Random set of the day: Inter-City Passenger Train Set
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 7740 Inter-City Passenger Train Set, released during 1980. It's one of 28 Trains sets produced that year. It contains 786 pieces and 10 minifigs.
It's owned by 1,383 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $1,967.80, or eBay.
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67 comments on this article
Another legendary set. Definately one of my favourite Lego Train sets. We need to bring the theme back.
Because of that new Force Burner set ( 75414 ), I didn't know about this one, but it got notoriety because of the 3x3 corner slopes in yellow making a return, and now we have a RSotD not long after the reveal. Huwbot knows what he's doing.
@MCLegoboy said:
"Because of that new Force Burner set ( 75414 ), I didn't know about this one, but it got notoriety because of the 3x3 corner slopes in yellow making a return, and now we have a RSotD not long after the reveal. Huwbot knows what he's doing."
Trying to bring Germans back into the fold?
Such an iconic train set! Definitely one of the few sets I think of when I think of classic train!
Another one of the greats.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Another legendary set. Definately one of my favourite Lego Train sets. We need to bring the theme back."
What're you playing at?! Your dad wasn't even born when this set came out!
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Another legendary set. Definately one of my favourite Lego Train sets. We need to bring the theme back."
We do need trains back, none of the pitiful city train stations.
I was lucky to find this set with a box and the transformer 7864 on local ads couple years ago for a very good price. The prices went crazy high since…
I saw this set in a beat up box at a friends house a few years back. I offered him an exchange with more modern 7938 Passenger Train, if he didn't have any emotional attachments. Luckily he accepted. I think it's a win-win situation.
I guess yellow was the closest they could get to tan in 1980.
Cool set either way.
It feels so modern for 1980. Mind you, Town wouldn't lose its rudimentary nature and start to look like it was approaching the 90s in terms of sophistication in 1985. The plate-built powerline coupling at the top is a giveaway, but I didn't expect those windows and doors.
Here we go. This train brings back memories off spending days atching it riding across my childhoodroom. And off course you should have the 7819 postal wagon and the 7815 sleeper carriage to complete it.
Both iconic and a grail. One of the greatest sets of all time.
I was lucky enough to receive this for Christmas 1985, but at the time I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t the 7745 released that year. With hindsight, 7740 was definitely the better gift (and of course a perfect match for 7815 and 7819 both of which I think I already had by then).
One day I will rebuild them all, but don’t know when!
This was one of the first sets I bought with my own money, when I was eleven. We were in Aussie on holiday visiting family at the time (you couldn't buy Lego in New Zealand back then), and I paid for it with Traveller's Cheques!
I've since modified it to run on a Power Functions motor, battery-pack and receiver.
"NEXT STOPS: MIDDLE-OF-NOWHERE, CHICAGO, AND CHAT-A-NU-GA!"...:D
This managed to glue my gaze onto the respective catalog page when I was a kid. Kinda still does =)
What can I say that hasn't been said yet? One of the all-time greats, and probably the single most iconic Lego train set ever.
And to make it even better: If you want your intercity train to be a bit longer, just buy 7815 and 7819. Imagine selling wagons separately....
This was one I spent a lot of time poring over in the catalogues as a nipper, but despite a lot of pleading never had -- by the time the pleading worked, it had been replaced by 7745. I did manage to acquire one on eBay in the 2000s in what was, in other respects, a dark age for me, and have since built a Blacktron recolour as well.
A great set from what was the the best era for Lego trains, IMO. Unfortunately, not one I ever got as a child, and one of the few 80s trains sets I wasn't able to track down in more recent years before prices went through the roof.
This is probably the holy grail of LEGO trains.
And thanks to the person(s) who photographed their copy and uploaded all of the images to Brickset a few months ago!
1980, best Christmas ever!
