LiamM32

2013 Train Sets

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No one has ever thought of needing extra train parts or more trains/wagons... :sceptic:

And that's why we don't see any Moc's in the train tech forum.......(sarcasm, ladies and gentlemen)

Seriously, if someone needs another wagon, they can get parts and build one, that's fundamentally how the Lego train system works.

Lego does its bit and then leaves it up to a persons imagination.

Why would they bother producing extra wagons and coaches when it would put a damper on creativity within the brand.

And honestly the fire brigade toys are a lot more popular as the firemen are considered public hero's and the childhood fascination with fire...

Spare me the thought if Lego became more of a collect-a-thon, than a building toy....

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Spare me the thought if Lego became more of a collect-a-thon, than a building toy....

:classic: you're on the wrong forum for that. EB is full of collect-a-nerds.

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lego's demographic hasnt changed that much sine the super cheif,

One big thing changed since 10 years: Internet.

OK it existed back then, but it is only since a few years that it is popular enough.

I suppose that the Lego online shop sells well (and it is a bigger margin for them, as they sell there at the same price - or higher - than usual resellers). Maybe the volume is small compared to common resellers, but I am sure that they sell much more there now than when they first made these sets that didn't sell well 10 years ago...

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But you are continously neglecting the fact that all this happened nearly one decade ago. So, all you are saying is "things have not been sold well 10 year sago, so they will not sell well today, too".

If this would be true, why does Lego offer train sets at all ? If they don't sell well, Lego should drop them. If they sell well, there must be a large amount of customers, that are potential buyers for single add-ons. It's foolish to beliebe, that all buyers of the big starter sets stick only to them...

More than other themes, trains are part of a SYSTEM. Just imagine Scalextric would only set slotcar starter packs, but no single cars and only very few track extension packs...

The only one that is continually ignoring the facts here is you, as to the issues with the Santa Fe and My Own Train it was not 10 years ago it was in fact 5 years ago, it was in early to mid 2007 when S@H did a massive clearance of what had become pretty much deadwood in retail terms. With the trains theme Lego actually gives it a lot more leeway compared to other themes, most themed sets have a life cycle of between 1 to 2 years and after that they are deleted the train sets in general are given a run of between 2 to 3 years before they are deleted. The situation with the My Own Train series which was introduced in 2001 and the Santa Fe Super Chief introduced in 2002 was that they had become major dust collectors that were taking up much needed storage space for newer stock, they failed to move withiin their expected run cycle and basically sat on the shelves for 2 to 3 years more than should have and you wonder why Lego doesn't make single pieces of rolling stock as sets any more.

These days I think train fans are very well catered for when you have a look at the number of sets that have been released since 2010, also the focus on train designs and attention to detail has lifted substantially when you compare them to trains that were available in the past, the designs these days actually look like real life trains and have been inspired by actual prototypes, unlike 4559, 4560 and 4561 which look absolutely nothing like a train. Also it is far easy to access train parts compared to 10 years ago, there are a decent number of train parts available through PAB at S@H I will say though it would be nice if PAB had a bit more variety with the parts available, then there is Bricklink where you can get pretty much anything and everything that you want.

Edited by Steinkopf

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My point was actually about the crossing with vehicle, which is gone from the range. Didn't sell well enough? I saw it get retail shelf space placement in the UK, it wasn't online-only.

The much older crossover piece was probably dropped because (a) it sucks for play (b) it's an expensive complicated mould.

My apologies, I assumed the level crossing must have been OK, since it was a cheap way of getting straight track and some useful parts, in fact I bought a few of them. Seemed to sell Ok here but the whole train line didn't appear to be restocked.

The older crossover was fraught but it is now sought after. Sat on the shelves at TRU here in Australia for ages.

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Probably already mentioned, but it would 'be nice' if Lego had a train car builder set. Include a bunch of the necessities for hooking up train cars and let us build our own. Today, I have to buy extra train sets (okay, I do that) or find the parts on ebay/bricklink. Yea, I know - completely unmarketable...

If there was a version that was a cheap car, I'd buy a bunch just for the parts.

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Based on UK pick-a-brick prices, a train car set could be done for £10 (this is a conservative estimate), with:

4 complete wheel sets (axles / bearing assemblies / wheels)

2 buffers + couplings

1 train baseplate (not on PAB)

Chuck in some other bits - train end handrails, some grille tiles, a few bricks with studs on the side, some steering wheels for brake wheels, some slopes for underframe. Call it £12.99, or put in two pieces of straight track for a bit more on the price.

