mendes

Well, it's certainly no problem with the old 70s 12v motors: . And with this housing (Electric Train Motor 4.5V) you dont even need to modify any cables.I've tried it myself and found the speed quite acceptable.

If you want a pure lego solution you could use some of these: Plate 2 x 4 with Coupling and Hook Plate 2 x 4 with Coupling, Female But as they were only made in red, they not fit in with your colour scheme.

Nice work Anders! I would prefer to use the old red wheels as well because you can then also use the old piston rods (like in set 133). I'm a bit apprehensive about doing that modification though. What tools are required? I see you made a customized cable. Can you do all the RC stuff with your new system, for instance regulation of speed?

Sure. I wasn't sure there was a great deal of interest in that era until now but I'll have a go when I get a chance. In the meantime here's a youtube upload I made a couple of months ago:

Its looks great now. I think the addition of the yellow bricks to the boiler and the stickers/decals really have improved it.

Well I only have blue rails (my dark age lasted rather a long time): But if you have only used the modern ones until you will find the blue ones a bit more time consuming setting up. Derailments can be caused by: 1 Skewed rails. You need to make sure that the joins between the curves and straights are smooth 2 Worn rails and sleepers (the 2x8 white plates) may not hold together very securely any more, particularly the curves. You can rectify this though by adding an extra sleeper in the middle of a pair of rails. For me the reason for using blue rails is because I had them and i only have old trains. But if you are starting out you will probably already have some new ones and to start mixing them would in my opinion not look good. The only reason to start getting them now would be if you wanted to quickly build a large layout cheaply. But remember, there is no shortage of these rails so dont pressure yourself!

My favourite station wasnt a set but was suggested in ideas book 241. Its from the blue era and its scale means that its not really suitable for minifigs. I guess to some it may look a little simple but to me it has a kind of modern realism. Its similar to the sort of architecture I see every day going to work in the former East Berlin. Heres a better picture from a fan at bricklink: Another ideas book station is this one from ideas book 240. I got set 148 as a Christmas present in the 70s and loved it but it would have been better if it had used printed bricks instead of all those stickers which eventually got damaged and lost after endless rebuilds. I like 7822 best of the later models. As you can see I like my stations to have foot bridges!

I got this link to a huge display of blue era trains of the dutch lego site http://www.bricks4life.nl/. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2102288 A lot of the buildings seem to be inspired from the old ideas books. I particularly like the white train station. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2102373 Sorry if it has been posted before.

Nice pictures Anders! About 10% of my curved blue rails are a bit too loose on the sleepers too. An extra sleeper in the middle of a curve can sometimes be helpful here. I'll try out your idea with making the engine a bit heavier for better traction. By the way, do you know the right rubber bands to use with big ben bricks wheels? Unfortunately my modernization project will be severely held back by the fact that the IR remote control is sold out and will only available in August again! In the meantime i will try to make a nice tender and incorporate: the pole reverser: (http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/x877) and the switch brick: (http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/x880) So that I can use my old signals. I think lego must really be congratulated in maintaining compatibility with a 40 year old system! Mendes

I ordered an rc motor 8866 from lego and bought a cable, a 9v battery box and a couple of contact plates put them all together with my old 171 and I'm pretty happy with the results. I've uploaded a short video to youtube: As you can see, it runs well for me on the old blue rails. I did however have the same problem as Anders when I just ran the engine and the battery box - it tipped over on the curves. With the extra weight of the wagons it's ok though. Another slight problem is that the wheels skid when starting and when coming out of curves- I guess this is due to the fact that the engine is much lighter than modern trains are. Or maybe there not enough traction from the small rubber band on the wheel? After this successful test I think I'll order the IR stuff now!

Thanks very much for your reply and useful info. I also think the current 9v battery is to ugly to use for a train that's why I was wondering if I could use the old one. I guess I'll have to use to bigger one then, which means I'll have to have to bigger tender than the old one from set 161. Instead of filing bits off the cable perhaps it would be possible to use a couple of these parts: http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/4755 I was hoping to use my old blue rails. I guess it just derails on them - a constant problem with the old track. I think I'll send off this weekend for a motor and try and get an old battery box and cable and see how I get along. I'll move on to IR later.

Hallo Anders, I am trying to do exactly the same thing as you - update my old 171 train with the RC motor, and would also like to first try it out with an old 9v battery box before buying the new, rather expensive rechargeable battery. There are two things I'm not sure about. Perhaps someone here could help: 1. Which 9v old battery box can i use, the 4 x 8 stud one (http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/5391-1) or the bigger 4 x 14 one (http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/5293-1)? 2. I would prefer to use a shorter cable than the current pf one, for instance the 8.5 cm one (http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/5041-1). Would it work with the rc motor? Good luck with your project Anders!