Review: 8404 Public Transport

[Praetorian]

The good news - 8404 Public Transport & 7848 Toys'r'Us truck were in my local Toys'r'Us today (Coventry UK).

The really bad news - 8404 was a jaw dropping £99.99 & 7848 was just as bad at £39.99.

I cannot see them being big sellers in the UK based on those prices.

I got the Public Transport because I want the tram, but an average member of the public isn't going to like those prices.

Still, looking forward to putting it together this evening.

Cheers,

iTrain.

8404 Public Transport is available from Lego Shop@Home in the U.K. for £79.99

I'm planning to buy it but I still think it's expensive.

Is 7848 only available at TRU or will it be sold from Shop@Home?

[Legoist]

I'm usually the cheapskate around here, but this time I have to say that this set does seem to me very fairly priced. I was thinking something similar to MojoLego:

Yes, the set's price is astounding. I expect the U.S. price to come in at $99. But I can also see how the folks at Lego might figure it is okay.

Car: $10

Street cleaner: $20

Bus: $25

Train: $35

That gets you to $90, throw in some structures and another $10.

Only I had in mind slightly different prices (just imagine these being sold separately and compare them with existing sets):

Bus 30e: it's about about as big as the Lego truck and slightly bigger than the gas truck

Tram 40e: definitely a good 30% bigger than the Bus

Cleaner 10e: almost as big as the repair truck or electrician's truck, but probably smaller

Car 7-8e: more or less like the red car set

...and all the structures would easily more at least 15e

Personally I probably won't buy this set, I like the Tram and Bus a lot (but not their colours) and the Car is fine, but the rest would just end up recycled in MOCs. Also these vehicles together don't make much sense to me, I agree with those who would have preferred separate sets for these, but no problem.

Anyway I warmly thanks TLG for this set because... the design of the Bus and the Tram is just amazing. I think I am going to study the parts required, make some minor mods, and build them myself in different colours

[Night City Dream]

If you can see more pictures, I made a review for the Russian Lego forum. But as you don't understand a word, you can simply watch the pictures in my album on Yandex;

http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/night-city-dream/album/114181/

All my Lego photo albums so far:

http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/night-city-dream/album/96913/

[lightningtiger]

I built the whole set today in the matter of about two hours or so.....it's AWESOME !

Worth the 159 bucks I paid TRU for it.

Odd though, the street sweeper is right hand driven and the coachliner is left hand driven ?

I just make all my vehicles right hand drive anyway.

I'm a conformist! !

[TanTile]

as i said in the Aussie sale Thread the check out Chick scanned them up for $59.99 the same price as the Truck, i dont know what se was thinking but i love it when i find a bargin like that!!!

that would work to about £28-£30 for the whole transport set... Zing!!!

[Iain]

Odd though, the street sweeper is right hand driven and the coachliner is left hand driven ?

Road sweepers usually have the driver sit on the opposite side of the cab than normal vehicles so they can see the kerb as they are sweeping.

[drevim]

Picked this up today, with the Airport and Passenger Train at the TRU 3 for 2 deal. Seemed the best way to justify buying them.

I'm thinking of trying to put the Tram on my 9V loop and running it between the airport and a couple of stations I have around the layout. Saw some people talking about PFing the tram, which I think would be difficult. Has anyone tried the it with a 9V engine?

Looking forward to modding/morphing the airport with the century airport from days gone by, and getting the tram running passengers to and from.

[jonwil]

Adding a 9v motor to the tram seems like it would be difficult because the tram uses the tiny train wheels.

[AllanSmith]

Adding a 9v motor to the tram seems like it would be difficult because the tram uses the tiny train wheels.

It has been done. Click here

[danim]

I have managed to power the tram using the old 4.5v motor and a 9v battery box

here are the pics

[Night City Dream]

To me, one of the best sets in LEGO City series since 2005 if not the best. You can view my pictures of it here:

http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/night-city-dream/album/114181/

[belier]

[XMAS PRESENTS MODE = ON]

I'm looking for two sets for my sons. I think I've found one.

It's only a matter of finding it in Spain or online...

Great set. Well, more than great... Thanks for review

[XMAS PRESENTS MODE = OFF]

[jth781]

I love this set except for the street sweaper I wish instead the would have lncluded a taxi instead. It works great in front of my LEGO Airport.

8404 in front of Airport

[LEGO Guy Bri]

I really liked this set. IThe number and diversity of the vehicles, plus the sidewalk shop and boarding platform. I gave it a 4/5 due to the price of the set seemed a little high. In my opinion the bus, or should I say coach, is nice but doesn't seem to fit well in the inner city. Its more of a long distance mode of travel; (the cargo storage and higher seating for better views). Still a really neat addition for any city.

[Scorpio]

In my opinion the bus, or should I say coach, is nice but doesn't seem to fit well in the inner city. Its more of a long distance mode of travel; (the cargo storage and higher seating for better views). Still a really neat addition for any city.