I remember wanting this set so badly. I must have looked at the catalogue a hundred times, doing the math of how much it would be for the train, the track. I even designed layouts for it, but alas it never materialised as a present, even though my father collected model trains and had his own N gauge setup
This is simply the best LEGO train. And it is 45 years old! Had to replace the 12v motor with a new one, because it was running so much on my layout.
My best friend has had this set since childhood. Still has it and it's still in perfect working order.
Since I had a "proper" H0 model railway as a kid I never had LEGO trains. I only bought 7760 back then because I thought it looked cool (and it was relatively affordable), but I only built it, never had it running since I didn't have the necessary equipment.
As for this set, I am so glad that these days there's colours like dark red and tan, and companies like BlueBrixx that offer the prototypes this set is based on (German InterCity train with type 103 locomotive from the Seventies), and even in several scales (6-wide and 8-wide). Come to think of it, this loco could also have meant to represent the then brand new type 120, of which so far there is no other official set.
A set I wished for during my childhood, but it was quite expensive so it never happened. But I do own it now just took 40ish years before I could afford it!
Trying to remember the original price, about £50? Fantastic set for its day, together with all the automated points, crossings etc. The first long double carriage mini-fig set that I can remember with bogies on either end and interior seats, tables etc. to mass transport all your minifigs. I really liked the light brick (which also appeared as platform lights) and prism filter which channeled the light to the front lights. The 12V powered wheels also had some serious rubber so could do inclines, which is impossible today. Just wish that the Lego House would include this in a vintage train layout like in the 80's booklets.
@raven_za said:
"This is probably the holy grail of LEGO trains."
I think you mean holy rail. (Yes, I stole that joke from 6990's RSotD article.)
@TheOtherMike said:
" @raven_za said:
"This is probably the holy grail of LEGO trains."
I think you mean holy rail. (Yes, I stole that joke from 6990's RSotD article.)
"
I do feel sad for that unholy other rail though :-(
Lovely set. Double thumbs up for all the extra hi-res images of this - and most of the sets from the Trains 1980 page. Much appreciated.
I've never owned any LEGO trains - Hornby was my thing back then, but was really tempted for a heavily reduced 60198-1 recently during Prime day. Lack of space put me off.
One of my little grails, I truly hope to get it someday. A dream of a set, love it so much.
12v was never sold in the States. From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer, and these get very hot doing their job. Case it point: one of my LUG friends got 12v sets from relatives in Germany back in the day, and every time he runs it at a show it requires a transformer with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool so said electrical equipment won't overheat. I guess LEGO just didn't want to take the risk of fire or something, and never sold 12v in the North American market.
@Murdoch17 said:
"12v was never sold in the States. From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer, and these get very hot doing their job. Case it point: one of my LUG friends got 12v sets from relatives in Germany back in the day, and every time he runs it at a show it requires a transformer with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool so said electrical equipment won't overheat. I guess LEGO just didn't want to take the risk of fire or something, and never sold 12v in the North American market."
That sounds weird...it's just a matter of having the right number of windings on the coil and you can transform it to basically any voltage. Now I don't know if the Lego transformer had a multi voltage input (probably not back then), but even then it would just mean it would only output about half of the 12v.
@WizardOfOss said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @raven_za said:
"This is probably the holy grail of LEGO trains."
I think you mean holy rail. (Yes, I stole that joke from 6990's RSotD article.)
"
I do feel sad for that unholy other rail though :-("
You can't feel any other way but, regarding the unholy prices for straight monorail pieces.
@Murdoch17 said:
"From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer,... "
Don't the outlets in the US provide 110 Volts? Wouldn't that imply "stepping it DOWN" instead of up?
In Germany we had 220 Volts in the Eighties, which by now has been upped to 230 Volts, and at least the old Fleischmann transformers that are used to this day on my H0 railway do their job of providing between 12 and 14 Volts at the track without producing significant amounts of heat
@AustinPowers said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer,... "
Don't the outlets in the US provide 110 Volts? Wouldn't that imply "stepping it DOWN" instead of up?
