Here is the story: I'm a long time AFOL and have collected many sets over the years, but somehow have resisted trains. However, over the past several months I think I have caught the train bug and purchased my first real train sets, despite collecting themes such as Technic, Star Wars, Modulars and others over the past 20+ years. Mainly, I've acquired the cargo trains 3677, 7939 and 7898. All three of them are very appealing to me and I enjoy them a lot. I was also fortunate to obtain a Santa Fe collection several years ago, however, with no track or anything else.

One thing I really like about trains is how easy it is to play around with MOCs for train cars. This is in contrast to MOCing with technic, which I find to be challenging, especially after a day at work.

As someone who is new to trains, but long time into Lego, I would be interested in the following questions:

- Given that we are in 2017, what is the best way of acquiring track, accessories, train parts (bogie parts, train wheels, etc.)? So far my strategy has been to acquire three of these cargo sets at good prices, and then work from there.

- I noticed that some 9V trains are still easy to obtain at sane prices on bricklink (e.g. 4559, 4561). Should I jump on these or avoid these? I understand that these are 9V and I mainly have PF trains, but I was wondering about the general opinion on those sets. 

- The two real ones I'm after are a Metroliner and the Emerald Night, however, these are just too expensive right now. Are these actually worth it, or should I just give up?

- What software do train enthusiasts to create scale diagrams of their tables and trains? Similarly, what software do people use to generate those mini-train signatures I used to see?

- I really like the "My Own Train" series. My plan is to BrickLink the parts for the tops, and then build the bottoms via the modern PF wheels / magnets. Does anyone here have experience with an undertaking like this (ie. BrickLinking My Own Train sets)? As far as a system to use, my sense is that it is no longer cost effective to pursue the 9V route, therefore it would be wiser to just BrickLink these with the appropriate modern PF style conversions.

- Long time train enthusiasts: Any tips or tricks you would like to share to a newbie starting out? (My objective is not to have a MISB collection of these expensive sets - rather I would be satisfied with a decent and working collection to play around with.)

 

Edited February 10, 20178 yr by randomwalk

Sometimes you can buy 60051 very cheap to get the default train parts (about 75€, you can sell the power functions if you don't want them). You have to bricklink the steam engine wheels if you want to use them (or buy sets where they appear).

The emerald night has some serious design flaws but it looks really gorgeous and I like it a lot. But it's probably not worth the current price. I can't say anything to the other 9V trains.

I think that people take the signature pictures of the trains from a public brickshelf collection. Not sure if you asked for that but people use BlueBrick to create pictures of their layout. It's really practical to see if your layout fits into the given space.

You may have some problems to put the battery box and the ir receiver into the train. Many people put them into the tender (sometimes together with the motor). The advantage of the 9V system is that you only need the train motor.

Welcome to trains!

2 hours ago, randomwalk said:

- Given that we are in 2017, what is the best way of acquiring track, accessories, train parts (bogie parts, train wheels, etc.)? So far my strategy has been to acquire three of these cargo sets at good prices, and then work from there.

The train wheels and wheel holders are available from online Pick-a-Brick, but strangely the axles are not. A lot of builders wind up using Big Ben's wheels anyway. 

2 hours ago, randomwalk said:

- The two real ones I'm after are a Metroliner and the Emerald Night, however, these are just too expensive right now. Are these actually worth it, or should I just give up?

The Emerald Night is mostly expensive because of the passenger car included in the set. The parts for the locomotive won't set you back that much (particularly if you build it without the printed curve slopes -- or in a different color!).

2 hours ago, randomwalk said:

- I really like the "My Own Train" series. My plan is to BrickLink the parts for the tops, and then build the bottoms via the modern PF wheels / magnets. Does anyone here have experience with an undertaking like this (ie. BrickLinking My Own Train sets)? As far as a system to use, my sense is that it is no longer cost effective to pursue the 9V route, therefore it would be wiser to just BrickLink these with the appropriate modern PF style conversions.

The parts in the My Own Train sets are pretty common and you should find it easy to acquire them.

2 hours ago, randomwalk said:

- What software do train enthusiasts to create scale diagrams of their tables and trains?

