ToledoRails

You're right, but you figured out what I meant so it all works out. It's weirdly scale for British vs Continental loading gauge!

Happy launch day! Looking forward to the modifications and builds everyone will be making.

Is it reasonable to infer that they tried the set on a loop similar to, if not the same as, the sales pitch video to show off their plastic axles a few years ago? I'm wondering if running it on R40 S curves put heavier strain on the motor or stringlined the tender.

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB4GZg Here's better renders and a parts list for what I intend to do to the Orient Express set using a Powered Up Battery Hub and L-Motor. Please feel free to use this for your own modifications.

Any word on when the pre-order window is open?

Suffering from a bad cough doesn’t help but at this point its a follow up to a video that cracked more views than expected. I got sucked into this storm and I’m trying to find a way out of this with the comparison of this set to the Mould King one. I utterly hate the toxicity this set has created with the amount of people moaning how betrayed they are by Lego ideas, how it’s not the emerald night, how this isn’t what they wanted. You can’t step back, you have to moderate and curate the forum you created and it’s draining. Honestly I could have a video saying, “this is what we’re getting, either shut up and don’t buy it, or buy it and be happy TLG has decided to bless us with a new set.” I couldn’t imagine being the guy who created this set or on the Lego team who made the changes daring to check the reaction from the consumers. The crocodile’s “meh” reaction was what I assumed would happen, but the way the Orient Express set was met that sickens me. The Lego train community who invents track, makes amazing scale models, and puts together modular layouts is the welcoming community that is the shining beacon of this gauge. Reviewing silly bootleg models from china is one thing since nobody cares, but throwing my hat into the ring for an official release is something I may NEVER do again after this.

Further thoughts on the subject leading up to the set

So I only have 100kb to work with on EuroBricks so I'm posting a couple Flickr Links but here's my adaptation of @Train of Thought Creations 21344 mod. I've opted to use a 1:1.67 Gear Ratio hooked up to a L-Motor. It's raised just a little higher in the boiler so its packed in with about a stud's clearance to run the wire back and out under the cab. I like his design, but I wanted to make sure there were no external differences to the actual set (apart from the rod improvement. I've also adjusted the ball joint to a 2x5 with steps for the tender so a crew could climb into the cab. I don't think the loss of power for an extra speed kick would be too bad... there's no way those coaches are worse than any 8 Wide cars made by fans. Here's a look at the outside of the locomotive so you guys can see those steps better, plus a 2H9L Trained Brick rod fitted onto the main rod. I'm not overly happy that the wire would go above the tender deck to the battery box, but that's a problem for when I have a physical wire to work with.

Great stuff! Now I'm a little more on the crazy side and want that little extra kick of speed, so I've slightly modified the design to raise the motor and have a 1:1.67 output. I don't think this will decrease the power drastically enough for R40, but as it is I don't plan on running on tight curves so it might be less strain. The tender at the very least will be easy to convert over to metal axles. Coaches... still chipping away at that.

I like this design and its definitely worth testing. My only concern about it is the position of the motor and if you'll have enough slack in the wire to rig it to the tender. It'll most definitely have the power but if I can convert the coaches to metal axles or Roller bearings, Going from a 20th tooth gear to 12 just for that little extra speed kick would be worth sacrificing some torque.

My current plan is to throw a Powered Up L Motor in the boiler and pretty much rework whatever I have to for a gear tower down to the frame, having it connect to the middle driver, rig wire under cab to tender, battery box in there. Feels like a standard affair. As for the locomotives performance, keep the gearing output 1:1, and see what happens. I would assume weight will play a factor into the coaches but also their length may have caused too much drag on R40 curves, but anything above that will probably be okay. Since Lego has decided to grace us with those lovely plastic clip wheels, I might keep those, file sand and mount BMR Roller Bearing sets to them just to really give them a free rolling ability. Call it drastic, but I’d rather do that than dig into what’s left of my old pile of wheels with metal wheels. I also thing it would be a smarter long term solution. I’m putting money on the theory TLG definitely got it to work, but it either didn’t have the speed or too much difficulty on their curves to scrap it. The phrase “Model is built for L Gauge and fits L Gauge track.” Is acknowledgement enough to pass the task onto the skilled modelers of this hobby.

If I figure out how to power the locomotive, I'm definitely building this as a regular baggage car. Looking good!

4:18 "The set is not Powered Up Ready, there is no official motorization. According to the ideas team, they really tried all available motor and battery box combinations, tested them for months, and also compared them to the crocodile locomotive; but the train is just too heavy and didn't have the required power. As they said, the weight is about double the regular powered City Trains. It was a difficult decision because the designer really wanted it to work but they didn't want to sacrifice a car for the possibility of motorization." ...AND THEY DONT THINK THE PLASTIC WHEELS HURT ITS ABILITY TO FREE ROLL!? I'm still taking in the shock of all the details now that its out, but it sounds like the ultimatum was second coach or powered engine. I'm glad we got the second coach. I would have preferred some gearing in the locomotive for an option like the Crocodile, but I know we will figure it out. There's space in the tender for a battery box, the boiler is fat enough...

