ElectroDiva

Right - after spending a couple of hours playing around with the design based on parts availability - this is what i've come up with: I think it looks rather rakish :) Parts ordered for about £50 for the lot and i should have them in the next few days. Will post some pictures of the finished build as soon as I've built it.

Great work @ColletArrow - thanks for sharing. Love the look of this: I think I might have to have a bash at building that in the white and yellow colour scheme (if the parts are available)

Thank you for sharing this. We *finally* have some actual pictures to look at :) First impressions: -60197: I like the fact that this seems to be based on the EuroStar and also like the loco + 2 carriages configuration (easily expandable). Quite like the sleek look as well, although i really hope they haven't borrowed the top hinged passenger compartment design from the tram in 60097. That would be a bit too dumbed down imo -60198: I think Frankenstein's monster is an apt description for the loco - wtf is that supposed to be ?! Not really sure if I like it yet (will have to see some better pictures). The cargo wagons all look decent though and it's nice to get a signal box Very keen to see more details on the suspected new power functions components with wifi/Bluetooth & possibly sound. I've got some Pfx bricks on order from their Kickstarter campaign but it would be great to see TLG expanding power functions into similar territory

I'll just leave this here...

If you're commenting on the top post from r/LegoTrains - that was leaked nearly 2 weeks ago and discussed on here about 5 pages back - it's not new and some people think those models are fake or early prototypes @Noah_Pl said he had actual box art which would be new info for this thread.

You can't post a confidential pre-release picture here (it's against the forum rules) but if you have a social media account somewhere else (Reddit, Facebook, Flickr etc) - you can post it there and post a link here. Just don't deep link to the picture itself :) I'd laugh if BrickShow Brian was right after all the stick he's got..

Cheers @LegoMonorailFan - will get hold of some as soon as they're available and see if I can come up with something to add to this collective project :)

@Agent Kallus - Fun at the beach was a city parts pack with no real build to speak of and crucially, no licensing fees. Battle of Endor is a much better comparison but that set is nearly 10 years ago now. I take your point though that it could still be a high minifig count with some pseudo figs to bulk it out - still think it would be <10 though at that price point for a licensed set. Guess we'll see

Just catching up on this thread - really interesting to see how much interest there is in custom monorails with some great projects in the works - keep it up! Completely agree. Do you have a part number - I'd love to get hold of some to play around with

There's just no way a set at a $90 price point will include 14 minifigs - which causes me to question the source. It *might* be a microfig game style set though - like revamped version of this: If if is - I'll give it a pass. Really hope the rumours of a large D2C castle are true though

Looks great - agree it's worth putting up on Lego Ideas. Have you seen this guys work btw? He's got a very cool (though highly complex) solution for switching tracks. I can't wait to see your suspended design btw - how's that coming along ?

It seems like the leak turned into a full blown flood overnight thanks to our new members !! So we *finally* have some actual pictures without having to rely on BrickShowBrian's less than ideal descriptions. Agree with @JopieK and @ColletArrow that on first impressions these look more like MOCs than official sets but that's no bad thing if we get a bit more variety in the line - away from the recent "recolour it and put it out again" approach. My initial reaction: -Passenger train - the side profile looks a bit awkward at the front (not blended in very well) but I like the yellow, blue and grey colour scheme and it's a step in the right direction of if it does actually come with one loco and two carriages (easily expandable). Given the similarity to the Eurostar, I'll def be picking this up and modding it to look as close to the Eurostar as possible. -Cargo train - well that's definitely "different" :) I like the medium green colour but not sure if I really like the design yet. I'll still be picking it up though as this will be another distinct loco to add to the freight haulage options. I'm looking forward to having another container wagon design too.

