 | | Re: LEGO 7996 and 9V
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(...) There was some discussion about this a few months ago: (URL) I haven't tried it yet myself though, so I can't vouch for how well it works. -Elroy (17 years ago, 31-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | LEGO 7996 and 9V
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Hi, I was just wondering - has anyone yet considered whether there might be a way to "9voltify" the LEGO 7996 set (switched rail crossing)? I mean, there we do have a very useful piece of track, however it is only usable for RC trains so far. What (...) (17 years ago, 31-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Holiday Train (MOC Style)
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Hey all, I know, it's been a loooong while since I've posted anything (let alone a MOC announcement). But I've been working on this since before Christmas, and I think that I've finally reached the point where I must stop, or it will take over the (...) (17 years ago, 31-Dec-07, to lugnet.announce.moc, lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: My new approach to modular brickscaping...
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(...) Technic half-pins are better for alignment (and a few plates as you mentioned above) when considering the COLTC-standard hill modules -- makes set up/tear down much more simpler. Like you said Technic pins are better for "stronger" (...) (17 years ago, 30-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: My new approach to modular brickscaping...
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Thomas, thanks for your feedback - I think the height issue will sort itself out with the additional modules I'm starting on right now. Adjacent modules will either run to greater heights (as for the tunnel mountain) or as low as 2-3 bricks high, (...) (17 years ago, 30-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: My new approach to modular brickscaping...
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(...) The general approach looks sound. The module size is good. It's easy to forget when building that your model will often have to get through the doors of your home and into your car---usually by one person working alone. I wonder if using (...) (17 years ago, 29-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | My new approach to modular brickscaping...
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...with strictly a trains motivation of course ;) I have taken a break over the holidays and done some bricking - partially inspired by what the kids built recently. See here: (URL) it's not perfect yet, but I'd like your opinions on the modular (...) (17 years ago, 28-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) Bluetooth is indeed probably way too expensive and complex. Perhaps the costs would go down, but probably not enough to make this cost-effective. There are cheaper radio systems, like 804.15.4 (ZigBee) that would make more sense than Bluetooth (...) (17 years ago, 28-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) It could, but I'm not sure what the increase in cost would be. IR is extremely mature technology, and can be done without and special hardware; very, very cheap, yet (within its limitations) fairly robust (especially LEGO implementation of it, (...) (17 years ago, 28-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) Ohh...my wife and I have a deal, I can have as many steam engines as she has animals. (+1, which I had before her!). So, at present I have 2 large engines here. There's a 3rd one that I part own, but it isn't here...hence, it doesn't count. (...) (17 years ago, 28-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Self assembly wheels
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I know these aren't exactly new, but I just got my first sets as part of the Hobby train. I didn't build the krocodile fromt he printed instructions and when I got to the wheelset I wasn't sure if they had axles or not. Referring to the instructions (...) (17 years ago, 27-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) <snip> (...) Very good! That is exactly what I was thinking. I work a lot with AVR's, too, so I'm happy to see you made the "right" choice in microcontrollers :) -dave (17 years ago, 27-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: Rutland Gondola
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(...) Nice car. My only suggestion is that you might want to take a black magic marker and go around the edges of the stickers after cutting but before application. Benn (17 years ago, 23-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | One Day Show Sunday
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Well, we are all set up for our winter one day show, and we have a few new surprises in store to boot! If you can't make it by, look for pics right after Christmas! JOHN (17 years ago, 23-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains.org.tcltc, lugnet.trains, lugnet.trains.org, FTX)
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| | Re: My attempt at a railway bridge
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(...) Ha, I had to build a bridge to complete my current layout- (URL) It's a suspension bridge, as it takes a oodle of parts to make any other total lego solution to 3+ m bridges. James Powell (17 years ago, 22-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | Re: Rutland Gondola
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(...) [...] (...) [...] (...) Great gondola Elroy. I can't wait to see it. Chris (17 years ago, 22-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: Rutland Gondola
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(...) I'm a sucker for plain, well-textured freight wagons and this one is a great example. With custom bogies I think it would be perfect. Tim (17 years ago, 21-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | Re: My attempt at a railway bridge
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(...) Thanks Jonathan - I'm happy to get some feedback on it since I really was a bit unsure lately whether this behemoth was worth all the time and effort. But maybe I will finally get it finished (with all the fine-tuning that is) to show it on a (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: My attempt at a railway bridge
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(...) Hi John, actually I remember having seen (and admired) your bridge - what kept me from simply being the old copycat was for one the sheer lack of appropriate bricks and on the other hand the fact that bridges like these are not exactly (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | Re: My attempt at a railway bridge
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(...) technic bridge! I also know of the woes of building an awesome bridge, and then not even being able to use it on one's layout:-( But it is fantastic that the kids are coming into the age of being able to participate in your LEGO hobby! It is (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | Re: My attempt at a railway bridge
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(...) Nice. It is nice and beefy - but not too beefy. I find a lot of technic built bridges to be a bit to big and clunky for my taste but this has a nice feel and size to it IMO. I wish TLG made sand blue/sand green/teal technic bricks. That would (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: Rutland Gondola
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(...) Hi Elroy, I am really impressed by the realistic look of this creation - very nice detail. I wish LEGO would make train cars like these (or rather I wish they won't, budget is already more than tight ;) ) Great work. Jerry (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | Rutland Gondola
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I'm slowly adding to my collection of vintage Rutland locos and cars. The latest is a Rutland gondola, based on an old photo found (URL), and an n-scale version pictured (URL) here>. (2 URLs) NELUG Gallery> The sides of the gondola are built from (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.announce.moc, lugnet.loc.us.vt, lugnet.org.us.nelug, FTX) !!
