pinioncorp

REVIEW: 7938 Passenger Train

On a scale of 1 to 5  

119 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you rate this set?

    • 1 - Poor
      2
    • 2 - Below Average
      9
    • 3 - Average
      34
    • 4 - Above Average
      55
    • 5 - Train-tacular!
      19


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Thank you very much for this great review, pinioncorp! :classic:

I voted for above average.

Con:

-only two passengers

-no train doors

-much too small transfers between the waggons

-much too short platform

-wall between driver's cab and the room of the passengers

-no toilet included

Pro:

-great colors

-awesome design

-great interior with enough places to sit

-signal as an extra bonus

All in all this is definately an above average passenger train because of its awesome style and the addiotional signal. It looks much, much better than the totally <insert that tiresome argument> ICE style passenger train from 2006!

Klaus-Dieter

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A very good, in depth review, thank you. I really want this set, but my financial constraints have forced me to make a decision and I'll be buying the Freight train instead. I actually like the model of the passenger train better than the freight train, bu the freight train has more usable parts for my MOCs. I'll just have to score an extra set of PF equipment from an aftermarket source.

--Tony

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The 9V or RC Motor won't turn correctly with these new baseplates, as the 9V connector will get stuck and the train derails. so tough luck.

I've actually used 9v motors with these baseplates without problems (both a single motor and two of them on the same plate connected with a cable).

BTW, is there a close prototype to this one out there?

Hm, when I first saw this, I found it looks strikingly similar to the Bombardier Talent. Those trainsets are used in Germany and Austria as regional or commuter trains (and the colour choice of the Lego set is similar to German regional trains) - which is also why to me it looks quite strange to see this set being referred to as a "high speed train"...

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This set is nice enough and is certainly better than the other trains we've gotten in the last few years. I don't like the curved roof pieces though. They make the cars look disproportionately tall given their length.

LEGO releases separate cars? They remain in the store until they throw it in clearance BECAUSE IT DIDN'T SELL

This can be easily solved by selling the cars as S@H exclusives only, instead of having them on retail shelves.

The lack of extension cars is one reason I don't plan to buy the recent train sets, and have only gotten a few train sets in the past.

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I think the 2010 trains are great :tongue: I also think the RC trains were great. These trains are fun to play with.

I'm happy that Lego have continued producing trains. They won't please all train fans....I've known plenty of train fans, there's something about trains that attracts argumentative people with strong opinions on 'how things should be'. :laugh:

I guess I'm no different....I strongly think things should be fun. :tongue:

Edited by andythenorth

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This can be easily solved by selling the cars as S@H exclusives only, instead of having them on retail shelves.

The lack of extension cars is one reason I don't plan to buy the recent train sets, and have only gotten a few train sets in the past.

In practice that was how the Santa Fe cars were sold (since retailers didn't stock them for long, one assumes because of slow sales) and they were heavily discounted just to get rid of them. They are a great design, if they didn't sell well, I dont think anything will.

Train builders are a small and fickle market, but it's easy for AFOLs to build what we want from PAB, S@H and bricklink parts, so while I too would love official train carriage sets, I can do without them.

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Very good review Pinioncorp.

Is it just me or is this train really ugly? I hated the look of it from the first time I saw it.

Train 7740 looks a lot better, and it's 30 years old :(

This train looks very similar to some of the regional trains in Germany (including the weird tall windows).

Whether or not those trains look good is a matter of taste.

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Thank you for the nice review!

I bought the freight train, but I don't plan to buy this one. The price is just keeping me off.

I love the overall design though, it's the best passenger train we have seen for the last 7 years.

Thanks for the review. It is a pretty good looking train. It would be great if it has some doors.

Of course some doors would have been nice, but with the red colour scheme you can easily add them yourself. (Get the doors off BL)

Great review. This set has quite a few nice pieces (the windscreen piece used as a map on the platform, the trans-black panels, the 2 passenger figs, the new front pieces and others) plus its got a lot of red.

Sorry? I cannot follow you here: New pieces? Besides the new "train front sloping base" and the 1835th canopy (:hmpf:) I cannot spot anything of interest. Even the minifigs have been seen elsewhere.

