2018 Lego Trains

[SpaceTwinky]

On 3/16/2018 at 9:53 PM, legotownlinz said:

I don't understand the obsession with doors, I've never played with doors, neighter as a kid nor as an adult. Passengers enter Lego trains through the roof. 

 

LOL!   I was thinking the same.  

[3797]

5 hours ago, dr_spock said:

CITY trains are starter sets, basically to provide a base for the kids to build upon at an affordable price. As a building toy, CITY trains can be disassembled and rebuilt into something else the kids imagine and to develop that skill of being able to visualize it and build it. 

I still feel that a smaller starter pack similar in size to the Winter Village Train would be a better starting point. With only two waggons but with a decent selection of parts and at a lower price point of around 69.xx€. It wouldn't include PF but could easily be upgraded, would be much more affordable than a 120€+ set and would also make a good set for parting out. Even better with the usual 20% discount. Those who don't want the doors and windows will be able to sell them for more than 10 cents/piece. Win/win.

This is what I have in mind:

[Bricked1980]

1 hour ago, 3797 said:

I still feel that a smaller starter pack similar in size to the Winter Village Train would be a better starting point. With only two waggons but with a decent selection of parts and at a lower price point of around 69.xx€.

This is a good idea. Something like that would make a great starter set and would be much more affordable for the majority of parents buying the sets for their kids.

Lego have implied recently that trains are not that popular with kids and that the sets don't sell all that well. I was pretty surprised to hear this really as I would have expected loads of kids would love the idea of a Lego train. It's probably more likely that the parents are less willing to shell out over £100 on a Lego set for their kids rather than the kids not being interested in them.

If they produced a smaller starter set at a cheaper price then this would surely be more popular.

[PeteM]

Of course, ‘back in the day’ that’s exactly what they had - push along sets, with (7710) or without (7820) rolling stock, and which could be easily upgraded to be powered. In fact, that’s basically what the Winter Village train is (though the integration isn’t so seemless with multiple bulky PF components). This is how I got into it all - pushing around 7710 from age 4, got 7720 (4.5v) at six, then motorised my original set to 12v at 8. Loved trains ever since!

 I assume that Lego have done the market research that says this is not a product line worth pursuing, but it is a shame there are no ‘starter sets’ to help grow train fans from a younger age. 

[Carefree_Dude]

I REALLY wish how they put PF in the winter train wasn't so clunky, ugly, and ineffective. The lack of weight on the motor makes it struggle, especially with that weird tree spinning car. Sticking the motor in the tender would have been a much better option

[3797]

3 hours ago, PeteM said:

(though the integration isn’t so seemless with multiple bulky PF components)

With the new PF2 components this shouldn't be as much of a problem. Just a single cable from the locomotive to the boxcar.

[Carefree_Dude]

16 minutes ago, 3797 said:

With the new PF2 components this shouldn't be as much of a problem. Just a single cable from the locomotive to the boxcar.

This also depends on the size of the new receiver. With the old one, there were giant grey chunks on either side of the locomotive. I REALLY wish stickers were included to cover these. 

[3797]

7 minutes ago, Goldenmasamune said:

This also depends on the size of the new receiver. With the old one, there were giant grey chunks on either side of the locomotive. I REALLY wish stickers were included to cover these. 

That is true but rumor has it that the new PF2 system will not need a seperate receiver. It's rumored to be built into the 4 stud wide battery box. That would be awesome, it that turned out to be true.

[Carefree_Dude]

10 minutes ago, 3797 said:

That is true but rumor has it that the new PF2 system will not need a seperate receiver. It's rumored to be built into the 4 stud wide battery box. That would be awesome, it that turned out to be true.

That would be perfect if it's true! I wonder though, would you have to connect lights to the battery box too, or could you connect directly to the motor? 

[3797]

17 minutes ago, Goldenmasamune said:

That would be perfect if it's true! I wonder though, would you have to connect lights to the battery box too, or could you connect directly to the motor? 

I too would like to know. Would be a nice surprise and very unexpected if the new trains had lights. A few days ago I watched one of the videos by "Held der Steine" and he made it sound as if he already ordered the new sets for his shop but of course he isn't allowed to talk about them, at the moment. He said that he was looking forward to reviewing them, though.

[Carefree_Dude]

I'm also assuming there will be a PF1 to PF2 adapter; I mean there was an old 9V to PF adapter, so why not?

[M_slug357]

15 hours ago, Goldenmasamune said:

I'm also assuming there will be a PF1 to PF2 adapter; I mean there was an old 9V to PF adapter, so why not?

There better be!

 

I'm still wondering how multiple items are going to connect in PF2, because with PF1 & 9V one can essentially stack the connectors to infinity.

[ElectroDiva]

Here’s an interesting blog post on Power Functions 2.0 with a mixture of “confirmed” info from the Nuremberg toy fair and speculation (including photoshopped mockups of the PF 2.0 battery box/controller):

 

https://ramblingbrick.com/2018/02/01/all-aboard-power-functions-2-0-with-bluetooth-announced-at-nuremberg-toy-fair-rampant-speculation-follows/

 

Most interesting from my perspective is the confirmation there will be a Physical Bluetooth controller and an “adaptor to allow retrofitting the new battery box” - great news if true.