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) I already did something very close. I reversed engineer the IR protocol of the Power Functions and created a small device that can both send and receive IR commands. The components in this device probably cost around $10-15 (but excluding the (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | My attempt at a railway bridge
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Hi all, I always meant to show this - but didn't manage to translate the describing page to English. Anyway, it's finally done (the page, that is - the bridge itself is still a work-in-progress). Enjoy: (URL) not architecturally thrilling, but it's (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) It's those smaller, sharp and pointy objects that I'm worried about actually... plus I've got a couple confessions yet to make about my other hobby (there are some more saxophones in this house than she is aware of... ;-) ) But I've got the (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) If someone can get hold of Mark Riley and have him 'fix up' LDCC to be 'Power Functions/RC Train' IR compatible instead of DCC, that'd be a quick fix :) The rest is already built in--remote control, LACC, etc... Dave K (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) I've got to say if I muttered those words aloud, my wife would likely come at me with a large blunt object :). But I agree - I need to lay hands on an IR train and start working out more of this myself as well. (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) Brian, the more I read this, the more I am with you. I think I really need to re-think my LEGO budget for next year... Three trains sounds like fair enough to me, since our house is not supposed to grow and the trains need some space to be (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) I'm pretty sure the RCX could be programmed to throw PF control messages... and while this would be a lot cheaper from a HW standpoint at the moment, I'm not sure it would be long-term. Right now the RCX is cheap(er) on eBay, but as they (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) On second thought, that doesn't look all that bad actually. Provided there is a way to eventually control more than one train and set up several IR interfaces (for positions where the optical link would otherwise fail) with a single RCX, the (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) If there are "dead zones" that could be a problem, but we also get to run doglegs this way. There are trade-offs, and I know where I'd like to be: LEGO-certified DDC built-in that is usable with anything from a regular train controller, to a (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) Hi Jerry, I certainly agree that this might not be a cost-effective solution or a very efficient way to implement DCC (although there are surely those out there who will pursue it anyway). I was just trying to emphasize that there isn't reall (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) Hi Jordan, while this sounds like an interesting solution, it also sounds like a very expensive one as opposed to going for RF in the first place (yep, I know that RF remote controls have their own issues, power consumption being a significant (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) HiTechnic / LEGO now offer an "Infrared Link" for the NXT that seems to be exactly the sort of thing you're describing here - and it is advertised as being compatible with the Power Functions and train IR protocol. This would mean that no (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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(...) Ummm.... except that you lose control when the train goes into a tunnel, or you have areas of unreliable control on your layout. Losing control in a tunnel would be a big deal for "serious" model railroaders that like off-stage "staging" (...) (17 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: Train Layout help needed
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(...) If you can't follow the electrical connections, think of it like this: If you can start two trains, one following behind the other, then simply by changing the points at the right moment cause a head-on collision, then there's something wrong. (...) (17 years ago, 17-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: Train Layout help needed
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(...) Hi Anne, electrical damage is very difficult to achieve with LEGO 9V trains - usually it just doesn't work and you'll notice before any harm is done. However, your layout will work - electrically. I am somewhat curious how you plan to set the (...) (17 years ago, 16-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: Train Layout help needed
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(...) You are fine because of the crossover track element design (all of the rails are insulated). That said, you will need to be very careful if you are running more than 1 train; that will be your biggest concern;-) JOHN (17 years ago, 16-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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| | Re: Train Layout help needed
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(...) Your layout if perfectly fine. As long as the train can't go back the oppisite way on the same track section (a reversing loop) you shouldn't have any problems. -Mike Petrucelli (17 years ago, 16-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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