Nice review. This is why I don't collect Trains though. They're too expensive!!! :hmpf_bad:

Yep!

As for new/additional cars: Has anyone calculated the price of the pure parts from bag 4? Besides the "Red Slope, Curved 8 x 6 x 2 Double" (part 45411) its all common parts. Shouldn't be too expensive to get more cars.

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Parts new to the new trains line:

New Non-rechargeable battery box

New motor

Red curved top part

2 x 2 facet brick macaroni

Red 1 x 2 x 3 window

1 x 6 x 3 windscreen in trans-clear

New lower nose piece

New train wagon base piece

Yellow Bogie Plate

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Of course some doors would have been nice, but with the red colour scheme you can easily add them yourself. (Get the doors off BL)

Alternatively, you get a couple of these: 4035.gif in either red or white, plus their accompanying windows. Add 1x2 brick beneath them to finish the door.

Two for each pair of doors on one side. (This would mean between 8 and 16 of those in total, depending on what you want to do with the middle carriage)

It's not a working door, but now it'll look like it has some, if it really bothers you.

For me, personally, that would be a much better solution, as the traditional LEGO train door would look seriously out of place on this modern-looking train.

Edited by Melfice

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I can't just give in and buy one of these...

....I need to wait until I can afford two :)

Has anyone combined two of these sets? I'm figuring that a nifty MOC will produce an extra carriage (or two!).

A couple of extra wheelsets would leave a motor spare for another MOC, one motor is probably enough for maybe four carriages. Or put both motors under one engine for extra pulling power?

Oh...and hi Melfice. You get around ;) Are Andersl and Belugas here too?

I combined two sets (used the second sets PF to convert a 7740), you can build a third passenger car from the front and rear car. One motor is strong enough to pull it all.

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p7311171.jpg

Finished the build from the first bag. Again, very simple build. Note the black panels to hide the internal components. I'm not sure what the red ladders are supposed to be. Small shelves? Please, enlighten me in a reply.

Those red ladders are there to stop the window from going to far down. If you get what i mean default_laugh_new.gif

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In practice that was how the Santa Fe cars were sold (since retailers didn't stock them for long, one assumes because of slow sales) and they were heavily discounted just to get rid of them. They are a great design, if they didn't sell well, I dont think anything will.

They didn't sell well because nobody(*) knew about them. I started in on LEGO trains in around 2001 or 2002, and never even new the SF existed until after it was discontinued. Being fortunate enough to live near a LEGO store, the only trains I saw in the store were BNSF and I got some intermodal cargo cars; when everything was going "kablooey" with 9V I managed to get some MOT stuff, but not SF and not the cars.

Having modeled in other scales, I was very surprised that LEGO didn't advertise in train model train magazines, but maybe that's just me... I can picture a lot of model train enthusiast dads and grandfathers who'd have gotten their kids/grandkids LEGO sets if they even knew about it.

(*) Not "nobody," of course, but you know what I mean... the only people who knew about it were a SUBSET of LEGO Train Enthusiasts. Of course they're not going to sell well... meanwhile, the trains that actually gets sold in Toys R Us sell out at Christmas.

EDIT: Ok, wanted to add actual comments about the passenger train... I'm really underwhelmed. I will stick to building MOCs and buying sets like EN if they ever release another set like that. I will also get Hogwarts' Express and TS3 Western Train Chase, for various reasons, but not either of the two new "train" sets.

Edited by fred67

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Great review, the train is even with it's flaws one of the best in recent history. I was the owner of 4511 and I'm still the owner of 7897, I think I need to be a little creative with my budget to buy this one.

I see a lot of comments about single train cars these days. For this one I think it's not needed because it's more some kind of light rail, but hey, it's lego so you can make more. Still it would be awesome to go to a toy store and see a few boxes with a cargo/passenger wagon. And remakes of the old sets (like they did with the new station)afcourse all in the new City style :classic: I do hope these new train will sell wel and that it will open the eyes of Lego and that single train cars have potential.

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I combined two sets (used the second sets PF to convert a 7740), you can build a third passenger car from the front and rear car. One motor is strong enough to pull it all.