 

With regard to the physical controller, hopefully this will allow control of multiple Bluetooth devices in the same way as the current IR controller. 

 

With regard to the adaptor - that should mean we can keep using the existing train motor and simply connect it to the PF 2.0 battery box/receiver with an adaptor. I also suspect the new train motor may essentially be the same as the old one with just a new PF 2.0 lead.

 

[fred67]

Hmm... a couple of points.  First, if sets are not popular with kids, I wonder how the Winter Village Train set did.  It wasn't necessarily for train fans, so I suspect it maybe sold really well despite the fact it was a train set.  That said, I do think there could be demand for additions to that train set, and perhaps it could spark some (if not a lot) extra interest in it as people perhaps try to expand their Christmas displays.  I do think that parents might be more interested than kids, but since parents are buying, if there was a less expensive starter set - a small steam engine and a couple of smallish cars, then maybe a set like that would be bought by parents for younger kids.

I will rehash the story of my youth, where I was not interested at all in trains, but I loved hotwheels and matchbox cars... my parents gave me an HO set for Christmas one year, my mom painted a 4x8 sheet of plywood with roads and such, my dad mounted the track on it, and I spent a lot of time playing with trains despite the fact that it wasn't even on my radar before then.  Kids DO like trains, they just have a lot of other stuff going on these days that they might be more interested in.  I don't know why people like trains so much - but they do.

In any event, I did disable the spinning Christmas tree because, running on a 9V motor it just looked stupid and dragged the whole thing down.

As far as new PF2.0 is concerned, while it's wonderful they are putting receivers in the battery box to save space: 1) I will not pay TLG's premium for a rechargeable battery.  $75 (including the power adapter) is highway robbery.  So I hope that includes an AAA battery box (where I can use my own rechargeables).  2) I'd bought a few of those converter cables to use 9V batteries for PF, and I will be angry if there is not a separate receiver to buy so that I can continue to use those.

[Vilhelm22]

Just wondering, how much is all the PF in a City train set worth?  I would think that it loses some of its price being integrated into the set rather than sold separately. 

[sed6]

1 hour ago, Vilhelm22 said:

Just wondering, how much is all the PF in a City train set worth?  I would think that it loses some of its price being integrated into the set rather than sold separately. 

$55 for the remote, receiver, motor and battery from the Lego store. Cost Lego much less to include them in a set though. 

[Capparezza]

11 hours ago, sed6 said:

$55 for the remote, receiver, motor and battery from the Lego store. Cost Lego much less to include them in a set though. 

Yeah, don't even dare to think about what the realized costs for those parts for LEGO might be...

One can look for cheap second hand Train sets. Uncomplete sets often go for around 60 to 65 bucks, which means you can get a lot of train base plates, train wheels and bricks for 5 to 10 bucks on top.

[bradaz11]

well this topic is a bit of a roller coaster isn't it? I think this should go to show what TLG are up against with designing sets, you can't please everyone.

[3797]

2 hours ago, bradaz11 said:

well this topic is a bit of a roller coaster isn't it? I think this should go to show what TLG are up against with designing sets, you can't please everyone.

It's simple, really:

Make two or three trains for the kids. They don't have to be super realistic but they have to have certain play features like doors and windows.

Once you've got the kids covered, make a Creator Expert train every 3 or 4 years.

If they did that, then there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints. If they have no plans for another Creator Expert train, then they should be honest about it and tell us. Most of us would be disappointed but at least we would know what to expect. I'm sure that most of the frustration and anger is caused by uncertainty and the feeling that we're not being taken seriously. Trains being allowed on Ideas and even declared "staff picks" adds to the confusion.

[Bricked1980]

Has it been confirmed yet when exactly this years new trains will be released? I know they are due out in the summer but does that mean June, July or August?

[sed6]

2 hours ago, Bricked1980 said:

Has it been confirmed yet when exactly this years new trains will be released? I know they are due out in the summer but does that mean June, July or August?

I'm not sure but they better hurry up! I keep spending my money on track and MOC's and soon I'll be outta room and desire for anything new from them!

[Bricked1980]

8 hours ago, sed6 said:

I'm not sure but they better hurry up! I keep spending my money on track and MOC's and soon I'll be outta room and desire for anything new from them!

Well now that we're in to April, surely Lego will soon start to release some official images of their summer sets. There are already people who have made up their minds not to buy the new trains purely based on what they've seen on the blurry leaked images. I don't think it would do TLG any harm to give us a couple of high res pics to look at. It would give people a much better impression of the sets than having to rely on dodgy leaked images.

[dimaks13]

14 hours ago, Bricked1980 said:

Has it been confirmed yet when exactly this years new trains will be released? I know they are due out in the summer but does that mean June, July or August?

July/August depending on country.

[Carefree_Dude]

17 hours ago, Bricked1980 said:

Has it been confirmed yet when exactly this years new trains will be released? I know they are due out in the summer but does that mean June, July or August?

I can 100% guarantee you it's some time between April 3rd 2018, and December 31st 2018

[PeteM]

The City trains in 2010 and 2014 were released at the beginning of June in the UK according to Brickset (other countries varied). I have fingers crossed for them keeping to the pattern... :)

Edited April 3, 2018 by PeteM