rday1982

Well, it would be cool to have something like that that's not necessarily from the movies. Indiana Jones obviously had a lot of different adventures. Who's to say he never had one on board a train? There are a lot of opportunities for the Batman elevated railway as well. With such a huge scale in the movie, it does mean that LEGO would have to make compromises. But an elevated oval (or even circle) of track with a movie-accurate train and a maybe even a few of Gotham's skyscraper tops would make a good starter pack for it. The Hogwarts Express is where LEGO are missing the boat massively. If they made a really nice Olton Hall model either with or seperately to three coaches and a brake van, then did a massive King's Cross and a decently detailed Hogsmeade station, they'd have the beginnings of a whole seperate subtheme to both Harry Potter and the trains theme. There's also the opportunity to release sets or brick packs for a viaduct, a dementor attack, and/or some steam-era or HP-esque trackside scenery like old timey signals and signal boxes, or water towers. If it's got the HP brand on it, or it intersects with the HP theme, then LEGO get to exploit both markets at once. Of course, there's also the other licensed themes LEGO has. Any one of them can be combined with the trains theme in some way to improve BOTH themes, and increase people's exposure to the trains theme. Except maybe Star Wars. I think they'd have hovertrains or something. Anyhow. The trains theme is basically a huge source of potential sales revenue for LEGO that they're failing miserably to exploit. If the Indiana Jones theme did have a train and station, Indiana Jones fans would buy it - whether or not it's a movie thing, they'd want it because it fits the theme, and expands the scope of the theme. Same for Batman. Whether it's something from Batman Begins, or inspired by the Animated Series, a train set would be a must-have for any Batman collector because it fits with and expands the scope of the theme. Who could resist the opportunity to have a classic train heist thwarted by the valiant Caped Crusader? I'm disappointed that the Spiderman subway train wasn't designed for L-Gauge track, and think that had it been, (and maybe had it been powered), it might have sold better, due to better interconnectivity. Going back for a moment to Indiana Jones, I think that the scene from the beginning of Holy Grail, where a young Indy flees his pursuers across a moving train would make an AWESOME set. Plenty of scope for rolling stock, collectible minifigs, and a great place to use the snake pieces. The scene is short, but action-packed, and a fan favourite. LEGO are missing a trick by not producing train sets for licensed themes, and it's just one of many tricks that they're missing with trains. I have to wonder, if they're doing it on purpose, because they somehow feel that trains are no longer "cool".

There was never a massive train scene in Indiana Jones, but there have been a couple of smaller ones. The beginning of IJaTHG and partway through KotCS, for example. TLG's Hogwarts Express trains to date have all been hugely disappointing. I've been trying to make a better version in LDD, but this suffers from a lack of BBB-style wheels.

The LEGO licences for Indiana Jones, Batman, Harry Potter and Spiderman could all be improved IMO by more train stuff, and more DETAILED train stuff. Batman and Indiana Jones, for example, seem criminally ignored when it comes to trains. A huge steam train and station for Indy would be awesome, and a train chase for Batman is practically REQUIRED for fans of the animated series and Batman Begins. So what are your thoughts?

I actually found Eurobricks after following SavaTheAggie's trail of train designs around the web. I even contacted him about the possibility of some custom instructions... I get the impression he's some sort of LEGO God. Railbricks already downloaded as well.

If the stronger PF motor ran on 9v, I'd be a lot happier with that. Also, the rechargable packs are very expensive. As far as a PF car goes, that's the way I think I'd have to power all my trains if I make the switch. I'm not at all happy with the change to PF.

