Cwetqo

It's fun if it falls like today, on saturday morning and you don't have to anywhere. So, you can take your time and clean it without rush, chat with neighbours and so on. And when you are finished you can take the needed rest, drink a tea and then on the evening you go on a walk and enjoy the scenery. If it falls on let's say monday morning, then it's quite another story: you have to get up at 6 in the morning, shovel it for an hour or more and then you have just the time for a quick shower befo you hurry to work (you need twice the time on a day like this). But it's christmas time and it's good that we have snow, no matter what troubles it will cause us. (im just building Technic Snow Groomer to take care of it )

It's also snowing in Central Europe (Slovenia)! 20cm (around 8inches) so far and still snowing heavily.

Great! Thank you very much. I received instructions and they're ok, almost like original pdf-s.

Thank you, I beleive it took a lot of patience do download everything. I tried downloading few scans, but it took forever (and some even stalled and did not open even in 10 minutes).

It seems that you are missing exacetly the same book as me, that's book 3 for main model. We all downloded from lego.com and brickleys words and it seems that this book was never there.

I already did that, right after posting here. So, let's wait and see if they will correct it.

As I wrote in my original post, there is no book 3 for main model on that link.

I recently bought lon awaited 8285 off E-bay. Set was cheap but unfortunately without box or instructions. When bidding for this set I did not give any attention to this because we all know that LEGO instructions are easy to get on internet. Unfortunately I found out that for 8285 that is not the case. Brickley's words is down, peeron does not have it and brickfactory takes forever to load each picture (2-5 minutes on 10M link and there are nearly 200pages). Lego.com also has these instructions, but it seems that there is an error, because book 3 for main model is not there. Instead of that there are 2 versions of book 3 for B model. I would really appreciate if someone could tell me whre I could get these instructions (book 1/3 would be enough)

We are usually setting it up just before christmas, so here is last year's:

According to test in Raiblricks M-motor si not powerfull enough to pull more then one carriage when powering Emerald night. Situation could change with smaller locomotive without all those mechanism around whels, but you must also have in mind that M-motor is faster than XL and you will have to additonal gearing. I think that there is no other way but to try it. And please let us know. M motors are much cheaper and easier to get than XL motors (which are only in Bulldozer, Dino and new tecnihc truck)

My thoughts exactly! Even if I could live with the fact that it's not LEGO (which I never will), this sets lack most of the detail that make Lego so Great.

I've seen this in person at our LUG show and I liked it immediately. It's not cedric's first creation it's just first one he decided to put on EB. He alreay built some great stuff including parts modular space station and city post station. Keep up the good work!

In my opinion these two sets are no match. 8258 has almost double part count of 8295, XL motor battery box and switch and is all in all a lot more attractive model. So, if you have the money then go for 8258 (it can be founf for 129eur on christmas sales which is almost the price of 8295 with added motor). If you just have 90euro to spare than buy 8265 Front loader instead of 8295. Its much better and more interesting model. And it has three linear actuators instead of one inlcuded in 8295. I assume that 8295 is not very popular model because it was on sale at first for 60euro and then for some time even for 40 euro. At that price its of course a very good buy, but for liste 95 euro it's certainly not. And to answer you other question: No, 8295 does not have 8293 Powe kit installed. You have to do everything manualy, by turning the knob on the back. Even the larger 8265 does not have complete 8293 included. The motor is XL type (M-type in the pack) and you do not get the lights. I think that the only set that has complete 8293 installed is 8297 Offroader (M motor, switch, lights and battery box).

I live in Slovenia and even if we are in EU could be somewhat difficult to persuade to sellers to send stuff to us. I am of course talking about german E-bay which is "heaven" for LEGO shoppper. Most of the deals (and all the good ones) there are marked as "germany only" and you have to arrange with seller if he is willing to send to other country. If you search "worldwide shipping" or even europe, you gate maybe 100% of the results and very few with good prices.

