Brickviller

REVIEW: 3677 Red Cargo Train

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  1. 1. How do you rate this set?

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      0
    • 2 - Below Average
      5
    • 3 - Average
      11
    • 4 - Above Average
      23
    • 5 - Outstanding
      8


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Set Name: Cargo Train

Set #: 3677

Theme: City

Pieces: 831

Minifigures: 4

Year of Release: 2011

Price at Release: €149,99 (may vary with other countries)

Time to build: +/- 1½ hour

Lego Shop link

3677 on Brickwiki

Brickshelf gallery

Shop description

Prepare the cargo train for its next destination!

The LEGO® City freight yard is busier than ever! Get the Red Cargo Train ready to roll out and haul! Load rocks into the freight cars with the conveyor belt and be careful when loading the hazardous waste car. Use the flatbed utility freight car and railroad repair truck to repair the tracks. Then drive your haul through LEGO City with the LEGO Power Functions Remote Control #8879! Loaded with details and accessories including 3 freight cars, engine car, broom, shovel, jackhammer and 40 tracks.

• Includes 4 railroad worker minifigures

• Red Cargo Train features train engine and 3 freight cars, including tipping, hazardous waste and flatbed freight cars

• Includes railroad repair truck

• Also includes 40 tracks: 16 flex, 16 curved and 8 straight

• Accessories include broom, shovel and jackhammer

• Load rocks into the freight cars with the conveyor belt!

• Haul the railroad repair truck to the work site with the yellow flatbed freight car or drive it on the road!

• Steer the Red Cargo Train with the LEGO® Power Functions Remote Control #8879!

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Intro

The first images of this train came out when it was shown to the public at Legoworld in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many of us thought it was not a real set, but after some time more images were found and we all believed it was a real one. It includes a new red battery box making the train’s front four studs wide, and thus showing that PF are not as limited as we/I thought. It is the fifth Lego City train, and the third with the Power Functions. Last year I build both the cargo and passenger train, so how does this new cargo train compare to it’s cousins? Why are you still reading, let’s get started!

Review

box_front.jpg

The box, like most City sets it shows a CGI modified image of the set. In the background the blue-ish city skyline, with the sun shining in the sky. As always the designers of the box made a piece of art. Unlike the one from the other review, it has not a yellow stripe saying special edition, possibly because this one was bought in Europe and the other one in the US.

box_back.jpg

The back of the box. As always it shows the content of the various bags for easy building. The rest are various functions and views of this set. In the corner the same image from last year, only with the new train pasted in the scenery.

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The side of the box shows the true scale of a minifig, as we all know. And the full length of the train.

box_opening.jpg

As with most larger boxes you need to cut trough tape to open the box.

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The contents of the box. We get 7 regular bags, and a few with PF components and magnets. In the small box are the remote, motor and batterybox. The red cover for the batterybox was in a different seperate bag.

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Also I was suprised to see that this on in fact had the books and sticker sheet in a protected cardboard/plastic cover. I think this is also a difference with the US version since that one didn’t had this.

instructions.jpg

We get 6 books, each to make a different part of the set and a stickersheet

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The stickersheet is not the largest we’ve seen, and I normally don’t have problems with applying them.

bag_1.jpg

The first bag and what’s in it. This will be used to make the base of the train.

bag_1_finished.jpg

At the end of the first bag we have the train partly finished, and ofcourse, it’s driver. It’s funny that they didn’t include the same standart driver as 7939 or 7898. Because of this I see this set more as a complementary set, rather than a stand alone set. Even though, in my conclusion, both are good. More on that later, let’s move on to bag 2.

bag_2.jpg

The second bag has a nice variety of parts. Also, since this is the last bag for the engine, the power function parts will be added.

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As said in the other review, we get both a red and grey cover for the battery box.

pf_red_box.jpg

The red batterybox

boogies.jpg

When I first saw a close up of the new boogie for this train I though it was not as good looking as the one from 7939. Here’s a comparrison between the two.

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And at the end of the second bag we have the great red European like engine. It strongly reminds me of trains we have here in the Netherlands, and I’m sure there are other ones that strongly look like this one.

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Side view. I also did not expect it to be so long. It’s just as long as 7939 and also a little higher (not counting the pantograph).

train_front.jpg

Front view. The previous trains from the City theme could have lights in the front and back, however with this one it’s more or less impossible without large modifications.

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Back view. Here you can see the reciever. Really wel covered.

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The hatch can open and reveals a sticker on the reciever.

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The on/off button, I think they could’ve done a better job covering it. But it’s works very good anyway.

interior.jpg

The interior with a printed plate that’s been used since 2005.

bag_3.jpg

And bag 3 will be used to make the rail truck.

truck_1.jpg

The build is fast, but the result is very good. It looks like most of the other City trucks, so it’s not really anything new. Except that it can drive on rails and road . This functions seems tob e very popular among train sets, since Lego has made many variations of these kinds of vehicles.

