TRAINS or TOWN?

[WesternOutlaw]

Here at Eurobricks, Trains & Town fans get the best of both worlds with great topics, MOCs, and set reviews of both Trains and Town.

But if you had your choice, which theme do you really prefer?

Do you enjoy the action of controlling a Lego Train quickly along your railway?

(or)

Do you prefer the more peaceful aspects of a stationary town in which you roll the vehicles along the streets?

Choose between your favorite theme in this Eurobricks Trains & Town Poll.

[Brickthus]

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/brickster4/...s/themepoll.jpg

Here at Eurobricks, Trains & Town fans get the best of both worlds with great topics, MOCs, and set reviews of both Trains and Town.

But if you had your choice, which theme do you really prefer?

Do you enjoy the action of controlling a Lego Train quickly along your railway?

(or)

Do you prefer the more peaceful aspects of a stationary town in which you roll the vehicles along the streets?

Choose between your favorite theme in this Eurobricks Trains & Town Poll.

Of course I'm a Train fan. That hardly goes unnoticed!

Question: Can a town be without trains or can trains be without a town?

I don't think it's as simple as "yes" or "no" - I think it depends where the boundary is.

If a station counts as Town by being a building, passenger trains cannot be without Town.

Perhaps signal boxes or sheds do not count as Town.

In real life, show me a sizeable town without a railway station and I'll show you a town that is poorer for it. Corby in England is a town whose station opened just a week ago, on April 27th this year. It needed the rail connection to London for commuters and shoppers. Therefore I contend that a real town should not be without trains. Whether this is also the case for a LEGO MOC town depends on your preferences, modelling space and cash! In the LEGO community we see some layouts that are railways with a few buildings and others that are cities with a single line railway.

With the advent of the Power Functions car chassis, Town builders can now reduce their dependency on "Hand of God" for vehicle movements. This is a bit more like trains in operation. I wondered whether the preference for Town or Trains has anything to do with what type or level of control a person likes to have. Does Town usually have more people focus than Trains? Do train builders prefer the predictability of the route?

I don't expect there are quite as many Train fans here as Town fans, but let not a survey be divisive! The themes depend on each other.

Mark

[BlueBard]

I'm a City Buildings lover so the choice it's not difficult for me I appreciate trains too, but I think the Town line offers a larger amount of posibilities for MOCs but this, as allways, is just my opinion

[brickfreak99]

Can you add a 'both' option? I love trains and town equally!

[Justin]

I like town, trains is a close second. The only train set I've ever owned is the RC passenger train from 2007.

[Brickthus]

.... The only train set I've ever owned is the RC passenger train from 2007.

Poor chap! That is seen by many AFOLs as the worst trains range!

Power Functions trains would be an improvement in every respect (you have no reason to hark back to 9V like many of us!).

That white train front end piece contended for the "Most Useless Piece Ever", narrowly beaten by the dino body.

I hope you might move a little towards trains if you have a better experience of them!

Mark

[soc399]

I had to vote town, since I don't have any trains yet. A couple of days ago I rebuilt my 6990 Futuron Monorail, and running it is so much fun that I decided to buy the Emerald Night after 12:01 tonight (gotta get that Star Wars poster). In a week or two I may have to rethink my vote.

[prateek]

I picked Town, what can I say, I'm a Train Hater

[mikey]

If I had the room I would be buying the Emerald Night, (beutifull, elegant, amazing, wow!). But you need to have a decent track layout? (I know you could just look at her, but to me the point of a train would be to move!), and with a track layout you will need scenery I think...

Question: Can a town be without trains or can trains be without a town?

I don't think it's as simple as "yes" or "no" - I think it depends where the boundary is.

If a station counts as Town by being a building, passenger trains cannot be without Town.

Perhaps signal boxes or sheds do not count as Town.

I think a Train without Town would look to sparse, you would need buildings etc. to compliment your layout, and not just railway specific buildings. Otherwise all you have is a station yard and landscape?

But you could make a Town without Train. Ideally you have unlimited space, Town and Train, and your Lego sorts itself back into storage boxes automaticaly!

Can you add a 'both' option? I love trains and town equally!

I would vote both aswell! -maybe I am in the first stage of leaving the Dark Age, and I think nearly all Lego is great!

But to choose one I go for Town

[rriggs]

I would like to be able to vote "both" too as I haven't ever really seen them as separate themes. For me, trains are just as much part of Town as police, transportation or farms. They are certainly not mutually exclusive and I couldn't choose between them. I do buy more Town than Trains but this is simply because there are more Town sets and they are cheaper!

Cheers

Rog

[Captain Green Hair]

A town without trains isn't a town for me, so i would like the 'both option as well.

[Freddie]

I would like to vote "both" as well. The way I see it, trains and town are pretty much intertwined with each other. While a town doesn't require trains, it's necessary to give life to it, just as trains needs town to give it a purpose. They can exist without each other, but both become duller without the other.

[Zorbas]

Since there is no option for both, which obviously is everyone's choice and since we have to pick one or the other, I am voting Town.