In Germany we had 220 Volts in the Eighties, which by now has been upped to 230 Volts, and at least the old Fleischmann transformers that are used to this day on my H0 railway do their job of providing between 12 and 14 Volts at the track without producing significant amounts of heat"
I'm just repeating what i was told.... I have no clue how electrical stuff works.
Trains like these (in these exact colors and shape) still run in Russia. I think. At leat they were about 10 years ago. Haven't ridden them since 2010, ot something :-O.
Christmas 1981, I'm 9 and this is waiting for me under the tree - I have been wanting it all year and hunting the house from top to bottom to see where it was hidden (actually it was hidden at one of my dads friends houses nearby...)
Still probably my favourite set, it was so advanced, so may different pieces (like the 3x3 double slopes), the grey track seemed so realistic and there were lights you could add too so I could play with my layout in the dark on a Sunday evening with the Radio 1 top 40 on. I still have the track and some of the bits, plus a very tatty box - super extensive for a good one now but that's because they all got played with to death - as they should be!
@Murdoch17 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer,... "
Don't the outlets in the US provide 110 Volts? Wouldn't that imply "stepping it DOWN" instead of up?
In Germany we had 220 Volts in the Eighties, which by now has been upped to 230 Volts, and at least the old Fleischmann transformers that are used to this day on my H0 railway do their job of providing between 12 and 14 Volts at the track without producing significant amounts of heat"
I'm just repeating what i was told.... I have no clue how electrical stuff works."
In the UK at least, the 12v is DC and the 240v from the plug is AC so a different system entirely. I remember the transformer was about £15 which was quite an investment in itself in 1980 - it would also step down to 4.5v by turning the control knob over although I never understood how!
@danieltheo said:
"In the UK at least, the 12v is DC and the 240v from the plug is AC so a different system entirely. I remember the transformer was about £15 which was quite an investment in itself in 1980 - it would also step down to 4.5v by turning the control knob over although I never understood how!"
Even when it's often just called a transformer, it's actually three things in one:
- The actual transform transforms the 240V AC into 12V AC
- There's a rectifier which converts the AC into DC
- And finally there's a controller to regulate the DC between 0 and 12V, after all you don't want your trains running at full speed all the time
It also has a permanent 12V DC outlet on the side to connect stuff like switches or lights.
As for the 4.5V mode, my guess would be that by turning over that knob it will effectively just restrict the movement of the knob to the 0-4.5V part of the controller range. If that's the case you could do the same without turning over the knob but just not turning it too far, but then if you accidentally would it might fry the motor.....
(the 4,5V motor will certainly have a bit of tolerance for slightly higher voltages, but not almost triple....)
@danieltheo said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer,... "
Don't the outlets in the US provide 110 Volts? Wouldn't that imply "stepping it DOWN" instead of up?
In Germany we had 220 Volts in the Eighties, which by now has been upped to 230 Volts, and at least the old Fleischmann transformers that are used to this day on my H0 railway do their job of providing between 12 and 14 Volts at the track without producing significant amounts of heat"
I'm just repeating what i was told.... I have no clue how electrical stuff works."
In the UK at least, the 12v is DC and the 240v from the plug is AC so a different system entirely. I remember the transformer was about £15 which was quite an investment in itself in 1980 - it would also step down to 4.5v by turning the control knob over although I never understood how!"
I think it was by simply stopping the control knob going all the way around. There was a little cut out on one side of the knob so it would clear the studs on top of the controller to give full power, turn the knob over and it would only turn so far around as the studs would stop it.
@Murdoch17 said:
"12v was never sold in the States. From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer, and these get very hot doing their job. Case it point: one of my LUG friends got 12v sets from relatives in Germany back in the day, and every time he runs it at a show it requires a transformer with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool so said electrical equipment won't overheat. I guess LEGO just didn't want to take the risk of fire or something, and never sold 12v in the North American market."
I run mine using a simple transformer and it works great. No overheating issues observed.
