HoMa

@FlammerFime cool that my name became a nickname for your little red engine. Great you like my model and used it as inspiration for your own model. I like your interior details ... Did you know that I also build a black version of that locomotive? With a rare red motor and rare old style black windows ... and a removable hatch. Instructions can be found in my book about 12 V trains: https://www.holgermatthes.de/bricks/en/lego-eisenbahnwelt.php Have fun with all those lovely 12 V style trains and locomotives! Holger

A while ago my 2nd LEGO train book "LEGO Eisenbahnwelt" was published in German. Since then many requests for an English translation showed up. Unfortunatelly no publisher seems to be interested in a proper printed translated version. With the help of Scotish LEGO fan David Graham I was able to translate the book myself. The translation LEGO Railway World – The 80s: Models, Landscapes, Sets is offered as free PDF download and works as supplement for the original printed book – you will find the texts in English and thumbnail references to the original pages of the book. Here you see a sample page: The download is for free, but the PDF is protected by password. You can use the form on https://www.holgermatthes.de/bricks/en/lego-railway-world.php to get the password. For the best experience I recommend buying the German book as print and use the English translation as supplement. Maybe you already got the printed book and you wander what the text is about? Best regards, Holger

@Reker1000000 thanks for sharing another great video about 12 V historic LEGO train stuff. Only the sealed boxes give evidence about the paper ware inside and the element variants. Did I spot it right: the decoupler box has also instructions for the transformer/speed regulator? Nice to see the second version of the 7861 induction leaflet in the first box type. I wonder which leaflet might come with the 1989© box? And I didn't know about the production year and week information on the point motor and the remote control keyboard. Next you need to hunt for the 1985 advertising folded paper showing 7838 instead of 7823 in the middle of the back side. Overall very valuable new information for all 12 V collectors! Thanks for sharing, Holger

@BatteryPoweredBricks wow thanks for showing us your PU Hobby Train Crocodile and even providing instructions. Maybe you could share the instructions also on https://open-l-gauge.eu/ It's great to see how you improved the crocodile in terms of color and parts. As you mentioned it in your video, when we designed the original Hobby Train set, the part selection was fixed at a certain point and we wanted to offer a "universal building set" for trains. So each individual design had to deal with the limited amount of parts. And many improvements you've done where not available back then, e.g. a 1x2 with a clip. Thumbs up for your PU crocodile 👍 Holger

I just started to control my train builds, which are powered by Buwizz 2.0 and SBrick, with BC2 (v. 3.1). My setup are various iOS devices and a Steelseries Nimbus game controller. I've created one profile which allows me to control 3 trains independently with one game controller. Each train has either one or two PF train motors and LEGO Led lights. So far, so great. Many thanks to @imurvai developing BrickController 2! A few pages back, I read that a support for the Circuitcubes Bluetooth battery/receiver might be an option for an update of the BC2 app. My setup doesn't find my Circuitcubes. Could you let us know about the status supporting Circuitcube with BrickController 2. Thanks in advance, Holger

Thanks @Ts__ for sharing this great explaination video!

Thanks for showing your "Hamburger" here on Eurobricks. Luckily I was able to spot this genius model live at Wörrstadt 2023 :-) I would bet interested in the wiring diagram and the electronics to build the lights witch react on the driving direction of the motors. What Jim's of components do I need? Where can I buy them? Such technical insights might help many train builders here who wants to improve their models. Best regards, Holger

A while ago someone mentioned this motor in a German forum: https://www.ebay.de/itm/182517404201 I have no idea which tools and knowledge is needed to replace an original LEGO/Bühler motor with such a motor? The 70's style motor inside the larger outer box only has a shaft on one side. But you need two, one on each side to power both axles. Here is the 70's motor at Bricklink: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=x551#T=C&C=11

Good idea to try any other control unit with two buttons. But: the internal design of the point vs. the signal control unit is different. The point's control unit will only send an electronic signal when you hold either one of the buttons. The signal's control unit works different. You can press either red or green and the button remains pressed down (as long as you press the other button). The remote control for the level crossing might work similar as the signal one. But only singular, the press down impulse on the bottom will send a signal to the magnetic units to raise or lower the gates. But when releasing the down button there should be a constant signal for the lights to be "on". The flash unit will convert the constant signal into the well known flashing lights. What if you use the level crossing remote without the flash light unit?

