60052 Cargo Train

gelkster · October 2014

So my son wants this for Christmas this year, & it being rather expensive, I decided to make it my Christmas gift too. He expressed interest in expanding the track layout, but I dont see supplemental track sets listed under "Train 2014". So there must be earlier track packs that are compatible, which sets #s are they?

Pitfall69 · October 2014

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Flexible-and-Straight-Tracks-7499

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Switching-Tracks-7895

gelkster · October 2014

Wow, non-flex tracks a bit rare on BL. Anyone recommend the flexy over the other? Can they connect & work together?

Pitfall69 · October 2014

Are you sure you aren't looking at the 9V track?

bobabricks · October 2014

I've never used the flex tracks but they do look interesting because you can make any track shape you want and they must work because I still see the packs at my local Lego store.

thenos · October 2014

^^That's what I was thinking...

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=53401
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=53400
From my experience the flex track is louder and slides more on smooth surfaces.

ThirdBuckEye · October 2014

Flex track is ok as long as you don't use more than 2 consecutively. It will slide on smooth surfaces but if you alternate between straight, curved and flex track it should be ok. The straight and curved tracks will be sturdy enough to hold the flex tracks in place better.

gelkster · December 2014

Does the motor operate only more/other trains, or can it simultaneously provide power to light bricks? It can control up to 8 other devices?

Pitfall69 · December 2014

It should.

TheLoneTensor · December 2014

Since I assume you're just getting into PF (power functions), you should be clear on a few things first:

The basic configuration of PF is a battery and something you're powering (like a motor)
The next level is adding remote speed control via the IR transmitter (the remote control handheld) and receivers (installed in the trains)
The battery won't power "light bricks," but instead the power function LED lighting lead pairs (two lights on each connection)
Be aware, stringing bulky PF wires/blocks throughout a chassis can get difficult and ugly quick, as they are not very versatile. It's doubly so if you're jumping wires across train cars
It's not "8 other devices," but 8 total devices maximum
It's not necessarily "devices" in this instance either, but rather power flows (stick with me)
The 8-way control comes from using the IR transmitter & receivers, allowing for control of up to 8 individual power flows, with each one requiring an IR receiver (you only need one transmitter)
To clarify above, IR receivers allow you to control up to 2 power flows each. Usually this is configured to control 1) the motor and 2) the engine lights. Such a configuration would take up 2 of your 8 available slots, leaving you with only 6 left to play with
A power flow usually powers only 1 device, but you can piggyback multiple ones on a power flow. For example, you can have two motors on the same power flow, or 2 lights, etc.
Piggybacking lights and motors on the same power flow is not ideal in most situations, because the light brightness will vary as the motor speeds varies, which would look weird on say, a train
Be careful piggybacking multiple motors on one battery. 2 is fine, but more than that might put too much drain on the battery and could damage it
You can theoretically piggyback as many lights as you need, as LEDs are dirt cheap when it comes to power consumption
As you can imagine, any and all things piggybacked to a single power source will respond at the same time when that power source is controlled, i.e. all motors will rev up at the same time, all lights will turn on, etc.
Invest in the rechargeable battery, seriously

Sorry for the fire hose lesson, I got on a roll.

klatu003 · December 2014

@TheLoneTensor I thought your summary was helpful. I just arranged a big train and modular building set up and ran into a weird thing that is bugging me. With two controllers and three trains, one controller is set at channel one for two trains, the other controller set at channel four for one train. I can't handle changing channels to utilize just one controller - I need those red stop buttons to stop crashes. Anyway, one train goes anti-clockwise when turning the orange knob clockwise (so I reversed the little switch for that side.) Why is that train different?

The winter village sets are going to join the scene and Minas Tirith has lost the black outer wall and become a big mountain. The grandsons should be amazed for Christmas eve - the trains can go FAST.

curious · December 2014

@TheLoneTensor A good summary, cargo train comes with all the PF needed and building instructions for it all. Its one of the few trains not designed with the LEDs in mind however. All the passenger trains including emerald night and horizon express have design features to drop LEDs straight in the model. Most of the cargo trains don't apart from the 2010 model, (and probably 2006 but I don't have that to check). Adding LEDs to 60052 requires quite a bit of conversion.

curious · December 2014

Little more detail on the LEDs.

http://brickset.com/sets/8870-1/Light-Set

Most PF trains support dropping one of these in the engine. Creator trains include instructions for fitting them (except Maersk), its usually fairly obvious how to fit them in the city passenger trains (although i've not figured out how best to run wires from the front engine to the rear engine and its lights). The 2010 cargo train (7939) can fit 2 sets of these lights nicely for front and rear lights. The red cargo train (3677), 2014 cargo train (60052), and maersk cargo train (10219) have decorative transparent studs mounted on various angular bricks and solid engine fronts theres no way to add LEDs without totally redesigning the front of the engines to add LED holes.

The older RC trains come with older light bricks fitted as part of the build.

oldtodd33 · December 2014

This is my best attempt at adding LED's to the Maersk engine. It does require changing the look of the train but otherwise works and is a little complicated because I'm running a 9V system and not PF. The engine on the left is modified and the parts in front of it had to be removed to do it and the one on the right is stock with a 9V motor.

TheLoneTensor · December 2014

klatu003 said:
I need those red stop buttons to stop crashes.

I know what you mean. I wish there was a SUPER red stop button to stop anything and everything on all frequencies.

klatu003 said:
Anyway, one train goes anti-clockwise when turning the orange knob clockwise (so I reversed the little switch for that side.) Why is that train different?

This probably is a result on how you installed the motor chassis. Try turning it around. Yeah, the switch does it also, but that can sometimes interfere with other trains running under the same color dial. Sometimes you can't turn it around, and it's necessary to reverse the polarity of the wires to a motor chassis, i.e. cut the wires, swap them and re-splice.

Galactus · December 2014

klatu003 said:
Anyway, one train goes anti-clockwise when turning the orange knob clockwise (so I reversed the little switch for that side.) Why is that train different?

Try to flick the control switch on the battery box of that train. Also see http://powerfunctions.lego.com/en-us/ElementSpecs/88000.aspx

60052 Cargo Train

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