@George_Rossiter said:
" @danieltheo said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer,... "
Don't the outlets in the US provide 110 Volts? Wouldn't that imply "stepping it DOWN" instead of up?
In Germany we had 220 Volts in the Eighties, which by now has been upped to 230 Volts, and at least the old Fleischmann transformers that are used to this day on my H0 railway do their job of providing between 12 and 14 Volts at the track without producing significant amounts of heat"
I'm just repeating what i was told.... I have no clue how electrical stuff works."
In the UK at least, the 12v is DC and the 240v from the plug is AC so a different system entirely. I remember the transformer was about £15 which was quite an investment in itself in 1980 - it would also step down to 4.5v by turning the control knob over although I never understood how!"
I think it was by simply stopping the control knob going all the way around. There was a little cut out on one side of the knob so it would clear the studs on top of the controller to give full power, turn the knob over and it would only turn so far around as the studs would stop it."
That is correct. The cutout allows you to turn the knob all the way to the max when it is in the 12V position. Turning it upside down in 4.5V position meant that the studs on the transformer only allowed the knob to turn to a position where it would output 4.5V. The early version of the knob could actually be turned past the stud if you turned it too hard. The later version of the knob has a round expansion on the corners to make it basically impossible to do that. See the fourth photo on the Bricklink catalog page for the later version. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=x471
Direct link to that image: https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/EXTN/19292.png
@AustinPowers said:
"Come to think of it, this loco could also have meant to represent the then brand new type 120, of which so far there is no other official set. "
Sorry, I have to correct you. This is not a BR 120 because BR 120 is a four-axle locomotive (Bo‘Bo‘).
I've still got my set I got for Xmas in 1980, complete with instructions. It set me off down the 12V train route with my Lego, soon I had a big loop of 12v track with signals, points, station, level crossing, and more trains, including 7710 and 7760
But I eventually had enough of 7740, and broke it up into my big Lego parts bin - it was also a great donor of doors and windows for my Lego town!
For me, the 12V era was far and away the best era of Lego trains.......
@UProbeck said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Come to think of it, this loco could also have meant to represent the then brand new type 120, of which so far there is no other official set. "
Sorry, I have to correct you. This is not a BR 120 because BR 120 is a four-axle locomotive (Bo‘Bo‘).
"
Also, one characteristic of the the 120 are the completely flat sides with no windows or grills at all, which back than was quite unique.
I know as a kid it mostly reminded me of the V160 and the many derivatives.....which makes even less sense considering it's a diesel......
I don't think this set was supposed any real life trains, but some inspiration was obvious.
The set is just a dream and I got 7815 for my birthday today and I now have the whole train with 7740, 7815 and 7819.
@UProbeck said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Come to think of it, this loco could also have meant to represent the then brand new type 120, of which so far there is no other official set. "
Sorry, I have to correct you. This is not a BR 120 because BR 120 is a four-axle locomotive (Bo‘Bo‘).
"
I know, but the general shape looks more like the type 120 than the type 103.
@WizardOfOss said:
" @UProbeck said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Come to think of it, this loco could also have meant to represent the then brand new type 120, of which so far there is no other official set. "
Sorry, I have to correct you. This is not a BR 120 because BR 120 is a four-axle locomotive (Bo‘Bo‘).
"
Also, one characteristic of the the 120 are the completely flat sides with no windows or grills at all, which back than was quite unique.
I know as a kid it mostly reminded me of the V160 and the many derivatives.....which makes even less sense considering it's a diesel......
I don't think this set was supposed any real life trains, but some inspiration was obvious."
I thought it was supposed to represent something like this:
https://www.nw.de/_em_daten/_cache/image/1xTldRcVg2aFYyMkpORXVnbHZYQ3ZpT2JTZndSTjBQR2Fid0hZT0FaS3doR0lOekFtdHFsK0ZsbWR6ai9tR0p4U096S0EyWVJxMldoYmo0Wi9GVjJUeG5ZTGlXVHJKcnRQczdWRG5iT2YwNzg9/230221-1249-406781295.jpg
And considering that, at the time, Germany was by far LEGO's largest market, this doesn't seem too unrealistic.