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The back showing some equipment for maintaining the railroads.

truck_3.jpg

Inside the truck, it can fit ‘only’ one driver. It has also opening doors.

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Showing the truck on rails.

bag_4.jpg

And in bag 4 we have the parts to make the largest wagon in this set. I was suprised with the amount of slopes in this set.

car_1.jpg

The wagon finished. I don’t know how these kind of wagons are called in real life, but it looks very cool.

car_2.jpg

car_3.jpg

The roof can open easily to acces the small cabin.

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Interior of the cabin, I like that the designers added the coffee mug.

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And with the minifig inside.

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Also the crane can be used to lift the cargo up and down. This wagon scores high in playability.

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The cargo crane down

car_with_truck_1.jpg

The truck can be put on. It sits sturdy and doesn’t move at all.

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Another view

bag_5.jpg

Bag 5 is for the ballast wagon, and is also the one with less pieces that the others. Making the build very fast.

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Once finished we get a nice looking car. And it’s brown, a color we don’t see often in the City range.

balast_wagon_tilted.jpg

The ballast wagon can also tilt to deploy it’s cargo, more on this function later.

bag_6.jpg

Bag 6 is used to make the coal loader device and the small platform. It has some new pieces, like the large pillar like ones.

bag_6_finished.jpg

The build is like most of this set, pretty straight-forward. And the result is also very good. More on the mechanism later.

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The last bag is for the most controversial wagon I’ve made. The toxic waste car. I was also suprised to see so many bricks for a car that’s compared to others small.

toxic_waste_car_1.jpg

Once finished we have the wagon and a pallet with the chemical waste. This is my first wagon with sliding doors, and they do not dissapoint. It’s also a great feature to include this cart o this set.

toxic_waste_car__open.jpg

The waste (since when is Lego waste?) inside the car

toxic_waste_car_closed.jpg

And with the doors closed

toxic_waste_car_comic.jpg

My Hazmat minifigs finnaly have something to do. It’s kinda strange that Lego let the normal railyard workers cary this stuff around (see back of the box pic)

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The spare parts

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And the remote, since that is also part of the set. It’s smaller that the RC train sets, but it feels very good.

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And a total shot of the train set and the track, I’m so sorry for the blur.

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Another view

And the ballast loading mechanism.

loading_mechanism_1.jpg

Step 1

Let the train drive past it

loading_mechanism_2.jpg

Step 2

Is to stop the train, move the conveyor belt down and turn the round bricks so the bricks fell inside the wagon.

loading_mechanism_3.jpg

Step 3

Once it’s loaded you can drive to your destination, tilt the wagon and unload it.

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Conclusion

Pieces: 8.5/10 New windows, red battery box, and the brown piece for the ballast car. All that and the other pieces make it a sollid 8.5

Minifigures: 5/10 Nothing special, just the regular trainyard workers

Build: 8/10 I really enjoyed the build, IMO better than the build from 7939, although a little shorter.

Price: 9/10 (at least for the price I got it) I got it for 140, but 150 would also be good. The train has great value and is a very good placeholder for a train between 7939 and 7938. The price seems to vary very much between countries, so I just took the price from Germany.

Playability: 10/10 It’s IMO even better than the already almost perfect playability from 7939.

Overall : It’s a very good set on it’s own. Although some parts could have done better. Like some other things with Lego it’s two steps forward and one step back. However it’s for me almost a perfect set to have, because I really like it’s industrial look.

I rate it 8.1

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Comparison with 7939

At last the ultimate face-off with the last two City cargo trains

Engine: The one from 3677 has a nice industrial look, and is possibly ment for short rides. The one from 7939 has a more modern look, and can possibly serve as a passenger train too.

Cars: Both trains have the same amount of cars. I like the ones from 3677 better, since the ones from 7939 are too simple for my taste.

Playability: 3677 is clearly more playable than 7939. With the new one you can load the ballast wagon, repair the tracks with the truck. And can play that the train carries chemicals, something I loved to play when I was a kid. 7939 has a closed container with nothing to put in. The small cars are also nice and the truck is also good, but you can only carry containers and cars with it. The Octan car from 7939 is very good, but you can’t open it or anything. However 7939 has two switch points, which 3677 lacks.

Expendability: 7939 is much more expendable. You can add both lights and a rechargable battery without doing anything unofficial. Also it is supposed to carry much more wagons than 3677 since that’s only a maintance train or can be used for short rides.

