REVIEW: 4552 Cargo Crane

[JopieK]

Introduction

It has been a while for me to make a review, too busy at work, but now with the summer holidays, I thought it was time to make a review of this old but nice set. I saw it on bricklink from a Dutch seller for only 40€ but he withdrew it after my questions since there were minor issues. I did not mind the minor issues so I finally could purchase the set and am very happy with the price/quality.

Set information

Set Name: Cargo Crane

Set Number: 4552

Number of Pieces: 282

Theme: 9V Trains

Year Release: 1995

Prices: $38.50 (original price in the USA)

#4552 on Brickset

#4552 on Rebrickable

Packaging

This is how it should have been but would have costed a small fortune:

(http://www.brickpicker.com)

And this is what my second hand package looked like:

And now of course the most important part, the bricks revealed!

Since I got it for less than € 45 including shipping and handling, that was not a bad deal at all. A few stickers were missing, but hey that should't be a problem. The box was missing, but I generally don't like boxes anyway since they take up a lot of space and tend to become bugs' houses (that is why I store all my LEGO in plastic boxes).

Apart from that only one piece was different (the sunroof in clear instead of clear blue) and two 1x2 bricks with grille (2877) were replaced by three 1x4 plates. Apart from that only a walkie-talkie was missing. I have plenty of green bricks with grille and also plenty walkie-talkies, so replaced them of course to make the set perfect again. After all a very good deal in my opinion.

Ok now back to the set in general.

Minifigs

The set comes with two minifigs. They are not very rare since they both also appear in set 4565 (the red and black cargo train) and the red train station (2150), both from 1996.

The minifigs are ok, but not that special in my opinion.

The accessories

Our minifigs can only do their very important job of repairing and/or extending LEGO tracks if they are equipped with enough tools and other necessaties of course!

Next we move to the accessories:

a. a welding unit with two gas cylinders and a face shield

b. a pallet with four octagonal cones

c. a working cabin with some kind of lever

d. a cute draisine

The welding set

I really like the welding unit. It has a small modified plate to help it stand right. We have seen other welding units, e.g. in the 10027: Train Engine Shed and in the 2005 Advent Calendar. Although the one from the 10027 set is very special (the yellow hand truck is exclusive to that set), the approach to make the welding set with the round wheel holder.

B.t.w. using a small Arduino and some SMD led's (blue/white) one can easily make a 'working' welding machine. Children love that (my experience with the welders from the engine shed!).

The pallet with the cones

The pallet has four octagonal cones. Apart from this crane, they can only be found in underwater sets from around 1995. I like the choice of LEGO to include them in this set because they make a very solid impression. Later I will show what they look like under the crane with its stabilizers.

The draisine

If you are not a hardcore train-fan (or even if you are), you might never have heard the term draisine. According to Wikipedia, "a draisine is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure.". Although most currently used draisines are rail-cycle draisines, and even LEGO released a few of them like the promotional (and more rare) 2585 set from 1998 and even the more recent 30260 set from the Lone Ranger theme, as far as I know this is the only LEGO version that is especially designed for tools.

and it's back:

The portable cabin / work shed

Of course if a crew is out in the field, they also need to do things. Apparently this item is a work shed since the welding set should be inserted inside. This is not very obvious since it is not in the instructions but appears to be the case in one of the pictures at the back of the instructions. I don't know what the blue lever thing inside actually is, maybe it is supposed to be a vice (since there also is a blue vice in the 10027 engine shed although that thing looks like one).

This is what the shed looks like when closed (front):

This is what the shed looks like when closed (front):

The rail cars

The main part of the set consists of two rail cars: the crane itself and an additional wagon that carries the draisine and the green shed.

The small additional car

A little plain and somewhat boring when empty:

But... really great looking when filled with both the shed and the draisine:

The actual cargo crane car

Now the car that is the centerpiece of this set:

This is what a rail crane should look like in my opinion.

The entire set

This is what the entire set looks like:

And another image taken by our LEGO drone!

To finish off we want to compare set 4552 with other LEGO rail cranes!

Comparison

There are actually quite a few LEGO rail cranes:

I got this set when I was (very) young back in 1982 (released in 1980). Some parts of this set also appear in 4552.

Five years later set 7817 came out and already looked quite a bit like our 4552 set. As you can see the stabilizers are almost the same.

