LEGO Trains 2021

[NickLafreniere]

Cross your fingers for LEGO Ideas to bring us a new train. I hope that the data collected from the LEGO Ideas 90th anniversary vote (trains ranked 4th place) helps convince LEGO it's time to make a new one.

I estimate the results for the batch of 57 Ideas projects will get revealed in 2 weeks. They still have about 10 more 10K interviews to publish, and then they will probably announce the results a day later, like they did with the previous review period.

[jus1973]

4 hours ago, Tcm0 said:

But the other motors are more expensive because they contain rotation sensors. I'm pretty sure that they will stick to the train motors.

I don't like the passenger sets either but you can play that people are entering and leaving the train etc. Also, the parents stand in front of the sets and think "my child wanted to get a train... this one is much cheaper. I'll get this one" (at least that's what my father did back then :D).

Fair point on the costs, although I can see the benefits of the rotation sensors actually, to perhaps make the train stop after X number of rotations which would align with a station.  All you would need to do is enter the number of straights, left/right curves and any gearing.  Might be quite a challenge, but useful.  The Crocodile loco uses a non specific motor so I’m wondering if this has been done.  I havent got a track set up at the moment, or motor to try, sadly.  I only have one Powered Up train motor, and no others.

As for the playing people entering/leaving, oohhh if only they actually put doors in the trains, like the old days, how that might be true.  A pet peeve of mine, which is true about some road vehicles too.

[dr_spock]

I think that's what the removable roof for is for.  Ingress/egress for minifigs.   

I miss those old train doors and windows. 

[TeriXeri]

On 9/12/2021 at 6:21 PM, Duq said:

City Trains are on a pretty reliable 4yr cycle: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, so due again next year. https://brickset.com/sets/theme-City/subtheme-Trains

The theme is slowly being stripped though. The last level crossing was in 2010 and the 2018 'wave' was the first to not include a station.

Station or Crossing might be a bit more likely this time around with City having more focus on buildings again, and with the new roadplate system should be easier to make a level crossing inbetween roadplates, roads will be 2 plates high, so will the top of rails.

Edited September 15, 2021 by TeriXeri

[sp1984]

So I have a dilemma whether hunt for well priced 60198 cargo train set or wait for (hopefully)  released new cargo train in 2022 year ;)

[M_slug357]

@sp1984 Or.... just get both...?

[zephyr1934]

On 9/19/2021 at 2:18 PM, sp1984 said:

So I have a dilemma whether hunt for well priced 60198 cargo train set or wait for (hopefully)  released new cargo train in 2022 year ;)

Since there is only speculation about a new city train, who knows if it will come. If you like 60198 and can afford it right now, why not get it if it is "well priced"? If there is a new train in 2022 you might not like it as much, or it might have a higher cost per part, or.... Of course you might like it more, but it will probably be on the market for a few years, which will give you time to save up for that one too. So you could then have two trains you like instead of one. The preceding assumes your budget right now is either/or for the next 6-12 mo, if you have enough budget already to buy both, then the question reduces to, "do I want to pay X for 60198?" and only you can answer that.

 

[sp1984]

Hello :)

@M_slug357 and @zephyr1934 you got me :) I went all in and bought 60198 cargo train set together with spare tracks and switch tracks (60205, 60238)  :)  It's superb, though I see a lot potential for tweaks and upgrades ;)

 

Regards

Edited September 27, 2021 by sp1984

[ncx]

On 9/12/2021 at 12:21 PM, Duq said:

City Trains are on a pretty reliable 4yr cycle: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, so due again next year. https://brickset.com/sets/theme-City/subtheme-Trains

The theme is slowly being stripped though. The last level crossing was in 2010 and the 2018 'wave' was the first to not include a station.

 

Trains are all on a 4 year cycle. Lego tends to release 3 sets. Remember when Toys R Us was still around they had an exclusive set every train cycle

regarding the lack of a train station. That’s because the 3rd train set, the Disney train, includes one. You have to understand how Lego uses their sets to make them desired to be collected by including elements or items to make them all come together. The passenger train typically includes a “Level crossing” as cheap as it looks and all that. The cargo train includes the switches and sometimes a crane. 

the 2014 wave had a decent station but it seemed a bit lacking, then came the winter village station released in 2017. IMO the worst one

the crocodile will likely retire around Black Friday during their sales as will the Disney Train. The City trains will remain available until March or April then the new ones will come out in July (Lego retired the stock before they removed the sets entirely from the site in late April/Early May). 

