legotownlinz

I agree that many trains on shelves don't make sense. But the number of sets would not change if the products are changed e.g. every two instead of four years. It's my understanding that new products sell better and Lego seems to believe that as well for all other themes except trains.

I wonder why it takes four years to release new City trains. Products of any other theme chance more frequently, why not trains?

Latest news can be founds at https://www.fxbricks.com/fxblog/ The double straight might be released in 2020, but it will take years to complete the entrie track system. Lego still sets the standards in the brick world and they decided to use plastic tracks. Which imho was a good decision when taking a look at the hugh number of third party tracks elements currently available from BrickTracks, TrxiBrix and 4DBrix. And all of them can be combined! You certainly don't want to miss these nice switches and crossings. It either takes months or years for these elements to be available from FXBricks or they won't be available at all. What's really needed is an automatic recharging system for pro users. It could be based on metal tracks that are used for the station tracks. Metal rail switches would not be required in such system. Power pickups and rechargable PoweredUp hubs are the parts that are really missing and should be the focus of FXBricks.

My guess: It is eight studs wide because the designer didn't care and nobody else at Lego is passionate enough about trains to stop him making a train that doesn't go well with all the other trains. It's just ignorance and indifference but certainly no evidence for future eight-wide trains.

This is an option for flat layouts only. It lacks two degrees of freedom.

Has anybody tried to shrink at least the cars to 6-7 wide?

No need to replace parts, it is not a real issue, especially when not building just a circle but putting straights inbetween.

Today I've used the BrickTracks I've bought a few months ago for the first time and noticed a strange issue with the geometry. When putting no stress on the tracks, there is almost a gap of one piece. Is this by design, e.g. for superelevated tracks? I've not tested the tracks after purchase, so it might also be possible that they deformed over time. I think that is has not been shown yet that there is a noticable color difference between BrickTracks and Lego tracks. The BrickTracks (on the left) are brighter and have a less polished surface.

I consider the Winter Holiday train as a historic standard gauge train with some christmas decoration, so the scale is fine for me. If the Disney train had the same width as other trains, despite actually being a narrow gauge train, I would be fine. But wider is not acceptable.

Why, the winter holiday train is 6 studs wide?

8 studs wide It must be smaller, not wider than other trains. It will look strange whenever another train is nearby. And it will get stuck at all existing platforms. Congratulations to Lego to produce a set that is incompatible with virtually any existing Lego train layout. They mess up a set that should have been a no-brainer. It's unbelievable. It's a set for beginners who don't notice that the scale is horribly wrong. I bet all train fans will be very disappointed once they run the train the first time and notice all the flaws. Maybe it was difficult or even impossible to make the train look good at a smaller scale. But if they cannot do it right, they shouldn't do it all and release something else. And as usual: price, stickers, plastic axles, ... nothing is done right in this set.

They are called tamping machines and DGS (dynamic track stabilisation). You can get an overview of track maintenance machines at https://www.plassertheurer.com/en/home/home.html. Click on 'Machines' on the website's menu to get descriptions and images of many machines.

I'm not sure if CFOL's list are just wishes or leaks.

Wishes do not need fake set numbers. You could avoid the confusion by omitting them.

Love it!