If we try to see it in cold blood, you can clearly have a town without trains, (even if it may seems incomplete in a small percentage or something missing from there), but in my opinion, having just trains, the incompletion is far more noticeable.

[legotrainfan]

I voted "trains," but I also belong to those who would really appreciate a "both" option to click on. For me a real town needs a train and a train needs a town. Trains and town are dependent on each other. Having one of the two things alone does not make sense.

[WesternOutlaw]

Interesting thoughts. I intentially left "BOTH" off as a choice, because many City/Town fans do think of them as one theme. This poll requires a hard decision.

[MdrnMrvls]

I'm definitely more of a 'town' guy. I never have gotten a LEGO train set though (aside from the cheap Harry Potter one with no tracks). Town just seems more interesting to me in my perspective. Trains just seem to take up a lot of space and money compared to building structures and streets. That's my opinion anyways.

[Captain Green Hair]

Interesting thoughts. I intentially left "BOTH" off as a choice, because many City/Town fans do think of them as one theme. This poll requires a hard decision.

The outcome could also be that many fans don't see them as a separate thing.

I can't vote, as they go in hand hand, no trains without a town, and vice versa here.

[Justin]

Poor chap! That is seen by many AFOLs as the worst trains range!

Power Functions trains would be an improvement in every respect (you have no reason to hark back to 9V like many of us!).

That white train front end piece contended for the "Most Useless Piece Ever", narrowly beaten by the dino body.

I hope you might move a little towards trains if you have a better experience of them!

Mark

Yeah. That train was the only passenger train available at that time. I just wish I had gotten the 1992 Metroliner and Club Car back when they were re released in 2003 as LEGO Legends. I hope to find them on eBay someday. From what I saw, the Metroliner was the better train set, with the Cargo Railway (from 1997) coming in a close second.

[Lockt]

I was a big train fan, and still am, but Lego cured me from it, by switching system one, two, three (blue tracks to 4.5/12V grey track to 9V) times and in my Dark Ages a fourth time (RF). Now the fifth change (PF) is happening and town has limited space for all these types.

It seems the new PF system is flexible and versatile, and more backwards compatible.

What I do love of trains are the buildings around it. I love crossings, stations, cargo platforms and cranes.

I don't know what it makes me.... town or trains? lets be honest and just vote trains...

[Eilif]

I'm definitely a fan of town. Even as a member of NILTC, I find that the train tracks that run at the back of my module are charming, but really just an excuse for me to display my Town MOC's. I've built a couple of trains, but for now, my focus is definitely on Town.

[Klaus-Dieter]

That's a great and very interesting topic, TheBrickster!

For me the choice was very simple: I voted for Town

Of course every bigger and better Lego City layout needs some trains, train stations, train level crossings and much other stuff that belongs to trains.

But first of all there has to be a decent city.

So there are mainly two reaons because of which I prefer the Town/City theme over the Trains theme:

1. Train sets are much more expensive than regular City sets (only look at the new Emerald Night to which the prices for all that PF stuff you need to drive it cost a fortune! ). Of course that's justified because of the expensive functions to drive them. But the financial aspect is nevertheless very important. And when there is more included in a City set than in a Trains set for the same price it's at me most of the time the City set which wins.

2. There are still so many Town/City sets which TLG hasn't released until now (or did release a very long time ago and which are now - at least complete and in a good condition - not payable or which were build in a very minimalistic style that I'd prefer some new ones) that I want to equip my Lego City with them first - and firstly when they're all there (e. g. new bank, new post office, green grocer (not CC styled!), supermarket, family houses, new yacht harbor and more shops in general) then I would or even will (more) concentrate on Trains.

Klaus-Dieter

[Freddie]

Interesting thoughts. I intentially left "BOTH" off as a choice, because many City/Town fans do think of them as one theme. This poll requires a hard decision.

Hmm, when you put it like that - town then. Why? Well, town is afterall an extremely flexible theme, to the point that it's possible to justify to divide it up further in sub-themes (excepting trains in this case). It incorporates both action and role-playing elements, while other themes are more likely to focus on the action-aspect. Besides, like I said above, trains give town a sense of life, but a creative builder can achieve a similar effect with cleverly placed minifigs and cars.

Further, I have gained a fascination with architecture thanks to Berard's modular buildings, and it's impossible not to be impressed with buildings with this high amount of detail. I have designed a few digiMOCs as well that are lingering on my MOCPages-page, waiting to be tweaked and turned into real bricks.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Freddie

[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]

Trains for me, they are what got me out of the "Dark Ages" but since LEGO does not introduce trains to often I suppliment my Train layout with Town, (I really like the farm theme), sprinkled with Indiana Jones and Modular buildings (Green Grocer, Corner Cafe and Market Street).

[Tom Bricks]

I voted town because like others have said you can't have one without the other. If however we are counting Modular Houses as seperate from the town theme (like TLC does) then this choice becomes allot harder.

[djo]

i had to choose town.

i love train very much, but town also my first love to LEGO.

train is less versatile than town.

you need big town to make your train looks good.