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A bench is a great idea! I’ll have to modify the building’s facade to make that work, thank you for the suggestion!

Thank you, I really appreciate that! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

I agree, I have considered buying individual pieces to remake some of those older modulars (especially the Fire Brigade), but like you said the size of the city comes into play. If the city was a lot larger I would be sure to try and make them though! I'm glad you find it interesting! Definitely stay tuned to watch me tackle those projects in the future! If the modernized Emerald Night turns out good, I'll have to try my hand at other older trains as well!

At the moment, unfortunately no - I don't have a spare motor for it. But hopefully one day in the future I can invest in another motor and have it go around the layout!

That's a great idea! Unfortunately I don't have any of the official LEGO monorail sets from back in the day, so that'd be a big investment. That would be really cool though, I'll have to add that to my never-ending list of things I want to add to the city if I had more money and more space!

I've been meaning to do that, I just haven't decided on a tree design I like!

My plan was to make the mountain as tall as I could make it, so as to have a nice backdrop for the city - but that's a good idea though! I'll look into that logistically to see if I can make that happen

One day I would love to do that as well, but unfortunately it's just so expensive nowadays, especially if you're trying to be a LEGO purist and not use third party solutions that are out there

Thank you!

@ yeah man, no problem!

I’m glad you’ve decided to follow along! Hopefully I can figure this out soon, but if I don’t get it to work, I won’t make another video about it. If I do get it to work, I’ll be sure to make it a more tutorial style video and hopefully it can help anyone that is looking to motorize the orient express!

I have recreated your program and connected a brand new motor and controller to my iPad and it runs flawlessly, however I cannot test it under the same load (none of my trains are as heavy as the orient express) I think there are a few possible scenarios: 1. Under load the motor overheats and the battery box disconnects; or 2. Your battery box is defective; or 3. Your batteries don’t provide enough power; or 4. your controller is defective. To further test this you should first run with new non rechargeable batteries and without load (e.g. disconnect the motor from the wheels or lift your loc up so the wheels can turn freely without load.) If that works try it with a minimum load (e.g. only the motor on a minimal build) and slowly increase the load (build the locomotive back up) until it stops working. If you have another battery box and controller swap them to see if it makes a difference. In each step you try to eliminate one factor (load, battery power, defective hardware). The powered up system is designed for 9v DC through 6 batteries and 6 conventional rechargeable batteries only deliver 7.2V. For 9v from 6 rechargeable batteries you need Lithium batteries. Also the default configuration for the linear motors paired with the controller is to only turn as long as you keep the button pressed. This is because that motor is not intended to drive a train but to control for instance a steering wheel in a technic build.

Wow! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this! I don’t think it’s the batteries, they’re brand new - and they’re regular batteries (not rechargeable ones). I also don’t think it’s the controller, but I can’t be certain. I haven’t considered the first scenario you suggested, but I doubt it’s actually overheating because when I only use the iPad the system works flawlessly. The most likely case (I think), is that the battery box is defective. I’m going to run these tests and I’ll get back to you about this! I unfortunately don’t have another motor or battery box, so I’ll just have to take apart the orient express and try it. And that bottom paragraph is interesting to note as well, but if that’s the case then why could they offer instructions for motorizing the crocodile locomotive and use the exact same components and have it run continuously and perfectly fine? I don’t expect you to have the answers, but this is something LEGO should have made more clear. Once again, thank you for taking the time to do this, I really appreciate it! And I’ll be sure to respond to this comment once I run the tests!

@@ChrisBricks02 The crocodile set is two kilograms or approximately 4 pounds lighter (according to Bricklink, others report different numbers), so it doesn’t need as much power as a motorised version of the orient express. They also only support it with the app, not with the remote because the remote will not drive the motor with continuous power. There are different ways to motorise the orient express, the best running options I have seen all used two motors, there is no officially supported instruction for motorising the orient express.

I was aware that LEGO didn't offer official instructions to motorize it, but seeing as everyone else was able to get it running, I figured I could do the same. My main problem is that I'm stubborn and want to be able to use the remote instead of an app everytime I want to change the speed. The battery box might be faulty (which could also be the problem, as we discussed), but I'm awaiting a response from customer service, so hopefully they're able to help solve the issue (or confirm that my battery box and/or other components are faulty)

I've had a number of comments giving help, and I'm awaiting a response from customer service, so hopefully some of the help actually works! It's not the switch track I don't think, whenever I just use the remote or just use the app the train goes over it no problem, I simply extended the coupling between the locomotive and tender just to give the engine a bit more wiggle room to make it around LEGO's tight radius curves

Given the behaviour I rather think it is an issue with a faulty battery box, since it seems too loose the connection.

