Brickaroo

Any chance somebody can post a video of the tram running while motorised with a 9V motor? Would love to see it in action.

Sorry, I forgot my ratings. Just popped them in now.

Top review, it made me piss myself on several occasions. Challenge: Get one of these onto that flatbed and I'll owe you a beer if you're ever in Melbourne

If you haven't played Sim City you haven't lived life! It's never too late to give it a go, and with your interest in city building I get the feeling you'd rather like it.

Name: Remote Controlled Road Crossing Set No.: 7866 Theme: LEGO / SYSTEM / Trains / 12v / Train Set Year: 1983 Pieces: 189 Minifigs: 1 Price (when it was in stores): Not sure Price nowadays: USD $200 minimum for used, $400+ new Hi all, as this is my first review I hope I don't mess it up too much. Feel free to critique! I've decided to review one of my favourite sets of all time, the 12V Remote Controlled Crossing. The reason this is one of my favourites? The amazing parts included! Motors, red lights, flashing units, boom gates and German style crossing signs! Truly rare pieces that were only ever made once for this particular set. I managed to get a new set not more than 3 months ago so it is in brilliant condition I loved the old sets because they allowed us a tease when opening the flap to show us all of the cool parts inside The entire contents of the new set. They really did put a lot of effort into the packaging back then! Every part laid out for all to see These are the rare parts mentioned earlier. You will find most of them selling for a very high price on Bricklink, four of them were only made for this set. I'll explain what they all are as we go through the building process The instruction manual, one of the few from that era that didn't offer an alternate build even though the back of the box features a rather cool small pedestrian/bike crossing First step. The cables for the lights get tucked in underneath all the parts thanks to some gaps created in the sleepers. Wondering what those little black things are? Well they're the only red lighting bricks that Lego ever produced! For those that haven't seen a 4.5v/12v lighting brick before, yes the light can shine through the bottom and the front. "Why" you ask? This is why! Now are you wondering what that lighting brick has been plugged into? The German styled rail crossing warning sign! The light shines through a small hole in the middle. We'll see this in work later on The real life version, almost an exact replica in the Lego world The bracket that the sign attaches to also includes a small notch that allows for the cable to neatly tuck below the sign The gaps in the sleepers seen here are used to ensure the cables are neatly tucked under the build Ahhh neatness, perfect for an anal retentive like myself Here we see the 12V motor used to control not only the boom gates in this set, but also for the track switch and de-coupling sets from the 12V era The motor sits over the grey plates to allow for the cable to tuck in under it neatly Now this step may seem boring, but there's a specific reason I've included it. People with this set please read: If you've been driven crazy by the fact that the boom gates will sometimes end up with one on an angle and the other straight up, here's why: the way the gear is placed on the motor will make a slight difference to the way the boom gate lines up. If you've been having this issue (as I was until yesterday when I took these pictures and decided to play around with it) rotate the position of the gear on the motor by taking it off and turning it a quarter of the way around (not on the boom gate) to make them match up. It's always nice to have one set of matching angled gates than two different ones leaving one looking damaged! Now we'll place the rest of the sleepers and the tracks into place, covering up the cables underneath and allowing our train a way to cross the road below The sloped brick allows road vehicles to pass over ("Thanks Captain Obvious" I hear you yell! ) The black bricks over the road allow for the boom gates to come to a flat rest when down The conducting rails are now in place to deliver power to our 12V engines The boom gate construction made up of a tecnhic pin, brick and gear as well as the gate itself and a weighted counterweight that slots onto the technic pin Here we see the boom gate placed on the motor with the gears linked into each other to allow for the gate to be remotely controlled This funny looking thing is the 12V flashing unit, this brick makes our red warning light flash! Not like the 9V era fast light flash, but a slow flash like a real life crossing signal works (on another note, yes I'm a nail biter. I can't help it, it comes with the territory of being a football fan of all codes! Hawks + Aston Villa + Melbourne Victory ) The other end of the cable leading from the flashing unit plugs into the cable that connects the two lights to each other, ensuring the flashing unit sits between the power source and the lights to make them flash The flashing unit is now plugged into the remote control There are two sets of connectors for cables on this switch, with the other being used to control the gates The other end plugs into the cable attached to the motors like so Time to build the control tower so our little man can have something to do It sits nicely on our 4 supports and steps It might get a bit cold and windy in there so let's give our man an enclosed space to work in A roof over his head and he's now a happy chappy So we'll now need something to control this fantastic set, the 12V transformer/controller will do the trick The remote control connects to the 12V transformer like so, providing power to the set And here we see the completed set in all of its glory And the lights now operating. Looks, they're red! Now I'd be a cruel man if I wrote this review up about some railway crossing with flashing lights and operational boom gates without showing everyone that doesn't own one how it works, so here you all go! Priceless Rating: Based on design, minifigs, playability, price, and parts: Design: 10/10, the fact that this set hides all of it's cabling so neatly and looks beautifully accurate to a crossing you would see in real life gets it a perfect vote from me! This is especially true considering it comes with a double-rail setup. Minifigs: 1/10. 1 minifig, 1 star rating. I'm not going to bother adding this into the total rating! Playability: 11/10. I don't really think I need to explain this too much, you can press a button and watch the thing light up and work every time a train passes through it! It also allows for two trains to pass making it just that much more playable. Price: 8/10. Original price? No idea. Current price for a used set is about $200 USD and upwards of $400 USD for a new one. Considering the rarity of the parts, the functions and the playability of the set I'd personally be happy to fork out for it to complete my 12V collection. Parts: 11/10, 4 unique parts to this set, 2 motors, 2 red lights, a flashing unit, a remote control, boom gates, black counterweights, German styled crossing signals, a control tower and a road baseplate. You can't really ask for much more in a rail crossing set. Best ever! Overall: 40/40, with the extra votes going to the parts and playability to get it perfect. Perhaps I'm a bit biased but it's undoubtedly the most playable rail crossing set Lego has ever produced and included the best parts of them all! Thanks for reading and looking, I hope you enjoyed the review. (on another note, I haven't a clue how to add a voting list. Can someone please help me out with that? )

This is like watching someone play Sim City.

