Powering the 10173 Holiday Train

Posted on December 22, 2007 by Mike Walsh

10173 + 9v MotorThe question on how to add a motor to the 10173 Holiday Train has come up through the ILTCO Feedback link a couple times this holiday season.? LEGO sells a kit which combines the 9v motor and the 10173 Holiday Train but the included instructions don’t show how or where to add the motor.? I ran into this myself when we set up the NCLUG tree at Tinsel Town.? I knew I’d seen this done somewhere but I was in a bit of a rush when I set up the train so I replaced one of the bogies on the passenger wagon with a motor and removed the undercarriage and was good to go.? This isn’t a great solution and when I got the most recent e-mail asking how to do it, went searching for the correct answer.

It turns out you can download instructions from LEGO.com to modify the tender with the 9v motor.? I found this information in this long thread discussing the Holiday Train on LUGNET.

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NCLUG / NCLTC Christmas Tree at Tinsel Town

Posted on November 27, 2007 by Mike Walsh

A small group of us (Sabrina, Carin, Joe, and myself) from NCLUG and NCLTC have committed to decorate a Christmas tree at Tinsel Town which is located inside the Koka Booth Amphitheatre near Regency Park in Cary.? I found out about Tinsel Town last year when my daughter Renee was invited to a birthday party held at Tinsel Town.? It was too late to decorate a tree last year but this year I contacted them and they still had a few available.? After a quick e-mail out to the group gauging interest, we committed to build ornaments and decorate a tree.

I like building Christmas ornaments and have built a few for our own tree each of the last 4-5 years.? They also make nice Christmas gifts and I made some for my mom last year.? This year I, along with help from my children, made about 15 ornaments.? Some were original but most were not.? Sabrina, Carin, and Joe came through in flying colors, Sabrina in particular had some really neat ideas.

I have documented some of the ornaments and will post instructions for them shortly.? If you have a chance, go by and see the tree, it will be decorated until the end of December.

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LEGO Sorting on WikiHow

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Mike Walsh

NCLUG recently had a sorting thread and this interesting WikiHow article came to light.? Sorting and storage has always been one of the things which has frustrated me with LEGO.? I never seemed to have the right answer.? Right now I am using Plano boxes and LEGO tubs for most of my storage and have some large RubberMaid tubs for some larger things.? There always seems to be be something to sort though and something which doesn’t fit in the current storage system!

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Judging LEGO at the 2007 NC State Fair

Posted on October 14, 2007 by Mike Walsh

I was asked to judge the LEGO category at the NC State Fair again this year.? Fortunately Joe Meno was in town this year and was able to join me.? The Fair changed their entry submission process this year and required all exhibitors (for all categories, not just LEGO) to preregister.? Unfortunately it appears that many people didn’t read the submissions guidelines very well because entries are waaaaaay down this years (again – for all categories, not just LEGO).?

The entry process is now computerized as well so there is no chance to “fix” an entry if a parent or child has filled out their entry incorrectly.? Unfortunately, this resulted in a number of kids having their entries disqualified or judged in the wrong category.? In particular, a nice model of the Fair itself was not entered under the NC theme category where it would have won first place.? Instead, it was judged in the Original category where it won a 3rd place ribbon.

This is the second year the “kit” category hasn’t existed yet several kids still submitted kits.? We DQ’d four entries because they were just kits.? I am sure some visitors will wonder why the beautiful model of the Wright Flyer didn’t win the blue ribbon in the NC theme category but it isn’t original.? The woman who runs the fair really appreciates that Joe and I know which are kits and which aren’t.

So until next year, judging is complete and unfortunately, the Fair isn’t going to add an adult category as we had requested.? I guess that makes it easy for us to judge -it would be hard if I had to judge my own entry!

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A sad day for LEGO Trains

Posted on October 2, 2007 by Mike Walsh

October 1, 2007 was a sad day for LEGO Trains.? LEGO announced (see LUGNET thread) that 9v trains will no longer be produced.? While disappointing, this is not really a susprise.? LEGO has for the most part, ignored the train line for several years and the LEGO Hobby Train was simply not enough to generate new interest in Trains.? So what many people have speculated will indeed come to pass.? Like the 4.5v and 12v before it, 9v had a great run and really supported the growth of LEGO as a viable medium for model railroading.? I have been expecting this since the day Steve Barile, Holger Mathes, Huw Millington and I participated in a conference call with the LEGO Train team where they shared their IR plans with us.? They had asked for some feedback and were so far down the commitment path with IR that none of the things we suggested were ever implemented.

Part of the announcement talks about a new LEGO Power System.? It will be interesting to see what comes from this.? Right now it looks like the current IR trains may be short lived as well.? Only time will tell.

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