LEGO #21344 - Orient Express

[idlemarvel]

4 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

They misspelled one of the capitals the train runs through. Let's see if you guess which one. I'm pretty pissed about it and will complain to CS for sure.

You mean no umlaut in MÜNCHEN?

[Sven J]

11 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

They misspelled one of the capitals the train runs through.

I think they misspelled two...

[Selander]

34 minutes ago, Sven J said:

I think they misspelled two...

Please elaborate...!

[mikka says]

striking while the iron is hot, whipping together a powered baggage car for the train,

Edited November 16, 2023 by mikka says
fixing the photo

[R0Sch]

45 minutes ago, idlemarvel said:

You mean no umlaut in MÜNCHEN?

That one would be acceptable, but the real f-up is BucArești instead of BucUrești. Then again the homepage on OE also lists the order of the capitals in the wrong order.

And it's 4x wrong if you count the tiles that would need to be reprinted. Plus the instructions, box and promotional images too. And people thought the wrong logo on the UCS Gunship was a big deal. I explicitly waited until it was fixed before purchasing the set, so I won't back down here.

Edited November 16, 2023 by R0Sch

[idlemarvel]

32 minutes ago, mikka says said:

striking while the iron is hot, whipping together a powered baggage car for the train,

Nice idea. Being 8 wide there might be room for a technic hub so you could have remote controlled car lights as well (and AA batteries).

Edited November 16, 2023 by idlemarvel

[and_ampersand_and]

I've seen a lot of people complain that the locomotive looks too short compared to the coaches. An dwhile I agree it does look somewhat stubby, I think the length isn't necessarily a problem as much as the porportions of the boiler to it's overall length are.

We can see that the locomotive + tender is slightly shorter than a single coach in the set.

The Pullman sleeper coaches somewhat similiar to those that would have been on the Orient Express are 63ft 10inches long: https://www.kentrail.org.uk/phoenix_pullman.htm

There's been a number of 4-6-0 locomotives that this set has been compared to, one of them being the Prussian P8. I was able to find the overall wheelbase (locomotive + tender), which is the distance between the front axles to the rear tender axles, as 50.92 ft. That's most of the length of the total locomotive plus tender, with only a few more feet before and after those axles: https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Germany&wheel=4-6-0&railroad=ps#1266

Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable for a 4-6-0 locomotive and tender to be slightly shorter than a single coach.

[R0Sch]

From the speed-build it's also clear that they used the cheap plastic wheels even though they just re-introduced the metal axles in the HE and Hogsmeade Station. Why cheap out on a 300€ set on such an important element for train enthusiasts? No wonder a motorization is not possible out of the box and the train is too heavy. Also the designer could have built a longer tender to facilitate 2x train motors and have enough power. But then it would look even sillier behind that short locomotive.

[Sven J]

1 hour ago, Selander said:

Please elaborate...!

As @R0Sch already explained: It must be "MÜNCHEN" and "BUCURESTI".

The typeface also seems inaccurate...

[samsz_3]

The middle wheelset of the tender can slide from side to side, so it will go around R40

[ToledoRails]

1 hour ago, mikka says said:

striking while the iron is hot, whipping together a powered baggage car for the train,

If I figure out how to power the locomotive, I'm definitely building this as a regular baggage car. Looking good!

[Yoggington]

2 hours ago, iragm said:

Unbelievable that this isn't designed to be motorized out of the box.  I'm not buying a train unless it can be motorized, and I'm sure others feel the same. 

I'm afraid that's the box I'm in.

I love how it looks - I'm not so into trains that I really see the issue. But an engine with no engine?? What's the point?

[R0Sch]

3 minutes ago, Yoggington said:

I'm afraid that's the box I'm in.

I love how it looks - I'm not so into trains that I really see the issue. But an engine with no engine?? What's the point?

Exactly! If the focus was just on the luxury train carriages, because that is what the brand Orient Express stands for, they could have sold them separately with alternative interiors to build. But no one would pay 300 bucks for that.

[SNIPE]

3 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

@kbalage has a great preview video up and addresses motorization. It's not designed to be motorized as it's too heavy. I'm sure someone can make it work!

*SNIPE has entered the room*

[Roebuck]

I think it looks like a fantastic set
 

Apparently they listened to feedback that the HE got since it is to big for normal tracks so they changed it here and managed to include a second cart within the same price range because of it

The motor is a con for sure, but some AFOLs will figure it out and I have no room for a train track now so it most likely we stand on display anyway..

