FREIGHT or FANCY?

[WesternOutlaw]

Over the years, Lego has produced a number of outstanding trains. Some of their more memorable designs have been used for passenger trains, like the Santa Fe Super Chief and the beautifully elegant Emerald Night. Others freight and cargo trains have dominated the Lego Train market including the BNSF with wonderful dark green and orange colors, Cargo Train 4512 during the return to 9V as part of World City, and Lego's newer R/C train Cargo Train Deluxe.

Fantastic trains indeed, all with very unique and splendid designs. But what do you like better? Do you prefer the playability of cargo trains with hoppers and cranes? or do you like the more fanciful and regal look of a passenger train.

Discuss your thoughts in this latest Train Tech poll, FREIGHT or FANCY?

[ProducePrincess]

I perfer freight trains . They are easier to get a free ride on than a passenger train , and for my lego citys large population of hobos thats important

Freight trains i find have a more intresting look compared to passenger trains and there are many more possibilitys with them . You could even use one for a post-nuclear diorama witch

I think would look pretty neat.

The Emerald Night makes this decision a lot harder to make.

Edited May 20, 2009 by Black Rabbit

[legofan]

Oh! Nice Topic! Just taken a super liking for trains... and i really have to agree with Brickster's article on 'What is a town without a train?"

Being a town/ city fan of Lego for almost 21 years now... have never taken a liking to trains until i just boarded one in Taiwan... (Yap can't believe someone so old haven't taken a train before right? (Subway not included)

Anyway, back to topic, i love the elegant passenger trains more... No doubt cargo trains provide more playability and more versitility with it's endless range of wagons to pull along, the passenger trains i feel looks alot better and more sleek and it sure looks good when it's running around your town layout...Not to forget the, IMHO, best 9v, or even the best train set in Lego: 10001/ 4554 Metroliner! The legendary passenger train coupled with the legendary wagon car 10002 (Club car) is the absoluate beauty!

After a tough comparison with Metroliner and Santa Fe...

My vote its still with the passenger trains ~~ Cheers!

Edited May 20, 2009 by legofan

[mikey]

Is it possible to choose?

Whilst passenger trains can look superb, sleek or classy, and are sure to look in place within a town layout, perhaps there is not as much scope for MOC, once you have built your train station? And playability is limited to loading up passengers and running your service?

With freight trains, which also look excellent, I think you have more scope for MOC, to create rolling stock of different verieties, and a cargo yard with diverse buildings, etc.

So I am going to go for freight, but really the two choices go hand in hand. Surely once you have bought track and created your layout you would not limit yourself to one or the other?

[brickfreak99]

I would've said freight, but the Emerald Night completely changed my mind on this. The coach on the Emerald Night is simply stunning and a LEGO masterpiece. So, Passenger (or fancy ) it is!

[Klaus-Dieter]

That's a great and very interesting topic, TheBrickster!

But the choices are really too difficult!

Nevertheless I voted for Freight simply because I already own the S@H rereleased versions of the Metrolioner and the Railroad Club Car - but no freight train until now. (But that's imo not an adequate reason for voting. )

I really would like to see TLG releasing a new elevated train as main part of the possible fan's choice set next year since I really would like to have a train which mainly runs through the city but does normally not leave the city.

But after that I will try to get a freight train, too, since you really need minimum one freight train for your City (in principle one is even much too less).

The point is that the freight train theme does offer more playability and even many more sets.

To passenger trains you can only add very few seperate train cars (a dining car and a sleeping car, perhaps even a post car (if you don't count it to freight) - but that's it), a station, a level crossing and perhaps an engine shed.

But as addition for feight trains there are many more possibilities: a depot, a cargo loading station, many different seperate train cars (such as a refridgerator waggon, an Octan waggon, some container waggons, ...), many transport vehicles, lorriesm, vans, fork lifts etc. to transport the cargo from e. g. a depot to the train, ...

Plus you can see at the current 10193 Emerald Night that TLG totally disregarded the interior design and the number of minifigs is simply risible - and this should have not happened since it is an extra for AFOLs designed set! So this is another reason for why I say that at least in this exclusive passenger train set I'm not that interested than in freight train sets.

Klaus-Dieter

[AgentRick]

Both types have their ups and downs. The freight train is good if you want something that has plenty of playability. Different car arrangements + removable cargo + variety of cars = a lot of fun for the kids. The passenger train is good for getting plenty of figs or windows, but the variety of different trains Lego has released leaves the amount of addable cars to a minimum unless you buy the entire set again. My vote would have to go with the Freight train. More variety = More fun.

[Yeow]

If the Passenger train is unique or amazing (Metroliner & Emerald Night), they are easily nicer than the freight trains. But the RC passenger train...

[WesternOutlaw]

Interesting points all.

I steer toward freight trains because it does allow for a wide variety of different types of rolling stock. I like wagons with cranes, hoppers, and box cars. Also, Wild West trains mix freight and passengers wagons - a very nice thought.

[rriggs]

It's a good question;

Passenger trains have more playability and stations are generally cool buildings

Freight trains are more interesting to build, easier to MOC and have more potential for adding accessories.

I voted freight.

Cheers

Rog

[Brickthus]

It's a good question;

Passenger trains have more playability and stations are generally cool buildings

Freight trains are more interesting to build, easier to MOC and have more potential for adding accessories.