I saw that there was no official instructions for motorizing it, and I saw everyone else online trying it, so I assumed it wouldn't be that difficult to do the same. To get the train running, there isn't any issues (as seen in the videos about it). Keeping it running though, that's a different story. Mostly because I'm just stubborn and want to use the remote instead of using an app everytime I want to change the speed of the train

The issue isn't that it wasn't designed to run on track. Lego made it so you could do it (otherwise they would NOT have made the tender the exact space and even a little door for the battery box and cable to run through.) they say it's the coaches being heavy when it's not that entirely. This has already been completely debunked when the set came out as the freight train set from 2022 or so, is ABLE to pull both coaches at full speed no issues and is almost the same weight as the entire OE in its own set. The issue that prevents the OE from running well is the pistons and the super super super tight connection between the tender and the engine. The tender is also too light even WITH the added weight of the battery box and batteries. It needs more weight otherwise it starts getting lifted up when it's not supposed to. As for the pistons it's not them turning on their own that's the issue, it's the connection under the sides where the front connects to the pistons where it's supposed to go back and forth. There's too much friction so it ends up locking.

​​@@Essie-fm3vr it's not The battery box. I've got my OE motorized and running extremely well on my layout and I can say it's the pistons (mainly the 2 spots that are supposed to slide back and forth as the wheels turn. The axle on them has too much friction, causing the train to lock up unless through force (like the L motor is doing) they also catch up under the propeller blades that are used as covers. The combination of this and the fact that the weight is mismanaged (good weight in the back and middle, but not enough in the first half) cause the battery to have a hard time and Lego motors do have a safety thing inside them where they will choke the speed of the motor when stress happens to the battery (when it blinks orange it's saying some stress but can manage, when it shows red blinking it's telling you that it's critical stress.)

@gta71000 I tried running the orient express without the coaches, and also lifted in the air to avoid any friction from everything (even uncoupled the linkages on the wheels so it was just the back wheels turning, and nothing else) - every single time, no matter the circumstances, when I was using all three components (the battery box, remote control, and the app), the battery box disconnected from the app and turned itself off. I'm in the middle of a conversation with customer support, so hopefully they can fix my issue. The battery box never once blinked orange or red to indicate it was under any stress, so my theory is that my battery box is faulty, but I can't say for certain until I talk more with customer service. And for reference, I changed out the coupling between the tender and the locomotive and made it longer, so that's not in consideration anymore as to why the train has problems running on my layout.

9V is nice for train setups if you know what you’re doing, but for kids who just want to play I think the Powered Up system is easier to get started. There are always third party alternatives for the AFOLs, but if you’re a LEGO purist then there’s not really an option except spending a fortune on Bricklink to get second hand 9V.

​​@@Essie-fm3vr also 9v won't work here for the OE on its own. Someone tried and it couldn't budge because the pistons. The RUclipsr had to literally REMOVE the entire underside and swap to the 9v motor to get it to run but even then the connection between the tender and the engine that comes in the set is too too too short to handle curves.

I contacted customer support with a detailed description of what's going on, so hopefully they can help! (Or at least confirm my sneaking suspicion that the battery box is faulty). Thank you again for showing me the PDF, that helped a ton!

Thank you, and best of luck to you!

Thank you, I appreciate that! Tiago's a great builder, so I'm sure his is really good!

I'll have to try that, thank you for the suggestions!

I'll have to check that out! Unfortunately I don't have the pieces to brick build all my roads, and I think it would look out of place if I only have one section of it brick built - so I'm going to have to pass on this for now. But it's a great idea and I hope to utilize it one day!

Thank you, I really appreciate that! That means a lot! I hope your LEGO City turns out well!

Thank you!

That's a good idea, I'll see if I can make a design that I like! And I don't own set 60363, but if I can find it on sale I'll be sure to pick it up!

That's a good idea!

Thank you, I really appreciate that!

Thank you, I really appreciate that! I could definitely add a back section to the building, but when I tried it, it took up too much space so I decided to scrap the idea for now. Maybe one day in the future I'll come back and add those details in!

I unfortunately don't have any snot bricks with studs on two sides in white in my collection at the moment, so I had to pick and choose between the PAB wall and the vine. I will definitely be sure to add jumpers on the inside for customers!

@ChrisBricks02 Yeah the life of an,afol is a constant struggle to find the right part 🤣

Thank you, I appreciate that! And yes, I did consider adding stairs, but in the end it took up too much room, so I decided to scrap the idea for now. Maybe in the future I'll come back and add a staircase or a ladder!

Thank you, I'm glad you like it!