It would help a lot if they made a more compact drive unit tailored for steam engines, one that could fit entirely in the chassis. It was easier under the 9V system, since that used a track-powered motor bogie. Which is why it's a pity that the steam wheels introduced with the Emerald Night didn't exist at the time (and, especially for smaller engines, that there was never a steam version of the motor bogie). On that note, if you happened to have the 9V stuff, motorizing something like this or the EN would be easy - you could just mod the tender to ride on the motor bogie and you'd be good to go.
Dang! It looks so good running in your city! 😍 Thanks for the shoutout and for using the tutorials I made! I could literally watch that running around the city for hours. 😄
Thanks for the instructions by the way, just motorised it with my daughter... But this was not working at the beginning because we forgot to turn up the plate in front of the steamer to let the charriot to go freely, but this video helped figuring that out :) .
I recently bought the offbrand tailgate light kits for the diner and Technic Mustang sets. It's very exciting bringing these sets to life! I wish that Lego would release advanced modular add-on kits but I also understand the reasons why.
Awesome, I'm mainly a railway modeller myself so it'll play a big part in my Lego City. Going to have a go at motorising my son's Hogwarts Express. Thanks for sharing 🙂
That looks awesome! Do the wheels slip on the locomotive without rubber bands? I’m currently working on using three of those sets and pieces ordered from bricks and pieces to make an emerald night version of the hogwarts express. I used rebrickable moc instructions to make longer carriages using train base plates and magnetic couplers.
Need to get some soundtracks for that train there’s several companies that make the smoked tenders the sound for the trains the operator sound anything you want very customizable. Made for oh scale trains
Great job! You said that you used 2 sets, but did you build the last wagon with the extra bits of the sets or did you bought (or had from your collection) extra pieces too?
Lego part number for the HUB is 88009. No, it uses regular batteries. I have heard people modifying the Hub to accept rechargeable battery pack and also a remote power switch so the Hub can be powered off without removing the batterie pack.
Hi Bricksie - I'm new to LEGO trains. I just bought the Hogwarts Express set, and I need some track to display it on. Are all LEGO trains compatible w/ all LEGO track? Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers!
I expect they didn't make it motorized to begin with to keep the cost down like you said. But also a lot of people might prefer it not motorized, because they can't afford batteries all the time, and or they don't mind moving it by hand, like say if they actually play with their Lego. Or they just don't care about having things motorized. Everyone has their own preference though. :P
It was definitely a cost thing, the set was already $80. Motorizing it by default (and having to include track to go with that) would have pushed the price past the $100 mark (probably to $130 or so, if not more) and I don't think people would have bit.
so i have the same build but i'm running into the issue that the technic arms don't move while its motorized and it derails very easy is there a fix for that or am i just crazy ? (swear i built it right it just seems to light for the back wheels to spin
Did you replace the 2L Technic beam connecting the pilot truck with a 3L one? That might cure the derailment issues. Odd that the connecting rods don't move... Are the rear wheels turning at all?
This looks fantastic! Thanks for showing all the details. We have this train set as well as the earlier model (2010-12 version) So my dilemma is trying to figure out how to combine these two. I am wondering which one might be easier to motorize? Will need to check this out further (the earlier set does have the magnetized connections). ALSO really looking forward to the minifigs point of view vlogs - love the amusement park
