The Blue Train Engine

[Brickviller]

Hi there,

I’m a guy who likes the color blue, and I also like Lego trains. So as a result of this I like trains in the color blue. However after some research I found out Lego actually has only released two train engines that had blue as their main color since 1980. The legendary 7760 Blue Shunter Locomotive released in 1980 and the infamous 4560/1 Railway Express released in 1999. If you compare these trains to other trains you would say it’s odd that there are far more trains in black, red, yellow and even green.

So what could be the reason or reasons that Lego has only released two blue train engines in the last three decades? I think other people can think of reasons, so far I’ve made a small list and will add the ones from others:

-It’s not as attractive. Colours have influence on people, it could be that blue has not such effect on people rather than red. It’s been proven that people dressed in red are more attractive, so this could also influence if you had a red train.

Also the boxes in the city line always have a blue stripe at the side, and a blue-ish background. It may not look as good when the engine is also blue, even though I think this is not their main reason.

-Realism. In my entire life I’ve almost never seen a blue engine. I live in the Netherlands and we have one of the most bussy railroads in the world so that says at least something right? Even in other countries I’ve never seen one. Even so, in Germany most cargo trains are red, and Lego tends to base their models on theirs.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Don't forget the new Maersk diesel locomotive, with its beautiful livery!

[Brickviller]

Don't forget the new Maersk diesel locomotive, with its beautiful livery!

Yeah but I think it's not a real blue engine, it used blue, ofcourse, but mostly as a complementary color to the black and light gray, but it IMO a tricky one to determine wether it's a full blue engine or not.

[roamingstop]

Well then you never lived in the 70's and 80's UK where blue was the official colour of British Rail... most of the locomotives were Blue with white logo... and many pictures...

But in the end, blue is a colour which most (modern) trains dont come in (for whatever reason) and most Lego models, whilst not scale / colour versions, will keep to schemes which work. How many blue cars do you see these days? In the 80's and 90's quite a few... but now? Bright blue has vanished; dark colours are more fashionable.

[L@go]

This is the current livery for the long distance trains used in Norway, the NSB Class 73:

Yeah, the roof is silver, but most of the train is blue, although I'll admit it's a darker tone than Lego's regular blue.

But the intention of this post was probably not to have people dig up pictures of real-life blue trains...

Lego did a blue parts pack for the My Own Train steam engines, so that counts for something. Still, I'd like trains in more colours, and darker colours like the dark green used for the Emerald Night would be nice. Imagine a steam train in dark blue - or dark red!

EDIT: A gruesome spelling error.

Edited August 4, 2011 by L@go

[22kane]

If it's blue locomotives you crave look no further. Although Conrail has been split up between CSX and Norfolk Southern some of their blue power still roam the rails. Check out the link for many "blue" locomotives.

Conrailcyclopedia

[legoguy475]

If it's blue locomotives you crave look no further. Although Conrail has been split up between CSX and Norfolk Southern some of their blue power still roam the rails. Check out the link for many "blue" locomotives.

Conrailcyclopedia

You took the words right out of my mouth. Maybe do the Conrail SD50 I sometimes see doing MOW Work around North Georgia?

[WesternOutlaw]

Interesting topic and I like the use of your Blue Train image above.

I've always loved the little blue shunter and hoped that LEGO might offer it as a small train Legend.

Since the 2x3 blue windows of the Shunter are pretty rare (as well as a few other pieces), I had to try my hand at a Red Shunter as part of a 12V Train restoration project.

On the topic of "blue trains", blue trains are not exactly ultra rare in real life trains as L@go pictures above.

Here's a blue train from the Nevada Southern Railway as well:

Perhaps the color blue is not as versatile as other LEGO colors like white, red, and green. In the past few years, it seems green has been a pretty popular color for LEGO Trains.

[AllanSmith]

New Zealand had blue locomotives. Back in 1999 I built my version of the Bay Express, a long distance train hauled by a class Dc locomotive. Click here to see my LEGO version and photos of prototype

Edited August 4, 2011 by AllanSmith

[AussieJimbo]

A blue 81-class freight loco, a familiar sight on New South Wales railways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_81_class_locomotive

[Staalis]

I'm in the process of making the 7820 mail van (grey 12V era) in blue (original is red). I had some blue doors and windows lying around and did discover that the big doors were available at a decent price. I only need some more parts for the roof now.

As for the red shunter I've also made that for 9V, but I only had the red doors with the white stripe so that had to be used on the rest of the train as well.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Staalis

[peterab]

My local railway had a very nice blue colour scheme when I was growing up. See.

