LEGO Train 12 Volts Episode II

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Hi everyone,

as I’ve promised you can see my 12 Volts train collection here.

This wonderful “gray era” remembers me non only my childhood but has a sense of magic in my life. For the first time stations and trains weren’t simply empty shells infact minifigures are part on the scene, and you can have them on locomotives and passenger wagons.

When I was 10 I’ve seen the train set 7740 for the first time and I really fell in love.

How don’t remember the 1980 Lego train catalog with the news of lights and remote signals?

Now enjoy this journey in the past…

...to see the complete gallery (more than 500 pictures ) click on the link below...

Brickshelf

...see you soon with next episode

[Seany]

This just shows off some of the things I miss that RC/PF are lacking.

Although the mass spaghetti of wires I dont miss, even though I personally think it adds some character to the whole thing!

Very good looking collection, and looks great in the dark!

[ZueriHB]

Nice Layout there.

I spot an Emerald Night, don't you have any problems with clearances?

[Rob Klingberg]

This is absolutely AMAZING! Do you have any videos you could post of this layout in action? I could see a whole movie being made of this!

[Gareth]

That's awesome.

I really like it in the dark and can't wait to set my tracks up, the dark was what I really noticed in the old Lego catalogues and I think it gives it a great sense of atmosphere.

I can see it takes some time to set up and all the wires must be quite difficult to stop them all getting knotted together.

I see you've built a BR 23 does it negotiate the switches al right it must be tight around the switch mechanicals box, I haven't got an emerald night is that the same size as the BR 23?.

Fantastic work,

Gareth

[Legoless]

Wow! Although 9v might be more 'realistic looking' than 12v (due to not having the central power rails), 9v in its standard form can't touch 12v for playability.

Are you planning to set up a permanent layout? That would look fantastic, and enable you to hide the cables underneath.

Is there any logic to the way you've assigned the switches to control points or other accessories or do you just remember what does what? If you get confused because of the inevitable spaghetti of cables eminating from them one tip would be to run a strip of decorator's masking tape across them- which you can then write on to indicate which switch does what. This is what professional lighting and sound technicians do- it comes off cleanly (if not left too long) and doesn't leave a sticky residue.

[cimddwc]

And now you got to build a city between all the tracks. ;)

Seriously, that's a really amazing setup! I just rebuilt my old 7740 and want to lay the old tracks once I got the space to do so (which won't be soon), but that will be, like, 10% of yours or less. But it did bring up nice memories of old...

[marsupilami]

This is really awesome! Nice layout, looks like you gathered a lot of 12v stuff :-)

Funny to see models from the 10183 be powered with a 12v engine, too.

[LegoSjaak]

This is the most complete 12 volt layout i have seen so far.... Although i like it when there are houses or a town in a layout... this is very nice to see. I think it needs quite some thinking before everything is connected in the right way!!

Thank you for posting...it lets me think of my own youth....i was born in 1971.

Greetz, Legosjaak

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Dear all,

for the past month I have been building this layout ...so thank you so much for the complimets!

This is absolutely AMAZING! Do you have any videos you could post of this layout in action? I could see a whole movie being made of this!

...oh yes I've recorded one hour of movie on 2 mini-dvd , but I'm not yet able to make any upload (I really need to learn how to do)

That's awesome.

I really like it in the dark and can't wait to set my tracks up, the dark was what I really noticed in the old Lego catalogues and I think it gives it a great sense of atmosphere.

I can see it takes some time to set up and all the wires must be quite difficult to stop them all getting knotted together.

I see you've built a BR 23 does it negotiate the switches al right it must be tight around the switch mechanicals box, I haven't got an emerald night is that the same size as the BR 23?.

Fantastic work,

Gareth

My version of BR23 and Emerald Night have the same size, both of them can negotiate the switches, the only problem of this new locomotives on 12 volts track is that they are too large to run near another train, this is the reason why they run in the isolated inner layout

Is there any logic to the way you've assigned the switches to control points or other accessories or do you just remember what does what? If you get confused because of the inevitable spaghetti of cables eminating from them one tip would be to run a strip of decorator's masking tape across them- which you can then write on to indicate which switch does what. This is what professional lighting and sound technicians do- it comes off cleanly (if not left too long) and doesn't leave a sticky residue.

Yes there is a logic to the way I've assigned the control to switches and signals, as you see in the pictures on the control points there are some slope with different colours that you can find also on the switches

And now you got to build a city between all the tracks. ;)

Seriously, that's a really amazing setup! I just rebuilt my old 7740 and want to lay the old tracks once I got the space to do so (which won't be soon), but that will be, like, 10% of yours or less. But it did bring up nice memories of old...

