ClassicTrains

I have uploaded some pictures of the final parts of the build. (Pictures of building the train itself will follow later on.) Here, the train is ready, waiting for its stickers to be applied. I was pretty anxious before putting the stickers on, because I wanted them to be as perfect as possible, just as on the pictures of a catalogue. It is not perfect, but not bad either: The track is still sealed at this point: It was really amazing, how easy it was to build the track, because these sleepers and rails are still very flexible: On this picture, it's like a 4,5V track :) no conductor rails yet: I made the whole circle of conductor rail first, without attaching it down to the sleepers; they were attached to the track only afterwards: ...and then it was ready I cleaned the track (just to remove any fingerprints during building the track), and then there was only one thing left: I built the control arm for the transformer The train is on the track at last!!

Hi Friends, the train is ready and moving!! :grin: My friend also came over here and we built it together, he will have some pictures about the process. I will post them as soon as I get them too! By then, I can show You the train as it is now, because I made some pictures too (only with my phone, so quality is by far not the best). Things that amazed me during the build: - Even some of the bricks which came in service packs or unopened boxes are sometimes not perfect, there are some light scratch marks on them (I had now plenty of windscreens for example, but it gave us hard time to find the two which are in the best condition); anyway, the train looks shiny and awesome when built! It's like a dream! - The motor moved perfectly even for the first time, slow speed works like charm too: no scattering whatever, just flowless, slow motion. This motor really is in a perfect condition, even if it has never moved before and stood still in a box for about 30 years! - What surprised me the most: the tracks. I have some old 4,5V (gray) tracks for my used, older models, but they are very rigid and brittle, a tiny bad move is enough and the sleepers break; with these (new 12V) tracks, nothing like this happens: none of them are brittle, I could put the track together without any effort or danger of breaking something: it really *is* a track that was kept in a dark place probably, unbelievable to see this in 2015, they are like they were in the '80-ies! Amazing!!! I will update You with some picture later, but until then: I wish You all a nice evening! Very nice train!! I hope You can build the first car soon too!

Yes, I used this inventory list here: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=7725-1 Are You going to bring your 7725 back to life? If You succeed, post us some pictures! I hope You will find the motor or manage to get one! Thanks!! I plan to make some videos too, my camera is an older DSLR which cannot make any moving picture, maybe I'll try it with my phone (quality is not the best), or if my friend brings his camera, then maybe we can even make some better video.

It looks like it will be this Sunday when the train will be assembled finally!! :) Everything is gathered, waiting for The '80-ies Day! Except the transformer: funny, but I just cannot find it anywhere. After moving to our new home, most of the things are still in boxes all around, pretty messy... Finding something here is not as easy as I thought. Till Sunday I think I will find it somehow... I just tried the 12V motor anyway with another (9V) transformer, just to see if the wheels are spinning, it works perfectly! :) So there can be no big problems during the build, hopefully. One of my friends is gonna come over to us too and he will take part in the building, we will take some pictures of course! @Younge: I know what You mean Fortunately my girlfriend has no problems with my hobby, she has her own ones too, so there are no complaints at all if I play with Lego. See You soon! P.S.: I found the transformer too, at last... Everything is ready!!!

Hello Friends, I wish You a Happy Easter before all! I know I haven't updated the topic for a while, but the project is not abandoned. In the last months I could not afford to get any more of the missing pieces, but today I can tell You that all the bricks for the train are here and waiting to be built!!! Yet, I cannot start it today: I promised two of my friends that they can be there too and we will build it together, so it will take some more weeks to finish (when all the three of us have time to gather for the build)... Anyway, till then here are the latest pictures https://flic.kr/p/r3nLGz https://flic.kr/p/rGAZXf Windscreens, windows and the yellow seats are still in unopened polybags (windscreens and seats arrived with old service packs): https://flic.kr/p/rZ73Tc Either I forgot, how to insert pictures into a post, or something has happened here, but now I can only insert the links. You can see them anyway. I will update You with pictures when the build will finally take place.