Was it only made in a Deutsche Bahn variant, or did it come with different stickers per country/market? I know some trains came with NS stickering in the Netherlands and I have seen the Belgian NMBS's B-logo on Lego parts, but I never saw images of trains with those stickers/prints.
@AustinPowers said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @UProbeck said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Come to think of it, this loco could also have meant to represent the then brand new type 120, of which so far there is no other official set. "
Sorry, I have to correct you. This is not a BR 120 because BR 120 is a four-axle locomotive (Bo‘Bo‘).
"
Also, one characteristic of the the 120 are the completely flat sides with no windows or grills at all, which back than was quite unique.
I know as a kid it mostly reminded me of the V160 and the many derivatives.....which makes even less sense considering it's a diesel......
I don't think this set was supposed any real life trains, but some inspiration was obvious."
I thought it was supposed to represent something like this:
https://www.nw.de/_em_daten/_cache/image/1xTldRcVg2aFYyMkpORXVnbHZYQ3ZpT2JTZndSTjBQR2Fid0hZT0FaS3doR0lOekFtdHFsK0ZsbWR6ai9tR0p4U096S0EyWVJxMldoYmo0Wi9GVjJUeG5ZTGlXVHJKcnRQczdWRG5iT2YwNzg9/230221-1249-406781295.jpg
And considering that, at the time, Germany was by far LEGO's largest market, this doesn't seem too unrealistic. "
Slightly inspired by maybe, but I think even with the pieces available back then they could have done a much better job had they actually wanted to recreate the 103.
And I can't think of any other European locomotive of that time that looks more like it. But I guess that's the thing: Without having to make it look like any specific train, they could simply focus on making it look good. With all the licensed sets nowadays I feel like at times they care more about attempting to be accurate (and still failing....) than actually make it look nice.
@dudeski said:
"Was it only made in a Deutsche Bahn variant, or did it come with different stickers per country/market? I know some trains came with NS stickering in the Netherlands and I have seen the Belgian NMBS's B-logo on Lego parts, but I never saw images of trains with those stickers/prints."
If I remember correctly all trains from that era had catalog images with DB stickers but the sticker sheets for these sets all had stickers for many different European railroads.
@paulvdb said:
" @dudeski said:
"Was it only made in a Deutsche Bahn variant, or did it come with different stickers per country/market? I know some trains came with NS stickering in the Netherlands and I have seen the Belgian NMBS's B-logo on Lego parts, but I never saw images of trains with those stickers/prints."
If I remember correctly all trains from that era had catalog images with DB stickers but the sticker sheets for these sets all had stickers for many different European railroads. "
https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/PN/0/7740stk01.png
I spot:
* NS - Netherlands
* SBB/CFF/FFS - Switzerland
* NMBS - Belgium
* DSB - Denmark
* FS - Italy
* SNCF - France
* ÖBB - Austria
* SJ - Sweden
* BR - Great Britain
* NSB - Norway
* VR - Finland
No love for Luxemburg, Spain and Portugal I guess.....
@WizardOfOss said:
" @paulvdb said:
" @dudeski said:
"Was it only made in a Deutsche Bahn variant, or did it come with different stickers per country/market? I know some trains came with NS stickering in the Netherlands and I have seen the Belgian NMBS's B-logo on Lego parts, but I never saw images of trains with those stickers/prints."
If I remember correctly all trains from that era had catalog images with DB stickers but the sticker sheets for these sets all had stickers for many different European railroads. "
https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/PN/0/7740stk01.png
I spot:
* NS - Netherlands
* SBB/CFF/FFS - Switzerland
* NMBS - Belgium
* DSB - Denmark
* FS - Italy
* SNCF - France
* ÖBB - Austria
* SJ - Sweden
* BR - Great Britain
* NSB - Norway
* VR - Finland
No love for Luxemburg, Spain and Portugal I guess....."