I'm pretty sure one of the reasons that we haven't seen more blue colour schemes is that LEGO's biggest market is Germany, and it's not the most common of colours there. I'd imagine that train sets sell better in the German market than elsewhere (trains seemed to be a far more common toy there) too, so I guess they try to tailor there city train sets a bit to that market.

Germany did have a famous Blue train though, and a couple of very common Electric loco's of the 60's were painted blue as were 1st class carriages for a while. Green was by far the most common colour in the sixties for German freight engines, and pretty common on passenger carriages too.

The 7740 looks very similar to 1st class German express coaches of the 70s & 80s. The second class coaches were blue and tan, so I guess they chose the more exclusive option in that case. By the late eighties there was quite a mix of colours in German trains, with white becoming a common theme. I'm pretty sure these days red is just about universal in Germany. I think we've seen that reflected in recent sets. I have no explaination for the yellow cargo train though, so I guess the influence is not absolute.

[Rijkvv]

The Netherlands had blue engines as well.

-The diesel engine NS 2400 was blue in the early 50s;

-The electric engines 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300 were dark blue in the late 50s till the 70s, the 1000 never changed the colours and some 1100s were still dark blue in the early 80s

I'm not sure why LEGO don't use the colour blue more often. Many times they look for real prototypes, and maybe they never watched at blue ones?

Edited August 4, 2011 by Richie

[cimddwc]

I'm pretty sure these days red is just about universal in Germany. I think we've seen that reflected in recent sets.

Actually, except for a few rather short-range private carriers, we got red trains (with a white stripe) for local/regional traffic – like 7938 (though there's usually more red below the white stripe) –, and white (with a red stripe) for long distances - like the old RC set 7897. There was white with blue stripes some time ago on InterRegio cars, but they have been discontinued. (And were usually pulled by a standard red engine anyway.)

And red cargo/working/shunter locos like in 3677 are indeed quite common. Yellow isn't, but it's used by some Dispoloks (i.e. from a loco leasing company), so 7939 doesn't look too strange around here either. :)

SBB cargo (Switzerland) uses blue sides on their engines, so that could be an "excuse" for a new blue Lego model - though I rather doubt it...

[Staalis]

The Swedish trains and coaches were dominantly blue in a couple of different liveries from the late 80's until the early 2000's. Since then the colours have changed. Most SJ (the name that people will remember from the 12V era) trains and coaches for shorter services are now being painted black, whilst the high speed trainsets have a light grey livery. Most cargo trains are green (fitting since the cargo branch is called Green Cargo), but some remain blue until they are refubished and a few have even been kept in their original orange livery used from the late 60's to the late 80's.

Eurobricks poster 'Selander' has made quite a few MOC's, including the blue ones, that have been posted here over the years.

[legodac]

Well, the only thing I can think of is that Lego doesn't make a whole lot of blue bricks. Yet I see everyday a tractor trailor roiling down the road with that familiar "MAERSK" blue logo on the side of the container. I really love the new line, so much so I'm doing extra work on the weekends just to buy it. (the work is for my wife, she says I have enough trains ) I also heard once that blue seems to be the color that fades most quickly in the sun and the rest of the elements.

However, I would say the most likely reason blue isn't a prominent color anywhere, is because, well, just look up and Lego designers hadn't got around to it yet.

I can't wait to get the new trains, why, I'm nuts for Lego trains, though in real life, I'm partial to buying blue vehicles. When I hobby, red and green are my fave's (wonder why?)

Imagine this in blue eh...

Keep on Brickn' eh...The legodac Brickerage Firm

[Selander]

The Swedish trains and coaches were dominantly blue in a couple of different liveries from the late 80's until the early 2000's. Since then the colours have changed. Most SJ (the name that people will remember from the 12V era) trains and coaches for shorter services are now being painted black, whilst the high speed trainsets have a light grey livery. Most cargo trains are green (fitting since the cargo branch is called Green Cargo), but some remain blue until they are refubished and a few have even been kept in their original orange livery used from the late 60's to the late 80's.

Eurobricks poster 'Selander' has made quite a few MOC's, including the blue ones, that have been posted here over the years.

Thanks Staalis

Here's a shot of my MOC Swedish RC-class locomotive, in a color scheme which is quite close to those of the prototype.

TLG also sold several locomotives in th "My Own Train"-series in blue color:

namely KT103, KT203, KT303 and KT403.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Selander

[Piranha]

does the Tram from 8404 count?

[editedweb]

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I thought I would show my NSWGR 80 class loco, designed in LDD, to be PF compatible. I haven't built it yet but would like to, even though it is a relatively simple design. It would of course look a lot better with some decals to break up the larger coloured areas (side, some of the slopes on top, and the nose needs a bit of detail too)