This is the most complete 12 volt layout i have seen so far.... Although i like it when there are houses or a town in a layout... this is very nice to see. I think it needs quite some thinking before everything is connected in the right way!!

Thank you for posting...it lets me think of my own youth....i was born in 1971.

Greetz, Legosjaak

Right, I've a huge layout of town set, but the size of my room is not enough to use simultaneously all of that!

Kind regards

[Andy Glascott]

That is stunning! I love the way all the various loops are interconnected, and would love to have that number of remote controlled points, signal etc on my 12v layout....

Wow.

Andy

[hoeij]

That is stunning! I love the way all the various loops are interconnected, and would love to have that number of remote controlled points, signal etc on my 12v layout....

Wow.

Andy

Expensive stuff! The remote controlled crossings, lights, switches, all hard to find.

[BillytheKid]

What a wonderfull sight to see a huge 12v layout like this.

[Andy Glascott]

Expensive stuff! The remote controlled crossings, lights, switches, all hard to find.

Yep, I know.... I've more or less given up adding to my 12v collection based on the cost. Now, what are those lottery numbers for this weekend....?

[BillytheKid]

Indeed, it's very expensive. Mine collection is based on 5 years of collecting the parts I needed. Don't expect to have a huge collection in a short time.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Indeed, it's very expensive. Mine collection is based on 5 years of collecting the parts I needed. Don't expect to have a huge collection in a short time.

True word of wisdom AFOL12v

...let me say that I'm impressed by your collection of control points

[amity498]

That is one really nice layout, wish I had something like that

[Gareth]

I see that you have three transformers controlling the switches, how many more do you use? just another one to power the track? (four altogether).

[BillytheKid]

For the 12v system I use 4 speedregulators. One is used to power all switches. The other 3 are used to power the trains. I've split my layout in 3 sections. The bridge (which still need to be build) will be powered by one speedregulator and the tracks which is connected to the bridge are connected seperatly.

The 9v system is powered by one speedregulator. The sante fe train (with 2 motors and 3 wagons) is actually to heavy, it runs slowly. I used another speedregulator to connect the 9v switches, 9v battery miniland sets and offcourse the vestas windmill

And for the wires, where you have also hard time with it, I solved it by using elecpoles to support the wires. Only it's a lot of wires, which makes me crazy .

[hoeij]

The sante fe train (with 2 motors and 3 wagons) is actually to heavy, it runs slowly.

My Santa Fe ran very poorly until I treated the wheelsets, you have to cut out a small corner where the wheel rubs against the wheelset (described in one of the railbricks magazines). Without the cuts, you're driving with the breaks on. With the cuts, it runs faster with one motor than it used to do with two!

[BillytheKid]

I've done that already .

[Helmantel]

Very nice! I have a lot of grey era 12V trains myself (actually, all of them), but I never seem to find the time to finish my layout....

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Wow, this is another great massive 12V layout! Having a large 9V collection (my gen) myself, I can appreciate a dedicated 12V layout such as this or AFOL12v's. I love large collections/ layouts such as these. Do you have town/city sets to fill in the space as well? Can't wait for a new update! Keep up the great work LT12V!

[antp]

Hi everyone,

as I’ve promised you can see my 12 Volts train collection here.

Impressive

Congratulation for that collection. I am jealous ; my amount of train parts (12v too) is so small... ( http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3123097 )

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

I see that you have three transformers controlling the switches, how many more do you use? just another one to power the track? (four altogether).

Hi Gareth,

I've three transformers because the layout is split into three part: as you can see from the picture there are six different circuits and every couple of ciruits is powered by a single transformer. Six train can run simultaneously, every transformer gives energy to two trains.

Wow, this is another great massive 12V layout! Having a large 9V collection (my gen) myself, I can appreciate a dedicated 12V layout such as this or AFOL12v's. I love large collections/ layouts such as these. Do you have town/city sets to fill in the space as well? Can't wait for a new update! Keep up the great work LT12V!

Impressive

Congratulation for that collection. I am jealous ; my amount of train parts (12v too) is so small... ( http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3123097 )

Hi Leg Godt Gud and ANTP,

thanks for the kind words, I appreciate that!

I have many town sets but the room is not big enough for all of them to be exposed, so when I play with trains I use only stations to fulfill my layout.