Subject:
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Re: The End of 9 Volt? (was: Re: Train motors half price via S@H weekly special)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Thu, 4 Aug 2005 15:48:52 GMT
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Viewed:
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2403 times
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In lugnet.trains, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
>
> well i have known about the "rc train" for about 2 months now and since there is
> allways some huge announcment typicly involving the train line logic tells me
> that we will get some sort of information at brickfest. even if it's nothing
> more than 9volt isin't dead.
> realisticly however, the lego company did a run of track in 2003. the last
> time they ran a run of track i think it was 1994 so the track is going to last a
> while. they also just reboxed the train motor. if they were going to kill off
> the 9 volt line why would they bother when they can just sell off remaining
> product to make way for the new line's squ's.
SNIP
>
> it isin't rumor, i can guarentee that.
SNIP
>
> ondrew
Okay, so there's no point in speculating but I will anyway since I've been
interested in (and worried about) what this could mean since I first saw the
coming of RC LEGO trains mentioned on the Eurobricks main page a while back.
I don't really follow other toy lines outside of LEGO but maybe others could
answer this. Is there any precedent for or existing train toy that combines RC
control with powered track? There are two things that scare me the most about
an RC LEGO train system:
1) Plastic rails = not a serious model railroad system (okay, so maybe this is
just a matter of perception, but I expect the metal rails helps with some level
of acceptance by non-LEGO folks at model train shows). I also think plastic
rails look cheesy.
2) Battery Box - Ack!!!!! It takes us space, it's a pain to disguise, it adds
weight, you're trains get sluggish as the batteries die, ugh... No good comes
from needing to incorporate a battery box in every loco design...
Okay, so what if you still get power from the rails but control the train
speed/direction (hopefully sounds and lights, too!) via RC? Is there a reason
they couldn't do this? Sure, you can't do reversing loops without insulating
track, but who cares about that? It could still be compatible with today's 9V
trains and just be an upgrade in functionality. For example you could even have
new trains with the RC controller pegged on max forward speed and then use the
old 9V controller powering the rails to set the train speed/direction like we do
now.
I guess one downside would be if TLG finds that having metal rails is what keeps
them from easily producing new track radius or switch-track curve-outs, etc.
Personally, I'd sacrifice new track variants to keep metal rails and avoid
battery boxes, but others may disagree.
Of course this is all speculation and (apparently) the product has already been
designed so this is just discussion for the fun of it...
Regards,
Paul D.
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