LEGO Trains 2025

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, samsz_3 said:

Another leak:

January 2026
LEGO City 60508
Police Tran Heist
USD $199.99

Again with this and the Arctic train, I'm glad City is doing things that tie into other things, and are uniquely LEGO and creative, rather than a passenger/cargo train that could be in any non LEGO trainset.
 

With the rumored WV train, 2026 police train, Spiderman subway car, Arctic train, and the passenger station, plus the downtown streetcar from a few years back, we train fans are eating good in the mid-2020's! (Please tell me I didn't just jinx that...)

Edited August 11 by Murdoch17

[CastleRail]

4 hours ago, samsz_3 said:

Police Train 
 

PLEASE be a Class 37 

[Murdoch17]

8 minutes ago, CastleRail said:

PLEASE be a Class 37 

My thoughts exactly!

[FGMatt]

I would have thought that the obvious "play features" train would be a recovery one, with a rail crane as the centrepiece? 

[Darkkostas25]

1 hour ago, FGMatt said:

I would have thought that the obvious "play features" train would be a recovery one, with a rail crane as the centrepiece? 

I thought about the fire rescue train, but hope construction-ish will also be 

[L-Gauger]

I'm glad to see that an article I wrote has been published on the Model Railroader website. Maybe there's some interest in our hobby among conventional model railroaders? 

https://www.trains.com/mrr/beginners/the-world-of-l-gauge-railroading/

[Space78]

1 hour ago, L-Gauger said:

I'm glad to see that an article I wrote has been published on the Model Railroader website. Maybe there's some interest in our hobby among conventional model railroaders? 

https://www.trains.com/mrr/beginners/the-world-of-l-gauge-railroading/

Wow, great, and thanks for sharing the link.  As one who loves Lego, Lego trains, and O gauge (Lionel) trains, it's great to see these paths cross.  One huge difference between model railroading gauges and Lego trains is that the trains are powered through the rails rather than batteries.  I think that severely limits the interest of "model railroaders" in Lego trains.  Couple that with Lego's lack of support for a complete model rail road system, and it would be pretty tough for a model railroader to be happy with just Lego trains.  I have to say, as much as I love Lego, my O gauge trains get a lot more play time than the Lego trains, and I have permanent layouts of both.

[L-Gauger]

4 hours ago, Space78 said:

As one who loves Lego, Lego trains, and O gauge (Lionel) trains, it's great to see these paths cross. 

Same here! I grew up with Lionel and Lego (thought it was a pity they don't share the same gauge track) and now model in L, HO, and N scales. 

4 hours ago, Space78 said:

One huge difference between model railroading gauges and Lego trains is that the trains are powered through the rails rather than batteries.  I think that severely limits the interest of "model railroaders" in Lego trains.

You know, this is an interesting point that I bring up in the article. There's been a fair amount of interest in battery power among conventional modelers, mostly in the larger scales but some HO scalers as well. There's a great article in the June 2016 issue of Model Railroader on page 38 that talks about what's involved in converting an HO scale GP15 diesel to battery power, and I've seen a few other articles on battery power in Model Railroader over the years. However, what's missing in conventional model railroading that's present in Lego trains is a convenient plug-and-play battery power system, and I suspect that fact could tip the scales in favor of Lego trains in the eyes of some... especially the convenience of not needing to ever clean your track, which I can attest is quite the chore in the smaller scales. 

 

4 hours ago, Space78 said:

Couple that with Lego's lack of support for a complete model rail road system, and it would be pretty tough for a model railroader to be happy with just Lego trains. 

That lack of support is a legitimate problem that means Lego trains aren't for everyone, I will say that. L gauge is definitely best suited for people who aren't bothered by the dearth of commercial equipment in the scale/gauge. 

4 hours ago, Space78 said:

I have to say, as much as I love Lego, my O gauge trains get a lot more play time than the Lego trains, and I have permanent layouts of both.

That makes sense. Certainly Lionel has invested a lot more into putting play value into their trains than Lego has. 

[idlemarvel]

12 hours ago, L-Gauger said:

I'm glad to see that an article I wrote has been published on the Model Railroader website. Maybe there's some interest in our hobby among conventional model railroaders? 

https://www.trains.com/mrr/beginners/the-world-of-l-gauge-railroading/

Excellent article with a well-balanced view of the pros and cons of L- gauge. Thanks!

[zephyr1934]

20 hours ago, L-Gauger said:

I'm glad to see that an article I wrote has been published on the Model Railroader website. Maybe there's some interest in our hobby among conventional model railroaders? 

https://www.trains.com/mrr/beginners/the-world-of-l-gauge-railroading/

Great article in a great place (you even invoked the ghost of John Neil in the comments- a rock star Lego train builder from back in the days).

Personally, I like to summarize it: building something that looks realistic in a resolution of 6-8 studs wide can be a real challenge, often requiring putting the bricks in sideways and upside down to get finer details. But it can be an equal challenge to engineer the structure of an operational model that can handle the tight curves.

