10259 Winter Village Train Station review!

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I was very excited to build this set, but does it live up to my expectations? Read to find out!

Box / Instructions

The box nicely shows off the model in an appropriately snowy setting, with box outs highlighting model dimensions and the fact it includes track. Sneakily the rear-most level crossing barrier appears to have been reversed for photographic purposes as ordinarily you would be faced with a slightly messier view of the bottom of the plates used to create it (though a useful idea if this set is purely for display purposes…). The back of the box has the usual range of close ups highlighting certain features of both the station and bus, as well as a larger shot helpfully showing how it combines with the previous year’s train set (spoiler: you put the train onto the tracks).

The instructions are as clear and straightforward as usual and spread across two booklets – the first for the bus and crossing, and the second for the station itself.

Parts

There are a good selection of white plates as is to be expected, including a number with angles and curves in order to represent distribution of snow on the ground. A reasonable helping of 1x2x2 window frames are always useful and the inclusion of the microphone piece in unprinted grey is a novelty I’m sure will be repeated in future sets. The new clock faces on a shield piece are the highlight of the printed pieces, which also include 1x2 tiles printed with a ticket motif, a letter, and a couple of 2x2 newspaper etils. Sadly most of the other decorative elements, such as the station sign, ticket office sign, café menus, departure boards and level crossing signs, are all stickers.

There are a number of bricks in the appealing ‘dark orange’ colour, including 1x1 brick with scroll which is new, and the standard 1x3 brick which has only appear a couple of times before. Also new to me was the ‘middle’ roof piece used for the bus, and the bizarre ‘stud on a stick’ element which is used entirely appropriately for the coffee machine portafilter.

Finally, the inclusion of four straight track parts is very welcome and a good, if expensive, way of getting more of them into your collection.

Minifigures

There are five minifigures included, covering the main functions of the set. The bus driver spots a black beanie and red scarf and a detailed printed jacket torso, while the stationmaster takes a more devil may care attitude against the cold in a suit and tie. His jacket is printed with the usual Train logo, and he has what appears to be a tiny white flag tucked in his pocket, presumably in case of the unexpected need to surrender. The barista is the last ‘worker’ in the set and the most detailed as her printed brown apron, featuring a smiling cup of coffee logo on her torso, continues onto her legs. Finally, the older lady and the child are the civilians of the set – the former rocking an attractive and practical knitted jumper, while the little boy has a hoodie which is unzipped to the extent that he surely won’t ‘feel the benefit’, as my grandma used to tell me.

The Build

Though branded as Creator Expert for age 12+, there is nothing here to fox most builders under that age – a few bits of the station ‘undercroft’ are briefly unstable during the build, but nothing a firm building surface can’t sort. I did get tripped up with inserting the ‘microphone’ into the chain the wrong way and then wondering why it wouldn’t all stay together, but that’s a failing of my own observation skills as the instructions do take especial pains to point out the orientation!

The bus is of fairly simple construction, though is a delight for the way that (mostly) basic elements create something so perfect. I say basic elements, but is does take full advantage of new elements, such as the new corner tiles ‘with cut’ for the bracing around the top of the windows and new roof piece.

The station is initially similarly simple in construction for the most part. The approach to the 45 degree angle of the tower and main door against the rest of the structure at first appears simple but is still an enlightening exercise in Lego geometry and interesting to see how it all fits together. Further up the tower things get more interesting with liberal use of jumper plates allowing for some interesting construction techniques as a central column with radiating clips is positioned behind window frames on three sides, with the shield clock faces clipped on through (and concealing) these openings. More Lego geometry comes into play for the roof, with wedge plate constructions clipped on and angled inwards to form the enclosed turret.

Completed Model & Overall Opinion

The bus is a thing of delight – it really is perfect and would fit into any Winter Village display perfectly. Clearly modelled on the covered charabancs of the inter-war years, the yellow and white colour scheme of the body contrasts nicely with the rich dark blue of the roof – the latter tying it in obliquely to the carriage pulled by the Winter Train. Sturdy enough in construction to stand up to the sometimes exuberant play style of an excited three year old, but delicate enough to include details like brick built doors and wheel arches, this is my favourite vehicle of almost any theme Lego has done and I’m tempted to search out alternative colours in order to make a multi-hued fleet…

The station itself is also quite charming – I was a bit worried about the scale from initial photos and, while it is not as generously sized as I might have wished, this is very much a village station and sits alongside most of the other buildings in the range quite comfortably. It looks great alongside the Winter Village train, though is easily dwarfed by the larger Creator Expert trains such as the Emerald Night.

The sprinkles of swept snow on, and falling from, the platform are nicely understated, along with the snow-laden roofs – in fact it wouldn’t take too much modification to de-winter the station out of season. The use of the reverse of the sand green ‘brick’ bricks around the café give an effective painted wooden cladding appearance, contrasting nicely with the nougat bricks used for the frame. Though I’m not always a fan of stickers, the designs on these are cracking – whether the menu for the ‘Café O’Sleigh’ coffee shop, the timetable, or even the station and level crossing signage. It’s a shame more of the elements aren’t printed (especially those on tiles) but the graphic design is still effective.

Though releasing a station may be viewed by some as requiring the previous year’s train set in order to ‘complete’ it, it isn’t strictly necessary and I believe that the model (and especially bus) is strong enough to stand by itself alongside the rest of the Winter Village buildings without anything running on the tracks. Having said that, the two sets obviously pair nicely and together fulfills the brief of a Winter Village train setup nicely. It does fall down slightly on price and value – at no point does it feel like a $80 set, nor one that contains 902 pieces! However, what elevates this set above simply nice is the excellent bus model which adds display and play options beyond just another building.

4 out of 5.

[JintaiZ]

@WhiteFang, @Jim, @Peppermint_M That's copying. Can you delete the post. Also check posts by JANGBRICKS and A_Eurobricks_User.