Wow, at last!! :) I can see that most people are disappointed here - I'm rather happy to see this train! I liked the yellow one too, but I could not get it in time - now I can see that it's back in an enhanced form! I like the railings of the engine too, they add a lot to it. And this is the first PF cargo train, for which I like each of the wagons - with sets so far, there was always a wagon that was awkward in some way I think. The crane is a bonus: it has some details which add a nostalgic value, this one reminds me of 7838, a very nice set back then! I will go for this set, if my wallet will have the same opinion ;)

I did get 10 tiles when I started with the project, but later, as I learned that the color difference between old and new colors can make the whole train quite ugly (a friend of mine has built a 7820 mail van out of old and new bricks, and I can really confirm it is not nice to have both kinds of red at the same time), I have decided to get the red parts only from old bricks (before 2004). The only way to get these old-red tiles for sure is to buy some - relatively cheap - old sets as a brick source. But these kinds of tiles did not appear in many affordable sets; at last I have chosen 6567 for this purpose. But this little set also contains only 2 of them, while I need 10. So at last I did not buy 5 pieces of sealed 6567, but I bought them used, in nice condition, for much-much cheaper, from one seller who had more of them. :) (There was a supplementary set back then, which contained only old-red tiles, but since I have started with collecting pieces, I have not found any of these - neither used, nor sealed, so I had to look for something else.) For the other - common - old-red bricks it was easy to buy them sealed, because there were a lot of service packs (like one above here) that You can get unopened, still not expensive. I know it all sounds crazy, but I am doing this only once, so the train must be perfect, like out of the box. :))

Hello Friends, I have not disappeared, I just had a lot of work recently, so I did not have time to update the topic. Anyway, in the meantime almost everything arrived, that I need for the train. Almost all of the parts will be new, only a few bricks will be used - but I have made sure that all are the old red color - even the seats will be old yellow (yellow also differs considerably today than back in the '80-ies). Today is a special day however: the motor has just arrived! :) I have opened the sealed box a few minutes ago, it was something unbelievable again! Here You are, the old motor, just opened: 12V motor, arrived sealed Beautiful!! The parts that are still missing are also ordered now, so it won't be long any more that I can start with building 7725. Some of my friends have also told me that they want to come over to be there and see how it turns real! :) So, back to the parts: the ones which will not be completely new are: 8 pieces of red 1x8 tiles and the 4 pieces of narrow red train window frames. These would have really been too expensive to get as new, so I had to make this compromise as for now. Later, maybe... :) I have not bought any instructions or box so far either, but later I will try to get them on Ebay with a complete set some time in the future. @Savvvas: You have written earlier, that one can get old sets in very nice condition from the Bay or from BL, and bricks are sometimes almost as new. You are right, and next time I will try to get such sets whenever possible - I just wanted to have one of the old trains in a condition with really shiny, scratchless pieces, windows etc. Once in my life, to build one of my childhood dream trains as new. :) So this was rather an experiment: I tried to get all the old parts from sealed sets from before 2004 (considering color differences), and see if it is possible to build an old train completely as new, by collecting the pieces for a much lower price than buying a sealed 7725 (which would be impossible for me too). My conclusion is: collecting all the pieces was pricy even like this, but altogether it did cost about almost the third of what a sealed 7725 would have cost. And besides, now I will also have some old sets as bonus (I only exchange the old-red parts to new-red, for these other sets it is OK for me like that). I wish You all a Happy New Year! :) CT

Hm, never though about that yet! I will check my PF axles, as far as I can remember, these ones I did have to assemble myself indeed, when I bought 7938. I never noticed they can turn independently! Cool!

