alainneke

Thanks, I'll try modding a couple of RC motors then!

Is this compared to the 12V motors, or the PF/RC motors? I'm experimenting with a 7740, for which I want to have maximum power output: will two of these modified motors (@12V) perform better than two PF motors (@9V)?

Does anybody know where to get replacement rubber bands for these motors?

I covered mine with artificial grass: it adds a little texture and is able to hide some cables. It also helps in making the sound of the running trains less loud

The ball contacts are from the company "Schnellenkamp" (http://www.spur-0-kaufhaus.de), but "AMZ Munz" (http://www.amz-munz.de) also makes them. The bushings to mount the ball contacts are custom made

What 'JopieK' meant, is that the motor itself will generate electricity when you spin it (without using a speed regulator): put a light brick on top of the motor, and just push the motor along a table. When the light brick lights up, the motor should be ok

Very nice, 'LT12V'! Trackside structures like this really add a lot to a layout!

I usually put some in my BrickLink store when someone asks for them. They are quite labour-intensive to make and assemble, so I don't put a lot up for sale. Just send me a message through the BrickLink contact form and I'm sure we can arrange for something.

The smoke generator is made by Seuthe. The smoke sometimes looks a little weird due to the load dependent output of the decoder: little power at standstill (maybe too little as in the photo ), full power at acceleration (nice chuffs, but I wasn't able to get them on the photo) and moderate power at steady spead.

Thanks, I didn't know those light bricks yet. I'll try to get hold of some. Any idea where to find the replacement bulbs? I took a look at Conrad's catalogue, but couldn't find any...

... my black rods arrived earlier this week: Emerald Night with Zephyr's custom rods by alainneke, on Flickr Finally got rid of those Technic beams!

Hi all, I recently acquired LEGO transformer 740 (which appears to be made by Siemens) to power the 725 set I found at Brickmania in Wetteren some time ago. The train runs great, and it really amazes me that all the electronics still work like new! The transformer has three outputs: #1 is marked 0-13 VDC and should be used for the trains, #2 is marked 16 VAC and should be used for electric turnouts, and #3 is marked 3,6 VAC and has a lightbulb symbol. Does anybody know if LEGO ever made any accessories (lights, ...) which could be connected to the third output of this transformer?

You should take the old motor (with gears) to your local train hobby shop and ask for a suitable gear puller. NWSL (nwsl.com) makes a range of these pullers (called "the Puller"; how very original), but I really don't know which one will fit. You could also try to get it of by carefully wedging a knife blade between the gear and the motor. What you shouldn't do is to try to remove the gear while holding it by its teeth!

Nice! Now, how to remove those gears...

Motraxx motors are sold by conrad-uk.com. I took a quick look at their catalog, but your specific motor doesn't seem to be listed. Maybe you could send them an inquiry?

No problem! Having opened several of these motors, the disk usually ended up on the floor :) But if it isn't there, it surely can't be the source of your problems! What happens if you only put the motor and wipers back in and apply power to the top connector? If the motor runs fine, I suspect that the wheels could use some cleaning. Just rub them with a pencil eraser: the wheels will look the same after cleaning them, but the eraser won't...

The PTC should be squashed between the two metal plates which hold the capacitor and one of the power pickup wipers. It's very thin and may stick to one of the other parts, so it's easily overlooked. What happens if you apply 9V to the top connector of the motor bogie?

The temperature sensor in the 9V motor is actually a PTC (positive temperature coefficient) and it looks like a small disc (leftmost on the picture): If you suspect it's faulty, just remove it and try to run the motor again. Good luck!

Congratulations!!!

Thanks! The motors and lights are driven by an ESU SwitchPilot and extension, both powered by a 15VAC power supply. Surprisingly, the motors do not function very well at 12V! The ECoSDetector can only be used in combination with the ECoS command station (it uses some kind of CAN bus for communication, and all manufacturers seem to keep re-inventing the wheel on this), but you can use any kind of S88 feedback module. Basically, the detector lets the command station know that a specific section of track becomes (un)occupied, and the command station can trigger an event when this happens. I'm not sure if LDCC supports S88, and (as far as I know) most command station rely on a computer do to event triggering.

Thank you for your kind words Kieran!

Thanks for the update! Have fun building the tracks :)

There was a nice idea in RailBricks 3 (page 19) about this: use the old 9V train motor to operate the level crossing! Alternatively, you could try to use Mindstorms, and let the infrared sensors take care of train detection.

I bought some of those lamp posts and LEDs some time ago, but was not really impressed by them. Due to the 2-part construction of the lamp posts, their clutch power is weak and they tend to fall over all the time. Also, the LED lamp post cables are either too short or too long: the connectors cannot be placed outside of he lamp posts (too short), neither can you tuck them in (too long). On the positive side, they *do* work :) Your modified LEGO lamp posts certainly look great! Now where did I leave that 2,5 mm drill...

I contacted ME Models some time ago, and they were still waiting for some tooling to be able to produce the R56 curves. Progress was being made, though... As for the model railway hobby: Maerklin is putting some effort in making kids-friendly products again and I actually spotted some of their stuff in a local toy shop. Moreover, weren't they acquired by a German toy manufacturer some time ago?