[zephyr1934]

20 hours ago, sp1984 said:

It's superb, though I see a lot potential for tweaks and upgrades ;)

Excellent! Be careful though, that's how most MOC builders start- improving upon the sets (grin). The Harry Potter train is also rich in potential for upgrades.

 

[Polarlicht]

Found this video and i love it.

This has to happen :D

Edited September 28, 2021 by Polarlicht

[Black Knight]

14 hours ago, Polarlicht said:

Found this video and i love it.

...

This has to happen :D

So he says that there are not enough trains and train-parts from TLG, also they are too expensive (prefers cheaper sets, separate carriages). And he dislikes special parts from BBB etc. because they are "illegal". He would like the same part from TLG though.

Bad news: TLG will not do something as dumb as lower prices when they just (H1/2021) more than doubled their profit with their current prices! Our only chance is, that the City brand and the Creator Expert brand did very well and trains are a part of those. I think that the target audience which is wealthy enough to buy premium products like LEGO have a tendency to live in cities and therefore have homes which do not have the space for train layouts and instead prefer compact dust catchers not larger than a baseplate. Also in the segment for kids trains, you have a very strong -- and mindboggingly cheaper -- competition with e.g. BRIO trains and Playmobil trains. The brick-train segment for grown-ups is were the real money is. That's why you have all those small and medium sized companies producing wheels and tracks and locomotives and buildings and rolling stock for that market. If we are lucky we might get another Creator Expert locomotive or two, but I do not expect a Creator Expert train: The crocodile comes with a pretty stand so it can also serve as a shelf-show-piece for the aforementioned urban customers; rail cars or even a whole train will have a harder time serving as a show-piece and therefore will largely miss this important customer group. And the train heads with large train layouts in their man-caves are a very wealthy but also very small group, probably too small for TLG to put much effort in. :/

[Toastie]

32 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

And the train heads with large train layouts in their man-caves are a very wealthy but also very small group, probably too small for TLG to put much effort in.

@Black Knight: your entire post is a very clean and nice analysis! I completely agree with everything you wrote.

All the best and have a nice day,
Thorsten

 

[zephyr1934]

While much of the requests in that video would be really neat, I doubt we'll see much of them. There are a lot of complaints in the video about things that Lego deliberately did, e.g., bundling engines with cars, straight track with curves, etc.. Trains are on the fringe.

I do wish Lego would remove the buffers from the coupler, they can keep the long bar, just put one stud on the end so that people can add buffers or not. I still have my stash of 9v magnets, but when those run out I will either buy the studly trains magnets or I will turn to a knife to cut the buffers off.

I do think it would be nice if one of the city trains came with a steam engine, probably a tank engine. I won't hold my breath, but I wouldn't rule it out either.

Now there were two surprising cracks in TLC approach to trains last year. After the HE was discontinued, it did not look like we would ever get another AFOL train, the crocodile was a glimmer of hope that we will see more in the future (why couldn't they have done it in dark green??? !@#$% stupid choices of colors... or better still, rerelease it in a repaint, grin).

But the big surprise was 40370, the GWP steam engine. If Lego can do that, it would be really neat if they did another train set on that scale but specifically aimed at AFOLs (i.e., in terms of build/design, not nostalgia)

 

[legotownlinz]

12 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I think that the target audience which is wealthy enough to buy premium products like LEGO have a tendency to live in cities and therefore have homes which do not have the space for train layouts and instead prefer compact dust catchers not larger than a baseplate.

Space is an issue when collecting Lego indeed. But trains is a good theme to collect on low space because the trains themselves are rather small compared to other 'dust catcher' sets and can be stored in display cases or closets most of the time and occasionally be used on a temporary layout on the floor.

 

On 9/28/2021 at 7:18 PM, Polarlicht said:

Found this video and i love it.

This has to happen :D

Fully agree, but I would also be happy with diesel or electric units.

