Werlu Ulcur

Take a look here, this might be useful.

Over at Philo's page he has some very interesting info. looking at the graphs, this is how the two motors compare in power and torque: If I'm reading the graphs right, the XL is MUCH better then the train motor in torque and a little better in terms of power. In real world's terms such an increase in performance is easily noticeable?

You enlarged only the cabin? I would like to see how that looks.

That looks fantastic! Using green plates for grass makes a HUGE difference in the overall aspect of the diorama IMO.

You got the engineer in the cab using the XL without having to enlarge the engine? That is something to consider. You wouldn't have a shot of how it looks from behind, would it?

Now that is something I would love to see: a vacum cleaner built from bricks ! I can only imagine the engineering needed to adapt one of those small hand-held battery-powered untis on a train.

But if you put the lights on the same channel as engine A, the green light will always be on as long as the engine is running, won't it? So if engine B comes up to the same place and you want it stopped at the red light, if engine A is running somewhere else the signal will be green and not red for engine B . I understand you wanting to use a Lego solution but wouldn't it be easier/simpler if you just wired the signal to go red or green at the flip of a switch? Of course I'm assuming here you have where to route wires; if not you would have to use a wireless solution and that might complicate things a bit.

If the IR receiver goes up front, you can't disconnect the tender, and admittedly that is a problem. Nothing terrible, but it would be nice to not have to mess with wires. Putting everything in the tender would work perfectly, but I still would have the headlights' wires to worry about . Since I want/need headlights, with both options I'll still won't be able to easily disconnect the tender because of wires . Guess I'll have to live with that then. But back to XL motor vs train motor; will the train motor instead of the XL make the train noticeably weaker with up to two passenger cars?

I'm going to buy the EN and of course I'll motorize it, but I need be clear on the motor I need. I've read thorough a bunch of threads here, so I think I got the most important aspects, and I think i have two options: using the XL engine in the loco or the train motor in the tender. But on all these threads I read I had the impression that people prefer the XL engine because it's stronger . I've been playing with my train sets these last two weekends and even hooked up all my (stock) cars to one engine and it pulled them just fine (on a flat floor track, with bends, switches and flexible tracks). I didn't keep 'em running for extended periods of time but I never had a problem once - however I did notice that with all the wagons hooked up I couldn't get the train to derail even at the highest speed, something that easily happened when running the original three cars per loco. The EN will be a "short train" in my railroad, with only the engine, tender and one passenger car (two tops), so I'm fairly confident it will be light. In a few months (fingers crossed) my railroad will be a table-top affair, so there won't be inclines on the track. The reason I'm thinking about motorizing the tender is because then I'll keep the space for the engineer and hopefully get to keep that awesome furnace. I understand that I'll have to loose the internal gears on the wheels (I can keep the exterior push rods, right?). The "mechanical look" of those wheels turning and the push rods working is what enticed me about the set in the first place. So what is better: 1) Go the XL route and just follow Lego's instructions but loose space in the loco but (possibly) get more power. or 2) Use the train motor and possibly get more space in the loco though with maybe less power and the need to fiddle with the drive wheel gears.

Friggintastic! Thanks a bunch!

A tutorial will be GREATLY appreciated, thanks ! As soon as I get more tracks (hopefully today) I'll try this.

Oh, I see it now! I can even make out the cable. Pretty cool, it's totally out of sight from the outside, almost looks like a non-motorized engine.

I posted before seeing your response CB, but looks like you addressed all my doubts! It works fantastically! That's exactly what I was thinking/hoping for. Just more questions: 1) Is the base plate underneath the track necessary? 2) Could you please tell us what parts you used and how you assembled the decoupler and the switch? Thanks man! This is better then I expected !

Terrific! My parts are still in the mail, so I don't have anything here to do a test, but that solves it. Well, assuming I can make everything fit in there.

Man, that looks GREAT! Where is the IR receiver?

Friggintastic! It's possibly the most sunning modern engine I've ever seen made of Lego.

CB, the principle I think is brilliant, but from what I understood, every wagon that passes over it will be "blocked", right? A loco could go over but you couldn't push a wagon forward over it. Is that it? If it could be done in a way that you can manually turn it on or off (without having to raise the track to build underneath) it would be perfect. So far the simplest (but not the most ingenious and of course, not remotely aesthetic) solution I could think of is a bar that is pushed down between the wagons you want to unhitch that holds back the wagon from the front of the train.

Zephyr, so I can plug two plugs (motor + light, for instance) on the same socket of the IR receiver? That would be ideal - as long as there is space, of course.

That is a good idea, but I think that for me the best solution would be something track-side. It doesn't have to be remotely operated (I'm fine with having to manually "flip the switch" - honestly, I think that's part of the fun), so I was thinking of setting it up in a "staging area", an area/section of track specifically for that, like a rail yard.

I'm at the office right now, so I don't have my train to check. But now that you said it, I think I remember seeing the numbers on the receiver too. Cool, at least that is a no-brainer. Any feedback on how is the operation of the light?

So if I understood right, on my controler one dial would control the speed and the other the intensity of the light's? And for a second train on the same controler, when I pushed the speed up for the first train I would brighten the lights on the second train and vice-versa? That, of course, if I don't use use different channels. Is that it? And one more thing, about channels. I switch the channels moving the middle button on the controler, but how is it done for the IR receveiver? Or do the receivers automatically pick out what frequency the controler is using? I've already ordered the parts (with a bunch of others ) for this MOD, so in a few weeks I'll hopefully be able to post my results.

I would also love to see that!

With the on-board system, the big problem would be that I would have to disconnect everything behind the device. I was aiming at disconnecting each car individually, as needed, so I guess the system will have to be track-side. And basically I think that means lowering a rod between the cars to hold the car in place and advancing the train to release the car .

smoke, fantastic shot!

Darn . I was hoping to have something that could separte the cars without having to grab the train.