By the way, have You seen this on eBay? http://www.ebay.at/i....l2649#viTabs_0 If I knew in advance that it will appear, I would have spared some money for this one for sure... As far as I can see, basically it was only the motor that was missing... Even sticker sheet was in very nice condition and 100% complete! Most of the parts still in sealed bags... I was very sad not to have enough money for that at the time when it ended! Back to 7725: yesterday I purchased two sets from a local seller, for a very moderate price! I was really lucky to have someone in our city to sell a brand new 12V transformer (not a part of set 7725, but will be necessary of course), and he also had a supplementary set of red bricks which I just needed, from well before 2004 and unopened. Here are some pictures! And here comes the transformer. Box was not sealed, but the thing has never been used, absolutely scratch-free, and I can not find any obvious decoloration as well! Opening the box was an experience hard to tell! Like a time-travel! Parts of the handle still sealed in polybag: And a brochure which apparently has never been folded out before I did it; pure beauty from 1981!! Unbelievable!

Hm, sounds interesting! However even "factory" PF axles have attached wheels, which also makes some resistance in turns. Those have much better bearings though, then with using technic axles. I will have to give it a try and see.

Thank You for the comments and compliments from all of You! Younge, of course I can send You the files, I will send them in some minutes! Please note that I have not found the 6x16 train base in LDD, so I put it together from bricks to give exactly the same shape - just ignore this, use the normal train base when building! I don't know yet if all the cables could fit in there like this, it is really overcrowded inside - I hope so. If not, then battery box will have to go into the middle car, but that would just ruin the look of the train so much! Anyway, it is very good to hear that You are planning to do this too, any pictures or updates about your project are welcome, I am/we are really curious! About IR receiver: I was also wondering if it works behind the windscreen, thanks for your comments on this! I have seen others doing this too, and I will only use it in a small room - we will see, how it goes with reflection from the walls! It would be fine for the PF version if the roof could look mostly unchanged, without needing a hole for the receiver. But for me at least, this is only a future plan - first I'm up to completing the 12V train! I forgot to react on this one: very simple actually, I use normal 1x2 technic bricks, technic axles and train wheels just like the ones which are used on the motor. It will have a bigger rolling resistance for sure, but at least You can be more faithful to original axle geometry, if You want to. 9V/PF axles are 3 studs wide, having the axle just in line with the center stud. 4,5V/12V axles were 2 studs wide, with the axle being halfway between two studs. With simple technic bricks You can imitate this, so wheels will not be shifted in any direction by half a stud, and the wheel mask that comes with PF motor will also fit under other cars too, which will make the look of the train symmetrical. I have also tried what it looks like without wheel masks (that being more similar to the original 12V look), not bad actually!

Thanks for your comment! I've thought about that too, but 6x6 train roof element does not exist in bley. Without that, cable connector cannot fit under the roof. Actually I like old light grey better, having been a child in the '80ies, but buffer and wheel masks only exist in black and bley. Anyway, I think the two different colors do give it some nice feel.

Today I installed LDD and gave it a try. As I like this train a lot, I already plan making a Power Functions version too, later. Maybe I can find some incomplete set for that purpose, who knows. So I wanted to see, how all the huge PF elements fit into only one car of the train - I would not like to put the battery box into the center car if not necessary. So I just tried in LDD, how they fit together. Well, just... Even if using all the available space, there is only 1 stud gap left between battery box and IR receiver. I put the battery box connector to the back of the car, so maybe all the cables will have the chance to fit between and under the PF components. Will have to check in real. One more issue was that the battery box had to be raised by 2 plates, so that vertical pin of the PF motor does not interfere with it. But now I could see that cable connector that goes onto the battery box will simply not have enough space under the roof. Then I realised that if I use a 6x6 one-piece train roof element, then it will just provide the necessary space, so the connector should just fit in there. :) One train being 100% pure, this second one will not have to. So I tried two color schemes, one being basically the original: The other one differs some more, but I just find it more elegant (chassis is blueish gray, roof corners are oldgray too instead of red): (I decided to use a totally simmetrical axis structure for all 3 cars, based on the motor's geometry, by using technic axles instead of normal PF axles; it will probably give more friction, but the whole train looks well balanced with this I guess.) Which color scheme do You like better?

