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Subject: 
Re: How to start on Lego® trains. What to buy? Which system? // For train FAQ
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.faq
Date: 
Sun, 1 Sep 2002 15:11:46 GMT
Viewed: 
7229 times
  
In article <H1oMJn.5yJ@lugnet.com>,
"Cary Clark" <cary@corp.nospamwebtv.net> wrote:

> In lugnet.trains, Cary Clark writes:
> > In lugnet.trains, Reinhard "Ben" Beneke writes:
> > ...
> > > First let me say a 'thank you' to all who left input.
> > 
> > ...
> > 
> > To fit into the current organization of the train FAQ, I believe this is
> > suggesting additions or rewrites to several existing FAQ entries:
> 
> ...
> I've made a first pass at adding the jist of this thread into the FAQ. You
> can view the results most easily by reading through the first few entries
> here:
> 
> http://www.lugnet.com/~330/FAQ/Trains/all
> 
> If you have ideas to improve this, please let me know.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Cary

Wow, that looks great. A few corrections/comments

> Will the current 9V trains soon become obsolete?
> From Larry Pieniazek: !
> 
> All LEGO trains, including 4.5V, 12V, and 9V, use the same gauge. This has
> remained unchanged for over 30 years. It¹s unlikely to change soon.
> 
> From Matthew Bates: !
> 
> The 12V system was an afterthought to the original 4.5V battery trains and
> was not terribly reliable. LEGO introduced more flexible 9V components in the
> late 80¹s. By converting trains over to this system they made all their
> electrical elements interchangeable. They also improved the train motors by
> using spring-loaded conducting flanges on the wheels, which provides a more
> reliable contact than the 12V system, which relied on gravity alone.

The above is from the FAQ, and I don't thing the last line is correct. I
don't have my 12v motor handy (still haven't unpacked since the move),
but I think the brass contacts on the motor are spring loaded. However,
this doesn't change the fact that 12v weren't particularly reliable.

> Where are some good general train websites?
> From Mark de Kock: !
> 
> Try the NGLTC¹s Train Depot. It¹s great!
> http://www.ngltc.org/train_depot/
> 
> From Larry Pieniazek: !
> 
> Here are some other good ones:
> http://www.pnltc.org/
> http://my.voyager.net/lar/lego.html
> http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~jmathis/traincreations.html
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/9639/trains.html
> http://members.nbci.com/robstorm/
> 
> From Cary Clark:
> 
> And a few more:
> http://www.baylug.org/train/
> http://homepage.mac.com/cjmasi/~lego/lego.htm
> http://www.lightlink.com/demlow/trains/

Wow, I made the FAQ, cool. Apple's iTools switched to a pay service, so
I moved my site to http://users.rcn.com/cjmasi/lego/ since I was paying
for this service anyway. The site is in a bit of disrepair right now
because I had to shrink it to fit it in my 10 MB limit.

> How do I make remote-controlled points (switching rails)?
> From Ben Fleskes: !
> 
> I use a small technic pneumatic cylinder with a modified switch track. I
> modified a switch track using Steve Barile¹s instructions on the PNLTC web
> page. This change took at most five minutes and I found it very easy with an
> exacto knife as my only tool. After the modifcation, the switch could easily
> be switched from one position to the next with little resistance.
> 
> To build the pneumatic switch, you will need the following parts:
> (1) small technic cylinder
> (1) 1x2x1 brick with side peg
> (1) gray technic connector peg
> (1) modified switch track
> Pneumatic hoses, valve and a pump.
> 
> 1. Place the gray technic connector peg on the small yellow extension on the
> switch track activator arm. This is a friction connection.
> 2. Connect the 1x2x1 brick with side peg to the base of the small pneumatic
> cylinder.
> 3. Connect the cylinder and brick to the gray technic connector peg on the
> yellow switch arm, with the 1x2x1 brick with side peg on the side closest to
> the track. Press the 1x2 down to the base of the switch track, immediately
> adjacent to the track.
> 4. Connect hoses, valve and pump and you are done.
> I¹ve found this to be very reliable and simple solution that takes up very
> little additonal space outside the base of the switch track.
> 
> From Christopher Masi: !
> 
> Here¹s my design, which copies some features found on other automated points.
> http://cmasi.chem.tulane.edu/~lego/NOLTC/tech/pointsmarkii/points.htm
> 
> From Wessel Burgers: !
> 
> And here are the building instructions for my automated 9V points.
> http://www.wez.myweb.nl/points1.htm

Wow, I made the FAQ again. Again, the url needs to be changed.

http://users.rcn.com/cjmasi/lego/trains/tech/pointsmarkii/points.htm

Good job on the FAQ, I'll put a link from my site once I have time to
fix it (my site that is)!

Chris



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