AFOLs will buy it, some kids and parents will buy it, and part strippers will buy it to split for eBay / Bricklink. Can't be a bad use of one SKU for web-only sales?

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Yes that is exactly what I mean, just like the wheel set for vehicles. On a personal note I don't think it would even have to include a baseplate as I've never used one except on standard sets. They could add some extra wheels and buffers. Just a box of wheels, buffers and magnets would be good enough.

Of course you could just get them off of the web site via PAB, but it would be good to see something like this and it would be cheap enough for an impulse buy.

We also sold out of the crossing set in my area. They sold quite quickly, got restocked once or twice. I then asked for one and they did not have any. The shop said they ordered them but they did not come and then they vanished from the web site as well. So at least where I am they actually did sell quite well.

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I just saw this on BS, from JopieK. I'm assuming it's EB's JK, and that this hasn't been previously mentioned, but are we expecting another cargo train next year? Those cars and that fuel burn off chimney look interesting. Would I be crazy to think they look like a possible set, or are the Octan stickers just messing with me?

Also, after reading back through regarding lack of official LEGO rolling stock sets and just making MOCs, could anyone point me to a website for a scale model train I could order stickers for, preferably U.S? I'm not getting anywhere good with my searches. I'd like to redo some of my MOCs and add a little extra to them :classic:

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Also, after reading back through regarding lack of official LEGO rolling stock sets and just making MOCs, could anyone point me to a website for a scale model train I could order stickers for, preferably U.S? I'm not getting anywhere good with my searches. I'd like to redo some of my MOCs and add a little extra to them :classic:

The easiest route would be conventional model railroading decals from a hobby shop, not as durable as lego stickers, but they look good and are available in a wide variety of liveries.

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These days I think train fans are very well catered for when you have a look at the number of sets that have been released since 2010,

I agree, recent offerings have been very interesting. And it looks like these sets are selling, and not lingering.

Bad experiences in the past may prevent them from selling individual cars and other goodies. However,

if the trend "good trains --> good sales" continues, there's still reasonable hope that more track offerings

or other goodies become available.

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The easiest route would be conventional model railroading decals from a hobby shop, not as durable as lego stickers, but they look good and are available in a wide variety of liveries.

Thank you zephyr1934. I reckon the only abuse to the stickers is gravity. Just have to find one locally, unfortunately most are R/C shops :classic:

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^I would like an Octan tanker train. However, I'm not buying it, yet.

But TLG allready made one with the 7939 set? And there's the old 8 wide one (which only really works if you do 8w trains). Anyway, a tanker is probably the easiest to MOC

Based on UK pick-a-brick prices, a train car set could be done for £10 (this is a conservative estimate), with:

4 complete wheel sets (axles / bearing assemblies / wheels)

2 buffers + couplings

1 train baseplate (not on PAB)

Chuck in some other bits - train end handrails, some grille tiles, a few bricks with studs on the side, some steering wheels for brake wheels, some slopes for underframe. Call it £12.99, or put in two pieces of straight track for a bit more on the price.

AFOLs will buy it, some kids and parents will buy it, and part strippers will buy it to split for eBay / Bricklink. Can't be a bad use of one SKU for web-only sales?

Nice idea, but I really think that trains are mostly bought by AFOLs (or kids approaching). And they all know about BL, so they tend to MOC their own. Or are just happy with the rolling stock TLG provides with the trains. If one have bought the RC/PF trains, one would have plenty of different cars

I guess TLG is right, there's no sale in stand alone rolling stock

But that's no reason not to provide decent buildings like 7838/7839 etc

I think what we can expect is complete trains in the next years. But if we shout enough, we might just get the track packages we want! :thumbup:

Edited by 1974

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Based on UK pick-a-brick prices, a train car set could be done for £10 (this is a conservative estimate), with:

4 complete wheel sets (axles / bearing assemblies / wheels)

2 buffers + couplings

1 train baseplate (not on PAB)

Chuck in some other bits - train end handrails, some grille tiles, a few bricks with studs on the side, some steering wheels for brake wheels, some slopes for underframe. Call it £12.99, or put in two pieces of straight track for a bit more on the price.

AFOLs will buy it, some kids and parents will buy it, and part strippers will buy it to split for eBay / Bricklink. Can't be a bad use of one SKU for web-only sales?

