fauxfoe777

Hmmm, an interesting question, which has led to some interesting answers. Although I'm surprised no one has asked this important question in return, or at least brought up the subject - 9v or RC? Because to me, that's the first decision you'll need to make, especially if you want to stick to one path or the other with the interest of keeping everything compatible for simplicity/monetary sake. I guess if you're just trying to jump in quickly, and stick with the current system Lego is supporting, where everything is readily available at local stores and Lego.com and such, I would say I mostly agree with what has been posted thus far - the PF system is nice and works with all the current trains, and I would agree the 7939 cargo train seems like a great starter set which gives you everything you need (except batteries). I personally don't have that set, mainly because I don't really like any of the cars (although I actually love that phat yellow engine), but I can tell it's a great starter none the less. The one thing I would NOT agree with is recommending the Emerald Night to a beginner. That train is awesome to look at, but it's an Emerald NightMARE to keep running. Don't get me wrong... I've had fun with that train, and all the interesting challenges it has to offer, but I would not recommend it as your first Lego train, just to make sure you don't walk away with a bad taste in your mouth. Back to the 9v vs RC debate... Like you, I am an AFOL who got into Lego trains for the first time just a couple years ago, and since then I've bought quite a few trains, both 9v and RC, and so far I like the 9v sets much better. However, there are definitely pros and cons to each, so maybe I should share some of my 9v vs RC experience with you since no one else has addressed that yet. 9 VOLT PROS > The motor is easy to build into ANY Lego train, new or old, usually without much redesign, and takes up very little space in the model. Most often it's a matter of just switching out a set of wheels (bogie, truck, or whatever you call them), and you're done, making it easy to swap motors between different trains on the fly, without having to take a whole bunch of crap apart. > Avoid the hassle of having to stop and charge and/or replace batteries, because 9v motors run solid all day long from a standard electric outlet in your home. CONS > No longer supported by Lego, so you're on your own to find advice, support, and parts. This isn't as daunting as it seems, as there are great resources and communities online for fans of 9v (including this site!), and finding what you need on Brinklink.com, eBay, and the like is fairly painless and not too expensive in my experience, provided you have the time to do a bit of homework before you buy. > Only runs on 9v track (metal rails). The eBay hunt is on for a few packs of straight track and a couple switch points in the beginning, but once you get past that you'll be ok. > Stationary control panel. > Noise. The 9v engines do give out a fairly loud whining sound when they run. RC (The Power Functions version, not the one that appeared in sets 7897 & 7898 and then quickly got discontinued. That version is similar in performance, although a bit more bulky/awkward, and more importantly no longer sold/supported by Lego. Ironically, 7898 is one of my fav sets, though.) PROS > Still supported by Lego, and readily available in local toy stores, Lego.com, etc. > Runs on either type of track, 9v or RC. > Much more quiet than the 9v engines. > Mobile control panel. No need to sit by the control box, it goes wherever you go ;) CONS > Dealing with batteries, even when rechargeable, is flat out annoying to me. I suffer the annoyance of batteries only when I really want something to be mobile, and I just don't feel like being able to control a stationary train remotely is enough of a benefit to warrant the use of batteries. > The components of the motor, batteries, IR receiver, wires, etc take up so much space in the model. This leads to various issues, and my biggest complaints with the whole PF system: --> Swapping motor and other components between trains is a pain in the neck, usually requiring a good amount of disassembly. --> The PF system doesn't work well with many of the older trains, as they just weren't designed with enough space to house all of those components. --> Some models leave you forced to have components sticking out in clear view, which is just ugly IMHO. With the Emerald Night for instance, you lose the cool engine control compartment where the engineer is shoveling coal into the fire, and instead you see the giant PF motor sticking out the back of the cab. Not to mention the ridiculous set of wires leading from that to the battery that's housed in the coal car. I couldn't stand that, and converted the EN to 9v instead, simply by powering the coal car. After all that, here's my recommendation, even though it may lead me to some sort of forum crucifixion... the 4561 Railway Express. This set is so awesome, and gives you everything you need to get up and running in the world of Lego 9v. It is arguably one of the most unrealistic looking trains Lego ever made, mainly because of the tiny engine (still thinking about modding these myself, more to the style of the 4511 engine). But hey, I would argue other sets (including several of the new ones) are unrealistically sized as well, except now it's the cars that fall short, instead of the engines. Anyway, I simply LOVE the 4561 - the way it looks, the way it runs, the interior layout, the minifigs and accessories that come with it, etc - to the point that I basically bought 2 1/2 sets in order to have 5 carriages total (3 passenger, 2 auto transport) and 2 engines (front & back) to give it good length and that streamlined, speed train look. It was fairly easy to find complete sets on eBay for around $100-200 each, depending on condition. And after all the other Lego train sets I've purchased since, including the EN, Maersk, Cargo Trains, etc, I still can't get enough of my 4561. Hope some of this helps when making your decision :)

I realize this is an old argument and don't mean to beat a dead horse, but you have to admit TLG really teased buyers of this set by including so many extra stickers, obviously intended for extra carriages! What was the point of including sets of 1-9 & first, second, third class stickers?? My son has never forgotten those useless stickers, and asks me about them almost every time he fires up the train. I get it, spend 40-60 bucks and a lot of bricklinking to make your own MOC's is an option, but i'm afraid that's a tad frustrating to say the least, especially since you can't even get all the specific parts on lego.com, so i would have to fiddle around with multiple sellers and shipping fees just to make one more car. So disappointing :(

