LEGO Trains 2021

[legotownlinz]

2 hours ago, Dav1d said:

I wouldn't buy it but I was surprised to see that it is motorised.

It is not only motorized, it comes with a LiIon battery similar to the Lego Power Functions rechargeable battery box that Lego always sold separately, at a higher price than the entire Mould King train with >2000 pcs, motor and remote control.

It will be my first Non-Lego train. I've ignored all the low quality ripoffs, but it seems things have improved a lot during the last few months, both original designs and brick quality, so it is worth to give it a try. If the quality is good it would be stupid to buy Lego only, especially since Lego has neglected trains fans and actually forced us to buy third party products like BrickTracks/TrixBricks tracks or black BlueBrixx bogie plates and train windows. Lego gave me absolutely no reason to be a loyal Lego-only train fan.

Edited November 30, 2020 by legotownlinz

[ivanlan9]

Let us know about the Tibet Railway Train, please.

I placed one order with BlueBrixx; for 6-wide, the design was adequate.  Building the three locos was--frustrating.  The quality of the bricks is on par with MegaBlocks.  I won't be buying any more from them.  But I will continue to get their free instructions; I've so far found nothing that can't be built with official Lego parts (color substitutions may be necessary).  Collecting the parts takes a lot of time, whether you dig through your existing parts collection or you buy them through BL, or wherever.  Once you get the parts, however, you have a decent build with proper quaility parts.

I would rather pay official Lego prices for official Lego parts, instructions and boxes than BB and typical Chinese knockoffs.  However, TLG doesn't produce enough trains to satisfy me; I bought every single 9-volt train, as well as the two RC trains, and the Emerald Night.  I have not bought any of the newer Power Functions train sets, although I did buy three of the Crocodiles.  I would buy more 7-wide sets if TLG would make them--the PF 6-wide sets weren't quite interesting enough.

Metta,

Ivan

[SteamSewnEmpire]

18 hours ago, legotownlinz said:

This week I ordered the Tibet railway train. No idea what the quality will be...

 

Probably lousy. But who cares? It's plastic.

[M_slug357]

@legotownlinz You should write a review once you get it (in a separate thread though). The battery box looks more like an imitation of BuWizz’s imho. The two bits that grab my attention is that the set is like 95% dark green elements, and it seems that there is an add-on pack available separately.

[legotownlinz]

2 hours ago, M_slug357 said:

@legotownlinz You should write a review once you get it (in a separate thread though). The battery box looks more like an imitation of BuWizz’s imho. The two bits that grab my attention is that the set is like 95% dark green elements, and it seems that there is an add-on pack available separately.

If it is allowed on Eurobricks...

One thing I already know is that the Mould King remote control supports only 0% and 100% speed. This needs to be changed.

[ALCO]

This is interesting! I think train fans are M more likely to look to other brands to get the parts/models they wants. I'm more into the model railroading aspect of the hobby so BrickTracks, @zephyr1934's rods, ball-bearings, neodymium magnets etc, are all ok with me. That Tibetan train looks really good! Looking forward to reading more about it.

Edited December 1, 2020 by ALCO

[brownie5968]

12 hours ago, ALCO said:

This is interesting! I think train fans are M more likely to look to other brands to get the parts/models they wants. I'm more into the model railroading aspect of the hobby so BrickTracks, @zephyr1934's rods, ball-bearings, neodymium magnets etc, are all ok with me. That Tibetan train looks really good! Looking forward to reading more about it.

i feel the same way about the model railroading aspect, im starting to convert some of my stuff to ball bearing etc, but i must say ive had fun modifying and improving the crocodile since i got it a couple weeks ago. Easy to do, so hopefully any other trains they release will be the same, easy to improve, but decent to start with

[dtomsen]

19 hours ago, legotownlinz said:

If it is allowed on Eurobricks...

It's not. Unfortunately if you ask me 

We are missing out discussing here all the great things happening for the model railroading aspect of our LEGO train hobby right now.