I remember the one time I went on holiday to Spain, I guess it must have been 1989, and I don’t really remember seeing Lego in the toy store there. Lots of Playmobil, but no Lego. So maybe Lego wasn’t popular enough there at the time?
For those with 110v mains I'd think the easiest thing to do would be to use a non-Lego transformer / controller to get the 12v output. I've run Lego trains with 1940s Hornby-Dublo controllers in the past; with the 12v system you can remove plugs from wires with a small screwdriver, so there's no need to mutilate cables like there is with later systems.
@SDlgo9 said:
"For those with 110v mains I'd think the easiest thing to do would be to use a non-Lego transformer / controller to get the 12v output. I've run Lego trains with 1940s Hornby-Dublo controllers in the past; with the 12v system you can remove plugs from wires with a small screwdriver, so there's no need to mutilate cables like there is with later systems."
I ran one of these at a model railway exhibition in Exeter last month, powered by an old Hornby Railways controller, model railways still run on 12v. That includes the American and Japanese models I have, all you need is a transformer/controller appropriate for your power supply. The trains are the same.
Maybe TLG couldn't afford to develop control systems for two regions, but suitable systems do exist.
@Murdoch17 said:
"12v was never sold in the States. From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer, and these get very hot doing their job. Case it point: one of my LUG friends got 12v sets from relatives in Germany back in the day, and every time he runs it at a show it requires a transformer with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool so said electrical equipment won't overheat. I guess LEGO just didn't want to take the risk of fire or something, and never sold 12v in the North American market."
You can’t get 12v or 9v from any wall outlet. NA runs 120v, and EU is 240v. Now, they do step down to AC, not DC, so I’m kinda wondering if they had the correct transformer. I don’t thing a DC transformer would cause overheating, but a 9v one might.
@SDlgo9 said:
"For those with 110v mains I'd think the easiest thing to do would be to use a non-Lego transformer / controller to get the 12v output. I've run Lego trains with 1940s Hornby-Dublo controllers in the past; with the 12v system you can remove plugs from wires with a small screwdriver, so there's no need to mutilate cables like there is with later systems."
You can’t get plug adapters in the travel section of any department store. Radio Shack also used to sell transformers (one AC, the other DC) with a slider for variable voltage output in 1.5v increments, and interchangeable tips (rotate the tip 180° for polarity changes). It’s probably a little harder to track down stuff like that now that they’re out of business, but if they did it, I’m sure someone else recognized the need to keep them in production.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"12v was never sold in the States. From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer, and these get very hot doing their job. Case it point: one of my LUG friends got 12v sets from relatives in Germany back in the day, and every time he runs it at a show it requires a transformer with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool so said electrical equipment won't overheat. I guess LEGO just didn't want to take the risk of fire or something, and never sold 12v in the North American market."
You can’t get 12v or 9v from any wall outlet. NA runs 120v, and EU is 240v. Now, they do step down to AC, not DC, so I’m kinda wondering if they had the correct transformer. I don’t thing a DC transformer would cause overheating, but a 9v one might."
Transormers are always AC.......it needs to be to actually work, you cannot transform DC, though obviously there are other ways to adjust DC voltage.
If you put a 240V to 12V transformer into a 120V outlet, you simply get 6V (and your train will run slow). If a transformer can switch between 240 and 12V input to 12V output, it just means it's wired in a way that for the 120V it effectively just uses half the windings on the transformer, resulting in a 10:1 transformation instead of 20:1. No fancy electronics here, just a matter of number of windings on the input versus output.
If the thing is overheating, it's not because of the 120V, but because either there's something wrong with it, or you're just putting too much load on it.