If you ever write a followup, is worth noting that Lego trains often have a layout at the NMRA National Train Show.

[Kalahari134]

On 8/15/2025 at 7:01 PM, Space78 said:

One huge difference between model railroading gauges and Lego trains is that the trains are powered through the rails rather than batteries. 

Some of us fill our model trains with water and something flammable (butane/meths/coal) before setting them on fire.

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, Kalahari134 said:

Some of us fill our model trains with water and something flammable (butane/meths/coal) before setting them on fire.

...what?

[L-Gauger]

On 8/16/2025 at 12:43 AM, idlemarvel said:

Excellent article with a well-balanced view of the pros and cons of L- gauge. Thanks!

Thank you! That's what I was going for so I take your comment as a compliment of the highest order. 

 

On 8/16/2025 at 8:53 AM, zephyr1934 said:

Great article in a great place (you even invoked the ghost of John Neil in the comments- a rock star Lego train builder from back in the days).

Oh, cool! Thanks for sharing that detail, I hadn't heard of Neil or his work before. 

On 8/16/2025 at 8:53 AM, zephyr1934 said:

Personally, I like to summarize it: building something that looks realistic in a resolution of 6-8 studs wide can be a real challenge, often requiring putting the bricks in sideways and upside down to get finer details. But it can be an equal challenge to engineer the structure of an operational model that can handle the tight curves.

Definitely. Even when you build 10-wide like me, it's still a challenge. 

On 8/16/2025 at 8:53 AM, zephyr1934 said:

If you ever write a followup, is worth noting that Lego trains often have a layout at the NMRA National Train Show.

 I will keep this in mind. You are right, I should have mentioned that! 

10 hours ago, Kalahari134 said:

Some of us fill our model trains with water and something flammable (butane/meths/coal) before setting them on fire.

 

8 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

...what?

Ah, the live steam fan has arrived!  

@Murdoch17 that's what @Kalahari134 is talking about. Miniature steam-powered model trains, AKA Live Steam. 

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, L-Gauger said:

Ah, the live steam fan has arrived!  

I was concerned there for a minute that @Kalahari134 was blowing up / destroying Lego models when I wrote that original comment, but your explanation makes much more sense! (In my defense, I hadn't had caffeine yet at the point in the morning!)

[zephyr1934]

On 8/19/2025 at 5:34 PM, L-Gauger said:

@Murdoch17 that's what @Kalahari134 is talking about. Miniature steam-powered model trains, AKA Live Steam. 

Yes, there is a hierarchy in model railroading, the exact path to the last two steps could be going through any scale. The second to the last step is roughly, "yeah, this is a crazy expensive layout, but you should see the garden railroaders. They actually put a train in their yard." And of course the last step are the garden railroaders saying, "yeah, this is a crazy expensive layout, but you should see the live steamers..."

[no disrespect to any gauge, it just is the hierarchic as I've seen it... though no one seems to make the jump to full scale operating RR's]

 

On 8/19/2025 at 5:34 PM, L-Gauger said:

Oh, cool! Thanks for sharing that detail, I hadn't heard of Neil or his work before. 

Yeah, he was one of the founding members who launched ILTCO, the first AFOL group recognized by Lego. He was pushing the envelope 25 yrs ago.

[Kalahari134]

On 8/21/2025 at 2:36 AM, zephyr1934 said:

Yes, there is a hierarchy in model railroading, the exact path to the last two steps could be going through any scale. The second to the last step is roughly, "yeah, this is a crazy expensive layout, but you should see the garden railroaders. They actually put a train in their yard." And of course the last step are the garden railroaders saying, "yeah, this is a crazy expensive layout, but you should see the live steamers..."

[no disrespect to any gauge, it just is the hierarchic as I've seen it... though no one seems to make the jump to full scale operating RR's]

Beyond garden scale live steam are the people who operate passenger-carrying models at 5 inch or 7¼ inch gauges. 

And yes there are some with a full-size trainset in their garden: Sir William McAlpine's Fawley Hill Railway, Adrian Shooter's Beeches Light Railway, Graham Lee's Statfold Barn Railway, John Cameron's Lochty Private Railway, Rev Teddy Boston's Cadeby Light Railway and John Gartell's Gartell Light Railway are just six examples of private railways past and present I can think of in the UK. Not all of them were millionaires either, Rev Teddy Boston was an ordinary Rector of a church who found an abandoned steam engine locked in a shed and bought it. That's not even counting David Smith and Jeremy Hosking who each operate their locomotive collections on the main line. 

It's not just a UK thing either. There's Sandstone in South Africa and of course Walt Disney had his Carolwood Pacific Railroad. A friend knows someone in California with an extensive 15 inch gauge set up too. 

