look at ideas to improve it. Matt

Yes it was :-)

I have seen a monorail converted to the "Public Transport" tram before - looks very good in the flesh. DSC_5132 by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr

Oh - I didn't even know these existed! Yes it would be very easy to make something like that, with a bit of work I'm sure someone clever could get the wagon wheels and horses nearer to track level which would look even more authentic. Matt

New day... new ideas :) Last night we were playing with various technic parts to get a suitable hinge to use for the horses up front. Clear head this morning told me that a simple 2x2 turntable will do everything we need :D So... now... we have 2 horses, and no issues with them running off the track since they actually follow the track! There's a turntable under the driver and also in the 2 hitchings between the 2 horses, using much smaller train wheels (came off the EN from memory) and smaller axle setup as a normal train axle woulda been a bit silly :) Lego Wagon Train by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Lego Wagon Train by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr And obviously some more hitchings of the same colour have just gone on my BL wishlist ;) Cheers Matt

If only there were room for a battery...... Anyway... proof that I shouldn't post a thread about something claiming to be a WIP... because then I just go finish it lol. Well, it's near enough for now at least. We have some ideas about the horse/s still but that's for another night I think. Lego wagon train by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Lego wagon train by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Lego wagon train by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Lego wagon train by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Let me know what you think :) Matt

I had a play with the horse setup - definitely only can have one before you get clearance issues. 2 horses side-by-side is 8 studs wide at best, and 2 horses end-to-end projects too far in front of the cart and just hangs off the edge of the track. I could change it for a cow/ox but I don't think it would look as good - I'd rather go with the improbable LT - I'd love to get movement in there somehow :D But yeah - no space to do anything fancy here. My plan for the wagon carts: 1 - horse, driver and small amount of goods (though will re-do the design of the wagon) 2 - stock + someone to keep the wagon in control 3 - I'm thinking of doing a guards carriage, what self respecting merchant doesn't have a couple of folks around handy with a cudgel?? #2 I've pretty much finished the wagon, just needs to be filled out... will keep working! Matt

My only concern with going 2 horses is that it'll run over the edge of the track on corners - 1 horse being very central on the track doesn't have this issue. Having said all of that... I haven't tested it either :) And yeah, I don't do normal trains

Ok here we go! At home we're starting on a little bit of a medieval theme (my wife posted her first big medieval MOC on EB yesterday) but wanted some train incorporation. Problem? No trains in medieval times! Welll.... not in the traditional sense - hence my wagon train! I've broken rules again, it's not 6-wide I know, but being single bogey carts it doesn't cause issues on track (34-long car in my xmas train has bigger clearance issues), being that we're also talking medieval wagon train the normal couplings obviously aren't appropriate - so we have a new idea for that too ;) There's no on-car movement at this point and that's unlikely to change - the carts are far too small to hide any secret motors. Wagon Train test by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Wagon Train test by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr It's just a WIP/proof of concept at the moment, obviously lots of work to come, but it works! I doubt it will get extended past 3 carts given it's already unrealistic being pulled by a single horse ;) EDIT Don't care about reading the thread? Here's some finished pics :) Lego Wagon Train Landscape by Matt_Henry_Aus, on Flickr Wagon Train by myself, landscape done by my wife "lorax" Cheers Matt

I'm pretty sure I've heard of people running some kind of pickup from the 9V track to a PF train motor. As far as running a PF motor off a train motor (using the pf extension cables) you can do it, but just watch how much load you put on the pf motor. I have done this in the past and had issues with the pf motor on longer tracks. Just recently have converted the PF stuff to run off a battery box.

Tested another one of my train motors and found a much quieter one - you can hear in the last videos that one of them makes quite a loud whine, this is no more Currently getting it set up for an under-tree display for xmas Really basic loop with a little bit of building around it Matt

Hello, I'm Matt! I've been building with lego for a few years now, in the last 12 months or so I've gotten more specifically into trains. I'm not very good at doing normal moc's and stuff but trains I find much better :) Current collection is: High speed train (parts broken up and spread everywhere through our collection :P) Railway express (currently half built, not that pretty as a set but plenty of trainy parts in there) Passenger train (again, not a very pretty set, but broken up for parts) + have picked up a stack of track, a couple of spare 9v engines. Parts, most of which come from my wifes collection which has been running for 10 years now, really handy as for most moc's we basically have what we need unless a build calls for alot of a rare part. I've had a few trains run with BLTG (my local LUG, has a heavy city+train focus) in the past and thought I would do something different. My first *real* train build has been in the works for about 6 months now and has been displayed a couple of times with varying levels of success. Just recently I started giving it a major overhaul in terms of additional cars and also new power supply. I've made a following progress and it's currently nearing completion! I'm hoping this one will get people thinking outside the brick a bit ;) It's certainly not something I've seen alot of in the lego train world.Anyway, just going to hang around and read some more train stuff, get some more ideas for future mocs ;) Matt

