If you really want to see a great Leggo 9v train layout, stop by Niagara Falls, Ontario.... there is a huge layout on display. I too have been thinking about building one of these, definetly a toy layout but looks like it could be lots of fun.
The lego semaphore had a triangular post to flip the on-off switch on the battery car. I don't exactly remember how it connected to the track though, and it's buried in a closet. Being European and all, the engine wasn't ever meant to have a tender. But since they didn't model a coal bin behind the cab, and since the tanks we're smooth on top, it left me wondering how the engine got around. So I made a short tender. That set also made a diesel switcher. The strangest thing you could make though was the "Mail Car". For those of you who never saw one, picture a flatcar with boxcar doors laying on top. Not much use in general but I have to hand it to the Lego engineers for coming up with this crazy design out of the left-over bricks!
Lego pricing has gone nuts. However you can find some "previously enjoyed" pieces like track at reasonable prices on the bay. A little windex or 409 restores Lego bricks pretty easily. And here's a trick I've found very valuable for taking paint off plastics, soak them in brake fluid. Brake fluid penetrates the paint and causes it to release from the surface without damaging the plastic. I use a toothbrush to scrub off the paint from the details. So if someone has intentionally or accidentally painted some Lego bricks just dunk them for a day or two.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Ah, we just pretended that the battery car was a funny-looking tender. There was a semaphore, too, that did something to the battery car to cause the train to stop. I never figured out how to use it and it ultimately broke. The pieces are still rattling around somewhere.
I have to admit to looking rather longingly at the Santa Fe and BNSF sets. I think they're electric though.
They make lego block candy (tastes like smartees) these days. Run with it. If you are still doing a Hershey PA theme, just act is if the park did something special for the holidays.
Sadly I haven't really kept mine up to snuff. It spends most of it's time in a plastic bucket in the bottom of a closet, but it's mostly there. I didn't like the "as built" cars either so I added a tender to the engine which meant I had to have longer wires passing through the tender to the battery car. I also painted the water tanks on the engine dark green. The other car was usually just a Germanic coach.
If you're going to build towards a permanent layout there's nothing stopping you from using glue on loose fitting bricks. But then you lose the ability to build which is most of the fun.
Becky
Becky,
My brother and I also had the european prototype train powered by batteries. We both thought the cars looked odd, so we built them into a more American-looking caboose and boxcar, and the loco into a camelback. We were quite disappointed when Lego went to electrified rail! The good news was that we (i.e., our parents) were able to acquire several boxes of the old track and a good number of turnouts at reasonable prices before they disappeared forever. By the time my brother and I were in high school, we had built a true point-to-point lego railroad on a very large area rug, with yards at each end, a couple industries, a passing track at the midpoint of the line, and a pier where containers were loaded from ship to rail. The lack of turnaround facilities was a problem--though I believe we did at one point build a rudimentary turntable. The real trouble was, we were never able to acquire enough rolling stock to make it work really well
But it was fun to build!
Just received the LEGO Holiday catalog, 4 Lego trains in it along with what one would consider light rail.
Hogworts Express
Passenger Train
Cargo Train
Western Train
Bill T.
I find that Megablocks are lesser quality than Legos though, and sometimes have issues with the bricks sticking together properly. Whatever you do, do not buy the really cheap, generic "Lego" bricks that some stores sell. They're absolute junk.
Some time in the 80's I picked-up one of the German style steam sets that ran on C cell batteries. For a short time I used those Megablocks to build a small Lego RR. Instead of freeform building, I decided to model everything from a small Hellgate Bridge to a 124 station. Plastic blocks like these paint easily by the way.
My suggestion would be to buy a couple of large tubs of Megablocks brand building blocks since they're WAY cheaper than the Legos. The Megablocks also come in standard colors that are bright and unusual like puce green and purple. Doors and windows can be tricky though, you may have to buy them piecemeal from Lego's "Pick-a-Brick" to get everything the way you want.
Have fun!
What will he think when he finds out grandpa's been playing with his Legos? I love Legos: you're never too old.
Grandson dropped off 6 large tubs of Legos for GrandPa to store in the crawl space. So I am figuring why not build a couple of those large skyscrapers this winter for the Layout. A good project when the snow starts swirling.
ok people i got the heshey thing going on and now im putting in a huge lego train with it. what is your idea of this and can anyone come up with the theme for it. The train room is 12x15 its a childs dream that i think no one has. i cant really call it candy land . there is the pennsy, the polar express,and the hershey and they are o gauge and im putting in the lego santa fe and the bnsf with freight and building the houses and such. so can anyone come up with a theme for this. thanks chad/tm5 from pittsburgh at the trainstation(home)
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