I would have agreed with you since you mainly think Greyhound in the US but I used a large coach terminal in London last year so I think it fits in well. Plus, I might be biased since the bus is my favorite part of the set and the bus is "public transportation".

[AussieJimbo]

I really liked this set. IThe number and diversity of the vehicles, plus the sidewalk shop and boarding platform. I gave it a 4/5 due to the price of the set seemed a little high. In my opinion the bus, or should I say coach, is nice but doesn't seem to fit well in the inner city. Its more of a long distance mode of travel.

I'm surprised by your post because buses are a key part of the public transport system in most Australian and many international cities so I don't see it as out of place at all.

How do people get around your city without using a car?

:classic:

Edited January 12, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[meyerc13]

I think his point was that this is an inter-city bus, not an intra-city bus. Here in the US we would call it a coach, it has storage for luggage.

Personally I agree with this sentiment, it's one of the things holding me back from buying this set. Had they just included another City bus like in the City Corner, I probably would have purchased this already to have a transfer station in my City. As it is, this is just another couple of large vehicles which I have too many of already. The street sweeper should have been its own set, and a Taxi is sorely missing. I know there is a Taxi in another set, but why couldn't they have made a Taxi of a different design, maybe a Taxi Van? Oh well... I may end up picking this up yet, but right not I'd rather get a Medieval Market Village for the same price. Had this included a decent building, it would have been an easier sell for me as well.

[pacc]

It can't be hard to build a city bus from the coach, even using the city corner instructions. All you get is spare parts and spare boxes.

The only thing that should hold you back then is the price...

[AussieJimbo]

I think his point was that this is an inter-city bus, not an intra-city bus. Here in the US we would call it a coach, it has storage for luggage.

Ah, righto. I see now. :-)

Personally I agree with this sentiment, it's one of the things holding me back from buying this set. Had they just included another City bus like in the City Corner, I probably would have purchased this already to have a transfer station in my City. As it is, this is just another couple of large vehicles which I have too many of already. The street sweeper should have been its own set, and a Taxi is sorely missing. I know there is a Taxi in another set, but why couldn't they have made a Taxi of a different design, maybe a Taxi Van? Oh well... I may end up picking this up yet, but right not I'd rather get a Medieval Market Village for the same price. Had this included a decent building, it would have been an easier sell for me as well.

I guess you can see it as an interchange to a "coach" journey. Also LEGO probably wanted to do a different type of bus because of the existing one you mentioned from City Corner. I missed out on that set so for me it was a welcome addition.

The street sweeper was a weird one though, given the transportation theme (not that I don't like it, I'm about to attempt a bag-build on my spare one). I agree it would have been better to redeploy it's part count (and a bit more given the price) to an additional, more substantial building or another taxi or taxi minibus as you suggested..

:classic:

The only thing that should hold you back then is the price...

Yeah, it was steep but I just had to grab a couple of sets so I could extend and motorise the tram.

I'm so happy with it running around my track that I'm not too concerned that it was a bit on the pricey side.

:classic:

[Piranha]

Has anyone done a mod on the Tram so it functions as a train? If so link please

Edited February 18, 2011 by Macoco

[dr_spock]

Has anyone done a mod on the Tram so it functions as a train? If so link please

FeliciaRS:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=445432

fayex:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=455512

Edited February 18, 2011 by dr_spock

[AussieJimbo]

Me:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49624&view=findpost&p=877606&hl=&fromsearch=1

:classic:

[Piranha]

FeliciaRS:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=445432

fayex:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=455512

Thanks! I will be checking them out!

Me:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49624&view=findpost&p=877606&hl=&fromsearch=1

:classic:

Thank you also, you have done a great job, I will be reading that aswell

[LAKAbricks]

Though I agree on the comments on the street sweeper and the car (it's not public transport), I still think this is an outstanding set. For a long time, I had wondered, how I could build a tram. But those thoughts could be put on ice for a while when this set was launched. As I was willing to buy one set at full price, I was really lucky to get a special offer with 50% off the price. This - of course - resulted in buying two sets

Now it would be really nice with some baseplates with built-in tracks. Both on the street and along. Of course compatible with existing tracks. But I guess it will be a little hard to do.

[Piranha]

Can someone recreate the whole set on LDD? I can't find any PDF instructions...

I am working on a LDD File of the Gear Box PF Mod done by FeliciaRS

I still need to clean up a few things (e.g. battery box, lights, chairs etc) , but the main gear design is there.

Also I can't tell but the mod seems to be not level and the front two cars seem to be higher up than the middle car (because of wheels) ?

I still need to build it in person to test this myself and it might need some tweaking, in LDD I can't really tell, as I can't set it on any track for some reason??

Tram PF Gear Box Mod LDD LXF File

also please note it is missing 6 of these because LDD didn't have them.

Edited May 23, 2011 by Macoco