Emerald Night Tech Question

[Scooter]

Hello there,

As this is my first post I'll give a little bit of a background. I'm 38 years old, live just outside London in the UK and am married with two boys aged 6 and 4. As a kid I was really in to Lego, but could never afford trains, so we did with lots of town stuff. We sold the whole lot years ago for £50 ! I know, what a fool! Well since my boys came along I've got back into it, and we now have the white passenger train, 7939 yellow cargo train, station,a whole load of town buildings and vehicles, as well as the Death Star, X wing and a few other Star Wars bits and pieces. I have to say I really enjoy building the Lego with my boys, then watching them play with it, just like I did (and still do!)

That's the intro over with, now I've got a question for you. I picked up the Emerald Night train today, after reading a post somewhere that it may not be in the shops for much longer (I don't know if this is true of course).

I've had a look at the instructions regarding the placement of the power functions items i.e. the battery box in the tender and the XL motor in the drivers cab.

I'm not happy with how this looks, having it all exposed. I wonder if anyone has instead used a normal 'bogie' train motor, and if so where can it be placed. I was thinking under the tender, with a slight modifgication so that the tender runs with three axles (one unpowered of course) with the battery box hidden in the carriage out of sight. Would the tender have enough weight pushing down on the track to get the train to move?

The other alternative is to place the 'bogie' motor under the front of the passenger carriage, and modify the rear wheels to match. This would allow the battery box to sit above it in the carriage and would mean more weight pushing the wheels down onto the track. The reciever would of course remain in its intended location in the engine.

Any thoughts or hints would be most welcome, along with any pictures to help me. Got to get it sorted before I start buying the PF kit.

Many thanks, Scooter

[patje]

here some examples sometimes, however, in Dutch

emerald

switching to the end (2pages)

I hope that it helps you

Edited April 4, 2011 by patje

[Scooter]

Thanks for that, I'll take a look.

Anymore ideas or info out there would be much appreciated,

Cheers

[peterab]

Thanks for that, I'll take a look.

Anymore ideas or info out there would be much appreciated,

Cheers

The new power functions motor is reported to have reasonable traction without much extra weight on it provided it has the newer clear rubber rings on its wheels. If not you can purchase O rings from a plumbing supplies place to fit. The older rings in grey or black or red have less traction but may be OK. This should allow you to place it wherever you feel best.

One thing to note with the EN is that if you are not going to power it via the driving wheels, you can remove a lot of friction by removing the gears from the drive train. There are also a few mods which will stop it binding, and further lower friction, particularly doubling the length of the cylinders and changing some of the wheels from axle pins to axles. These are documented in older threads on the Emerald Night here so have a look around, there's a lot of info in the existing threads which will help you.

[henryhotspurs]

I initially powered my Emerald with 9v. I rebuilt the tender and wasn't happy with the look. I then substituted trucks on the carriage and was not impressed with the way the loco ran. The loco seemed to labor even with all the gears stripped out, AND it required that I always used the same carriage to power the loco. Hardly realistic.

I splurged on the PF XL motor, IR reciever, IR controller and the rechargable battery and actually found this to be the best compromise. I covered the exposed, gray battery in the tender with black tiles and it gave it a streamlined look and did not show above the side of the tender. The old, old battery with the "don't shoot me orange" switch always looked terrible to me,and showed horribly above the tender sides. The new, more compact battery compartments look fine and the train drives better as designed (aside from the technical mods you MUST make to drive it for any length of time)

I think if you try the power functions kit you'll really come to like it. If you don't like it in the Emerald you may be able to put it in your Maersk Train (you have to get this one) or use the components to make an IR switch point. It's that versatile...

[Brickimad]

I've got the EN, and loads of 12v and 9v Motors. I used the carriage to sling a motor unit under it, which pushes the train, with no problems. This is the 12v on a small track, not even at full power...

[LEGO Guy Bri]

emerald pg2

Is this mod is the best option for more torque applied to the track? Also, is it less effective if you leave the 9V motor intact? Logistically I see this as "yes" with the extra load trying to draw current but, have never done anything like this (integrating 9V with PF accessories).

Edited April 6, 2011 by Leg Godt Gud

[Scooter]

Hi there,

I've been thinking about this today, when I should have been working!

Has anyone put a PF train motor under the passenger car, the battery box above it in the car, with the reciever hidden (well not the top part obviously) in the tender. The gears could be stripped out of the engine for less friction, and the motor would have some weight over it from the battery box.

The other way I thought of was to use the PF train motor at the very rear of the engine, in place of the single wheel. That way the reciever can stay in the engine, as well at the battery staying in the tender, hidden of course. How difficult is to mod the rear section like this, still allowing it to connect to the tender?

All of this is so that I don't have a honking great motor on show in the cabin of the engine and the driver can still fit in the cab!

Sorry for all the questions, just want some ideas before I go and buy the kit.

Cheers guys and girls,

Scotty

Edited April 6, 2011 by Scooter

[gotoAndLego]

In either the Maarsk or Emerald Night review threads someone posted a link to a 9V battery adapter. This will significantly reduce the visual size of whats required to power the train.

[roamingstop]

In either the Maarsk or Emerald Night review threads someone posted a link to a 9V battery adapter. This will significantly reduce the visual size of whats required to power the train.

If you look on Flickr there are a few examples of modified EN tenders; either with 9V or PF motors + receivers + battery boxes integrated. Some of them are also linked into the EN threads on Eurobricks; check the Train Tech register at the top of ths forum.

[Gioppa]

fell free to check my gallery,i use for two days with 3 passengers car,and i don't have problems,only the pin on the big wheels made a little dust,for the next time i use a little drop of sewing machine oil.

here is the gallery:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=442689

[Snapshot]

Has anyone put a PF train motor under the passenger car, the battery box above it in the car, with the reciever hidden (well not the top part obviously) in the tender. The gears could be stripped out of the engine for less friction, and the motor would have some weight over it from the battery box.

Almost. I put two motors under the first coach of five; battery box and receiver inside. It did mean that the TX needed to be pointed directly at the coach but it worked. Problem was that my double tender EN doesn't push very well, even with the gears stripped out but I've yet to try the other friction-reducing mods from Railbricks.

The battry is behind the small windows and the RX is behind the large ones.

Jonathan