2022 is the very last chance for Lego to prove that they take adult train fans seriously. If not, I think it's time to switch to other brands at a large scale and accept that it's not possible to use 100% Lego parts any longer.

 

[jburgt]

As newby in the Lego train world I read these 11 pages about Lego (and non Lego) train stuff. Curious… My question is what to do: making a good looking (almost real liking) trainmodel of bricks, or assembling a less real, official marked Lego train set?

As trainmodeller I go for the last. Bricks are build material for me, and a program as Bricklink Studio helps me to create my ideas.

So I developed this Southern Railway Push-Pull car. And than the troubles started, some parts are not available…

The most strange reaction on these 11 pages was, the suggestion to change a MOC to available parts, to stay loyal to Lego.

But I am at first loyal to the trainhobby, and will use Lego parts as long as possible. But will search for alternatives, when not.

For instance, the great dark green doors aren’t available. (Also not as non Lego parts). Well, my paintbrush can spray them dark green. 😀

As mentioned over and over here, the radi of the curves at much too small. A long vehicle cannot even tame a R40. My choice is more radical… I print my own track. Even not in the Lego like way. After all I need only the rails and sleepers, and have the freedom to make them on scale.

OK, I am an experienced CAD designer. So it’s easier than the most of us.

A last question, when Lego-based trainhobbyists are not allowed to discuss non Lego items, to complete their wishes here on this or other Lego fora, where are they welcome? After all, they are still potential customers of Lego bricks.

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by jburgt

[Black Knight]

3 hours ago, jburgt said:

As newby in the Lego train world I read these 11 pages about Lego (and non Lego) train stuff. Curious… My question is what to do: making a good looking (almost real liking) trainmodel of bricks, or assembling a less real, official marked Lego train set?

Thats easy: Do as you like best! I usually personally prefer 6w trains for practical reasons, but dislike the comic style of most TLG trains (e.g. 60197, 60198).

 

3 hours ago, jburgt said:

As trainmodeller I go for the last. Bricks are build material for me, and a program as Bricklink Studio helps me to create my ideas.

So I developed this Southern Railway Push-Pull car. And than the troubles started, some parts are not available…

... which is an impressive MOC. I fear it's impractical to run though, or at least you need to resort to additional tricks like ball-bearings etc.

 

3 hours ago, jburgt said:

The most strange reaction on these 11 pages was, the suggestion to change a MOC to available parts, to stay loyal to Lego.

But I am at first loyal to the trainhobby, and will use Lego parts as long as possible. But will search for alternatives, when not.

For instance, the great dark green doors aren’t available. (Also not as non Lego parts). Well, my paintbrush can spray them dark green. 😀

As mentioned over and over here, the radi of the curves at much too small. A long vehicle cannot even tame a R40. My choice is more radical… I print my own track. Even not in the Lego like way. After all I need only the rails and sleepers, and have the freedom to make them on scale.

OK, I am an experienced CAD designer. So it’s easier than the most of us.

A last question, when Lego-based trainhobbyists are not allowed to discuss non Lego items, to complete their wishes here on this or other Lego fora, where are they welcome? After all, they are still potential customers of Lego bricks.

Thats a gray area. Most people in the train section are pragmatics who are just fine using 3rd party bricks, so it's probably one of the most liberal eurobricks sections with the least amount of purists. But as I said, it's a gray area and if your post is found by the wrong moderator, they might put their foot down and silence you. If you talk about BBB wheels the chances are probably zero that this happens, but I have been (only once though) shut down for recommending some Chinese bricks. If you can read my post, take it as a proof of this forum's tolerance. ;)

[Phil B]

Ultimately it is your hobby, so you do whatever you want. I have seen people sticking to pure LEGO, even to pure LEGO only from a certain time period, but I have also seen people who only use a LEGO train base and track and 3D print the entire upper body, and anything in between. Some people treat LEGO bricks as holy items, some people are fine cutting, grinding, sanding, painting and otherwise modifying bricks to get the result they want.  

That said, this forum focuses on the LEGO brand, with total respect for companies that fill gaps in LEGOs product portfolio (BBB wheels, BrickTracks/TrixBrix different radii tracks and switches, FXTrack's(?) 9V revival, Kadee couplers from BMR etc). Ripoff stuff like the chinese clones and a certain german importer/rebrander's wares does not have a place here, but I'm sure there are other places where they can be discussed (Facebook Groups for example).

