Train Engine

I made this train engine using the 4.5V motor from set 7722, and the plane parts from 6377. I'm not quite sure why I decided to put the plane on the front like that, I guess I was looking for some kind of "modern" engine. It kind of reminds me of the truck from the show "The Highwayman". I've also had this model sitting around for several years, waiting for an easy way to document it.

I haven't made any step-by-step photos of this, and probably won't. It's simple enough that I can probably rebuild it from these two photos.

I recently hooked up my 6.270 board to this and built a matching car for it. It doesn't really do much right now. The board has a photocell hooked up, and when a light hits it, it starts/stops the train. I can push the choose button to make it reverse direction. There's also an infrared emitter/sensor underneath the car. I was trying to get it to read "bar codes" from the track.

The bar codes are made from a 2x8 black plate, with white tiles snapped on top at different spacing. Unfortunately, I can't get reliable reads. It detects the lengths of the black/white strips differently depending on the ambient light in the room, and what appear to be other random conditions.