[Dav1d]

1 hour ago, dtomsen said:

It's not. Unfortunately if you ask me 

It should be allowed. If they are rubbish we need to know, if they are good we need to know There is a lot of discussion on BlueBrick software, TrixBrixs, BrickTracks etc. - all of which are not LEGO, but are important to us. I want to know if TrixBrix is good.

BrickSet does a review of Communist 'LEGO' which is very interesting.

If The LEGO Group are not up to the job of producing items we want, why should other be stopped?   

[Tcm0]

2 hours ago, Dav1d said:

It should be allowed. If they are rubbish we need to know, if they are good we need to know There is a lot of discussion on BlueBrick software, TrixBrixs, BrickTracks etc. - all of which are not LEGO, but are important to us. I want to know if TrixBrix is good.

BrickSet does a review of Communist 'LEGO' which is very interesting.

If The LEGO Group are not up to the job of producing items we want, why should other be stopped?   

The line is between "adds functionality that isn't/wasn't provided by lego" and "uses lego compatible bricks in the same shapes that lego makes/ is in direct competition". Talking about sbrick, buwizz, trixbrixx etc is okay. Talking about mouldking, bluebrixx, ausini etc isn't.

[dtomsen]

15 hours ago, Tcm0 said:

The line is between "adds functionality that isn't/wasn't provided by lego" and "uses lego compatible bricks in the same shapes that lego makes/ is in direct competition". Talking about sbrick, buwizz, trixbrixx etc is okay. Talking about mouldking, bluebrixx, ausini etc isn't.

Yeah but LEGO don't make PF parts, rechargeable battery boxes or many of the rare out-of-production and thus crazy expensive trains parts like tan train windows anymore.

And never did R56 or R72 curves.

BlueBrixx do.

Those are not in direct competion with LEGO but with the other 3rd party providers and second hand markets like BrickLink.

And they also have other offerings which could enhance our train hobby here and now. Some of them at least 

Something like this:

 

Heck, even the sets are still worth discussing as the purists among us can download the building instructions for free and build those with genuine LEGO (!)

In that aspect they could be considered nothing more than fancy DIY mocs...

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by dtomsen

[M_slug357]

I think a (perhaps annual?) review of these competitors' offerings-- much in the vein of the "Communist 'lego'" files-- could be an interesting and  Enlightening recurring segment for the Train Tech forum. We could use it primarily as a gauge of how advanced the competition really is versus how much farther they'd have to come. Secondly, we can highlight any novel building techniques, as well as interesting new elements. Lastly, it could serve as a written thesis? of sorts as to what TLG is doing right versus what they could improve upon in regards to train offerings.

[Tcm0]

10 hours ago, dtomsen said:

Yeah but LEGO don't make PF parts, rechargeable battery boxes or many of the rare and thus crazy expensive trains parts like tan train windows anymore.

And never did R56 or R72 curves.

BlueBrixx do.

Those are not in direct competion with LEGO but with the other 3rd party providers and second hand markets like BrickLink.

but let's be honest, the bluebrixx rechargeable battery box, or to be more precise the sender, is crap :P

[Dav1d]

5 hours ago, M_slug357 said:

I think a (perhaps annual?) review of these competitors' offerings-- much in the vein of the "Communist 'lego'" files-- could be an interesting and  Enlightening recurring segment for the Train Tech forum. We could use it primarily as a gauge of how advanced the competition really is versus how much farther they'd have to come. Secondly, we can highlight any novel building techniques, as well as interesting new elements. Lastly, it could serve as a written thesis? of sorts as to what TLG is doing right versus what they could improve upon in regards to train offerings.

Well said.

[dtomsen]

2 hours ago, Tcm0 said:

but let's be honest, the bluebrixx rechargeable battery box, or to be more precise the sender, is crap :P

Yeah but no worse than the LEGO IR Receiver 

 

[legotownlinz]

6 hours ago, dtomsen said:

Yeah but no worse than the LEGO IR Receiver 

 

The LEGO IR system works fine. The receiver takes additional space and the IR technology has limitations, but the quality of the products is good. The Bluebrixx handset, however, has severe issues, it does not respond to input reliably.

