AlmightyArjen

And for those interested, how it works video:

Nope. I think it's doable though ;)

Correct. I used some cheap megablocks sensors which normally don't detect the black wheels of the train, but only the white brick on the last wagon. But it turned out that a wheel of one of the last wagons already triggered the sensor. I saw this only when I had already uploaded the video! New sensors are on the way and will eliminate the problem ;)

Since I'm automating lego trains, an automated level crossing can't miss in the layout. So I built one with some spare parts. I first wanted to use the 7866 remote controlled level crossing as a basis but think that the bars don't go up/down very nice: too fast and sudden. Then I discovered two micro motors I had laying around and started designing the whole thing. There are two sensors: when the train activates the first sensor, the bars will be lowered. When the last wagon activates the last sensor, the bars will go up again. In the meantime the lights will go on/off. The program is "intelligent": it can tell which sensor is activated first so the level crossing can be used in both directions. I wanted to draw the power for the system from the rails but unfortunately the motors of the trains produce a lot of electronic noise which disturbed the microcontroller and I wasn't able to filter it out. Let me know what you think of it! PS: for those who are interested, a how-it-works-video is work in progress ;)

very clever design, well done! And indeed: bridge looks awesome too!

And it looks like the passenger train has a sloped end, unlike the HE that you have to buy two to have a complete train? When will these trains be available? Beginning of august?

I don't like the Emerald Night either. And I'm a trainfan and 34 years old...

I miss the times of the 80's when there were only the basic colours. Life was so much simpler back then. But that's my opinion

Why would TLG issue a train that looks almost the same as the ICE 7897?? I think it's a dissapointment. I like the blue diesel though. And as far as one can see, the station looks alright too...

Nice build, I love it!

Take a good look at the 7777 book: the crater plates are already there ;)

I've built up a layout to drive around my 3 meters long Octan train. The locomotive is based on the vintage 7755 shunter locomotive. In the 80's 7777 train idea book there's on some page an oil refinery. I've built that one in Octan colours! I've added a few lights to the loc: when the loc is driving forward, the yellow light is lit, when it drives backward, the red light is lit: And ofcourse, I've made a video!

Cool news. But I really hope that TLG will also issue some side track structures. Like stated above: it becomes a bit boring like this and I really would buy them and I think there are a lot of other AFOL's who would buy them too. And if a kid is able to "dress up" his Lego train layout, I think that kids will be more interested in trains too. When I look at the 80's: every kid just LOVED the trains!

Yes, it will work just fine! But keep in mind that you have to cut the connector off the motor or use another connector to gain access to the wires that you have to connect to the motor shield. The thow inner wires are for the power.

I use L293 or L298 motor driver chips for that...

Thank you for all the kind reactions! For those who are interested, I've made also a little video with some things that went wrong during the commissioning :)

I had problems with the electronics and due to that only one side of the whole thing worked. The idea was (and it also did work like that) that the containers that are unloaded on one side go on the conveyor through the building to the other side where they get in line to get loaded by the crane on the other side and vice versa. So there would be a continious loop of swapping containers. In short it works like this: 1. The system just randomly switches a switch to the sidetrack of a unload/load station (e.g. every minute) 2. When a train enters the station it is always stopped at the same point using a break sequence (switching polarity) 3. The system reads out a sensor to detect which train has entered the station (blue or red) 4. The system knows which of the 6 container places are occupied on that train and determines how many containers at max can be unloaded (e.g. 3) 5. The system then randomly decides how many containers will be unloaded (e.g. 2) 6. The system determines which of the containers will be unloaded 7. Then the system will update the free space information to be able to determine how many containers at max can be loaded 8. The system randomly decides how many containers will be loaded 9. Then the system will decide which containers will be loaded 10. The system sends the all that info to the slave controller which controlls the robotic arm which executes the unloading and loading procedure. Quite complex, this part only has about 1000 lines of code. I'm now working on a more robust system so I'm not done yet ;)

I had a sketch design but during the building we threw it away since it didn't fit in the living room We used almost all af my 9V tracks so there must be around 200 straights and 100 curves...

The past three months I was building on my new project: a container terminal that loads and unloads containers from trains: all automatic. I designed the Lego buildings, hardware and software upstairs in my "Lego room", which isn't quite big. So in the end I had to install the whole shabang in my cleared out living room. Thank God I have girlfriend who doesn't complain about these things! I had one weekend to get it all working. I've built the whole thing up with a friend of mine but somehow I couldn't get the electronics working. It had to do with failing communication between the microcontrollers. Frustrating, since it all worked just perfect upstairs in my Lego room! So I did some last minute soldering to make the best out of it. That's why just one side of the terminal is functional. I working on an improved version to make it all work just perfect! And here the result! Enjoy!

I need to invest in small boxes to store all the different bricks. I have now 10 middle sized boxes with everything and I'm always losing time with searching the right parts. I like the way Sariel has organized it!

Thanks Spock, had some contact with them and they can help me out!

I've been looking on bricklink for the stickers that have to go on the locomotive and the wagons. On the wagons I want to use the stickers similar to those on the 3180 tank truck. Original stickers are around 7 Euro at Bricklink. Does someone know where I can get them for a more reasonable price?

That looks really AWESOME!! I'm definitely gonna build that! I'll bricklink it, no matter what the costs are :P I'm finishing my huge automated container terminal this month (I hope), after that I'm going to build the octan train and make a nice video of it. Do some of you have any nice ideas for some train automation in combination with the octan train? Not too massive ideas please, since that container terminal has cost me a lot of time and brain-crackers I'm a bit "done" with train automation at the moment ;) But a train like the Octan train needs a proper automation I guess :)

Looks definitely like it!

That's a great idea also, thanks!