It looks brilliant! You just need to fix up the sagging in the middle of the yellow bar, perhaps another support in the middle on it's own track? If the crane can fit through the gap then that's an easy fix. Otherwise, it looks brilliant.

I know it's used in some of the train sets to mount a headlight, this set is one I know of for certain: You can see the part behind the clear-transparent round 1x1 plate.

Yeah, I agree with you. I've got a bunch of these blokes too:

ROFL. Target Country - shocking place to shop.

I'd probably use it as an excuse to double up on an already very rare and expensive collection, mostly the 12V trains. But I'd certainly get everything that I already had back. I don't know how I could go on without it.

ROFL, nice work.

It looks like a great city but the tracks look like they would be pretty unstable, especially around the bends when the train goes over them. Firstly I'd double up on the support beams to have one on either side of the track, that way it won't wobble either way. As for the bends, that might need something constucted across the length of the road beneath it. Your elevated track reminds me of a beautiful set sitting in my cupboard:

Read some more, learn some more, then try again.

Once you've given Bricklink a chance you'll never quite understand how you lived without it. Always try to get your sets from sellers that have heaps of feedback if you're looking to make sure there aren't problems. Most sellers are excellent when communicating as well, never be afraid to ask for extra pictures of specific things you're looking for (I always ask for photos of boxes and stickered parts, they're a good indication of the quality of the set in my opinion).

Definitely trust Bricklink over eBay. Why? For the most part Lego collectors and fans sell products on that site, whereas everybody trying to make a few quick dollars sells them on eBay (of course the good ones use eBay too but it's harder to split them and pick out which ones are good). Worst case scenario on Bricklink has been an accidentally missed part, it usually only takes a quick email and the seller that made the mistake will quickly send out the missing pieces at no extra cost. Problem solved.

Do I qualify? I own the following: 12V: 7740 Inter-City Passenger Train 7760 Diesel Shunter Locomotive 7834 Level Crossing Manual 7866 Remote Controlled Road Crossing 7815 Passenger Carriage / Sleeper 7819 Postal Container Wagon Covered 7822 Railway Station 7857 Crossing, Electric Rails Gray 12v 7858 Remote Controlled Points Right 12v 7859 Remote Controlled Points Left 12v 7860 Remote Controlled Signal 12v 7862 Remote Controlled Decoupling 7864 Transformer / Controller 12V 7867 12V Train Light Posts 9V: 2150 Train Station 4537 Octan Twin Tank Rail Tanker 4539 Manual Level Crossing 4547 Club Car 4549 Container Double Stack 4551 Crocodile Locomotive 4554 Metro Station 4558 Metroliner 4563 Load and Haul Railroad 4515 Straight Rails 4519 Rail Crossing 4520 Curved Rails 4531 Manual Points 4548 Transformer and Speed Regulator 6399 Airport Shuttle (I'll count it, might not technically be a train though) RC: 7938 Passenger Train 10194 Emerald Night And tons of track for both 12V and 9V systems.

I'd love to see a guide on pulling apart a 12v motor and lubricating it. You seem to have some experience doing this, any chance of you putting together a simple guide with a few images?

Agreed. It's on my list of "must-haves". Will need to save up though.

OK, so since I made the above post when I bought my shunter something has been bugging me. The thing just seemed slow, I couldn't understand why. I thought perhaps the motor was a bit old and dodgey. Then it clicked when I put the thing into reverse. The instructions ask you to place the motor backwards on this model, so simply turning it 180 and putting it with the upward-facing holes at the front will make it run a hell of a lot quicker. I haven't seen any comment about this before so perhaps it's only my motor. If anyone else tries it, let me know if there's any difference.

This lot just arrived in the mail, thanks to DiMarco's Brick Shop on Bricklink (although I unwittingly bought it from him on ebay before it clicked that he was on bricklink, I could have saved him a few dollars if I'd realised earlier) and my good new friend Cho from RareToy-Selling Rare Sets on Bricklink as well. Cho has some of the rarest sh*t I've ever seen, admittedly there's a price attached to that, but I've just never seen such a collection from one person in such condition. Certainly worth a look just for curiosity. They're all MISB and needless to say that I'm ecstatic and I can't wait to open these sets (yes, they will be opened and built. I can't just let Lego sit there gathering dust to make some money off them down the track). I might have to post a review of the level crossing. I'm reliving my childhood and it's amazing.

Use tweezers mate, best solution.

See here: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Lego-7939-Cargo-Tra...=item2ead871508 :-)

Someone in Melbourne is selling the new yellow Cargo train on ebay, I therefore assume someone has begun stocking it somewhere. Yet to figure out who.

They're on sale at Toyworld currently in Australia. :-) At least the passenger train and the station are anyway, I picked up the train. Love it.