Carefree_Dude

you do get more traction with the clear bands. Its just still hard to pull heavy cars with a light engine. I'm trying some different O-rings to see if it helps without adding weight to the engine. Also, you can buy straights. Contact lego using the replacement part form, and you can buy straights only that way.

That's probably the problem. I tossed my cargo train in the front instead, and it just zoomed around the track. My PF super chief pulled it just fine too (plus a few Santa Fe cars). They are heavier than the passenger.

I've now purchased two of these sets. Including the engine, the train is now 6 cars long. It pulls okay using only one motor, but slows down around corners. I'm thinking about adding another motor into the last car, which should help it a lot.

Alright, i've converted my super chief completely into power functions. I've so far done so without making any outside cosmetic changes other than IR reciver sticking up about even with the round pieces on the top. I even kept viewable engine through the window intact, made hidden power button for the batter box on the top, and hid all cords perfectly. It actually looks pretty nice. The one thing that bugs me though is that I only have one light hooked up, but there are two light holes. The bottom one is on the top of some SNOT bricks, so i can't run my second PF light directly to it. I'm trying to figure out a way to light up this part as well without any huge cosmetic differences to the set. I tried one method of reversing the two big slope pieces, but that left some bad gaps in the side of the train.

I have not had an opportunity to yet because I don't have anything to heat the plastic. It sounds like it will definately work though.

He not only said it could, but also gave us a video of it doing so. What more do you want?

Very helpful information, thanks

I'd like to build a small steam engine using power functions and the M or E motors. The XL is far too big. I'm concerned about having improper gearing and burning out the motor though. How do you know if you geared things properly?

its fun to put a bunch of minifigs on a baseplate by that curve, then let the train go crazy. see how many minifigs you can take out.

It is a beautiful engine. Is it more for just display, or does it handle well on track? I know the Emerald Night has issues handling lots of curves and such. How does yours fare?

In my tests, the PF train motor can handle about as well as the XL one. So far, i've gotten 18 train cars pulled by a single PF train motor with very few problems. You need one of the newer train wheels though that have the clear friction bands.

The motors that come with the new PF trains are true PF motors; Lego doesn't sell them separately yet though. If lego starts selling these separately as well, then you can add them to the list.

definitely beautiful. you did an amazing job.

I have one of the first-run 7898 set. I made a small layout using four RC switching track. I noticed that on two of my switching track, my train wheels often bumped something, or a derailment occured when I took the "off" path. I thought maybe I built something wrong on a customized train, but I noticed it passed over my other two switching tracks with no problem. I carefully inspected my four switches, and ran wheelsets over them. I noticed that two of them (the ones that you could tell have been used more) had a weird notch in the part that curves. Also, there is a smaller gap for the wheels to pass through. This causes the wheels to hit the rail, and either make a hard bump into place or cause a derailment. The center straight rail on the old ones is 3/4 of an inch longer than the ones on the new ones. Look closely at the part of the rail that moves when you switch. See the little rectangular notch? That area right there is skinnier than the rest of the track, causing the whole problem. More recent RC track doesn't have that. Also, it is possible that it may have been only in the first run or so of the RC cargo train. I've noticed on both the PF trains and the RC trains, there were changes made on later runs. Anyways, is there any other news on this? Also, think lego would replace these older style RC switcing track with some newer ones that wont make my train derail? Another interesting note, is that the middle rail on the 9V switching track is the same length as the one on the RC track. Why doesn't this cause derailment you ask? Well, the reason is the notch on the RC track curve. Though technically both the old RC track and the 9V track have this same notch, the 9V track has metal to fill this area making it thick enough to push it past. On the RC track, the notch is there but the metal isn't; this makes that one part of the track very thin, and the train wheels naturally go into that notched area causing it to hit the middle rail.

its not that difficult. You just put the lights in the front peice, and they have a convienent hole under the driver seat and the back wall in order to stick the cables.

No but you can add lights easy, just like the cargo train.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=41677 technic liftarm above (that part) I made this modification and it's great. Thanks a ton!

I think you'll be happy. So far I've been able to pull 15+ cars through curves and switches with absolutely no problems. In fact, i just made a quick oval track on my table (16 curve tracks, 14 straight) and tossed 16 cars behind the new cargo train. They were as follows: 3 custom tanker cars (the andythenorth ones) 3 cars from 2010 cargo train (tanker, flatbed with cars, flatbed with big box) 4 cars from RC cargo train (flatbed with car, small red thing, crane car, modified box car) 1 long car from freight and crane railway 1 My own train hopper car 1 my own train log car 1 emerald night passenger car 1 box car from 4512 1 flatbed car with cargo from 4512 I would have added more, but at this point there was only a small space between the front of the engine and the rear of the car in the back. It was a little slow getting started, but held up fine. Barely any wheel slipping at the start. I could imagine if I were on a longer layout, and not going through 16 curve track at the same time, the motor could easily handle 10 more cars (as long as they weren't huge heavy passenger cars)

The new bands are clear. They seem to have more than double the traction of the grey bands. The three color bands i've seen are: Black: Almost no traction Gray: Good traction Clear: Amazing traction

No, I just got them with my new cargo train. It came with 8, so i tossed the dummies onto the PF motor I put on my modified 7898. I'd say they have more than double the traction of the wheels with the gray bands.

Lego has released new wheels (again) that have even better traction. With these new wheels the PF motor doesn't slip at all. at least hasn't slipped for me yet, except a little when starting it up. the RC wheels were so bad, the RC cargo train couldn't even pull the cars that came with it.

You don't have to remove the battery box to recharge it. You can recharge it right in the train; On both of my trains with the rechargeable box I simply have to remove one piece to get to the plug in. Also, the train stays strong till the moment it dies.

Hey I almost bid on that same auction! I decided not to though because I just spent a lot on the Airport Shuttle

Uh, that stuff isn't visible. The picture show the cover plate for all that removed. that is why the blue pins are there to begin with. Whoever built that did a great job at hiding the PF stuff.

I bought the PF motor on bricklink for a pretty reasonable price. There are only 8 sellers, but their quantities aren't bad. One guy has 17 total.