Lego had that in the 9v era (as I mentioned earlier in this thread) and at least when PAB started, the price was comparable ($15 either way). I think lego is moving away from parts packs like that, but it would be FANTASTIC if the next low end City Train doubled as an AFOL parts pack (again, as per this and this earlier posts)

Thank you zephyr1934. I reckon the only abuse to the stickers is gravity. Just have to find one locally, unfortunately most are R/C shops :classic:

If you can't find them in town, search on line for "model railroad decals", e.g., microscale.

But if we shout enough, we might just get the track packages we want! :thumbup:

I'd echo that

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The only one that is continually ignoring the facts here is you, as to the issues with the Santa Fe and My Own Train it was not 10 years ago it was in fact 5 years ago,

*rofl* well, we are talking about today, not about 5 years ago.

These days I think train fans are very well catered for when you have a look at the number of sets that have been released since 2010,

Yes, lots of complete starter sets.

also the focus on train designs and attention to detail has lifted substantially when you compare them to trains that were available in the past, the designs these days actually look like real life trains and have been inspired by actual prototypes, unlike 4559, 4560 and 4561 which look absolutely nothing like a train.

That's true, but no one doubted about this.

Also it is far easy to access train parts compared to 10 years ago, there are a decent number of train parts available through PAB at S@H I will say though it would be nice if PAB had a bit more variety with the parts available, then there is Bricklink where you can get pretty much anything and everything that you want.

Again, please read carefully what I've written before. What shall aounts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas do when they want to buy gifts ? They sureley won't use PAB. And they surely won't register at Bricklink (because both services don't apply to the "Lego standard customer", they are intended to be used by "power-moccers" or collectors.) They also won't buy another (too) big starter set. Indeed, they want to buy "small" extension sets, and nothing else. But Lego does not offer this. What are they doing instead ? Maybe, they'll buy another small city set. Otherwise, they might buy a non-Lego gift.

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*rofl* well, we are talking about today, not about 5 years ago.

Again, please read carefully what I've written before. What shall aounts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas do when they want to buy gifts ? They sureley won't use PAB. And they surely won't register at Bricklink (because both services don't apply to the "Lego standard customer", they are intended to be used by "power-moccers" or collectors.) They also won't buy another (too) big starter set. Indeed, they want to buy "small" extension sets, and nothing else. But Lego does not offer this. What are they doing instead ? Maybe, they'll buy another small city set. Otherwise, they might buy a non-Lego gift.

Trying to use the baseless arguement of that was back then and not now doesn't wash, regardless of whether it was 10 years ago or 5 years ago the facts still stand the sales performance of single pieces of rolling stock was majorly lacking when compared to other sets and themes, you cannot blame Lego for making the commercial desicions that they have especially when they have fairly recent historical events to guide them. There are a good number of us here who have been building and collecting trains for quite a few years as well as being actively involved in the Lego train community, we have seen events unfold over the years and have a far better appreciation of the facts and the way things have evolved, I have been building and collectig trains for nearly 10 years and displaying them in public for over 6 years. Maybe if you actually took some time to listen to the sage advice that we are offering you due to our vast experience in the hobby instead of you relentlessly banging your drum you might actually realise the situation.

Regarding the comment about Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles finding it difficult to find items to give as gifts this is an opportunity for you to take a lead and give your relatives advice on how to purchase parts online so they can be given as a gift, have you ever thought off giving them a list of what parts they would need to give kids the ability to build their own desigs. Taking a proactive stance like that is what helps move the hobby forward rather than continually moaning and groaning about things which will get you nowhere, there is a bright future for all of us with the Lego train theme as TLG is continually bringing out new sets which shows they are actively supporting the theme, the vision for the future may be one that some people don't like or have invisiged but at the end of the day there is a future. Many of us have been through some fairly dark periods with the train theme especially when the 9v range got axed which too many of us was seen as the end but wind the clock forward 5 years the Lego trains theme has grown from strength to strength.

Edited by Steinkopf

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you cannot blame Lego for making the commercial desicions that they have especially when they have fairly recent historical events to guide them. There are a good number of us here who have been building and collecting trains for quite a few years as well as being actively involved in the Lego train community, we have seen events unfold over the years and have a far better appreciation of the facts and the way things have evolved, I have been building and collectig trains for nearly 10 years and displaying them in public for over 6 years. Maybe if you actually took some time to listen to the sage advice that we are offering you due to our vast experience in the hobby instead of you relentlessly banging your drum you might actually realise the situation.

Well, history is full of examples where specialists have been proven wrong... the fact that I am new to this board doesn't mean I am new to the hobby... I am buying and collecting for more than two decades.