My post on my building process covers the scaling process I use. On my mac, I use a program called Pixelmator to make the scaling drawings, but any basic image editor should have the necessary features (layers, scaling, and recoloring). Other people have had success with Sariel's scaling tool, but I personally prefer seeing the entire grid. The trickier part is usually finding the scaling drawings and doing the math!

2 hours ago, randomwalk said:

One thing I really like about trains is how easy it is to play around with MOCs for train cars. This is in contrast to MOCing with technic, which I find to be challenging, especially after a day at work.

Some of my locomotives contain a lot of Technic, so the line is kind of blurred for me...

Once again, welcome to trains! Come by any time you've got questions, this community is quite helpful.

Edited February 11, 20178 yr by jtlan

At this point in Trains I wouldn't bother getting into 9V if you haven't already got some. It's ridiculously expensive and parts are only going to get rarer - think $40 for a working used 9V train motor and double that for a NIB one!

Getting into the Lego train Hobby is a good step forward - however you should keep in mind that your wallet might not think the same! 

Regarding Power Functions VS 9V - it's correct that 9V can be quite expensive, but keep in mind that for each PF train you need about 55 bugs for an engine just for the PF components (sonsisting of  PF receiver, PF Battery Box and PF Train motor). And if you ride your trains often you need to buy the batteries as well. Or you go the more expensive way and use Lego's rechargeable battery box which will set you back for about 100 bugs for (!!) each engine. So even if a 9V motor costs like 40 bugs - it might still be cheaper depending on what you plan to do. Keep in mind though that powering steam engines isn't easy with 9V on one side and it sometimes is a pain to find enough room for all the Power Functions components on the other side, especially if you build a small shunter. Right now I have a mix of both - 9v and PF - and I myself aren't quite sure which is better.

Those are some points you should consider when deciding which track to go (pun intended ). Hope it helps!

15 hours ago, Tcm0 said:

The emerald night has some serious design flaws but it looks really gorgeous and I like it a lot. But it's probably not worth the current price. I can't say anything to the other 9V trains.

Completely agree. Beautiful design just doesn't run well. 

eBay auctions are the way to go. You just have to look often. Sometimes people are in a rush to make money and they put up sets for a short amount of time so the bulk of people miss it. The buy it now sets are typically over priced. I've obtained a large collection on earlier sets from auctions as opposed to buying from an eBay store. But like I said, you've got to check on a daily basis. 

Emerald Night has some issues but they are all fixable. If you can get one for a reasonable price it's a nice train.

As others have said, unless you have deep pockets I would forget about 9V. It's not just the motors, track is expensive too. There's the ME Models option now but that's still not cheap.

Big question you haven't answered: are you collecting sets or planning to build your own models? Buying City train sets is a good way to get started with train parts, after that it's eBay and/or Bricklink.

The software most people use for planning layouts these days is Bluebrick: http://bluebrick.lswproject.com/download.html

18 hours ago, randomwalk said:

...

- What software do train enthusiasts to create scale diagrams of their tables and trains? Similarly, what software do people use to generate those mini-train signatures I used to see?

...

 

You can find icons for creating the train signatures here: http://www.fa-meier.de/lego/traindepot/index.html   You can use any graphics editing program like GIMP to piece them together into a single picture file to use as your signature.

 

Thanks guys for all of the very informative responses to these questions. They are very helpful - a lot of things to read up on and think about. I didn't know that the passenger cars were the pricy part of the 10194.

On 2/11/2017 at 10:16 AM, Duq said:

 

Big question you haven't answered: are you collecting sets or planning to build your own models? Buying City train sets is a good way to get started with train parts, after that it's eBay and/or Bricklink.

My main goal is to build my own cars and customize existing sets. I guess my plan of doing a PF version of the My Own Trains falls between the two. 

5 hours ago, randomwalk said:

My main goal is to build my own cars and customize existing sets. I guess my plan of doing a PF version of the My Own Trains falls between the two. 

I may be able to help you there! I'm currently working on a technic-heavy series of trains that may interest you:

They all revolve around the L-motor and lego's steam driver wheels; at the moment they don't work with smaller wheels, but are compatible with larger wheels like Big Ben's XL and Shupp's XXL wheels.