Exactly this is what I'm looking for: to build at least one old train from brand new pieces, to know what it's like (or what it could have been like). :) I know it costs a lot to do it like I do, but stil it is nowhere like buying a MISB set (which I could not afford either, or even if I did collect money for a long time, one would just simply not open such a precious box I guess, but keep it sealed). Texture stuff: good to know! I am a bit surprised about it, but at least I don't feel worry for this any more. I can partially agree with what You wrote: for example, my 7722 was not expensive and most of the bricks are in very good condition, still they have some minor scratches. My 7715 on the other hand showed quite a lot of playwear and dirt, but after a thorough washing and applying new stickers, set looks 1000 times better. But the bricks I bought for 7725 so far are (mostly) scratchless indeed, and it feels terrific, even if the train is not put together yet!! I guess it will take maybe 2-4 months more to collect and finish this train, depending on my budget. Thank You for your compliments, I will give further updates.

Six little mice I feel almost sorry to use them as a brick source... 6 of them give me the 12 pieces of lamp holders, in "old red".

Though I bought some couplers and buffers earlier, those were far from new condition. But later however I have realized that even if I cannot buy these parts individually as new from BL, there were some service packs containing exactly the pieces I could not get earlier as new. And - this was a big luck again - exactly the necessary service packs appeared on BL as sealed packages. So I have some parts now which I had purchased earlier, but this time they are really new!! Here is the latest package that has just arrived: As a bonus, I could purchase a pack of red inverted slopes as well - this one contains all the necessary pieces for 7725. I already had new inverted slopes for the train, but they are 'new red' - this ones are the good old red color. As I have written in a previous post, I got into a dilemma with the red parts. If I want the train to look perfect without any color deviances, I should get all the reds (at least those which are visible from the outside) from unopened sets from before 2004. Of course this makes the whole project more expensive and takes more time to gather every brick, but it also makes a challenge for me: the purpose is to find old sets, possibly ones which are tiny, cheap, sealed and contain as many red pieces as possible of those which I need. It took hours of research on BL inventories, but I think it will be (at least partially) possible. For example, I have found this: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/1953_Mouse This little set contains 2 of the lamp holder pieces, I needed 12 of them. I could find a seller who had quite a few of these little mice sealed, so I ordered 6 of them. Even like this, price was acceptable. Now I am waiting for these to arrive. The common red bricks (like 1x4, 2x2 etc.) can be purchased from old but no so expensive Basic sets probably, also for a moderate price. I can see however that the 10 pieces of 8x1 red plates will give me a hard time to get...

Slowly but steadily, pieces keep arriving. :) I just did not have the time to update the topic, now I am doing this. I have found only 2 pieces of red train weight on BL at the time I came to order these: one from USA, one from Canada. Not too cost-effective... But I thought: OK, if that is the price, then let's go! However, when both weights arrived, I got a bit disappointed... Neither of them was in new condition, one of them has quite explicit scratch marks on one side, the other side has only microscratches. Anyway, I was a bit p*ssed off, because I could have got weights in similar condition from Europe as well... It was a lesson to learn, items advertised as new are not always new. Here is one of them: When I was wondering about how to get a circle (or rather an oval) of a 12V track in new condition, I just stumbled upon an offer on eBay: a complete oval, brand new pieces, together with connector piece and cable, with 6 straight track sections. It was not too cheap either, but I thought I should not miss it, this was just what I was looking for. I did not regret this buy at the end, when it arrived! I also have the train driver now. I could not find this guy as new, but at least I could find one on eBay in very nice condition - he could use a mild wash, but all the patterns are there without fading. No apparent scratches either, so I consider it absolutely OK. (The oldgray plate came from the same seller, I needed it for my renovated 7715, because this part was very much yellowed and a bit cracked too.)

They are from corgan_wheel's indeed, and I can tell they are of very good quality! :)

One more concern that I have regarding bricks which I will use for 7725 is that I can see a different surface texture for these roof slopes from different times: I guess it is known by most of You, it was new for me. I hope it will not disturb the whole appearance of the train too much. At the exhibition which I visited last weekend, someone displayed a monorail (the train from set 6399 Airport Shuttle), which he has built basically the same way as I did: using new bricks wherever it was possible. I know that it depends a lot on lighting conditions, but there it was really-really obvious that new red parts differ drastically in color from window frames for example. This got me thinking again. The bricks I would need in the old red color are mostly very common parts: bricks like 1x1, 1x2, 1x4, 2x2 etc. The goal would be to get these as new, from before 2004. So I started to look at old Basic sets as a possible source, which I could get unopened maybe, for a decent price. So far I could only find some (really cheap) sets, which would provide only a small portion of the necessary parts. I am not sure I can or will do this, it depends on things like budget and if I can find some really good parts source as some old, sealed Basic sets for sale. Anyway, I have time to decide about this, because there can be no more orders for this month, my wallet says...