More recent we of course had the remote controlled battery train that included a rail crane:

(Thanks to alex54 for this image from his 7898 review!)

Conclusion

Design: 9/10

Parts: 8/10

Build: 9/10 - .

Playability: 9/10

Minifigs: 7/10

Price: n/a anymore, depends on whether you can find a good deal, original price 8/10

Overall: 84% score

Although 7898 has a nice car, 4552 is still better I think. It is elegant and very playable!

I think set 4552 is the best rail crane LEGO ever released, but maybe you don't agree of course :) An overall score of 84% is not that bad at all!

Hope you enjoyed my review, if you like reviews and reviewing, join the academy here. Please leave your comments / remarks / etc below of course!

[Bricktrain]

Great review of a great set. Unfortunately I sold my two with the RC crisis so I have had to make my own, slightly modernised

I have had to modify it since this pic so the rams are the right way up.

We had jiggers here but they have been replaced with Suzuki hi-rail 4x4s

[Rijkvv]

Thanks for the review!

Compared with the instructions I get the feeling you have spread the two axles from the small car too far, although that's just nitpicking.

With the two cars coupled together, can the crane pick up all three utensils?

While every separate available car had something to add, I think this has to be one of the better looking examples, both in looks and functionality/playability. I don't own one but I hope I will some day.

[Rail Co]

Very nice review! I really do love the rail cars with cranes. Personally I like this crane the most but I don't see the point in the little shed (Green box with 2 doors), I feel like that was just there so they didn't have a big empty space next to the draisine. I wish I could get a hold of this set but I never have had the chance to.

Also is that a 1980's style weight brick that comes with this set that I spotted?

Great Review

-RailCo

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Thanks for this great review ...I didn't know the draisine but I've to admit that is a beautiful and cute train stuff!

[JopieK]

Compared with the instructions I get the feeling you have spread the two axles from the small car too far, although that's just nitpicking.

With the two cars coupled together, can the crane pick up all three utensils?

Don't think so, I followed the instructions to the letter ;) they overlap the wheels 1-stud and those wheels are three studs wide, one stud on each side of the wheels so even not possible to do it in an other way.

@LEGO Train 12 Volts: Just today I had a BBQ in Kleve (just across the border in Germany) and needed to wait for a real-life draisine, bike version (they do it on an abandoned track from Kleve to Nijmegen).

@Rail Co: I totally agree about the shed... But it has an advantage, makes the green train doors more available, I regret the Friends caravan only has one side of the yellow train door :( Although I'm happy they make new production runs of those doors apparently.

[jaesroe]

Great review! I also got 4552 used one via bricklink from a German seller, but there were some severe defect of the set, as one of minifig's hand was broken and blue 1x2 brick also got cracked and heavily used, which seller didn't mention. But it was a fantastic addition to my 9V train collection, good match with 4564 and 4563+4536, which the sets are now in complete shape thanks to JopieK's wonderful reproduction train stickers. I look forward to see 4552 reproduction stickers as well

[JopieK]

Here is actually an addition to the review:

Set 163 is also a rail crane but then from the 'blue era' (< 1980).

[peterab]

Here is actually an addition to the review:

Set 163 is also a rail crane but then from the 'blue era' (< 1980).

That is a great crane set, probably the best from my era. I'm obviously filled with nostalgia but I did like the multiple different builds with that set, I have two copies and a few extra spare parts of it so I can keep at least one of each built.

There is also 128 from the blue track era, and a few more which were part of larger sets. None of the come close to the realism of the newer cranes though.

[Dread Pirate Rob]

I was at the Canberra Railway Museum on Saturday and snapped this through the window of the railcar as we sent past so please excuse the quality. It is not quite the 4552 but it is (was) yellow. I have shared it here because I'm sure I'm not the only one to be inspired by this thread to do a crane.

P7119216 by Canvas Rails, on Flickr

[Covenant84]

Good review. I agree this has to be the best crane. Having this myself from when it was out I can totally agree the 9/10 playability - whenever the trains were out (including a couple of years ago even in my 'dark ages') this set was the focal point of any 'play'. Only downside was the outriggers weren't stable enough to support the crane when lifting a full size wagon (I had a few occasions where a harbour cranes were drafted in to rescue this crane......

edit - apologies to mods- after posting I realised it's been a while since there were any posts on tis topic.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Covenant84