Comedy gold

Right - "BrickShowBrian" has responded on Reddit with a few more details for set 60198 - quoted below. So if accurate, it definitely sounds like the loco is a recolour of 60052 with *three* wagons - a log wagon, a crane wagon and a container wagon ------- QUOTE: "One of them is a flat train car, that is carrying logs. not much else to say with that. One is that same idea of a flat yellow train car, but it has a crane on it. Blue cabin with a white arm. It's carrying a red shipping container in the picture. There looks to be an empty train segment that you can place that red shipping container and another gray looking build that you can place on there. The main car that houses the conductor is (to an untrained eye) identical to the blue one that came before it, just in green, and white. The truck looks like an armored truck that you'd see delivering money, it's in white and dark green toward the bottom. The "control tower" has yellow gurdurs holding it up (same pieces used to hold up the Saturn V). The cabin itself is red"

Hmm - technically that isn't a monorail then. To quote @LegoMonorailFan Good to hear TLG appear to be investing in the roller coaster track system though. Between the Pirate roller coaster set (31084) and this friends set there should be good track availability for custom rollercoasters. It may even have narrow gauge moc potential. I had a look at the YouTube post from BrickShow (thanks @theevilcrayonbox ) and apparently 60198 will contain a "green, grey and white" freight loco, matching truck, "small orange" forklift, log wagon, crane wagon and gantry crane with "yellow beams and red cabinet" + 5 minifigs The BrickShow also provided a bit more information on a Reddit thread. Apparently the loco is "identical to the blue one in the last cargo train set" - so it's basically just a recolour of 60052 in Octan-y colors with what sounds like a recoloured version of the gantry crane from 7939. I'm mildly disappointed with this but i do really like 60052 so don't mind a recolour of that loco. The cargo wagons sound quite interesting and I have asked for a few more details on these on the Reddit thread. Based on the information available, no way would this set justify the rumoured €249.99 price tag though.

Surely we're well served with mecha these days? There seems to be at least 2 or 3 mecha sets every year and have been for the past few years.

Nooooooo - that's sacrilege - you can't sully new lego bricks with model paint !!! only kidding - do what you like with your bricks - but I doubt you will find many people on here who have tried doing that (or even thought of doing it). A more common approach for a weathered look is just to use old bricks (which also have the advantage of being very cheap)

Whoa indeed The possible return of monorail - surely it can't be true! #BELIEVE /cue x-files theme

If it's a like for like replacement/recolour (like previous years), I would agree with you it should be < €190, but with a higher piece count and more detailed builds it might be worth a higher price no? Hypothetically speaking, what would it need to have for an RRP of €250 to be justified?

This is amazing - hands down the best Christmas / Winter Village display I have seen and even more impressive due to the fact that most of it is your own design.

Hmm - not really what I expect or want from a designer video - what was wrong with the old format? Something odd going on with the comments too - it shows there are 146 comments but you can't actually see them (at least I can't). Maybe they were disabled as the feedback they were getting wasn't positive?

The RRP for 60052 was €179.99 and that was released in 2014 so an extra €70 on the RRP isn't *that* insane for a new flagship train set after 4 years - especially if it is more detailed. In any case, as a non D2C set it should get decent discounts (30%+) if you just wait a few months. As a cargo set I think having one loco doesn't matter as much. The HE looked very incomplete with one loco and 2 carriages. I'm hoping for a nice detailed loco (Maersk train level of detail) and 3-4 useful cargo wagons - with a container wagon, an Octan gas/fuel wagon and a hazardous materials wagon of some kind. A side build of a gas/fuel or hazardous materials loading depot would be nice with some appropriate minifigs. Please god no helicopters or crappy low piece count cars/diggers etc. I think I read somewhere that it may be coming for the technics winter 2018 wave. If that's true, I don't think they'll be changing up the existing power functions for trains in 2018.

Thanks for your kind words all - much appreciated. @Vindicare - I didn't want to call it a MOC as essentially it's 3 official sets at its core. If you can get hold of a few of the base sets at a reasonable price - I would encourage you to try your own version - it was really good fun as a SW fan and helped while away a few Sunday afternoons with the OT and prequels playing in the background.

This is fantastic @sariel - love your YouTube channel and reviews too. I have this set already so will def be modding it with your instructions - happy to make a donation to encourage you to share more of these in the future :)

@AmperZand - I actually don't mind the figs in that set - they're not bad (apart from that red hulk fig which I didn't like) For me it's what the set represents. £55 for 4 ok figs and 2 crappy vehicles. It just seemed a pretty cynical money grab to me. This approach was evident all across the 2017 Marvel superheroes theme this year. Essentially phoned in builds as a figleaf for selling "premium" minifigs and bigfigs. Luckily there were lots of other great sets this year so I voted with my wallet and bought those instead.