As for polarity changes: As long as you're using the Lego connectors from back then, just turn the connector around ;-)
(there even where cables with separate connectors for each lead...)
@Murdoch17 said:
"12v was never sold in the States. From what I've seen and heard, you can't get 12v from wall sockets in North America without stepping it up through a transformer, and these get very hot doing their job. Case it point: one of my LUG friends got 12v sets from relatives in Germany back in the day, and every time he runs it at a show it requires a transformer with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool so said electrical equipment won't overheat. I guess LEGO just didn't want to take the risk of fire or something, and never sold 12v in the North American market."
Try a different transformer, I have a couple for my 12V trains and neither one of them get all that warm.
@darthmar said:
"Here we go. This train brings back memories off spending days atching it riding across my childhoodroom. And off course you should have the 7819 postal wagon and the 7815 sleeper carriage to complete it. "
7740 was before my time, and 7745 was the range header by the time I was looking at these sets, BUT 7819 and 7815 were still available in the shops. I still lusted after 7740 because I could see it in Ideas books, outdated leaflets, and even displays and it was all the more desirable because of it's scarcity! I bought the extra wagons, but it wasn't until after my dark ages I could part together the power car to make a facsimile for the iconic 7740 !
@WizardOfOss:
In NA, the vast majority of transformers step down from 120v AC to some increment of 1.5v DC. This makes sense when you consider that common sizes of alkaline batteries output in 1.5v DC, and since batteries are always loaded in series, the voltage output is 1.5v x the quantity of batteries used. The only transformers I've ever encountered that output in AC are LEGO-branded, which is why so many people fried the power jacks in the RCX 1.0 bricks, after they cheaped out and bought aftermarket transformers instead of shelling out for the much more expensive LEGO versions.
@Rob42 said:
"I guess yellow was the closest they could get to tan in 1980.
Cool set either way."
Not really, all we had to do was expose our white bricks to daylight and wait for the inevitable to happen.
@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss:
In NA, the vast majority of transformers step down from 120v AC to some increment of 1.5v DC. This makes sense when you consider that common sizes of alkaline batteries output in 1.5v DC, and since batteries are always loaded in series, the voltage output is 1.5v x the quantity of batteries used. The only transformers I've ever encountered that output in AC are LEGO-branded, which is why so many people fried the power jacks in the RCX 1.0 bricks, after they cheaped out and bought aftermarket transformers instead of shelling out for the much more expensive LEGO versions."
Like I mentioned before, most "transformers" also include a rectifier, which turns AC into DC. Doesn't change the fact that the actual transformer only does AC, and whatever output voltage they choose won't make it overheat, nor would a lower input voltage.
Transformers that (also) output AC are pretty common in model railways, as that's what's generally used for lights, turnouts and the likes. But also for all kinds of other uses, though indeed if it's for stuff that can also be battery powered, a DC output matching that obviously makes more sense. Is no different over here. But still, let's say you would use a (non multi-voltage) 240V AC to 6V DC adapter in the US, it would simply output 3V DC.
In recent years most power adapters have been multi-voltage though (without a switch as you might have seen back in the 80s or so...which could really mess things up if it accidentaly was in the wrong position....), so effectively work worldwide. And nowadays most (consumer) stuff actually uses transformerless power supplies, hence why most adapters are so much smaller and lighter nowadays.
Love this train
@Rob42 said:
"I guess yellow was the closest they could get to tan in 1980.
Cool set either way."
Tan, was that the colour of DB passenger trains back in the day?
@dudeski said:
" @Rob42 said:
"I guess yellow was the closest they could get to tan in 1980.
Cool set either way."
Tan, was that the colour of DB passenger trains back in the day?"
For IC and TEE carriages they used red with beige: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/ADmh101_56_80_81-90_004-1_D-VEB_Domodossola_140409.jpg
I think tan would be too dark, but white wouldn't be right either. Though maybe......just wait a few years and white pieces would have yellowed enough to make it a perfect match ;-)