[Polarlicht]

17 hours ago, legotownlinz said:

Fully agree, but I would also be happy with diesel or electric units.

2022 is the very last chance for Lego to prove that they take adult train fans seriously. If not, I think it's time to switch to other brands at a large scale and accept that it's not possible to use 100% Lego parts any longer.

 

BlueBrixx has some intertesting transportation stuff. I might try that at some point!

[zephyr1934]

@jburgt There's an entire spectrum of build philosophies among the members here, mostly ranging from the purists who strictly use Lego bricks to very liberal people who will use 3rd party bricks, cut, paint, glue, and use all sorts of other four letter words in their constructions. There are some fascinating challenges to building if you limit yourself to strictly lego bricks, in fact there are even a few people here who will not use Lego bricks manufactured after some date, e.g., 1990 (I think most of these folks specify brick designs, but at least one case was literally after a specific date). There is no one answer, most of the members recognize the challenges under all of the different scenarios and can appreciate the skill even if it 'violates' one of their personal rules or could easily be worked around by relaxing a personal rule. I suspect personal background is the biggest determining factor- folks who came to Lego trains through other Lego themes are more likely to tend purist, and folks who came from other forms of model railroading are more likely to take a kit-bashing approach.

 

One suggestion to you, for track you will be hard to beat bricktracks molded curves, TrixBrix is starting to mold curves too for some radi. Some of the TrixBrix printed geometry is also really tempting. And of course if you need 9v power, you can't beat the FX Track.

[legotownlinz]

4 hours ago, Polarlicht said:

BlueBrixx has some intertesting transportation stuff. I might try that at some point!

Nearly all of their 6-wide trains are ugly, but some of the upcoming 8-wide models look really nice. If only the quality of their bricks, instructions and service would improve...

4 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

@jburgt There's an entire spectrum of build philosophies among the members here, mostly ranging from the purists who strictly use Lego bricks to very liberal people who will use 3rd party bricks, cut, paint, glue, and use all sorts of other four letter words in their constructions. There are some fascinating challenges to building if you limit yourself to strictly lego bricks, in fact there are even a few people here who will not use Lego bricks manufactured after some date, e.g., 1990 (I think most of these folks specify brick designs, but at least one case was literally after a specific date). There is no one answer, most of the members recognize the challenges under all of the different scenarios and can appreciate the skill even if it 'violates' one of their personal rules or could easily be worked around by relaxing a personal rule. I suspect personal background is the biggest determining factor- folks who came to Lego trains through other Lego themes are more likely to tend purist, and folks who came from other forms of model railroading are more likely to take a kit-bashing approach.

People's opinions will evolve, in a few years most of us will have 3rd party bricks, the temptation to buy excellent 3rd party models will get stronger with an increasing quality level of Lego's competitors.

My current approach to 3rd party party products is buying tracks and occasionally trains and modular buildings. I'm quite pleased with the 3rd party tracks, but the quality of the buildings and trains is mostly disappointing.

[ivanlan9]

Well, this may get me doxxed, but oh, well.  I've bought a couple of the BlueBrixx engines, because it was easier than downloading their instructions and building with Real True Lego.  I won't be doing that again, however.  The fit was poor to middlin', and the "silver" was the kind of silver or grey made by melting down leftover modling scraps, which looks terrible.  I'll be going back to the download-their-free-instructions route.  It's slower, but safer, that way.

If I want tanks or other military kits, COBI has terrific kits--and the clutch and colors are superb.  If only they made trains.

Metta,

Ivan

[dr_spock]

It's your hobby, do what turns your drive shaft.  I went from HO scaled trains to LEGO trains. I find not having a real scale and not superdetailing everything is more relaxing.  I do not use 3rd party since I learned make my own (a carry-over from scratchbuilding in HO).  I'm in a LUG and we seem to have some unwritten purity rules in our bylaws.

 

 

[kris kelvin]

Is this real???

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by kris kelvin

[TeriXeri]

Set number seems a bit off , Creator expert sets are like 102xx, and this is 129xx ?