aawsum

Nice work! As I am a real 6wide train guy I can appreciate what you have build here. To have the coaches more tightly together there is a technique that I used (I saw it once by somebody else) that works great. It uses the lego elastics the bring the coaches together and to move them further away in the tight corners. (I can't find the link but if you are interested I can upload some pictures) I am wondering, it looks you only use 1 motor for the whole train. Is that correct because it runs very smoothly. Is there something modified on it or is your 9V system still running standard.

I would say it depends a lot on what you want to achieve in the future. Lego sensors are great, but limited (till now) and not cheap. If you want to automate more in your layout, then I would advice to look at other options. For myself I learned a lot from the series of video's on this channel "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvLxhkuFuukFxgYQx2eB9g". Based on these ideas I started with arduino automation and can now manage yard automation, switch movement, stopping/starting and railcrossings and where I started with everything in a single way this has grown to a very nice automation of our layouts that we show on Legoworld. I would say view some of the video's in the link and then share your thoughts.

Hi Alban, Good to hear that there will be a new version. I would say, do not change to much as it works super as it is already. If you need some additional help you know where to find me like the previous time.

Don't worry about my setup, this topic was about your issues. i was just answering ;-)

Although a good answer has been given that this happens with modified switches, I also experience this with non-modified switches. Reasoning behind this is the fact that we run on MILS, and as we run wires underneath the track a part of the track and switches do not have a solid base underneath. This in combination with tables that are not straight the trains are sometimes bumping on the track they tend to loosen the delicate parts in the switch itself, causing voltage leaks. I know it sounds fuzzy bit this is what is really happening.

My experience is that switches are sometimes "leaking" so although they are set to the main track and therefore you think there is no interference between the 4 tracks it could still be. The most simple advice is to disconnect all the switches and run in the same way as you described. If this does not lead to an issue then your switches are the problem. If it does lead to the same issue then your power connections as shown above are the issue. What I also see in your cable picture is that you have connected the negative wires together, that also looks a bit tricky to me as you are then mixing the power supplies for the 4 different tracks. Maybe even easier to undo those connections and run your tests. On a positive side, I like your setup of the power cables. Do you use standard lego 9v regulators or do you have a different setup?

There were 2 train sets this year, I would not expect anything next year. Plus, if there were rumours, you would have read about them ;-)

Nice rebuild. I was actually unaware of the 1x2 white wedge you used, so learned something there :-) Some ideas on the build. The white also seems to go through (top of the ladder) on both sides, why did you choose to make that yellow in your build? And i am a big fan of 6 wide, so I know this is difficult, but it would be nice to find a way to lower the wagon closer to the track,

Never heard this before. I have to say I do not drive a lot with pf, but that the motor is making the bogey tilt to one side is kind of interesting. Do you have this at all speeds or only at low speed.

Did you create the antenna yourself? How did you calculate the amount of turns (length of wire) to use?

Yeah I understand slowing the train is a way out, however I was more searching for methods where I could maintain the speed :-)

Agreed, however I do not want to make adjustments to my train motors and use tags that require power from the train. Yeah this is the alternative, however this means more work as I have to isolate track for this. Also it will lead to shortcut issues, maybe this sounds a bit strange but the track power is controlled via an arduino instead of the regular 9V trafo. When a train motor has wheels on both sides of the isolation point this will cause a shortcut and makes the arduino to mailfunction. Also this can be solved, but I would rather have a stable reading so that I can spend time on building Lego instead of finding solutions for arduino issues :-)

This setup runs fine through switches. Torque is wonderful with this motor. I have this in a small shunter and as long as it is build strong it can tow a lot of wagons though any layout. I personally run standard lego layouts, so no wide curves or anything and it runs fine.

Sorry for bumping this topic .... I am testing a setup with an RFID reader and RFID chip. I am using 9V train equipment. Issue I see is the speed of the train. Till around 30% of the speed the RFID reader signals the passing chip, however when I increase the speed there is less accuracy. Is there any experience in the community with this? I am happy to share some more info and what material I am using, but am just wondering for now if I am the only one experimenting. I did do a lot of research in the modeltrain world, however they run their trains at a lower speed then a normal lego train so they do not experience this issue.

Clear. Normally a train does not have to go up a slope that steep of course ;-)

So what did you design exactly, is there something special on the engine?

Last year on Legoworld we ran our layout for a week about 9 hours a day. Based on experience from the previous expositions we knew that during the night large vacuum machines run around and throw dust and grease in the air. This all comes down on the track. Same as during the day from the audience and eating places we receive a lot of grease, dust and other small stuff on the track. Last year we cleaned the track in the morning and afternoon each day and covered the layout during the night with a dust cloth. Where in previous sessions we ruined multiple motors and also experienced slower running trains, last year we ran without any serious trouble. So indeed, I think cleaning the track is the most important thing to do.

Understatement in my opinion. All the questions on interchangeable and powering multiple components via 1 cable or via hubs have not been answered or in a professional way ignored. For now I don't see any reason to move to powered up.

I have some 6wheel bogeys on one of my trains. I use the standard wheels there. Works perfectly. Bogie_Top by Aawsum MOCs Lego, on Flickr

Sorry for bumping the topic. I see you are using a very simple setup to send code via an ir led to the train. I tried the same which works fine, however ... I experience that the IR led has difficulties to send a strong signal towards the receiver. I found it was ok in a straight line but only upto aomething liek 20cm. What is your experience here, it looks in one of your videos that your range is pretty ok.[/s] My bad, you answered this in another post already.

The IR control of a PF train is real simpel btw. I found a small library on the internet and managed to get a pf train running, where the speed was handled by the arduino via a infrared led. Only issue I have so far is that the signal from the IR LED is very weak and only worked directly in front to a max of 20cm. Still have to manage that, but the control functions worked fine.

On MILS and train layouts I wrote a small article. It is in Dutch but pictures tell a lot here: http://www.lowlug.nl/brickbieb/modulaire-lowlug-trein-layout/ We used this building style during our last exposition on Legoworld 2015 (NL) Some pictures can be found here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskhLXRTC

I am running several trains with 2 rc motors especially because I have some inclines where this is needed for traction. On our layout this year we had a horizon express with multiple motors. It ran without issues. Not sure what a reverse polarity switch is or why you would need it.

2 motors will give you more traction so yes this would help.

Nice start. Like UrbanErwin said, the green hill looks organic. Good touch there. The way you build is really solid. I have experienced in my own modular builds that I was trying to limit the use of bricks that are underneath to cut costs. However this always leads to issues afterwards when pushing somewhere to hard or moving elements. Best thing to do is to use old used lego underneath, or cheap bricks in colors that are not used often. This will give you more budget on detailing the outside looks. One small other tip, not sure if this layout is for display purposes, but in the modular layout we have created where UrbanErwin also was participating we made some agreements on how to create the outside border. In our case we always used a black brick as a base which gave a nice line throughout the whole layout.