2016 Lego trains

[AlmightyArjen]

So far no news about an upcoming train set in 2017, right?

[M_slug357]

4 hours ago, AlmightyArjen said:

So far no news about an upcoming train set in 2017, right?

there was a little blurb about a mini train build coming out for Creator in 2017.....

Which will hopefully lead to an actual Creator (expert?!) train set later on, kinda like a reverse of how we got the Emerald Night followed by the Emerald Express...

At least that's my wishful thinking....

[spirosand]

It looks like the blue cargo train, and the white passenger train are out of stock... hopefully this means Lego is near release of the next cargo train and passenger train (city set). Both sets are at the end of their lives (about 2 years, right?) based on the past, and so long as they have been selling well enough, we should see new city trains soon.

[alican]

based on this bit of information, the question is: should one stock a few of the current trains or save up for the upcoming ones? :D

[M_slug357]

14 minutes ago, alican said:

based on this bit of information, the question is: should one stock a few of the current trains or save up for the upcoming ones? :D

I'd say split the difference...?

Buy an extra copy (or two) of the train set you like the most, then save up to jump on the upcoming one(s)

Or, maybe gamble for if/when the current sets go on sale!

I'm hoping that they do...

[Bricknblue]

On 12/19/2016 at 6:37 PM, M_slug357 said:

If you don't already have trains = Yes

If you have less than 4 trains = Coin Toss

If you have more than 4 trains = No (but now might be a good time to bricklink the large wheels)

What if you have exactly four trains?
And what if you have the far superior old Holiday Train?

6 minutes ago, M_slug357 said:

I'd say split the difference...?

Buy an extra copy (or two) of the train set you like the most, then save up to jump on the upcoming one(s)

Or, maybe gamble for if/when the current sets go on sale!

I'm hoping that they do...

I'm not sure where you live but if it's USA they have been on sale a lot. If you live elsewhere just make friends with USA-ers. 

[M_slug357]

Just now, Bricknblue said:

What if you have exactly four trains?
And what if you have the far superior old Holiday Train?

LoL, touche!

I would say then if you have the older holiday train, maybe update it with some more cars/ newer parts?

((I should've wrote "If you have 4 or less than 4 trains = Coin Toss"))

[Bricknblue]

1 hour ago, M_slug357 said:

LoL, touche!

I would say then if you have the older holiday train, maybe update it with some more cars/ newer parts?

((I should've wrote "If you have 4 or less than 4 trains = Coin Toss"))

Just checking as I have exactly 4 trains and the old Holiday one. 

[Fenestra]

18 hours ago, spirosand said:

It looks like the blue cargo train, and the white passenger train are out of stock... hopefully this means Lego is near release of the next cargo train and passenger train (city set). Both sets are at the end of their lives (about 2 years, right?) based on the past, and so long as they have been selling well enough, we should see new city trains soon.

Where do you see this - 

On the Lego store in US I still see the Blue Cargo the Red Heavy Haul and the White Passenger trains available.....

 

I guess we can keep wishing!

[spirosand]

4 hours ago, Fenestra said:

Where do you see this - 

On the Lego store in US I still see the Blue Cargo the Red Heavy Haul and the White Passenger trains available.....

 

I guess we can keep wishing!

Amazon. The blue cargo trains were really inexpensive ($120) for a week, now they are in the 'overpriced' section ($190). i looked at the Lego store 3 weeks ago and didn't see the blue train there (sold out). I didn't realize they had come back. Amazon has been my guide to the goings on of Lego for  a while. They come in normal price, then various sales, then they get really cheap, then they are really expensive and are no longer available from normal re-sellers. 

Its possible i'm wrong, but this would be the first time that the pattern didn't hold, since all the way back to the red passenger train.

[Bricknblue]

I love the blue locomotive, but the rest of that set is very 'ehh' to me. But I do love the fact that it and the passenger train this year have been 40-45% off several times this year, including a few weeks back when I bought the Passenger Train from Target for less than $85.

•  

[Fenestra]

4 hours ago, spirosand said:

Amazon. The blue cargo trains were really inexpensive ($120) for a week, now they are in the 'overpriced' section ($190). i looked at the Lego store 3 weeks ago and didn't see the blue train there (sold out). I didn't realize they had come back. Amazon has been my guide to the goings on of Lego for  a while. They come in normal price, then various sales, then they get really cheap, then they are really expensive and are no longer available from normal re-sellers. 

Its possible i'm wrong, but this would be the first time that the pattern didn't hold, since all the way back to the red passenger train.

Haha I get you. I follow on Amazon as well. If I can get a great deal there I tend to buy there. I noticed the same thing on the trains but I figured it was just the Christmas Rush of people trying to get trains around the tree. I bought my little nephew the Duplo train and wanted to do Amazon for Prime but ended up at the Lego Store Online with the expedited shipping (and got myself a few more train accessories backordered motors and some more lights!). :)

[RichiPuppy]

5 hours ago, spirosand said:

Amazon. The blue cargo trains were really inexpensive ($120) for a week, now they are in the 'overpriced' section ($190). i looked at the Lego store 3 weeks ago and didn't see the blue train there (sold out). I didn't realize they had come back. Amazon has been my guide to the goings on of Lego for  a while. They come in normal price, then various sales, then they get really cheap, then they are really expensive and are no longer available from normal re-sellers. 