I tried to, but I could not succeed Could You give me some hints about how to do this? I did not see any ads when checking the links, sorry for that Test: Wow, it seems to have worked! So, here is the sticker sheet for the train, which is not an original one, but still a class A quality reproduction. I also bought one of this kind in order to renovate my 7715. Update: I could finally work it out, all the previous link replaced to embedded images!

Two more packages arrived today! One from BL: All the parts are really nice, I had some fears about train buffer pieces, but they look like new indeed, they were never used!The other one came from a toy store, which also sells only new pieces, which they purchase when available, and store them for selling them later. Most of the parts are 100% scratchless indeed, train windows are perfect; windshields have some microscratches though, but let's say they are 99% too: Disappointment came however when I checked list of ordered items and compared it to what was shipped. Instead of black 1x8 plates, I got tiles, and instead of 4 pieces of 1x8 red tiles, I got 1x6 tiles... So I made some pictures immediately and sent an email to their Customer Service to apply for replacement parts. I hope they will send it to me soon. I know these bricks are common, but still annoying! Anyway, the box begins to look like one that contains a 7725! This is what it looks like now: Cool!

Thank You for your hints! :) This is what I purchased a few days ago: These I could buy for quite a decent price, from a local seller. There will be a few parts indeed, which I cannot purchase as new or unused, these are one of them. Still, I think they are in a pretty good condition.There is a lego display in my city these days, and I made a visit of course. There were some amazing layouts there, and at last, I could also see a real 7725 there too - though it was a 9V version with slight modifications. I just can't wait to see mine as well!! :)

...any idea, why I cannot upload a second image, even if it is tiny, about 42 kB? The two pictures I wanted to post today were by far smaller than 100 kB together. :( So I can only write now, and post the picture somewhat later. The second mail from today contains all the four red corner slope pieces which are needed for the roof. They are also brand new, scratchless and beautiful! :) I decided not to build any of the train until all the parts are there in the box, but I know there are colour issues that I need to consider. First of all, old gray tends to get yellowish by time (and by UV mainly); fortunately, the pieces I purchased so far seem to be mostly unaffected by this, they have a really nice, almost blueish tint. (I checked, they are definitely not bley. :) But comparing these pieces to the train roofs - even the really nice ones - of my 4,5V sets, I can see now that my used sets do have a little bit of yellowing.) I guess, these newly purchased, unused pieces were kept somewhere in the dark till now. :)) I rather have concerns about the red parts. It is obvious that the red used today is not the same as it was in the '80-ies and '90-ies: current red is slightly darker. Most of the bricks I ordered have this new red colour, while some of the pieces were only made in the old colour. I can see it when comparing the window frames to other, newer pieces. The "old red" pieces will be: train doors, window frames and train weights (which are also underway already ;) ). We will see what it will look like; as BL does not make a difference of older or newer versions of common bricks, I cannot see any ways to purchase unused parts of *only* the old red colour. Unless You have some idea. :)

Thanks to all of You for your comments! I keep You updated of course :) Yes, I have just stumbled upon your custom 7725 a few weeks ago, when considering to build a modern (PF) version of it too. It looks really cool, and it was a good choice to remove the red stripe from the front pane, looks even better now! :) Today I got two more deliveries - I think these were the most unefficient during the whole process of collecting the pieces! :) As I have decided to build the train from new bricks, wherever it is possible, sometimes I just cannot order a lot of bricks from the same seller to optimize my purchases. These light gray bricks arrived today, in one mail: gray_modified