My son loves trains.

[Piranha]

Thanks for all the advice.

the cargoo train looks god, and on the + side i can buy it here in a store. Its still electric however, and i'm not sure if its fun if i turn off the batterys..

So whats best way to get older sets, ebay or brick?

I too did not like the battery deal, (about 9 batteries needed to run )

Solution, Duracell Rechargeable batteries

Best Way to get older sets, I use and recommend Bricklink

[peterab]

So whats best way to get older sets, ebay or brick?

That depends a bit on you, and where you are.

Bricklink has the advantage that if it's available you'll be able to find it quickly. However you probably won't get a super bargain, because most BL sellers are fans of Lego and know what a fair price is, and some will even try to get as much as they can.

eBay might be good dependidng on how much second hand lego is around in your area (or close enough that you dont mind paying the shipping) but it might take more time to find a particular set. However there is always the chance you'll get it at a bargain price.

Bargains for trains seem to be getting pretty rare as they are now seen as collectable.

[segambit]

Well i never got a invoice on the holiday train, guess the seller wasnt active.

So i went to a store and did get the Emerald Night. I know he is way to small for it, but we did build the green grocer a few weeks ago, and he did OK (I was telling him where to put the parts and i did the hard stuff by my self while he was playing with the done floors)

What tracks to buy for the emerald night?

[peterab]

Well i never got a invoice on the holiday train, guess the seller wasnt active.

So i went to a store and did get the Emerald Night. I know he is way to small for it, but we did build the green grocer a few weeks ago, and he did OK (I was telling him where to put the parts and i did the hard stuff by my self while he was playing with the done floors)

What tracks to buy for the emerald night?

Emerald Night will run on any of the Lego track systems, but unless you have a good reason to chose one of the older ones, I'd recommend the current PF/RC tracks. They are currently available from the Lego website, and sometimes in shops, and should be around for the forseable future. They will also be cheaper than the older 9V or 12V rails which are becoming collectable.

[Topsy Cret]

Well i never got a invoice on the holiday train, guess the seller wasnt active.

So i went to a store and did get the Emerald Night. I know he is way to small for it, but we did build the green grocer a few weeks ago, and he did OK (I was telling him where to put the parts and i did the hard stuff by my self while he was playing with the done floors)

What tracks to buy for the emerald night?

The Emerald Night is an incredibly beautiful train and works as a great display piece. I purchased her a few weeks ago and she now lies on my library table. Getting back to your motor queries, motorizing the Emerald Night is extremely expensive. I have attempted to motorize her using just the regular battery box and an M-sized motor. The battery box in the tender really sticks out. You will either have to customize the tender or purchase the 700kr rechargeable battery box. However, in order to charge it, one must pay an additional 270kr for the transformer. And to fully motorize her, another 100kr for the lights and a couple more hundred for the IR receiver and the remote control.

The Emerald Night does look good going around track, but with only one car she can seem a bit plain. I would recommend adding other cars or purchasing the pieces to construct additional Emerald Night cars.

Track-wise, I would recommend 9V. With 9V and the proper accessories, you can pretty much motorize anything. But costs do add up. Also, from what I've understood, the 9V track seems to be a bit more stable and stronger than the new ones. Naturally, the new track does have its advantages; it's cheaper, more easily accessible, and I would assume more child friendly.

The fact of the matter is, glamorous though it may be, the Emerald Night is a train that should be displayed and maybe run around track during Christmas time. And to make the train fully motorized, you will need a lot of moolah and patience with the mail man. If you do purchase the Power Functions, at least get them off Bricklink.

A more starter-friendly train pack would be... The new trains or the old Express as I mentioned earlier. Good luck and have fun!

[Brickthus]

Well i never got a invoice on the holiday train, guess the seller wasnt active.

So i went to a store and did get the Emerald Night. I know he is way to small for it, but we did build the green grocer a few weeks ago, and he did OK (I was telling him where to put the parts and i did the hard stuff by my self while he was playing with the done floors)

What tracks to buy for the emerald night?

I'm with peterab on this one.

The Emerald Night, fully motorized as per the instructions (with PF LiPo battery, charger, IR Receiver, XL-Motor and Light brick) runs well (and quietly) on 9V track and should run equally well and quietly on the plastic version of the standard track pieces.

On the new Flexi-Track it will stay on well enough (the ugly check rails do their job!) but it becomes noisy, especially with the long wheelbase of the 6 driving wheels round the tightest curves. Most train vehicles are noisier on Flexi-Track.

Top speed of the Emerald Night is modest, but that's good because a child would not derail the train by overspeeding in the corners!

I tried using the M-motor for more speed, but it doesn't work. It would go no faster and consequently would strain the M-motor. Therefore use the XL motor as per the instructions.

I also tried using the M-motor in the cab and the PF train motor 8866 under the carriage (more speed with more motors) but that didn't work either. The 8866 motor is geared too fast for the gearing in the engine, even with 3x speed from the M-motor, so the carriage pushed the engine and the carriage derailed in the corners.

Therefore the Emerald Night, motorized as per the instructions, with not too many extra coaches, on standard plastic track is best.

N.B. make sure the bevel gear is fully on the 5.5M axle as you build it, or it could fall off with use. I added a half bush on the rear driving wheel axle to prevent loss of the bevel gear if it did come loose, especially because I have long tunnels on my layout!

Mark

[Sir E Fullner]

I figure that if you don't want the train with a motor, you would have to make an extra bogie trailer like the one on the Freight train. You can try building one on LDD, following the instructions.

[hoeij]

Well my 3.5 old son is still a bit young for Lego. He loves Thomas the Tank Train.

However friday we went to the store and he picked a Lego set. He told me he liked the big train cargo set, but since i didnt know if he would play with it (it was expensive) we did buy a city corner kit. He loves it, we build it together and had alot of fun.

Since he likes train and now Lego i figure next thing to do is buy a train+railtrack. However, i have no clue on what to buy. I dont like to have any motors at all, since i think kids should move when they play ;)

Emerald Night looks great, but the big question is if there will be more trains in this serie? For the same money i can get the cargotrain kit.

The set we did look at was 7898. Here in Sweden it costs about 160-180 Dollar.

But i did also notice that this kit has a motor, something i would not use (Does it work good without motor, to play with?)

I think that at 3.5 years old he'll enjoy duplo trains better. Duplo's are also great to have when you have other kids coming to your house because kids of various ages can play with them together, you don't have to worry about pieces coming off the trains because since the pieces are so big, it'll be easy to find them again even if a lot of kids were actively playing.

[Cwetqo]

Another option is this:

and two boxes of:

And later maybe add those:

It cost roughly the same as basic passenger train, but instead of payaing for unneeded motorized parts you will get much more attractive train and longer track. This of is an option if you want to have your train unmotorized as you wrote. To get a motorized train, upcoming passenger train is the best option.