Price: 7939 was good priced where I live, and it was sold very much. I’ve bought 3677 for 140 euro’s in Germany which is a very good deal (it’s listed as 150 in their shops) . However the price seems to vary much. Like in the Netherlands it was priced as 170 euro’s(!!) the same price as 7939. So it really depends on where you live. If it’s 150 I would still buy it, but anything above would force me to buy it from cheaper web shops rather than from Lego themselves.

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Definitely a good review and interesting to note the KFOL playability which is a good thing.

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Excellent review, Brickviller.

The train is very nice, the loco looks good, you get some interesting pieces ; it is playable, which is good for kids, but the sticker behind the hatch is just lame :wacko: .

Also I don't like the de-evolution of the hopper/ballast wagon. Just look at that ugly giant piece. That's not Lego. Just remember the beautiful 10017. Ah, good times.

Anyway, thanks for the review.

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Thank you for this interesting the review.

To bad this set is no more available in France at the moment !

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Thank you for this interesting the review.

To bad this set is no more available in France at the moment !

Same here in the Netherlands, it was avaliable for a very high price at the Online Lego Shop, and after a few days it just dissapeard :sceptic:

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Thank you for this interesting the review.

To bad this set is no more available in France at the moment !

It was available last week for few days. I ordered it right on time...

I guess it'll be available next month (that is next week).

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Great review. I don't plan to buy this set because I already have too many red trains (mostly from the hobby train set). But after reading this review I'm starting to see that this is indeed a nice set that will surely do very well.

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Thank you for sharing Brickviller. I've added a poll and indexed. On a side note; however, your images are larger than our site guidelines of 800x600.

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Thank you for sharing Brickviller. I've added a poll and indexed. On a side note; however, your images are larger than our site guidelines of 800x600.

I'm sorry, I'm not really good with pic sizes, the page won't be deleted right? Anyways the pics will be smaller in my upcomming reviews :thumbup:

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Thanks 'Brickviller' for this review, 140 Euro eh ? That will be 290 Australia bucks ! :laugh:

My only problem with it is there are only three tools for repairing the rail track and equipment ? :wink:

Anyway, hopefully I will be able to score one of these when they become available in Oz ! :grin:

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Great review!

I'm not usually into trains but the loco in this looks pretty nice, especially after your review. Thanks!

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Great review, Brickviller.

I posted in the other review of this set. I love the unimog truck. I created one using a lot of jumper bricks and 1x4 with wheel pins. Now your parts photo shows 2x2 pins. I'm even further intrigued to the construction technique used, as i had troubles with using 2x2 wheel pins.

Aaron

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Thank you for a good and thorough review.

I don't like this train. I think it's a step backwards in the train series. The engine looks messy, the colours of the engine, rolling stock and assessories look like something from a Duplo train set. It makes it look like a home-made set and it suffers in comparison to all the other recents sets with power functions.

The functions for loading carts and doing repair work on tracks, however, look like something the smaller kids will really enjoy.

NM

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the page won't be deleted right? Anyways the pics will be smaller in my upcomming reviews

Absolutely not, but just make sure you stay within the size limits next time. Thanks.

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Not sure how I missed this one?? I think I read an earlier review of this but not as detailed so thank you for that!

I've seen this available for order on TRU's site but I'm waiting for it to be released into the stores around here. I bought the last cargo train but this one appeals to me much more. I like the loco as it has a more industrial design than the last one. The train cars are more interesting to me as well. Thanks again for the great in-depth review.

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Great review 'Brickviller'. I am anticipating this set released by S@H. I've seen it at TRU online but, think it may be a little higher in price. Plus no VIP points default_classic.gif

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I'm very impatient to get it during Christmas !

I'll buy both city trains : 7939 and 3677 !

Adding the Maersk train and the Emerald night that's a very good LEGO trains period !!!!!

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I got my 3677 las tuesday. Till now i have only build the trackside equipment.... Maybe this weekend i will build some cars and hopefully the engine... Still i have the feeling i payed way too much for this set...Next time when a set comes out that is i.m.o. overpriced...i will not buy it. It gives me a bit of bitter feeling now, and that should not be... anyone else bumped into this feeling as well??

Greetz, LegoSjaak

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Yes, it seems the set is a bit overpriced.

But, it's a pretty cool engine, the red cover for the battery box can come in really handy, and.. this train gives me some pretty good ideas to build a PF version of the (Dutch Railways) NS 6400 diesselloc in dark grey and yellow.

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I got my 3677 las tuesday. Till now i have only build the trackside equipment.... Maybe this weekend i will build some cars and hopefully the engine... Still i have the feeling i payed way too much for this set...Next time when a set comes out that is i.m.o. overpriced...i will not buy it. It gives me a bit of bitter feeling now, and that should not be... anyone else bumped into this feeling as well??

Greetz, LegoSjaak

A few weeks ago I bought two 7740 sets to make 1 nice long train. And yes, I do have the feeling I paid too much...

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