Were LEGO to relaunch the 9v line, aim it at model railroaders as well as AFOLs, TFOLs, and KFOLs, then support it with proper marketing and decent scope for expansion (such as offering sets of perhaps two or three extra cars), I think they'd experience an upsurge in demand. Until I started some pretty intensive internet searching three months ago, I had no idea there was such an extensive AFOL train community, nor that there were things like LEGO train exhibitions, and LEGO train clubs. I can't be alone in this. Surely there are plenty of other potential AFOL train builders who don't have a clue that there's a massive community out there. With the current thinking at LEGO, I forsee the train line dying out within a few years. It'll go the way of the monorail, and it's not going to be because there's no market for it. It's because the market is not being correctly exploited or catered to. The best way for LEGO to sell trains would be as follows: Track: 9v track available in packs of ten straights or 16 curves. Points available in sets of two. Crossover track available in sets of two. Elevated track supports available in sets of ten (ie: supports for ten bits of elevated track) at a height of 14 studs. Packs of parts for making a full incline and descent from a 14 stud height. Power: Regulator and power supply with clip cables available individually. 9v motor with decorative sides available individually. Trains: A european diesel loco. Perhaps similar to the yellow Rail Runner. An american diesel loco. Something like the Super Chief or the BNSF. A german steam train, one with the red running gear and black body. An american steam train, like Sava's Allhegney (however it's spelled). A european diesel/electric passenger loco like the ICE All nicely detailed, nice and big... sold without the 9v motor, but with dummy motor bogies... and without associated rolling stock. Rolling Stock: European passenger cars for the diesel/electric in sets of three. American passenger cars for the diesel in sets of three. Steam-era passenger cars in sets of three. Brake van/Caboose. Various individual freight cars. Parts pack for MOC freight cars. Tanker waggon. Maintenence of Way vehicles... perhaps a crane car, a flatbed car with construction vehicles, and a track repair car. A starter train set could be produced by combining a loco, some cars, track, a motor, and a regulator. A combination pack of motor and regulator could also be produced. Buildings and trackside scenery: Large station Goods/Switching yard Engine Shed Roundhouse Small station Level crossing Minifigs: Train driver pack Train staff pack Railway workers pack By changing the designs every 2-3 years, they would ensure that people bought more locos, cars, and scenery/buildings to keep their collection complete. This is similar to the way that traditional model railways are sold, and similar enough to the way that the components of LEGO city are sold that I don't think it would cause LEGO any problems. If these items were stocked by the major LEGO retailers and by the LEGO stores, displayed prominently, and given appropriate marketing, kids wouldn't be able to get enough of them. Not only is it LEGO, it's something that doesn't need batteries, and it freaki' WORKS! It's better than having a train set, 'cause this is a train set you can take apart and rebuild every day! By aiming it at kids as an alternative to model railways, and by selling the components of the theme as outlined, LEGO would be able to shift more stock at the same time as catering to both KFOLs and AFOL train builders. They might also be able to grab some of the market share for existing model railway fans. It would also require appropriate and fairly agressive marketing though. I remember as a kid, Xmas time would be when LEGO advertisements started filling the TV, with trains, planes, technic creations, and pirate ships assembling themselves and playing out various scenarios. LEGO never seemed to have a problem shifting stock back then. It was big, bold, exciting, and full of possibilities. By returning to the strategy of making the train theme a fully integrated part of their marketing and advertising, LEGO would be saying "this is a product that we are confident you will enjoy", rather than seemingly hiding it behind their licensed products. The train theme could also offer opportunities for licensed themes. Indiana Jones could have a steam train, station, and many exciting chase scenes. Batman could fight anybody from Two Face to The Joker on a speeding train. Spiderman and Harry Potter have already had train sets... and a gloriously detailed Hogwarts Express and Kings Cross station would certainly sell to both HP fans and train builders. If every theme had some sort of crossover with the trains product line, then train track, motors, power regulators, and locomotives all suddenly become cross-theme products. Batman's thrilling encounter with Catwoman atop the Emerald Night whilst speeding through Gotham towards the broken bridge suddenly becomes something that KFOLs are saving their pocket money to achieve, as well as something that AFOL's are boasting about having created here on Eurobricks. If LEGO were to adopt this sort of strategy, they could cross-sell trains through ALL their themes. Licenced brands, LEGO originals, there's no LEGO theme that won't somehow incorporate a train except for Star Wars. Without adopting this sort of strategy, I feel that LEGO are dooming their train line to eventual extinction. It's clear to me that the higher-ups within the company are more focussed on milking margins than trying to increase sales by improving playability and excitement. This will in the long term simply drive down the brand value and result in the company eventually reporting dismal sales year after year, before finally folding and allowing companies like MegaBlocks to fill their market niche. I wonder if MegaBlocks might be interested in the idea of bringing out a 9v train line? Perhaps I should contact them.

Enlighten me, then? What are the benefits? Drawbacks: Batteries need to be changed, meaning that painstakingly assembled models will need to be taken apart. Battery boxes are freakin' huge, meaning that smaller locomotives have no locomotion. Exposed cables are ugly. Remote capabilities are terrible. Pushing a button on the train is fine on a small layout, but when it's on the other end of a simulated mile of track, it's irritating to have to lean over without damaging your layout. There's no way for PF to power more than one motor with a single battery box without a drop in power (or reduction in battery life). PF motors will lose power as the batteries become worn out, meaning that you have to replace batteries which STILL have some life left in them if you want your loco to be able to pull the train. The all-plastic tracks look nowhere near as nice. The PF setup costs *way* too much. I mean, the costs for motors, battery boxes, controllers, and receivers are fine individually, but as a complete setup, the cost is staggering compared to 9v track and a power regulator. That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure if I think about it, I'll be able to come up with more reasons 9v was a superior system. You're an awesome train builder, Tony, but there's no need to defend LEGO when they replace a brilliant product with something that's slightly inferior just because you love LEGO. Excercise your right to be dissatisfied!

