Carefree_Dude

The Maersk Train was one of my favorite builds. Several months ago, I lost most of my Lego due to a storage unit theft. The set itself is too expensive to buy, but I was thinking I could build a similar train. What is a good alternate color scheme for the original model that I could do for under $100? I already have train baseplates, wheelsets, all the PF, etc so most of the expensive parts are already covered.

Looking back on the list of trains over the years, I've really come to appreciate the 40370 GWP set. It's small, and kinda cute. My son loves it and motorized it with powered up, and loves having it pull cars. For him it's hot so much more personality than the larger trains, while still looking like it could be based in reality. I'd love to see more little trains like it released.

How would I get into using ball bearings and lubrication and such? I know it makes a huge difference, especially on technic axels. I sort of recall many years ago someone modifying technic holes to put bearings in them

This may be silly but would have simply changing the color of the locomotive made it more appealing?

You can also go entirely different livery. This has always been my personal favorite, the good ole Canadian Northern

I busted a crown gear once, testing a big boy MOC I was creating that had 4x XL motors in it. I had the drive train all set up, and wanted to find out how much it could pull. It pulled a lot before the gear broke.

I have a black and red german style emerald night that I look forward to seeing with the carriages.

I didn't realize there were several types of bricks in the non-lego market. I'm a few pages into the build, and they do add a lot more parts per step. Its similar to the olden days of lego where you would build an entire castle on a 2 page spread. It isn't so bad though, not only do they have the boxes with the parts you use, but also have red outlines on what's added. And it is somewhat ridiculous where lego will now use a full two page spread to have you add a single piece or to flip the model around. I understand they do it for accessibility, it just gets silly at times.

I'll let you know! I haven't done much more than open the box for now and test the electronics. The steam maker really surprised me! I didn't expect it, so I tried it out right away and it creates a really impressive amount of steam shooting up. It only lasts for a few minutes though, and I don't really see a way to turn it off. I also imagine it uses a lot of power. Also the general quality of the bricks surprised me, they actually feel like real lego. Roughly 7-8 years ago I bought some of the Lepin modulars and the bricks had this really weird feel to them, like they were slightly oily or something? also kind of light? Anyways it kinda weirded me out. Anyways it'll probably take me a bit to build this, as I've got other real life stuff to do. I also have the lego orient express ordered now, so I will be able to compare.

Box got somewhat smooshed during shipping. The box shipped wrapped in plastic, which was also wrapped in plastic. Also the box is too small for the contents, the box is straight up bulging with how much is in it.

Got mine ordered last night, I have a few ideas for the engine

My curiosity got the best of me and I bought this. I'm really curious about the motors especially. Gonna order lego one too, and do a side by side

I recently got a 3d printer, and still trying to learn how to properly use the things. I'm interested in printing some train parts though, such as drivers and rods. Are there files for these around anywhere to download? Any general tips on being successful at printing these?

Did powered up ever get the equivalent of an XL motor? I'm not sure If I believe the standard train motor will be able to even pull very many of these cars.

I'm seeing all these reasonable suggestions to have a non-steam engine pull the Orient Express but I think we all know deep down inside that our inner child demands it be a steam locomotive. Not just because it looks cool, but myself, and I'm sure most every train fan here have been impatiently waiting for more than a decade for Lego to produce a worthy follow up to the Emerald Night. Then we all heard the rumors of the UCS Hogwarts Express which raised our hopes and dashed them quite expertly! And then there were rumors of this train, based on an ideas submission, with a really well built locomotive that could finally surpass the emerald night in an official set and... We get this. If this locomotive were just like a random train set released alongside the normal every half decade passenger train and freight rain, it would likely be loved, praised even. But this train was supposed to finally fulfil a decade plus long desire so many of us have had. SO, I think this is where the disappointment and harsh criticism is coming from. Not for what the train is, but what many of us were wanting it to be. SO yeah, I'll buy this set. maybe even buy two. Then I'll build my own steam engine! And it'll be glorious! And of course there will always be brilliant mocers like sava railways for instance. (I know there is more than that but they come to mind off the top of my head because many of my own creations have been inspired by them) I also wanted to add that i don't think that the emerald night is the ultimate form of a lego steam engine. Even upon release, myself and others saw plenty of flaws in the design, as well as engineering issues with the gearing and drive rods. It was just the absolute best steam engine officially released by lego, and really put what official lego steam engines could be on a pedestal.