Hi Allan, I had originally pestered you with questions, but in time i figured most of them out with some good old trouble shooting, and posted my results above. But thanks so much for the tender design you posted earlier in this string. Above all others i've seen, i still love that one the best :) Cheers, Pete

I learn more and more as i continue to trouble shoot with this sometimes frustrating train, and still might tinker around a bit more to get it just right. Meantime, i might as well share everything i have learned so far about converting the EN to 9v with one motor... First, i went with one of the mods Allen provided, a slightly longer tender with one 9v motor: http://lego.haab.us/content/10194-tender-9v.pdf Love it, simple as that. I had issues at first, which came down to a few different things, but as long as you use a fairly new 9v motor, which runs strong and has good rubber traction left on its wheels, it should do the trick. Then there's the obvious friction issues with this train, some of which i'm still trying to conquer, but most of them can be solved by using solutions posted in this forum, and a couple i came up with on my own. Here's my take on some of those: Front Pistons - So far i went with Bruce's intricate fix to eliminate some of the drag caused in this area, and it works great. I may also try swapping out the 1x5 thin arm with a 1x7 thin arm, also mentioned earlier in this string, just to see if the combination of these 2 fixes works even better. At some point i also noticed that when going around corners (using standard curved tracks), the piston rod on the inside of the curve rubs against the base of the buffer beam (the assemby with the magnet used to connect to other cars), which is beginning to leave quite an annoying scratch mark on that piece, let alone the drag it might be causing on the curves. I plan to remedy this by swapping the 6 stud piston out with a 5 or custom 5.5, and i'll edit later with my results. Gears - I notice its been mentioned a few times in these forums that people 'removed all the gears'. However, as far as i can tell, only one gear needs to be removed to take them all out of play: the little tan gear on the axel of the only two wheels that would have been powered using the PF motor. I don't see any reason to remove the rest of the gears except to drop a little extra weight, but let me know if i'm missing something here. As far as i can tell, removing that one gear does the trick. Wheel Assembly Offset - In the lego instructions, they have you offset the wheel assemblies 45 degrees from each other (12:00 & 3:00), but i saw somewhere that offsetting by 90 degrees (12:00 & 6:00) allows the train to run better. After experimenting a bit, i'm not sure the difference is that signifigant, but it seems to smooth things out just a little bit. However, i've seen other posts that swear by the 45 degrees (12:00 & 3:00) method, claiming it works best. Axels vs Axel Pins - I read something on another forum about removing the technic axels and replacing them with smooth pins instead, also in the interest of reducing friction. I assume they were referring to the same method used to connect all the other wheels on the train, using the little technic axel pins. Well i tried this, and it actually made it run much worse :( This lead me to thinking maybe i should place ALL of the wheels on axels rather than pins. This would be easy for the large middle wheels, but will obviously take a bit of re-engineering for all of the smaller wheels. Speaking of which, has anyone noticed the smaller wheels not spinning at times, especially on straight-aways? I took the front and rear truck assemblies off the train and noticed when rolling them back & forth on the track independently, the wheels really don't spin that well at all! I decided axels might be the solution, or maybe just freeing up space behind the area where the pins slightly stick out the back side of the bricks in which they are inserted. Update: Finally got around to trying this, and the train runs much better. I should first say that at some point, i changed the engine from the original 4-6-2 wheel setup to a more pleasant looking 4-6-4 setup, simply by purchasing the pieces needed to recreate the 4-wheel front truck assembly, and then swapped out the 2-wheel rear truck assembly with it to balance out the look of the train. That said, the re-engineering process necessary for putting axels in the truck assemblies is basically the same for the front and rear of my particular engine design. For this, all i did was move the brown technic bricks forward on the front truck (and backward on the rear truck), so i could run an axel through 2 of the outer small wheels on each truck assembly. This meant ditching the long blue pins, and introducing more of the short black ones to hold everything together, and works just fine. The inner small wheels, however, are still stuck using the axel pins, as the current/stock swivel method used to connect the trucks to the train blocks me from using an axel for these wheels. But at least the area behind those pins is now free and clear, which seems to allow them to spin just a bit better. Not sure if i will ever go through the trouble of figuring out how redesign the swivel connections just to get axels through these last wheels, as the train is now running quite well anyway. I did go ahead and run an axel through the big wheels in the very center of the train as well, which was easy to figure out, but a pain to actually do, as i had to remove many pieces just to get in there and ultimately remove 1 little brown brick (and the grey axel piece that runs through it, gears that were attached to that, etc), and then put everything back together again. Annoying process that all this was, the train now runs smoother than it ever had before. And don't let this post scare you from purchasing/modding this train. I've had a lot of fun tinkering to get this one right, and i'm sure you will too. Finally, when it comes to pulling multiple carriages, i always have to add weight to the tender to keep the train running (1 roll of quarters), so if anyone has a solution better than me shopping for a lead brick to hide in my tender, i would appreciate the suggestion :) Hope this helps one or another. Cheers, Pete