I voted freight.

Cheers

Rog

Interesting to see if there's any correlation between preference for passenger or freight trains and preference for town or trains.

Freight trains don't have to have a town because a freight yard can be purely industrial e.g. container port, power station, mine. Passenger trains need an interface with town items - station, bus, taxi, food outlet unless it's just a small village station with only a 2-car train.

I favour freight trains because of the variety of wagons and the opportunity for shunting. Shunting tends to be a home pastime because at an exhibition the aim is to leave trains running (that's what people came to see) and talk with the public.

My latest MOC is an ordinary small wagon, but there's actually a lot to it. Photos when I've finished

Mark

[Freddie]

Passenger trains have more playability and stations are generally cool buildings

Freight trains are more interesting to build, easier to MOC and have more potential for adding accessories.

That's an interesting thought - I've always considered freight trains the more playable of the two, because of the large variation on the cars, and that it can be very closely integrated with other town sub-themes, i.e. unload this here onto that, then drive it there and load it onto the ship etc. I've always seen passenger trains are more suited towards role-play, with the cargo limited to passengers and luggage, and the train cars being visually uniform.

I think I might lean towards passenger trains on this one, with the Santa-Fe and the Euro Express/Metroliner, and also the 12V passenger trains being examples of passenger trains that I think look great and IMO would not look out of place next to each other at a grand train station. The Emerald Night is in a league of its own, and has no freight-hauling counterpart (yet!) and I've therefore not measured it up against the other trains.

[Ratshot]

Personally I like freight trains the best. One gets more unique things like railway yard workers, bigger trains, service trucks/cranes and anything that is on the train. The downside is that they tend to cost more, but there is a downside to most good things anyway

Edited May 22, 2009 by Broadside

[Zorbas]

Well, a small bump here, but it is for one of the most important topics when it comes to trains in my opinion.

I just saw this topic today and I remembered a conversation I had 2 days ago with a co-worker of mine and LEGO fan when he was a kid. We were talking about toys and what to buy to our children and nephews for Christmas and we brought up LEGO. I told him that I was very passionate with LEGO back when I was a kid (the year is 1988) and that my parents ordered a train set from Germany - yes, 12V never made it to Greece...

To cut a long story short, I wanted the 7745 High-Speed City Express(still my favorite), but because that it was out of stock, I finally got the 7735 Freight Train, the 7813 Shell Tanker Wagon and the 7824 Railway Station.

I was dissapointed at first but after building it and playing with it, I changed my mind. The playability was far from great and the (prehistoric) MOCing was endless. Plus, I could build a very simple but still doing its job passenger wagon.

So, to conclude, freight trains are the choice for me. Unlimited MOCing for wagons of any kind, many alongside activities, much more vehicles involved and a variety of buildings just like Klaus Dieter mentioned.

Sorry for the not-so-train-related intro...

[badboytje88]

I personally prefer a passenger train, because it comes with non work outfit minifigures. Which I love! I'm a peoples person, and it's the same when it comes to minifigs. So that was an easy chose for me.

[Duq]

Thanks for the kick, I missed this first time around.

It's a really tough choice. Passenger trains tend to be the lookers among trains. Just look at a TGV or the 1980's Rheingold with a BR103 pulling a string of cream and red carriages.

Freight trains are more interesting because of a greater variety in shapes and colours.

With Lego it's a bit the other way around. Passenger trains in recent years haven't been very pretty, and in the freight trains there hasn't been much variety... With the exception of the BNSF for years the freight engines have been the European cab-in-the-middle type.

Still, I think for Lego I'd have to go for freight. No need to shorten carriages, short trains that don't look odd and endlessly more playability.

[Piranha]

Oh cool topic!

Cargo Trains are good because they have alot of extra features that you wouldn't normally find on a passenger train. There also good models like the BNSF that have been mentioned. With a cargo train you can have a crane, lots of cars and most will be different. They also have the possibilities to make lots of add on-s. Like a petrol tanker, freezer car or grain car. Compared with a passenger train which virtually all the train cars are the same. You also explore the possibilities for sets, you can have cargo depots and the sets can include a crane, cars and containers.

Passenger Trains on the other hand I prefer for looks. I like the modern feel of them, they look very sleek and eye pleasing compared to the bulky parts of a cargo train. Plus passenger trains are more practical for a city layout. You can have level crossings and nicely done passenger train stations. The interior details also greatly improve, for sleeping, dining, restrooms, storage and control engine rooms. One of the best examples of this is on the Metroliner.

In the end my vote goes to Passenger Trains

[peterab]

I voted freight, just because they are more diverse and hence the playability is better. I do like passenger trains too and plan to Moc a 80's TEE like Duq described.

[Davey]

Great topic Brickster! I'll put my $0.02 in and say that I prefer freight trains over passenger trains when it comes to using diesel locomotives. When I'm building an electric or steam locomotive, I prefer to build passenger coaches to go with those. Overall thought, I would have to say that I love the playability that comes with the freight/cargo genre. Moving goods has always been a fixture in my creative play with LEGO and over the years I have felt that the freight/cargo sets (especially the trains) have had some of the most well designed and playable sets.

-Dave