[Amoreternum]

I'd actually love to see a reviewer like RacingBrick or Sariel check out and compare the different brands and systems. There are a few reviews, but  I'm not certain if they're 100% neutral, and definitely not as thorough and meticulous as the two.

[Tcm0]

13 hours ago, Amoreternum said:

I'd actually love to see a reviewer like RacingBrick or Sariel check out and compare the different brands and systems. There are a few reviews, but  I'm not certain if they're 100% neutral, and definitely not as thorough and meticulous as the two.

I don't want to question any of the mentioned youtubers, but why would they be more neutral than other youtubers? Especially since racingbrick is a fan medium and gets sets from lego for free?

[Amoreternum]

8 hours ago, Tcm0 said:

I don't want to question any of the mentioned youtubers, but why would they be more neutral than other youtubers? Especially since racingbrick is a fan medium and gets sets from lego for free?

Well, getting sets from Lego does not necessarily mean lack of neutrality - from what I've seen, both channels did get sets in the past they did not like, or sets with things they did not like, all of which was openly and clearly shared with the viewer while also making it clear that the sets had been provided. But of course, in the end it's just an opinion, and there is no way bias can totally be avoided.

I just think that from what I've seen in their test videos that both Sariel and RacingBrick have a very empirical way of testing things, numbers, statistics, comparisons and so on, while in most train related videos that I have seen (Jang being an exception that has to be mentioned) I get the feeling that most information shared is based upon observations and personal impressions that cannot be replicated. That does not mean it's worse, but considering we're talking about batteries, motors and other stuff from a growing mass of manufacturers, I'd prefer numbers and solid info to keep somewhat of an overview. Both Sariel and RacingBrick did very good reviews on the Keybrick One for example. 

[legobanker]

On 11/29/2020 at 12:51 PM, dtomsen said:

Actually I find BlueBrixx trains a step above the typical LEGO city ones in regards to design but several steps below most quality train builds here or elsewhere including the high-end kits mentioned above.

Just compare these three offerings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is the Holiday train you've posted from BlueBrixx?  I visited the site and couldn't find it.

[legonerd54321]

25 minutes ago, legobanker said:

Is the Holiday train you've posted from BlueBrixx?  I visited the site and couldn't find it.

It's from @coasterover at Bricktracks

[dtomsen]

2 hours ago, legobanker said:

Is the Holiday train you've posted from BlueBrixx?  I visited the site and couldn't find it.

Only the top train is from BlueBrixx.

The middle one is from LEGO set 60052.

And the bottom one is from the North Pole Railroad set from Bricktrack, a truly high-end kit.

Edited December 6, 2020 by dtomsen

[Alex P]

There are no City trains in the new catalog: https://catalogs.lego.com/BrandCatalog/1HY2021/bc-1HY-2021-nz/

Does it mean there will be some new train sets in the summer?

[Tcm0]

2 hours ago, Alex P said:

There are no City trains in the new catalog: https://catalogs.lego.com/BrandCatalog/1HY2021/bc-1HY-2021-nz/

Does it mean there will be some new train sets in the summer?

That catalog is kinda weird, Mindstorms is missing as well.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Tcm0

[Northoftheborder]

2 hours ago, Alex P said:

There are no City trains in the new catalog: https://catalogs.lego.com/BrandCatalog/1HY2021/bc-1HY-2021-nz/

Does it mean there will be some new train sets in the summer?

Do we know for sure that we are getting something train related this year?  We just got the croc and passenger/cargo is a 4 year cycle so they aren’t due until 2022... That being said, we just got new road baseplates and we are due for a train station... and lego doesn’t seem to release train sets and train stations in the same year... sooo i wouldn’t be surprised if we got a new train station that implements the new road plates into some sort of road crossing...