Tanker Wagon? I hardly know her!

Please forgive me, I'm scrambling for anything to say, but I must keep the streak going.

Now the 4th Train set on the sidebar. I'm waiting for when the whole side bar is a long train, starting off with a locomotive and each week after being a wagon.

I misread this as clanker wagon. Really do need to get stronger reading glasses.

Looks like a face on the “front”.

So color-coding was the solution prior to magnets that could flip to reverse their own polarity?

@PurpleDave said:
"So color-coding was the solution prior to magnets that could flip to reverse their own polarity?"

I think Lego did it that way to permanently attach the magnets to the train so kids wouldn't swallow them. Those magnets are pretty much impossible to remove without breaking the magnet holder or train base.

@Maxbricks14 said:
" @JGW3000 said:
"I misread this as clanker wagon. Really do need to get stronger reading glasses."

The Separatists are now hiding Clankers in wagons to smuggle them behind enemy lines and create a surprise attack like the Trojan Horse!!"

I was about to say, "This doesn't look like a droid at all!" Great minds think alike. Or maybe geek minds do.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @JGW3000 said:
"I misread this as clanker wagon. Really do need to get stronger reading glasses."

The Separatists are now hiding Clankers in wagons to smuggle them behind enemy lines and create a surprise attack like the Trojan Horse!!"

I was about to say, "This doesn't look like a droid at all!" Great minds think alike. Or maybe geek minds do."

Great geek minds think alike.

@oldtodd33 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"So color-coding was the solution prior to magnets that could flip to reverse their own polarity?"

I think Lego did it that way to permanently attach the magnets to the train so kids wouldn't swallow them. Those magnets are pretty much impossible to remove without breaking the magnet holder or train base. "

But each of those magnets is permanently locked into either being a North or a South, and if you try to couple two red magnets together, I'd assume they would repel (likewise for two blue). You'd need to make sure that every coupling combined one red and one blue for them to work. By the time 9v Trains launched, the magnets were able to pivot in the coupler, so anytime you put two like poles together, one of them could flip so the pair would have opposite polarities.

@JGW3000 said:
"I misread this as clanker wagon. Really do need to get stronger reading glasses."

Alright Rex, calm down

@PurpleDave said:
" @oldtodd33 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"So color-coding was the solution prior to magnets that could flip to reverse their own polarity?"

I think Lego did it that way to permanently attach the magnets to the train so kids wouldn't swallow them. Those magnets are pretty much impossible to remove without breaking the magnet holder or train base. "

But each of those magnets is permanently locked into either being a North or a South, and if you try to couple two red magnets together, I'd assume they would repel (likewise for two blue). You'd need to make sure that every coupling combined one red and one blue for them to work. By the time 9v Trains launched, the magnets were able to pivot in the coupler, so anytime you put two like poles together, one of them could flip so the pair would have opposite polarities."

They do repel as you supposed. No big deal, just turn the one car around and viola, they're stuck together. I have many trains with these magnets, it's easy and kids get to learn with Lego.

The really annoying part of the old train cars are the buffer bars. They didn't have a lot of clutch so they fall off so easily, all it takes is a little nudge and they're on the floor.

One of my first early sets, went well with 149 . Loved them both and could pretty much build them without the instructions.

Was in awe of the black and white corners formed from 1x1 plates ( this was the time of big bricks !) Fab memories.

Yes the couplings had to go blue to red or they would snap to one side as they repelled each other. If you were really careful you could push the cars along the track without them touching each other if the magnets aligned properly. Magic to me as a child!

Need more train car and track side building sets today....please

@LuvsLEGO_Cool_J: Yup...Thomas (and Friends) look reeeeally creepy in low-res...:D

Nice tanker car, though it's kinda surprising they didn't use inverted slopes at the bottom to make it a bit more rounded. And also weird that they used a white brick with the Shell print, as they already did have a yellow version of that one. I do like the black and white markings at the edges though.

@oldtodd33 said:
"I think Lego did it that way to permanently attach the magnets to the train so kids wouldn't swallow them. Those magnets are pretty much impossible to remove without breaking the magnet holder or train base. "

They did break rather easily though......I think it had more to do with this being simpler to manufacture than the rotating magnets on later trains. Back then kids hadn't discovered yet that magnets were (not) edible.

And as a kid I loved how you could use one car to push another one around without actually touching it :-)

Basis but effective

At one point I made an Octan version of this - all the parts are common enough that it's not hard.

matrox2001 said:"Yes the couplings had to go blue to red or they would snap to one side as they repelled each other. If you were really careful you could push the cars along the track without them touching each other if the magnets aligned properly. Magic to me as a child!"

My first Lego magnets came in M-Tron sets, but I loved playing with the magnets and making them repel each other. I loved it when Rock Raiders gave us pieces that could hold the magnets in place (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2609b&idColor=3T=C&C=3 and https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=30159&idColor=10T=P&C=10) which allowed for even more fun that way. Hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to use those parts to make a Lego maglev train?

@Maxbricks14 said:
" @JGW3000 said:
"I misread this as clanker wagon. Really do need to get stronger reading glasses."

The Separatists are now hiding Clankers in wagons to smuggle them behind enemy lines and create a surprise attack like the Trojan Horse!!"

Honestly, if that’s what it takes to both bring back trains, and give us a Tactical Droid, I’m all for it! Take my money!

I wonder if LEGO actually licensed the Shell name for these older sets, or just said "license? who needs a license!"...

I remember thinking why don't they stick the buffer on top of the wagon plate to stop it falling off all the time, but maybe that is even less secure with the end of the plate missing?

Given the Shell is a printed logo on a white brick, why didn't they make the top half white (with a red go faster strip in-between) if they had no printed logo on yellow bricks?

@ambr said:
"Given the Shell is a printed logo on a white brick, why didn't they make the top half white (with a red go faster strip in-between) if they had no printed logo on yellow bricks?"
They actually used one in yellow just two years earlier in 688.

@Murdoch17 said:
"I wonder if LEGO actually licensed the Shell name for these older sets, or just said "license? who needs a license!"..."

I'm almost certain it was legitimately licensed, as sets from around that time also used the Shell logo along with its seashell logo.