Carefree_Dude

I'd really like to see 16 santa fe coaches being pulled. That would be awesome.

which is why i use 1 PF motor. 1 PF motor can handle all 5 santa fe cars packed with minifigs and luggage, as well as several cars after that. If only using santa fe cars, i'm sure 1 PF motor can handle 7-8 with no bad slowdown. possibly more, but i don't have the money to invest in more santa fe cars.

I partially took apart my emerald night yesterday, and saw that the moving parts had dust around them which i assume is from the technic parts turning. Eventually, would this cause serious damage to the parts? Would lubricating them make it all run better?

I love the PF motors simply because of how powerful they are. Also with a few modifications, you can make them run off 9v track. If you modify them to make them run off 9v track, the only real drawbacks are range of the remote, and you still have to have room for the battery box and receiver. Oh, and cost. Also, unless lego 9v motors start being made by a different source, they will eventually become extremely hard to come by and very pricey.

nice. but isn't it kind of silly to put a train station with a cargo train?

I always enjoy having at least 5. 4 for the train to take different routes, and 1 for a train/cars to park. you may need more if you want to do complete loops that are seperate from one another.

Yup, I plan on going this route with mine, but with only 2 doors per car. maybe have one or two without doors. Also, I plan on using the smaller windows where the doors are.

I couldn't figure out where to make the cuts at. The parts I have already look like the diagram its telling me to cut. And my santa fe is the engine and 5 cars: Mail, baggage, sleeping, dining, observation.

I've already converted my Super Chief to power functions, and did so without making any cosmetic changes. I shaved off the #6's for the motor. Then, I was able to fit the battery box inside the train, as well as the IR receiver. The IR receiver sticks up behind the 5 round circle parts on top, and looks really nice. No Light Bluish grey can be seen. Also, I even included an external button for the battery box which doesn't change the appearance of the engine at all. You want to look in the portholes? you'll see the same thing as on the 9V model. as far as using the old 9v Motor, i'd recommend against it. It lacks the power to pull a full santa fe train without a second motor. the PF motor can pull the full santa fe train and then some.

I hope the emerald night stays for a while. I want more cars. I only have two so far.

you can get the grey wheelholders for as little as 4 bucks each. I just bought 10 of them to build some santa fe cars. What is really going to kill you are the 2x3 rounded slopes that make the top. those cost about $2 each, and you need 32 of them.

wow, I got all the parts for the red emerald night (with black wheels) on bricklink for a little over $20. All parts in new condition of course. I'll be able to make a ruby night and emerald night side by side shot. Hey, what striping tape did you use? Just something skinny with a gold color to it? Did you cut off the strips first, or did you apply then trim? Also, how did you get the red colored stickers on the side? I also plan on making a custom sticker that says "Ruby Night" instead of "Emerald Night". The best part: The dark green pieces sell on bricklink for more than what it costs to buy the red pieces. Next month i may buy a third emerald night, and make it all black with red trim and wheels.

i need 3 dark grey (not dark bluish grey) 6x28 train baseplates. Would prefer someone int he US. contact me with how much you want for them.

a black emerald night with red wheels and red trim would be beautiful.

before I added 3 cars, I had extension cables going all the way to the rear train for more lights in the rear. i removed them though, as it looked ugly and lights in the back didn't add much. You would be better off adding a 9V battery box to the rear car.

i lke using tables so nobody steps on stuff. I currently have 3 big folding tables I use, so I can set up anywhere. The way I see it, is if the train can't handle that little extra bit of incline/decline, then you probably shouldn't have that load on it.

This is a pretty easy gearing change you can do that will make your emerald night faster without sacrificing much power. I don't have any pics yet, but this is what i've done. I've replaced both of these: with This: and this: You can makes this modification without using any additional parts (other than the gears), or making any cosmetic changes. By doing this, the emerald night can go noticably faster, but still pull long trains. It looses speed with long trains, but it did that beforehand anyways. I haven't tried freight cars yet, but mine has so far pulled 2 santa fe cars, the Emerald Night car, and 5 2010 passenger train cars (including rear) with no problems other than the slow down. Also, i haven't charged the battery in a while so I could imagine i'd get better results if i did.

How much did the extra red parts cost? I'm kind of interested in making my own now. Since you used a custom stickers anyways, I would make one that said "Ruby Night"

I did it and it worked well. It's a little ugly but the track is now amazing.

I've already done it.

You could, but it would be difficult and ugly. You would also have to fit the battery box in the passenger car, or get an extension cable going to it, as well as shoving the IR sensor in there. Why not must spend the 9 bucks for the xl motor?

This opens up many possibilities. I have two of the batteries, and I would be happy to try this out myself some time. I have more 9V track than I know what to do with. Would you use the old speed regulator to get power to the track still though?

The Cargo train does not have an "M" motor. An "M" motor will power it though. The motor from the cargo train wont, unless you put it on the carriage or something.

Turns out my problem was bad batteries. After a fresh change, all 6 cars were pulled fast around the track with no slow down. In fact, I had to slow the train down myself around the curve for fear of derailment. I'm gonna have to buy more rechargeable battery packs. I only own two so far (one for my 7898, one for my emerald night). After I get more money, I'm going to add doors to the train. They will have to be brick doors, as the train wont allow for standard size lego doors. Holy crap! with the fresh batteries, the passenger engine can not only pull the 5 passenger cars with ease, but also the 5 santa fe cars as well!!!

I'll take a picture later. Basically, I rebuilt the two end cars to have couplings in both front and back, rather than just the back. Then, I have 4 cars (dining, passenger, recreation, sleeping) in between them. I'm currently waiting for a few parts to finish the sleeping car to arrive.