[R0Sch]

The included two sticker sheets. Not a fan of the gibberish Morse code instead of actual written specs. A printed backgammon 2x2 tile would have been nice too. I would be happy to have multiple boardgame tile elements.


New piece introduced with this set 10x16 plates in black and nine of them in total. Previously only available as baseplate in 1978.
 

Edited November 16, 2023 by R0Sch
mistake

[Mondo-TRON]

Im disappointed that it was not design to be easily motorized. 

Im losing interest in this. Maybe when someone finds a way to motorize  it,  it looks good, and have a video showing it run, then I  might reconsider. But  depending on the total cost of the set,  additional pieces and motor.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Mondo-TRON

[and_ampersand_and]

25 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

New piece introduced with this set 10x16 plates in black and nine of them in total. Previously only available as baseplate in 1978.

Aren't those just 8x16 plates?

[R0Sch]

1 minute ago, and_ampersand_and said:

Aren't those just 8x16 plates?

Oh, right. I can't count.

[Aanchir]

2 hours ago, R0Sch said:

The included two sticker sheets. Not a fan of the gibberish Morse code instead of actual written specs. A printed backgammon 2x2 tile would have been nice too. I would be happy to have multiple boardgame tile elements

At this scale I think I prefer the abstract lines on the door stickers over infinitesimally tiny text… IMO, even if we assume LEGO could reliably print text legibly that small (a body height of around a quarter of a point or thereabouts)… a line weight scaled to that text size risks seeming a little wonky and "un-LEGO-ish". I'm not sure even the minifig graphics are printed with line weights narrow enough for text that size.

2 hours ago, and_ampersand_and said:

Aren't those just 8x16 plates?

Yeah, to me one of the big improvements of this set over the original proposal is reducing the width of the locomotive and carriages from around 10 or 11 studs to around 8 or 9. This way they will not look ludicrously oversized next to other LEGO trains, and will conform a little better to layouts since they do not need nearly as much clearance on either side of the tracks.

I'd love to see more trains at this sort of scale in the future, since it keeps them smoothly compatible with L-gauge tracks while still improving the possibilities for the interior (like allowing a bar counter or an enclosed bathroom that still leaves enough aisle space for minifigs to pass by, or allowig sleeper car bunks perpendicular to the coaches instead of just parallel to them).

Bit of a shame that the doors between cars still don't open, but they look nice — and I imagine actual passages between cars could still be a possibility for other sorts of trains at this scale.

[zephyr1934]

6 hours ago, Glenn Holland said:

It is indeed possible to make a locomotive that size which can handle several times more than those cars; I and several others can and have done it. I'm confident the community will find ways to modify to suit. I wonder what specific problems they had in design and testing. 

 

Exactly that, and improve upon the loco too. Worst case, a medium level AFOL can simply do an updated EN (it does not look like much of a stretch) or use the croc.

 

5 hours ago, samsz_3 said:

I'm curious to know if the bogies on the coaches and the leading wheels on the loco actchually pivot. If they do (i.e. so it can be pushed around curves), I think "it's to heavy to motorise" actchually means "it's to heavy to motorise using the official plastic wheels, 1x PU motor and with all the additional friction of R40 bends, so Joe Bloggs with his Lego city can't do it. The train guys with their buwizz, custom wide curves and wheels will be fine". 

And exactly that too. It is definitely too much train for someone who isn't comfortable MOCing at least a little (e.g., this is the ONLY lego set I've bought in years) but shouldn't be bad for someone with even just a few parts kicking around.

Worst of the worst, hey, it's a dark blue parts pack (grin).

I'm kind of mixed about the towball couplers, but the modern magnets definitely would not have held.

[XG BC]

31 minutes ago, zephyr1934 said:

 

I'm kind of mixed about the towball couplers, but the modern magnets definitely would not have held.

the thing is you can use 1x2 plates/tiles on the studs of the Magnet couplers to get a much more solid connection although this might have been too fiddly for them to make it official.

[dtomsen]

TLG really should make a new train magnet in the form of the old classic one but with modern neodym magnets instead.
Much smaller business entities already have.
Solves most problems when pulling a lot of weight with a moderate degree of rolling resistance.

Edited November 16, 2023 by dtomsen

[R0Sch]

Base and first carriage almost done: 21344.io

[The Island Chronicles]

10 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

@kbalage has a great preview video up and addresses motorization. It's not designed to be motorized as it's too heavy. I'm sure someone can make it work!

I really like it and will also get it. I hope it can be motorized reasonably though, as that is likely how my kids will love it.

Dude! I saw a commercial for it on Instagram! I dunno about you all, but I'm excited about that set. Depending on the price, I may actually buy.