If the Lego marketing guys always make perfect decisions, why do they release sets and themes that don't sell well ? Maybe they were out in their estimation.

Of course, this may happen in both directions: produce x sets, and nearly no one wants to buy them. Or: produce x sets, but more people than expected want to buy them.

They're all only humans, and they make mistakes.

Regarding the comment about Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles finding it difficult to find items to give as gifts this is an opportunity for you to take a lead and give your relatives advice on how to purchase parts online so they can be given as a gift

It should be obvious that I am not talking about my personal relatives, but of these kind of persons in general (!).

I don't think I am responsible to teach all grandmas and grandpas living in this world how to deal with PAB and Bricklink...

Moreover, grandparents don't have internet access and/or are not familiar with it. As told before, PAB and Bricklink are additional (!) services for power-moccers, collectors and so on.

They surely are not intended to be used by persons who just want to buy a single set.

Edited by Carrera124

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It should be obvious that I am not talking about my personal relatives, but of these kind of persons in general (!).

I don't think I am responsible to teach all grandmas and grandpas living in this world how to deal with PAB and Bricklink...

Moreover, grandparents don't have internet access and/or are not familiar with it. As told before, PAB and Bricklink are additional (!) services for power-moccers, collectors and so on.

They surely are not intended to be used by persons who just want to buy a single set.

Generally speaking the people you are trying to describe would not even reach 0.01% of TLGs sales demographic, for the company to pour so much energy into trying to entertain such a miniscule amount of people is not worth the effort and would be pretty much a pointless exercise. My comment was that you show your relatives how to purchase parts and give them basic pointers, I never stated that you should go forth and educate the masses of grandparents etc on a global scale. At train shows myself and other members of my club are regularly asked by parents, grandparents and a whole host of associated members of the public as to where and how to purchase parts, we offer them advice and even write down details to sites such as Bricklink and S@H as well as the retailers who carry the basic trainsets, this is an example of how you can help foster growth of the hobby.

Edited by Steinkopf

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Generally speaking the people you are trying to describe would not even reach 0.01% of TLGs sales demographic,

How do you know this ? Imho, this is just a non-realistic guess of yours.

My comment was that you show your relatives how to purchase parts and give them basic pointers,

Of course, I am already doing this. But they don't want to buy parts, they want to buy sets.

Even more, because a factory-produced set that comes with a solid box and printed instructions, is more suitable as a gift, than a rather nameless bulk of bricks.

And of course, Lego wants to make money. That's quite normal.

But they surely won't crash their business, if they release 2-3 sets that do not sell as well as other sets.

Just for the purpose to make the train theme a little bit more attractive for non-internet buyers.

Because today, the train theme is not very attractive, for the purpose of sustainability.

Of course, we have 3 great starter sets (3677, 7938, 7939). All three are great and worth a buy.

And we have a train station (7937).

7936 has already been dropped from the line-up. So we have a total of 4 train sets listed in the printed catalogs.

Of course, we had the Emerald Express and we have the Maersk train. But both have been sold mainly or exclusively by internet.

Today, train sets are a puny adjunct of the city theme.

Of course, it'll never be the same as it wasa back in the 80ies and 90ies, with lots of starter sets, lots of single locos and lots of single waggons.

But just a little bit more than today, it would really improve the situation.

Edited by Carrera124

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How do you know this ? Imho, this is just a non-realistic guess of yours.

I have spoken to a number of highly placed TLG employees over the years regarding the train theme, the view expressed by all is that it has always been a hard nut to crack compared to other themes.

Of course, I am already doing this. But they don't want to buy parts, they want to buy sets.

Even more, because a factory-produced set that comes with a solid box and printed instructions, is more suitable as a gift, than a rather nameless bulk of bricks.

And of course, Lego wants to make money. That's quite normal.

But they surely won't crash their business, if they release 2-3 sets that do not sell as well as other sets.

Just for the purpose to make the train theme a little bit more attractive for non-internet buyers.

Because today, the train theme is not very attractive, for the purpose of sustainability.

Of course, we have 3 great starter sets (3677, 7938, 7939). All three are great and worth a buy.

And we have a train station (7937).

7936 has already been dropped from the line-up. So we have a total of 4 train sets listed in the printed catalogs.

Of course, we had the Emerald Express and we have the Maersk train. But both have been sold mainly or exclusively by internet.

Today, train sets are a puny adjunct of the city theme.