Steam will always be where it's at for me. If I wanted a diesel, I'd just build a square block up ontop of a 9V motor. :p Well, I do like trains of all kinds so I'm probably being too harsh there, but there's something about a steam train that stirs the soul in a way that diesel locomotives seem to be unable to do. Perhaps it's just me, but I feel that LEGO really ought to do one steam and one diesel or electric set every 3-4 years, if they really want to capture the cashflow of both children and adults. I know I'd get the steam train every time they released a bew version, and I'd probably buy a couple of diesel locomotives as well. But they need to do them as full trains (ie: more than one coach. Three and a brake van at minimum), or they need to sell the loco and rolling stock independantly of other components. Now with that sort of setup, I'd probably end up buying a locomotive every so often, extra motors to help keep the whole thing moving, and a hell of a long train of coaches, with a brake van for the end. I'd be adding to the overall set all the time - it being much easier to justify a coach every few weeks or couple of months than a new train set with spare power adaptor, loco, curved track, etc. once every six months.

It's this kind of refusal to be flexible and accomodate what their customers want that will ultimately cost LEGO customers and therefore revenue.

The buyable parts selection is redonkulous. It needs expansion, desperately. More buyable parts in more colours increases my liklehood of buying the set rather than giving up in frustration and going back to the box of physical bricks. A parts counter, parts list, price list, price counter, and average price-per-part as a total cost divided by number of parts would help immensely. Lower prices would increase my liklehood of buying the set, rather than saving the model and thinking "by the time I can afford this the palette will have changed". The option to buy the set in a plain box rather than a custom designed one would be appreciated. I mean, that's got to add to the cost, the box part. I don't care about the damn box, I just want the lego set! Gimme the pieces! In a Tesco's bag! I don't care!

It's the ugly cable connecting the motor to the box that means I don't want to convert to PF, I mean there's no space in either of my locos for the box, so I'd have to build it into a tender for the steamer, or a covered van for the diesel. Either way, there would be a visible cable from the PF box to the motor, which would ruin the look of the trains.

It's only that due to their incompetence. If they started to market the trains as an alternative to traditional model railways, and began to listen to what AFOL and TFOL requirements are, they could end up opening up new markets, and grabbing a huge slice of revenue from people like Bachmann, Hornby, Lionel and Graham Farish. Of course, based on past performance, I assume that LEGO will continue to mismanage the hell out of the LEGO train brand.

LEGO seem to have a huge potential market in the form of AFOL train builders, and seem determined to screw the pooch as much as possible by not catering to us. If they had a selection of train parts (maybe even preselected "train packs" of assorted useful parts) available at a reasonable cost, they'd have a massive rolling revenue stream of people going out ond buying them once a month when they got paid. Even just selling individual train bearing units at £3 each could prove profitable - especially if there was a minimum of packaging involved.

Nice MOC. I love the use of minifig arms!

Flanged and blind driving wheels. Train doors, windows and glass. The 4Juniors cab. Black half-axle-half-pin thingies. Y'know, the technic connectors that hold the train wheels to a technic brick. Those things. In black. The "notched" front from the Load N Haul locomotive. The weird round thingy on the front of the BNSF locomotive. More "cheese" colours. The roof piece from the Load N Haul locomotive. Red bricks with the handle thingy on them. Y'know, the 1x1 brick with the round bar attached to the side. II-I < that sort of profile. Hmm. Describing LEGO bricks is kinda difficult. LDD really needs these pieces. As well as a seperate DBM gallery for trains.

If they put train doors, windows, glass, and the "notched" fronts onto LDD/PaB, then I'm sure they'll see a lot of people using them. Do they ever take a look at their galleries? There's tons of submissions that would be vastly improved by these parts alone.