With the previous passenger train I did the same thing, combine two sets to make one 5-car train and one 1-car train (those big train-front pieces had to go somewhere...). I had planned to do the same with this train, but the price is holding me back a bit, this set is $40 more than the previous one, and if you have to buy two of them it's getting expensive.

You mention that one motor is strong enough to pull the 5 cars. The motor has lots of torque. About traction, does your train have the gray or the clear traction bands? (people have complained about the traction of the gray bands, but have been very happy with the clear traction bands).

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Great review!

I think this train set is on the lower end by Lego standards, I'd give it a 2/5 grade only.

My favourite details:

- brick-built front definitely an improvement over the previous passenger set, pity that the result still sucks

- PF system has better components than RC system

Should have been better:

- the train is just plain ugly... :/ the windows are too big, the roof is too massive, and there are no doors

- the track should have definitely had straight tracks instead of the flexitrack

- the train has no lights

- at least a couple of more passenger

My ratings:

- Parts 6/10, there is practically nothing very interesting here

- Design 5/10, it is neither beautiful not realistic, it seems like it was rushed to the market

- Minifigs 7/10, the passengers are actually very interesting, unfortunately only two of them

- Playability 6/10, obviously limited by the track size but also by the lack of door or other operating parts

- Price 6/10, considering it's only 3 wagons with no special parts, it's quite expensive for its value

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This was my first lego train set and I got to say its a whole lot of fun, I didnt get the whole lego trains thing, I was mainly a space/city guy, but after getting this and turning it on, I squeeled a bit in glee when the train started to move.

Then my kids came and played with it and it became even cooler, then today my dad came over when me and the kids were playing with it and it became even cooler still!!

My youngest son in the middle having a ball

pictures208.jpg

More ppl in the carriage

pictures204.jpg

And finally from the same brilliant minds that bought you snakes on a plane we get Zombies on a train !!

pictures205.jpg

We are definately getting the Cargo train next and have already ordered more track

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Should have been better:

- the train is just plain ugly... :/ the windows are too big, the roof is too massive, and there are no doors

- the track should have definitely had straight tracks instead of the flexitrack

- the train has no lights

- at least a couple of more passenger

The windows also look very tall to me, but in a recent trip to Germany, I saw trains that looked surprisingly similar to this passenger train, including the unusually tall windows.

Trains don't have to look good, they should just look as much as possible like the original, and indeed there is a real train that looks very much like this one (including also the gray 2x4 tile in the front! that looks very much as the sunscreen I saw on that regional passenger train in Germany).

Straight track would definitely have been better than flex track. You can buy PF lights that connect to the PF receiver in the train (the light can then be controlled separately from driving the train).

We are definately getting the Cargo train next and have already ordered more track

You'll have a great time, especially when you have lots of track. Your kids will love turning the switches to make the trains go in various ways (you can already hear "no, don't switch that one, the trains will crash!" For sure they'll have fun).

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I have never been a fan of multiple slopes to make a long decline. The slopes end up being too jagged and have too small of a gradient.

Sets like this and 7745 just look ugly in the front to me, although I like this better than 7745.

I feel like the Metroliner, despite the <insert that tiresome argument> front piece, still looks the best.

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I've now purchased two of these sets. Including the engine, the train is now 6 cars long. It pulls okay using only one motor, but slows down around corners. I'm thinking about adding another motor into the last car, which should help it a lot.

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I've now purchased two of these sets. Including the engine, the train is now 6 cars long. It pulls okay using only one motor, but slows down around corners. I'm thinking about adding another motor into the last car, which should help it a lot.

You don't need a second motor if you improve traction (see one of the other threads here on how to do that).

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I also bought two of this set. It was a relatively affordable way to get some PF parts. The second one is still in the box. However it does give me the utter irrits that you get no straight track. Therefore the set adds absolutely nothing to my existing layout.

As for the brickbuilt front, I don't really like it that much, but I don't hate it. It would have been nice to be a different colour though, the red isn't that appealing to me. And I dislike the roof. yes, it gives it a nice curve on top, but it stifles creativity and removes any possibility for doors because it goes too far down the body.

Those red ladders are there to stop the window from going to far down. If you get what i mean

I see... but that really is unneccesary considering the cheese at the front would do the same job...

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