[Toxic43]

21 hours ago, Kalahari134 said:

Sir William McAlpine's Fawley Hill Railway, Adrian Shooter's Beeches Light Railway, Graham Lee's Statfold Barn Railway,

I have had the pleasure of being a passenger on trains run at all 3 of the above. Sadly Lady McAlpine may not put on another public opening day due to her age/health. She was in very good spirits at the one last year though, so we will see. Very sad that The Beeches Light Railway was dismantled following Adrian's death. Although the Darjeeling Himalayan tank engine, 19B, survives and is currently being overhauled at the workshops of Statfold Barn.

[samsz_3]

10361 Holiday Express Train leaked on Reddit. Yikes. I take my words back. This is worse than 10254. No couplings, no EN wheels. I don't mind small locos just using standard size wheels, but having bogies on a steam locomotive feels like a throwback to My Own Train and the era before Big Ben Bricks (RIP) and the EN.

[Space78]

52 minutes ago, samsz_3 said:

10361 Holiday Express Train leaked on Reddit. Yikes. I take my words back. This is worse than 10254. No couplings, no EN wheels. I don't mind small locos just using standard size wheels, but having bogies on a steam locomotive feels like a throwback to My Own Train and the era before Big Ben Bricks (RIP) and the EN.

Interesting… agree this looks like a bit of a “downgrade” compared to the previous holiday village train an/or the trolley.  I don’t see any indication this includes a motor/battery., though the tender looks large enough for a battery box.  Looks like a new element in the shape of a small blue steam engine.

[samsz_3]

23 minutes ago, Space78 said:

Interesting… agree this looks like a bit of a “downgrade” compared to the previous holiday village train an/or the trolley.  I don’t see any indication this includes a motor/battery., though the tender looks large enough for a battery box.  Looks like a new element in the shape of a small blue steam engine.

On r/wintervillage in the comments there is a photo on the back of the box. It shows Powered Up can be added (I thought it was getting retired?!), the funnel/smokestack moves up and down, the polar bear nods his head and rings the bell. 

It also shows the toy train as a 3D printed element...interesting from Lego, but with how cheap 3D printing has gotten that can't be used as a price explanation.

[Space78]

Pictures are up on the USA Lego site.  I'll likely get this one, but there are several disappointing features.  Price is one of them for what you are getting.  Agree this shows the back of the box with Power Up ready.  One of the pictures of the side of the train shows the cable from the battery box to the motor.  Not the nicest view as the power cable has to loop around under the engine because of its length. 

Also agree this is a poor rendition of a Lego steam engine.  It looks much worse from the side than an angled view.  The rear bogie ("truck" for us USA types) really does look like a diesel engine truck.  It's also attached oddly to the "body" of the steam frame.  Lot of air between the engine body and the rear truck/motor.  The body of the engine looks more like a 5+ age build than something worthy of 18+ designation.

Not sure I like the very large polar bear (in comparison to the train cars).  It just seems very out of proportion to the train.

I'm unclear where the price jump to $130 (US) is coming from.  I don't see anything particularly special here, and it's 956 pieces.  If Lego was trying to keep to a lower price point, how about a nice steam engine/tender and caboose, and drop the single car?  Or do a UK-style tank engine with coal bunker followed by a boxcar for the battery box?

Also not thrilled with the color scheme.  Red/green is so traditional for the Christmas season AND looks great together.  Why mess with that?  The color scheme is more of an "Arctic Holiday Train" IMO.

Edited Tuesday at 01:45 PM by Space78

[RedBrick1]

After so many years of steam locomotives featuring large driving wheels, it's sort of strange to see a set regressing to the MOT 9V era with diesel-style bogies. 

LEGO has been on a roll with their recent train-related releases. I think this is their first miss in a while. 

 

[Murdoch17]

18 minutes ago, RedBrick1 said:

After so many years of steam locomotives featuring large driving wheels, it's sort of strange to see a set regressing to the MOT 9V era with diesel-style bogies. 

LEGO has been on a roll with their recent train-related releases. I think this is their first miss in a while. 

 

agreed... it is very odd and looks like something from 20 years ago. No, I take that back - 10173 from 2006 is LEAGUES better than this hot mess!

[Klaus-Dieter]

45 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

agreed... it is very odd and looks like something from 20 years ago. No, I take that back - 10173 from 2006 is LEAGUES better than this hot mess!

I can't agree more. Even the last WV train from 2016 IS much better.

I better spend the money on something good (non-Lego).

Edited Tuesday at 03:11 PM by Klaus-Dieter

[zephyr1934]

Well that's a train I suppose. Interesting in the video all of the detail shots the model is holding the cars with motion (locomotive and polar bear). No doubt the light cars and the traction bands struggling with the two different radii of the tracks reduces the effectiveness of the motion functions. That 3D printed steam engine is an odd choice to include.

=======

Edit: Doh! When I said "model" I meant the woman in the video pushing the train, not the "lego set built into a model of a train". She is holding down the cars so that the wheels make good contact with the rails and the motion elements work