martyboy70

Hi I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible so buying new bases etc. is pretty much out. I think I am definitely swaying towards the AA option as the rechargeables I have were pretty much top of the range and are high capacity so it seems silly not to use them. Why are the 12v wheels so much worse friction wise than 9v ones?

Thanks for the welcome. The members who have helped me out with suggestions in the other thread I posted have been excellent-offering to go above and beyond the call of duty!

That would be great as it would give me an idea of how long a pp3 would last as I can have both charged and use one and keep the other on standby(might not bother with the lights after all)

I was swaying towards the pp3 option until I had a look at my batteries. My rechargeable AAs were quite expensive and have a capacity of 2500 mah and the 9v ones are only 170 mah which is about 7% of the capacity of the AAs plus I would need to adapt the cabling so Im now looking at the 6xAAs either old school Technic big or the newer one if I can find one at a good price. But you are so right about the pp3 option being far better looking and Id imagine easier to "build in" to a train

Hi there can you add me to the list as a born-again Trains fan. Im Martin from Glasgow in Scotland in the UK. I joined the forum for some info and advice as Im currently rebuilding and passing on to my son all my Lego from the 80s including my 12v 7745 which I am converting to PF due to motor problems. Theres a bit more info here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=59279 So far all I have is this(platform now built not shown) and also the 7813 Shell tanker rolling stock: but I will DEFINITELY be adding more track,wagons etc as and when finances allow.

Again thanks for the (quick) replies. If an engine and 4 carriages is an hour and you count the 7745 as an engine and 2 carriages you might reasonably expect to get an hour and a half or thereabouts and this would be ample I think. As far as batteries go I have enough rechargeables for either option so the main concerns become price and size. Looking at Ebay there are plenty of both available for around the same price so thats not really a factor. As far as size goes the PP3 one would certainly be a lot better from a "stealth" point of view as with the AA one the IR box would be shoved right up to the window of the cab and be very noticeable-would it work reversed with the IR box at the rear of the engine and the battery box at the front- so I may go the way of the PP3 but then would have a bit more modification to fit connectors. I read some reviews about the 8866 motor regarding what you said about fouling and causing derailment issues so I think it is definitely out. Will my 12v track be OK with a PF motor?-I know its the same gauge. Thanks for the offers to check for me guys but I cant ask you to spend your precious weekend time doing this. I have a busy weekend ahead of me sorting out this lot:

First of all a big thank you to all of you who replied-it is much appreciated. @ Sokratesz Thats the one I was thinking of(5115 i think)as they are available for £2-3 delivered but as you say that would force the IR unit right up under the clear glass spoiling the look and charm of the drivers cabin with the little computers but I understand that I will have to make compromises. BTW i was looking at your 12v era station and that is a great piece of work there. @ AndyC Would that be an 8886 I would need to get in order to hook it up to the Technic battery box. I took your advice and phoned Lego-as you mentioned very helpful and what they told me was the parts to make the PF motor are in short supply and the 1st batch have been allocated to the US in late October with Europe being restocked in the New Year which is too late for me as I want to get the 7745 rolling again for my sons birthday in December. She did suggest getting it sent to a US address but the postage would put the price way up. My options look like buying one at a premium price from Ebay or getting the other motor which I really dont want to do as it gets terrible reviews and people say to avoid it like the plague so decisions to be made on that one. @ roamingstudio Thats another good option space wise and I actually have a couple of rechargeable pp3 batteries sitting about doing nothing but worry about the lack of lifespan-would it be a lot less than 6 AAs? Hes only at mine 2-3 nights a week but I wouldnt want it slowing to a halt after 15 mins. @ pikappa79 Thanks for the link its given me a good guide as to what I will need to move or remove once I decide on the final parts line up. One question-who drives the train:) Thanks for the answers-I have remembered another question i had. It regards the lighting-will it light up enough on 9v and will I be able to splice the grey 12v cables onto the PF power feed? We have the technology to rebuild this train:

Hi there Ive just joined the forum as I have recently rediscovered the joys of Lego and was wondering if I could trouble those of you with a lot more knowledge for a bit of information. A bit of background first: Having recently split up with my partner and lost my job I found myself in a new home with no toys and no money to buy them for when my son came to visit. While talking about this with my mum she mentioned that she reckoned she still had all my old(80s)Lego sitting in a box in the loft(Why couldnt she have kept my Generation 1 Transformers and Star Wars stuff as well?) Within a minute I had the ladders out and was scurrying up to the loft feeling like a kid at Christmas. Memories came flooding back as I remembered the many years when I had built,modified,rebuilt and merged the bricks in this box into everything and anything my imagination could come up with. Grand Prixs at the 6395 Racetrack, taking off for an exotic location from the 6392 Airport and filling up the many cars, vans and lorry sets I had at the 6378 Service Station all felt like yesterday rather than 20 odd years ago. I spent a couple of nights scouring through the catalogues for the 80s to see which sets I had but didnt have instructions(most still did) and then downloading the instructions to build them all again and have been bitten by the Lego bug one more time. My favourite set though was always my 7745 HST until I broke one of the wheels off the motor(I can still remember how bad I felt to this day) so that was the first set we built together and while my son loved helping with the build he was not so happy that it went round the track at a snails pace and then derailed after a lap and a half. I looked into buying a new 12V motor from Ebay but they are very expensive, then I remembered seeing a big Lego trainset in Argos recently and got to wondering how these modern sets were powered and could the old fave be converted to run on this system. So after a bit of research and some correspondence with a Youtube poster I have decided to convert the 7745 to Power Functions on as tight a budget as possible(I should be able to sell my transformer for nearly what the PF parts will cost) rather than spending more acquiring a 25 year old 12v motor. This week I have got the IR box and Remote Control but my main questions are regarding battery power and motor choice. 1) I see there are 2 PF battery boxes-one for AA and one for AAA batteries-with the AAA box seemingly being smaller and designed for trains. The thing is I already have loads of rechargeable AAs and the AA box seems to go for about half the price of the AAA one so is it just too big and heavy to use in a train specifically a 7745? 2) The older Technic battery box can be picked up for pennies and supplies the 9V required by PF and looks small enough to fit. Obviously the terminals would be different but I can solder and once in the train it wont be coming out.So could this box be used with a bit of electrical "persuasion"? 3) I see there are 2 motors and one(8866) is not very well regarded.The better option is currently OOS at Lego UK but on the US site it has a date for resupply. Does anyone know if it will be available from Lego UK again? Thanks for reading and thanks in advance to anyone who offers some info.