9V power regulators are already pretty cheap on eBay (got one for less than £6 including shipping last week) and I'm seeing a few decent prices (below £18) for motors. Straight track though, that's a bugger to find at a decent price. I paid £4 for one piece, as part of an eBay lot. There were a couple of other parts there as well, but I basically got the lot for the track section. I have no plans to upgrade to power functions in the immediate future, but wish that I could make PF track compatible with my 9v stuff. Does anybody know anything about modifying it?

Nice mod. It'd be nice to see a youtube link... video of it in action.

I voted for as many train parts as I could.

Ideas for eco-friendly packaging (and hopefully cost savings that could be passed to the consumer). LEGO could supply retailers with printed boxes for shelf use, and supply the set to be sold in a plain box with the set number and name only on it. That way, ink is saved. The "box" itself could be made five-sided (ie: cut off the front face), and the front sealed over with clear cellophane. Cardboard is saved. Sprues could be sorted and discarded for recycling at the assembly line. Plastic is saved. Stores could also do more Pick-A-Brick LEGO, which of course is going to save on packaging and transport, as these will arrive in bulk. Ink, cardboard, plastic, and petrol are saved. Instructions could be made available online in high quality .pdf format - easily able to be printed off if needed - and therefore eliminated from smaller and simpler sets. Or perhaps it would be cheaper to put the instructions on a CD and include it. LEGO could also make instructions available seperately to sets, so that people could choose either a CD, a booklet, or to go online (and save a few pence) at the checkout. Stores could collect old, broken LEGO bricks and sprues, and return them to LEGO on the empty delivery trucks, to be melted down into new LEGO bricks. I've noticed that there's a lot of stuff made from ABS these days... perhaps LEGO ought to institute some sort of collect-melt-reuse program for ABS? Finally, LEGO could look at their manufacturing processes, and see where potential waste is occuring. Just my two pence worth.

I'm tremendously jealous of most of the people in this thread. My train collection is fairly limted. One MOC steam train (currently being rebuilt after a dog attack), the Load N Haul railway set, and the big Train Station in yellow. Plus 13 straights, 26 curves and 4 points of course. Could I be added to the register please? I'd love to get more train stuff, but cash is short at the moment, and 9v stuff is so expensive now.

Hey there. I'm 28, live in Yorkshire, and have a ton of LEGO from when I was a kid. Recently I rediscovered my old 9V train stuff, and *POW* something snapped in my brain. I'm currently trying to build a decent looking steam train (the dog has already smashed one attempt) and looking for tips. I'm also feverishly buying up spare parts on bricklink and eBay (well, I was until I ran out of disposable income). I've discovered LDD, and am also trying to model a decent steam loco to order in a few months time (Xmas present to myself, maybe). I've also discovered that whenever I have my LEGO trains running, the cat will come in, stare at them, and will attack them as soon as he thinks I'm not paying any attention to him. Between the cat, the dog, lack of funds, and a girlfriend who thinks I'm being a massive idiot, playing with "kids toys", I'm finding LEGO to be a frustrating hobby to re-embrace... but it's worth it when I complete something. :D I have to be honest, when I was younger I never really appreciated the possibilities of LEGO trains. Now though, they've well and truly opened up before me. Assuming I don't lose interest in this or become annoyed enough to sell it all on eBay, I might be here for a while. :D

Yeah, looks a lot like the "official set". I thought that too for a few secs. Have to say, I normally prefer steam engines, but I've not come across a LEGO diesel or electric that I didn't like at least something about.

I'd kill for a LEGO Flying Scotsman, in LNER livery and with the single chimney and no smoke deflectors, of course. Otherwise... well, I'd still want it.

Hi there y'all. I'm after any tips people have on constructing realistic looking 9V steam locos... I've been trying to build one for a while, and got it about right, when the dog came and knocked it flying. Sadly, I kept no record of how it was constructed, and my delicate piston and connecting rod arrangement is going to have to be re-figured out. I can't seem to get it right again. The damned thing keeps wanting to come apart as the loco traverses corners. I've got a few ideas of what I want to build in the near future, which will involve searching bricklink for parts, and trying to find a few cheapish assortments of bricks on eBay... but what I could really do with is advice on steam locos in general, as I'm experiencing a frustrating feeling that it doesn't look quite right very regularly. Which means breaking it down in frustration, and racking my brains as to how to fix it. LDD has been quite helpful, but they don't have the BBB or EN wheels that I'd like to use. I made a nice Olton Hall in LDD (see attached), but I'd like to get the "top" part without the rolling chassis, and convert the model to run on EN wheels with pistons and connecting rods. Plus, I'm going to have to wait a while to order it, as LDD seems to be about 1.5x as expensive as buying a set from a store.