10219 Maersk Train in alternate colors guide

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My favorite official Lego train has always been the 10219 Maersk train.  The set designer, Pierre Normandin really knocked it out of the park with this one.  I bought the set new years ago but eventually sold it on eBay to fund my Mindstorms addiction.  Recently I embarked on a journey to build them in an alternate color (hey! I'm not made of money!).  I eventually settled on dark azure, It's a darker but more rich color.  I even reached out to BrickStickerShop and they released the sticker sets in dark azure.  Below I will have both main videos in the series explaining the whole process I went through.  It's just too much to type out here.  In the descriptions of the videos there are several links to Studio IO files, instructions and links to all 4 sticker sets from BrickStickerShop (dark and medium azure, dark blue and of course Maersk blue).  I put all of the dark azure parts in step two so you can easily select all of them and try different colors.  The YouTube channel AFOL & KFOL Bricks built a set in green, really they were the ones that inspired the project.  I also have haul videos unpacking all of the orders and sharing some tips on saving money on the Powered-Up components.  This is an absolute dream come true.  At this time I have 3 locomotives, 8 wagons and over 20 containers.  To me this was much more fun than buying one or two sets second hand, and probably cheaper.  The quantity is higher and I would argue the quality is just as high, I may even prefer the dark azure to Maersk blue even if it is less realistic. 

From left to right we have dark turquoise, green, dark azure, medium azure and dark blue.  Many other colors are possible.  Oddly enough the triangle tile pieces are not available in blue.

 

This video goes into the details of building the locomotives and tips for saving money in the process.

This video shows the wagons, containers and stickers.  Also a quick montage at the end of the entire train in action!

This has been my favorite project to date and I hope many will find the information useful, I put a ton of work into this.  Play well!

[Sunil766]

This is great, the maersk and EN are the only ones I dearly miss in my collection. But their 2nd hand prices are beyond reason. 

This could be a serious alternative for me. 

Seeing the picture you shared, the medium azure comes very close to the maersk blue doesn't it? 

Can you provide a rough estimate what 1 locomotive (in let's say medium azure) and 3 wagons would cost? 

Many thanks for sharing this great project. 

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Just now, Sunil766 said:

This is great, the maersk and EN are the only ones I dearly miss in my collection. But their 2nd hand prices are beyond reason. 

This could be a serious alternative for me. 

Seeing the picture you shared, the medium azure comes very close to the maersk blue doesn't it? 

Can you provide a rough estimate what 1 locomotive (in let's say medium azure) and 3 wagons would cost? 

Many thanks for sharing this great project. 

Thanks!  I do think the medium azure is the closest to Maersk blue and stickers are available.  There are other shades like medium blue but I think they are harder to find.  I've been asked several times to give an estimate on price and it just isn't feasible.  I'm in the US and I don't see a single store with ALL of the parts needed, multiple orders will have to be placed with different stores.  Once a store has sold out of those parts you would have to try other stores.  A good estimate in a particular country today will be meaningless in a short time as inventories change.  I've seen the exact same part for 5 cents and 5 dollars from different sellers.

I mentioned my process in the second video and actually walked through it in an older video "How to build Lego My Own Train Locomotives in 2023".  I use BL Studio to create a parts list by copy and pasting models (example loco, 3 wagons, X number of containers) , remove any parts I already have in my collection and then start shopping.  Often I will just keep the wanted list for several weeks or months and chip away at it as I place orders, removing the parts as they come in.  I also bulk order things like train wheels, buffers, bogies plates and train bases when I find good prices instead of trying to lump them in with all of the other parts.

The Studio files also use newer molds when appropriate to save money.  The most costly part in the Maersk locomotives are the 24L rigid tubing pieces.  I ordered 32L for about 1/5 of the cost and cut them down.  Again this is all covered in the video.

I hope this helps, I really do wish I could offer a more simple solution but I really don't see one.

[Carefree_Dude]

You can also go entirely different livery. 

This has always been my personal favorite, the good ole Canadian Northern

[GoHabsGo]

Beautiful CN loc !

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7 hours ago, Carefree_Dude said:

You can also go entirely different livery. 

This has always been my personal favorite, the good ole Canadian Northern

Actually not the first suggestion for Canadian Northern .  It is a beautiful livery.  For now I'm working on @zephyr1934's Conrail and Union Pacific mod of the 10219 with some modifications of my own.  I already ordered the decals from him, just waiting on more pieces from Bricklink.  Watching the Maersk locos run next to my 60052 locomotives I may have to modify them as well to look a little less toy like or perhaps retire them.  The 10219 is a great base to start from, I'm hoping to make some of my own MOCs in the future as well

[zephyr1934]

The 10219 Maersk train is indeed an amazing set. The one thing to be mindful of is that the technic axle trucks on the locomotive have a lot of friction. Ball bearing wheel sets can solve that problem though.

Interestingly, in the most recent Maersk branded set (10241 Triple-E from 2014) Lego dropped Maersk blue and used medium azure instead

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4 minutes ago, zephyr1934 said:

The 10219 Maersk train is indeed an amazing set. The one thing to be mindful of is that the technic axle trucks on the locomotive have a lot of friction. Ball bearing wheel sets can solve that problem though.

Interestingly, in the most recent Maersk branded set (10241 Triple-E from 2014) Lego dropped Maersk blue and used medium azure instead

Yep there are no Technic axles in any of my trains.  I just build bogies with the metal axle train wheels.  When I started looking into your Conrail loco I saw you had the same problem I did and the same solution of just raising the bogie plate by one plate.  I haven't looked into ball bearing wheel sets yet but still haven't really had the need.  The lead Maersk loco has two Powered Up motors, the two "dummy" locomotives use the metal axle wheels and then 8 wagons behind that (with a few more on the way ).  I'm probably pushing the limits before I'll need to look into stronger magnets and ball bearings though.

I didn't know that about the 10241, that's interesting.  Medium azure was a close second to my final choise dark azure.  Less accurate but I just thought they looked great

[zephyr1934]

The ball bearing wheels are AMAZING, you'll be able to build a lot longer trains before you need stronger magnets.

I don't know what color is closest to Maersk blue (besides itself of course), what I thought was interesting is that even Lego didn't bother trying to match it perfectly.

[Westcoatje]

Some of you already know this thread (for instance, since they posted in it), but for others it might be interesting as well

[PopsicleLEGO]

I did my own version of this train along similar lines - called it Chameleon as Red, Dark Blue, Dark Purple and Lime are the colours of the parts that change. I also used the triangle tiles for a very clean appearance - no studs here!

Check out the designs at ReBrickable.com - search for Maersk or TrainsWithLights

The set also comes with passenger carriages, but since uploading that design, I have found out that BlueBrix do the 1x4x3 Train Windows in Light Bluish Grey, so a design change is coming...