Its possible i'm wrong, but this would be the first time that the pattern didn't hold, since all the way back to the red passenger train.

That might be the case sometimes, but this time Amazon was price matching the Target price until Target ran out of stock, then Amazon went back to their original price.  Currently it is high on Amazon because they are out of stock and that is another sellers price.

[alican]

Found this catalogue for 2017 but it's in German, tried to play with the URL to find an English version but couldn't.

It still has the current 3 models of trains

[PeteM]

The release cycle for Lego City trains appears to be four years for 1x Cargo, 1x Passenger with an extra Cargo following the year after, so we may be be waiting a while yet!

However this is only based on past releases, Lego can do whatever they like! I'm still holding out for a new Creator Expert train one day....

Edited December 30, 2016 by PeteM

[alican]

I actually like the current sets. What I'm missing are train related buildings and extra wagons and parts etc.

Edited December 30, 2016 by alican

[LEGO_duden]

And the train station 60050 has been discontinued. No new in sight.

[Bricknblue]

17 minutes ago, LEGO_duden said:

And the train station 60050 has been discontinued. No new in sight.

That was the worst train station LEGO has ever made.

Also maybe Winter Holiday Train Station for this year's train? We can hope right? 

[alican]

I think it's alright but yeah we need new ones for sure.

What I don't really understand is I look at train related sets from the past and see there used to be many of these like the Engine shed, My own train, Road crossings, etc. Why not now?

 

[AlmightyArjen]

11 minutes ago, Bricknblue said:

That was the worst train station LEGO has ever made.

Also maybe Winter Holiday Train Station for this year's train? We can hope right? 

Then you should support my Ideas project :D

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/159676

[kc2dc]

On 12/29/2016 at 3:51 PM, spirosand said:

Amazon. The blue cargo trains were really inexpensive ($120) for a week, now they are in the 'overpriced' section ($190). i looked at the Lego store 3 weeks ago and didn't see the blue train there (sold out). I didn't realize they had come back. Amazon has been my guide to the goings on of Lego for  a while. They come in normal price, then various sales, then they get really cheap, then they are really expensive and are no longer available from normal re-sellers. 

Its possible i'm wrong, but this would be the first time that the pattern didn't hold, since all the way back to the red passenger train.

Toys R Us had the blue cargo train for $120 for a couple of weeks before Christmas till they sold out.  I thought about getting one, but even at that price, the train is just not worth it to me.  I ended up just buying several of the cable drum wagon cars on ebay since they were the only thing I really liked about the set.  ToysRus has that set back in stock now, but it's $159 (still way cheaper than $199 at Lego).

I have three copies of the Maerisk train.  Two of them I got from ToysRUs when the went on deep discount there.  I rarely buy from ToysRus, but they do have great sales sometimes.

Edited December 30, 2016 by kc2dc

[M_slug357]

8 hours ago, alican said:

I think it's alright but yeah we need new ones for sure.

What I don't really understand is I look at train related sets from the past and see there used to be many of these like the Engine shed, My own train, Road crossings, etc. Why not now?

 

It's not cost-effective for TLG to do so at the moment...

[alican]

Well, ok that's how capitalism works, sure but Lego is not a publicly owned company answering to shareholders.

I think it boils down to maximizing profitability vs satisfying all their customer base. I guess the adult train base is not really important for them. 

From a strictly business point of view, I understand but from Lego culture point of view, I'm lost.

[Bricknblue]

2 hours ago, alican said:

Well, ok that's how capitalism works, sure but Lego is not a publicly owned company answering to shareholders.

I think it boils down to maximizing profitability vs satisfying all their customer base. I guess the adult train base is not really important for them. 

From a strictly business point of view, I understand but from Lego culture point of view, I'm lost.

I'm not sure what there is to be lost about. 10-12 years ago LEGO made different wagons and such, they didn't sell. LEGO is in the business to make money, they didn't sell, why make sets that don't sell?

Also LEGO has had trouble keeping up with the demand of their sets. As a company they barely can make the 800 different sets they make a year as it is. It's why sets disappear so quickly today. LEGO isn't going to waste production time making sets that don't sell when they can be spending that time making sets that do. It's really simple.

However maybe this 'LEGO culture point of view' will someone explain why a company should make things that don't sell. LEGO isn't your friend, they are the biggest toy company in the world, and they are for a reason.

And station vs terminal isn't always true. There are subway lines in NYC that end and the train back out of that are called stations. And the Niagara Falls old station was called a station even through the train would have to back up unto the tracks.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Bricknblue

[alican]

No need to get upset about it. As I wrote, it comes down to money vs happy fans.

Ofc Lego is not my buddy but it's not Apple either.

Anyway, all I'm saying is many fans and I would be happy if they focus a bit more on train related stuff.