I believe part of the reason these Chinese brands are so cheap (price point i mean) is that they don't have as rigorously high standards for their parts as Lego does. I bought a non-lego Union Pacific Big Boy, and many of the parts are actually really good, and fit well together. Sadly though a lot of the more nuanced pieces (like the train wheels) attach rather loosely. Also the plastic just has this ever so slightly different feel to it that's hard to describe. That aside though, the price point for what you get is amazing, and by simply swapping out a few of the parts for genuine lego parts, you have a very solid model, and with some modification you can even make it run on lego track. (actually the design of it kinda weirds me out? It almost looks like they took someone' else's motorized big boy MOC, made a few minor changes, ripped out the motors and some of the axels and stuff, and called it their own)

The flashforge adventurer 3 is what I've got! Found it at a yardsale really cheaply. I have so much to learn in this space. I did however print off a single train wheel using the only filament I had. It turned out pretty decently! It took almost an hour to print it though so i'm not sure if that is normal or not. I've got a lot of learning to do, im sure there is tons to learn about materials, different settings, and I think nozzle sizes? Here is the wheel I printed.

also just a random thought, but assuming Lego wanted to keep two train cars, It's hard to imagine any TrainTech approved locomotive they could add to this set that wouldn't raise the price to well above $500. I feel this community wouldn't be please with a locomotive for this set (especially compared to the source ideas material) that wouldn't have more than 2K parts by itself. So maybe it's a blessing they are like "hey here's a cheap steam engine, go make your own if you don't like it" I love this community to death (Some really great people here) but damn do some of us (myself included) have high expectations.

Some of those Mould King trains look pretty appealing. Maybe its cooperate brainwash though, but the idea of the off brand lego makes me feel dirty. Also can it run on lego track? I suspect most of that $300 price tag goes into the heavily detailed and very large coaches. They did really well on those. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if you were to buy two of this set, if you could easily make a really nice locomotive out of the parts of the two locomotives between the two sets. Of course thats like 600 bucks there.

I was so upset about 4559 but I got it anyways and rebuilt it as a weird black and yellow metroliner with two black and yellow club cars. But yeah, I agree a dark blue/blue EN is the easiest route. You can even do gold striping tape on the boiler. I actually made one a few years back.

I have a bunch of XXL drivers from a scrapped attempt at an overzealous Union Pacific Big Boy Moc; May decide to finally start taking parts from it; i gave up on it like 5 years ago. (Man i had so many great ideas for the thing. 4x XL motors, fully wheel suspension, driven by driver wheels.... Once I finally got it all together though, the suspension didn't work as intended and I many redesign attempts failed, and I got burnt out on the project)

One thing I think is funny is how much I care that a train can run on Lego track. For instance I straight up didn't buy the UCS Hogwarts express because it cannot run on a track. Meanwhile I have purchased the crocodile locomotive, and even installed a motor, but have yet to actually run it on a track; it's remained a display piece. But I feel good knowing that I could run it on a track if I wanted to.

For kicks I went ahead to see what it would cost to make an emerald night in dark blue. If you substitute a small handful of more expensive parts, you can build a dark blue emerald night for under 100 bucks, only using new parts. (this price doesn't include the large drivers, since I already have a bunch of those)

This is a pretty good video. Not fair to say that this is the nastiest reception, you should have saw the reactions to 4561 and 4559 as followups to the metroliner. Man I feel old that was almost 30 years ago.

The Emerald Night would probably look really good pulling these train cars. Shame I don't have mine anymore, but still; I know a few years ago you could build an alternate color emerald night pretty cheaply, and I wouldn't be surprised if a dark blue one was fairly cheap.