Speed it up until it falls of the tracks I say :D

It lives.... IT LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVEESSS!!! At long last, we have a running train. I think a little of it was getting the weight of the power car down (batteries are about half the weight, plus i shrunk the car) and alot to do with having the train motors better spaced out. The 2nd motor is now at the rear of the bobbing santa cart. The difference is quite dramatic, with 2 engines up front and AA batts in the back it was really struggling to get off the mark and more often than not the engine broke away from the magnet coupling - with the new one it's obvious that it's a heavy train, but it's not struggling or spinning the wheels either. It takes off nicely and still hits a decent top speed. So, new videos... one longer clip on the loop showing the speed range. You can see the controller on the bottom left to get an idea what's happening :) Also, clip with train on slower speed doing a fly-by. This shows the sleigh carriage a bit better particularly over the back of the track. The santa sleigh is quite slow, doesn't work that well on a short & fast loop but I think with the train running at lower speeds on a longer track it should look great. Again, video quality not awesome because it's been done at night and in our lego build area so a bit messy lol. I'm hopefully getting a new camera soon which should do awesome video :D Thanks, Matt

Just did some basic testing. If I want to run both cars off one power supply I can do it with the 6xAA only. To run two power supplies it's only really possible with the 9V monorail style battery boxes - I tested these and one battery will run one motor, though the bobbing santa still seems to pull a bit much and it eventually stalls - obviously need to work on this. Sled ride runs a dream... and I can fit 2 of these battery boxes inside my existing power car, so no external changes needed :D Now, if only I could actually find my 2nd PF extension lead! Weighed things up and this setup comes in ~50g lighter than 6xAA with eneloops, though it does cost me $10 for a pair of batteries to run it Will have a play around with putting the train motors in different spots and see what happens. Matt Update Friction points found in the bobbing Santa car and all fixed. Tested power supplies again and now happy on AAA battery box. Also rebuilt power car for the smaller box so its a lot less ungainly too. Haven't got track up at the moment but should be getting closer to running well.

Set up a track for a test run - what a disaster!!! Whole setup is basically too heavy, even with 2 9V motors. Perhaps if I could move one towards the back of the train it might do better but I don't have anywhere that would be just a clean swapout - will work on this. Power supply is currently 6xAA battery box full of eneloops which is pretty heavy, I swapped this for 6xAAA battery box from the RC trains which is lighter and allowed the train to move (though still struggled) but i don't have good batteries for this so I had issues with the motors running. I figured I'd just throw in the AA box again and get some shots of the animation running with no train movement, and then the AA's basically go flat!! (to be fair, they had run a PF motor for a full weekend and hadn't been recharged yet). So anyway, here's a couple of clips, one of the train on the loop but the 1st carriage stall and you can hear the engines struggling lol. The second and third is the animations running alone. Plans: move one of the train motors further back in the train, see if I can re-work the gearing in the 1st animated carriage because it seems to be prone to stalling still, do further testing on how it runs with AAA batts (for weight reasons).

If I get time ill set up a track tomorrow and get some better video too. I'll update the post when its done. Problem is finding clear space that hasn't already been taken over as Lego building area :D

Cheers :) When I get a chance to set up a track I'll do so and get some better video of the whole thing too - at this point I haven't even tested the new setup on track! But no reason it shouldn't work. Matt

Hello, This is one of my first posts over here, but have been messing about with lego trains for a little while now. This one is my first serious project and is at a point where it's very nearly complete. It started out as a plan just to build the #4534 Lego Express engine & tender from parts I had handy - which I was able to do with a good result and few subbed parts. From then my wife egged me on to MOC it, so it got some xmas lights sprinkled around it... and I build my first motorised train car! The motor also pulled power from the 9V train engine which was fine on a small track, but on the longer runs that I do with BLTG it had some issues and the motor stalled a fair bit - just couldn't draw enough power on certain parts of the track. I tried a few things with a newer PF motor as well and it was better than previous, but still no dice. Just in the last couple of weeks I started another car, plus the plan to incorporate a battery box into the build so that neither motor was reliant on the 9v tracks. Again the 2nd car was a challenge (trying to fit it all inside a 6-wide car was the big issue) but after about the 3rd rebuild I got it working to a point i'm 95% happy! Due to the gearing being quite exposed and hard to cover I decided to turn it into an attraction and threw in windows in one side so show off the main gear and the technic axle that drives the santa sled. Figured it's a good point as it's a show train - but usually shown at model train shows rather than lego ones so people are always curious about how stuff works. Last to the party was the power supply, it's not pretty but it works :) Inside is a 6xAA battery box loaded with eneloops and this powers both motors happily. I did try the 9V monorail battery boxes but I don't have any decent 9V batteries handy and the cheap one died very quickly - though I can change this later if it does turn out to work. At this point I also added a second train motor to the engine, as the battery box is heavy!! Now pulling 2 full size cars and a couple of smaller cars too it's a reasonably long train. The train is strictly 6-wide, though that's about the only rule I kept :) Height wise it should run the usual BLTG display (just needs to clear the overpass on the #7937 Train Station) but you won't find any technical train stuff here :P this one is purely for fun :D Anyway, enough with the boring stuff... some piccies! And the fun part :) (though sorry about the quality of video - I know it's BAD - I will replace when I can) My future plans are to test with better 9V batteries and if possible sub in a couple of these, which should reduce the overall size of the power car. Also, going to evaluate if I can change the base of the last car to red instead of black to match the rest of the train better. Limitation at the moment being that LEGO never made a red base in that style - so it'd look a little weird. Let me know what you think! Matt

Hello, Has anyone buying these in cases been able to confirm the box contents yet? I know it was posted with the original review on EB front page - but just want to make sure that's still how it's happening before I go order a few boxes from the other side of the world ;) Matt