Fantastic collection of 12 V trains! Especially I like the way you've slightly modified original sets with updated interior like the cocktail bar in 7740 or the modified kitchen in 7745. Your MOCs all fit nicely in the 12 V line and they all keep the Grey Era spirit alive. And great that you've found some inspirations on my latest 12 V trains book even without understanding all my German writing. Best regards, Holger

Looks like a fantastic train with a nice steam engine in unusual colors. It will be worth it making a real brick build train out of it. I would recommend standard train motors as bodies for the "powered coach". The XL motor has a lot of torque but the train won't be fast. And add ball bearings to all non powered wheels. The video shows my BR 10 with two train motors in the tender and wagons without ball bearings. LEGO BR 10 custom steam engine on R88/R104 curves

@Polarlicht you are right. The Köf uses 2 Circuitcubes mini motors for drive and decoupling. Same concept like my Vollert Robot which I have built for last year's Octrainber contest. The Unimog is a modified #4546 maintenance two way vehicle. One Circuitcubes motor for the drive and the blue hub is covered by the grey box. The front magnet is hidden behind a 1x2 2x2 bracket to minimize the magnetic power. So the decoupling works when the wagon is turned on the rotating cross section. But the magnet is just strong enough to pull a single wagon. It's really fun using those tiny Circuitcubes motors and add remote controlled actions to tiny vehicles :-)

My entry for Brick Train Awards 2022 in the "Best Group or Individual Display" category. An inland river port with container and bulkload cranes, a chemical plant and old and new buildings in the classic style of the "Grey Era". The small locomotives are driven by mini motors and a Bluetooth hub from circuitcubes.com. The stationary decoupling unit and the mini turntable are powered by old 12 Volt Technic motors which are hidden underneath the platform. The video covers all the action. But also enjoy the still images … The large inland vessel is loaded. The container crane lifts the containers from the rail directly onto the ship in the water. Another cargo ship is looking for a place at the quay to unload its cargo. The journey of the classic 4x8 containers now continues on the water. The dredging crane gradually unloads the cargo ship. A small road-rail vehicle has already moved the silo wagon from #7838 into position. A small Köf shunting locomotive shunts two bulk freight wagons #4536 in brown to their destination. The Köf is driven by a Circuitcubes motor, a second mini motor from Circuitcubes controls the magnetic coupling. This creates a mobile uncoupling unit similar to the one in my Vollert Robot DER 100, only in the style of the 80s. The orange-green tank wagon is refueled. For this purpose, the supply line is swung over the filler neck. The buildings, tanks and overpasses of the chemical plant are colorlessly sober but functional. The conveyor belt is used to load bulk material directly from the dump truck into the red freight car from #7730. Old half-timbered houses still stand in the old part of the harbor. The harbor master still has his workplace in the narrow tower. The water police ensures regulated traffic in the narrow harbor area. I hope you enjoy this MOC and the old building style from the 1980s?! Holger

@zephyr1934 that's even more confusing. Showing the 12 V stuff and then only selling the few 4.5 V sets. Or was it to test the US market to see how well the 12 V system is received? Other way round. My dad brought me the Exxon fuel pumper 554 from a business trip to the US back to Germany. So I had the first contact with US-only sets as a child. A bid frustrating till today that he did not bring 6901 mobile lab from Classic Space which was shown in the little inbox catalog of 554. That catalog for me was the only evidence that there were different sets in other markets for a long time before the internet was born (or became a resource for LEGO fans).

@Jetflap thanks for providing these extra pictures and information about box variants and information how stuff was sold in the US. I didn't know of the extra sticker on the "European" boxes. And interesting to see the power rails showing up in 7823 and 7839 (and 7857). I can imagine that these extra rails caused some headache for you not being able to go online and see what kind of LEGO sets were available in other markets. Was 7777 officially available in the US by mail order? I suppose not, cause it features 12 V on most pages.