Of course, it'll never be the same as it wasa back in the 80ies and 90ies, with lots of starter sets, lots of single locos and lots of single waggons.

But just a little bit more than today, it would really improve the situation.

Another fact that you have ignored is this is not the 1980s or 1990s things have progressed rapidly these days and the level of competition that toy manufacturers face from outside the indusrty. These days the toy market has to compete against games consoles or hand held units such as Gameboy and PSP, the video game industry was in it's infancy back in the 80s and 90s and was not a serious competitor back then compared to the massive busineses that they have become now.

Edited by Steinkopf

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Of course, it'll never be the same as it wasa back in the 80ies and 90ies, with lots of starter sets, lots of single locos and lots of single waggons.

But just a little bit more than today, it would really improve the situation.

Thats exactly my feeling. I don't for one moment think that lego is going to produce a dozen add on sets and no one here seems to be asking for that. Its silly to comparing with 5 to 10 years ago because lego had produced a vast number of train models (Sante Fe, coaches, wagons, BNSF etc) and I remember they took up a huge sales area in the local lego store (as big as the Star wars sales area is now!).

Every other Lego theme and sub theme has a range of sets from big to small, the Train sub theme has the large starter sets, the station but I think would benefit from perhaps one small add on set. A 3 in one creator style wagon or coach would be great, either as is or for parts. Alternatively they could try and do something with broader appeal such as a railway wagon on a low loader lorry

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I have spoken to a number of highly placed TLG employees over the years regarding the train theme, the view expressed by all is that it has always been a hard nut to crack compared to other themes.

But despite this view, they have nevertheless still managed to bring out beautiful train sets in recent years.

I think lego is doing very well financially for a simple reason: Modular Houses. Who would have thought that you can offer a lego house for $150 and that it would sell like hot cakes?

In any case, the modular-house success proves that there are plenty of people willing to pay over $100 for a toy, provided that it is beautiful. I think that that is the reason that lego decided to produce beautiful trains again, and we've seen three in a short time span Emerald Night, Maersk, Horizon Express.

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IAnother fact that you have ignored is this is not the 1980s or 1990s things have progressed rapidly these days and the level of competition that toy manufacturers face from outside the indusrty. These days the toy market has to compete against games consoles or hand held units such as Gameboy and PSP, the video game industry was in it's infancy back in the 80s and 90s and was not a serious competitor back then compared to the massive busineses that they have become now.

I haven't ignored this, but what you are writing is not the complete truth.

Even back in the 80ies and 90ies, Lego had to face these competitions. And the beginning of the 80ies, home computers and arcade games conquered the nurserys and living rooms. Remember Atari 2600 and Commodore 64.

At the same time, RC cars started their success at affordable prices.

So, today's situation is not really different from back then. Lego is a kind of "classic" toy, and during all times, "newer" and modern toys attacked them.

A 3 in one creator style wagon or coach would be great, either as is or for parts.

I already thought about this. Similar to 10183, a kind of universal extension set that costs half the price of a complete train starters. And that allows to to build 2 small wagons, or 1 big waggon, or another loco, etc.

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Of course, we had the Emerald Express and we have the Maersk train. But both have been sold mainly or exclusively by internet.

Today, train sets are a puny adjunct of the city theme.

Maybe you don't have a Lego store in your area, but that's where I got my Emerald Night and Maersk. The only things I've bought from Lego online were power function bits, and one of those times was actually an in-store order (free shipping that way). Yeah, they don't have as wide-spread availability as regular toy stores, but all the Lego stores I've been in were in very large malls or outlet malls... i.e. lots of people... I've even seen the Maersk in one of the store front display windows once.

A 3 in one creator style wagon or coach would be great, either as is or for parts. Alternatively they could try and do something with broader appeal such as a railway wagon on a low loader lorry

That's what I've been thinking would be a good idea, since the new train is being released under the "Creator Expert" theme. A 3-in-1 Creator set would be a good way to release an expansion set for trains. Shucks, it doesn't even have to be exclusively a train set if that's too risky, make one of the other models something that isn't a train car. Seems a set like this would be cheaper to design and produce as other than train wheels, creator sets are typically made from more basic parts, don't include minifigs (or if they do they're pretty basic), and so on.

I understand companies wanting to maximize profits by trying to make product that appeals to the majority, but you always have potential customers that want something the majority doesn't want (less popular), and I guess trains fit into that category for Lego... so I'm glad at least they do sell well enough that Lego continues to produce them even if it isn't ideal compared to traditional model trains...

Edited by domboy

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