Lego48

Happy to share. I actually found this thread via Google search when I was trying to find more information on the transformer, after someone asked the same question via our LUG website (possibly @UltraViolet?) When I first got into Great Ball Contraptions (GBCs) in late 2021, I saw everyone using the newer 9V train controllers, and assumed that people were using these to adjust their modules to the GBC standard speed of 1 ball-per-second. (Nope: they just use them for "on" or "off".) Seeing this I decided that I could use my old train controller instead, at least for my first module. In the meantime, I've come up with a better power control solution, but I still like to use my transformer to honor my history with Lego. Yeah, it will probably die at some point, but I figure keeping it around and not using it at all isn't any different than it being dead, so might as well! Besides, by using it, it gets seen, and starts fascinating conversations like this one. ;-) @Andy Glascott: I'm sorry I missed you - I would have been happy to talk to you about it! If I wasn't nearby then I was either off getting something to eat, or dealing with an emergency elsewhere in the GBC loop. I expect to have it out again next year at BrickWorld Chicago (June) and then again at the next BrickFair NOVA (August). If you're local to the Northern Virginia area, you should look up NOVA-LUG and come to a meeting.

I can shed a little bit of light on this question, as I'm the GBC builder with "Big Blue". :-) I got the transformer along with the old lego 12V train set (blue tracks) somewhere in the early 1970s - maybe 1973? The transformer itself is model 742; images that I've seen for this are labeled 110V, and in fact the specs on the bottom of the transformer also specify 110V as primary current. That said, the images also show the transformer with a German electrical plug, which just doesn't make any sense at all since they run 220V - so no idea what they were thinking! My parents were originally from Germany (I grew up in the U.S.), and my grandmother still lived there - so growing up I went to Germany every couple of years to visit and had the opportunity to buy lego sets there long before they were available in the States. I'm 99% certain that my parents bought the set in Germany and brought it home, and then my Dad (who was an engineer and pretty handy with tools) probably cut the German plug off and replaced it with an American plug. Our train set was still running at the family cottage until the pandemic, when it was disassembled and given to my nephew to play with. I was able to get the transformer back from him when I got into GBC in late 2021, and I noticed that the plug was loose and a bit corroded, so I replaced it myself with a newer plug. No, there is no step-down or other converter - it simply plugs in to the power strips, and I made my own cable connector for the PF motors using Marklin electrical connector pins. Any other questions? Pictures of the bottom and sides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e5l7J_91d1g3btMG_QVOX3NJLF-Khzi-/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eFu9-zk8h1GRSlgjWi0Ehpr9iFyuPp3o/view?usp=sharing