My guess based off of this new photo is that they're doing what most of us do and choosing to omit an axle piece going in and out of the cylinder to really bring the union link right up to the cylinder. You'd probably need 3 studs of play for the rod. I can't wait to get this side by side with the Emerald Night, some people are saying the cylinders are too high but that looks on the money for 10194's clearances so the pilot bogie can handle R40. Also, didn't catch that plow they've got below the buffer beam!

It’s been pointed out that this is the Japanese on the image, I would have no clue for verifying that. loco looks brilliant, I think Lego’s choice to round brick the smokebox face beyond the cylinders is a solid move on their part, and the buffer situation is a good way of going at it. The only nitpick is that I’ll be ordering a 2H9L rod so I don’t have a random hole in the main rod, but other than that this looks fantastic.

If Lego is announcing a Dune set launching February of 2024 at the time of writing this, I think it stands to reason that we might get a Halloween announcement on 21344 or so for November or December. The constant pings of comments on reddit and YouTube have kept my interest in the lead up to the set's release longer than usual, and these are just some thoughts that have been stewing. I forget who brought this up on a Reddit thread, but the "ORIENT EXPRESS™ is a registered trade mark of Orient Express. All rights reserved." has the set philosophy nailed dead to rights as to the choice behind two faithfully crafted coaches that you just so happened to be able to ride on today. It's not too far of a stretch to imagine that they would want a generic steam locomotive (that matches the color) to haul them, and I'd bet the farm that that's what they dictated to Lego in development. The question then becomes, where did Lego pull this 4-6-0 from and is it based on anything? It has to be the Prussian P8. Maybe a little sparse on detail, but this is the only locomotive that strikes a couple design choices. Fat boiler, two domes, six wheel tender (as built anyways) and ran in multiple countries. Over 3,500 of these locomotives were built with 627 sent out of Germany following World War I. Of those, France, Italy, Greece and Romania all received P8s, and were for the Orient Express, where it be the Venice Simplon Express (Crocodile Territory through Switzerland), Arlberg Express to Athens, and Bucharest. If I'm right, and I'm probably not, this decision might go above any beyond a French prototype that could only represented one leg of this famous train. Assuming the creator is a railfan, we perhaps this was also his suggestion, but we'll have to wait for any official interviews, or off the record comments if there's a gag order. Idk... thoughts... comments... reminder to go touch grass? I'm all ears.

This exactly. It's wild how a near 4000 piece set can make me anxious just unboxing it. Early thoughts on Mould King set: Instructions are at their best (which of course, I never saw a developmental improvement of TLG instructions) The remote provided with the set is defective, but everything else is fine... The gearbox is... well I'll leave that horror for the video!

Mould King was faster, and as far as I can tell, this was designed from their own team to beat Lego to the punch on the set. I've got the set on my workbench and working on a review to compare to it to the TLG release whenever that comes out. I've cut my teeth reviewing Mould King and other Chinese brick company's trains and they're... a mixed bag but so far this appears *fingers crossed* to iron out a lot of the kinks they've had. All of these sets fall short of expectations in a way, so I'm curious to see how this falls apart, and since it won't be sponsored, I can tear it a new one in case it is sub-par. I'm genuinely sick of Reddit, YT, or Facebook comments posting a picutre of these sets and saying, "sEe WhAt OtHeRs CaN dO fOr LeSs?" when they don't realize what they're backing because of a price tag and a seemingly better looking train. As it stands, it's fascinating to see the two evolutionary branches off of the Lego ideas set.

Felt that. It's not that I don't want it to, but when guests are over I can throw it on the track and say, "check this out."

I'd like to see a finished built version before trying it out for myself.

Glenn Holland and I have prepared a joint statement regarding our thoughts on this set, the design changes, and trying to bring a rational viewpoint to quite frankly... the nastiest reception I've ever seen for a Lego Train set.

Loose as it may be, the Emerald Night was still identifiable as a British Gresley pacific. Perhaps it's my habit of collecting older locomotives and models, but they really show how little can be done to convince the owner that what they have is a viable representation of the prototype. I'm not saying less is more, but there needed to be certain right boxes checked off to make people agree on a basis.

...No. I've cut my teeth on enough of *those* sets to know the quality behind them. You're looking at a set that all thing considered is impressive at the full 10 wide scale, but its performance will be neutered by the remote control that has only one speed. For some reason, that one and the QJ have two motors to power forwards and reverse only, one held on by a differential gear. No space for the wires so you're SOL packing them in, and the coach will be massive for size's sake. It's simply devoid of soul and life, something a homemade MOC or official Lego Set have plenty of. And yes mine is arriving in the mail today for a head to head review in November.

Curious to see if we get faithful marking like the Crocodile printed onto the Brick for it. Good research on finding it!

Just go 3rd party if that's that much of a dealbreaker. The market has adapted to work around what Lego hasn't created. Same injection-molded plastic or 3D printing, just missing a microscopic logo on it. It's a blessing we're even seeing this set fully realized given how many have tried and failed on Lego Ideas before.