Sorry, I misread your post about your location. I suppose that buying things over e-bay in turkey is even harder, because it's not in the EU. E-bay bulk purchases is the only cheaper thing than BL, but I dont think that even BL prices are not that high (for RC tracks, 9V is another story). Regarding the batteries: If you have the possibility to change them then of course go with "normal" batteries. Rechargeable AA batteries might also be a good idea, but take care to have enough available, togehter with chargers. At our club we solved this problem with getting Duracell for sponsor. (for technic models of course, I still think that for club/show use 9V is far better option). If you have rechargeble battery then of course use it, but plase have in mind that you have build quite a different train for RC and PF. RC uses special bases with integrated battery boxes and receivers and special RC controller, so you have to boil your locomotives on this bases. For PF you need normal base plates and gear drive with PF motor(like in emerald night) or new train motor which is available just on S@H. You also have to integrate battery box somewhere in the locomotive or first wagon. You also have to use new PF variable remote control (which is not comapatible with the one from RC trains). Yeah, LEGO did quite a lot in a few past years to make things incompatible. The situation is getting better with PF, but RC is unfortunately a dead end. It's also one of the reasons why I love 9v so much: you just put motor under the locomotive and run it. It all depends on what kind of "hardware" you have. If you have RC bases then build some trains on that, but if you have Emerald Night or you plan to MOC hard then I think that PF is the way to go. You can always combine two of course (we ran 9V, RC and PF simultaniously on our show, even on same track, following one another)

-How long would it take to run out of batteries at the slowest speed? We have a 3 car passenger train and/or a 4 car cargo train. Not long enough! Could be few hours, but not 12. You will have to look for other options. One possibility is to use rechargeble battery and "charging dock" on the track, but since you dont have powered swithes that is probably not a possibility. -Should we get high-end expensive batteries or cheaper ones? If you do not plan to change the during the show than of course use expensive ones. It will give you much needed additional running time. -Is it better to use the rechargable Power Functions battery? We only have one, is worth getting another one? No! It's too expensive and if you dont have the possibility to charge it during the show then it will serve you no more then set of ordinary batteries. Better get some 9V rails for that money. -Should we fear about heating? No! -How could we obtain cheap RC tracks/black RC wheels? Bricklink! E bay is cheaper but you have to find seller which sends to Romania.

I am afraid that we will not get modular train station at all. It simply does not fit the modular buildings concept (modular builadings are ment to be placed in front of the road, not track). Next year we will get just "launch pack", possibly with just one trackside structure (level crossing or station) and MAYBE the other set as AFOL set. I hope for a detailed level crossing, similar to world city one. The problem is of course in bad sales of that kond of sets, as Jamie Berard pointed out in his interview (SW and modular are sold much better).

As an AFOL train Emerald Night belong to station like this: 10k+ pcs, at our clubs layout.

No problem! I bought my trains in the following order: -4558 Metroliner (gift from my wife) -10183 Hobby train -lots of parts from bricklink which enabled me to have several 10183 models assembled at the same time. -4564 Cargo Train -4558 Metroliner (another one for bargain price) -10194 Emerald Night -10020 Santa Fe Super Chief

Maybe this will help you: Holiday train made out of Hobby Train: Or my WW train: I think that for MOC building 10183 is better choice, because you can learn a lot thru assemby of "official" models. And you can allways buy parts in other colours from Bricklink (you will have to do this in any case if you will want to build serious train)

You should get it for no more then 30-40 euros. I got mine for 60 together with rapid river village and sheriff's office.

This is unfortunately confirmed from several sources as not an option (Jamie's interview, our LA...) Too bad.

I think that at least train station will be regular set, since current one is now out of the production. Regarding new train sets: I'm wondering how they will solve placing of batteries. Current rechargeable battery is nice and small, but it's way too expensive. Just the battery and charger costs 82 euros which is almost the price of current passenger set, complete with tracks, remote, motor etc... If you add motor, lights, remote, and receiver the price will rise to 130eur which is more then most of the people are willing to pay for a regular train set. Current PF battery box is too bulky for use in trains, so I think that new one will be intorduced, probably integratede with base plate, like current RC one. One more thing: when we asked our LA about availability of Cafe Corner, he also warned us that if someone wants EN, now it's the time to get it, beacuse it will be EOL-d too. I personally do not beleive that (with all the effort that TLG had with parts for powering it), but it was qouted that: "the Emerald Night is not what Trains will always be, its just the 2009 offering. ", so who knows. BTW, i see that now the cargo train is also removed from S@H site. Maybe we will get new train sets earlier than we thought (I cannot imagine christmas season without lego trains on shelf)

Excellent set, maybe a little too big (64x64studs) and empty on the inside (there is empty space in size of 32x32 baseplate inside), but this are all minor disadvantages. Must have for every western collector!

Best set: Winter toy shop - it's cute, it's exclusive and it's cheap Worst set: Venator - it's just too bulky and unproportional. I think that it would be way better if they made it without playable interior