Not Exactly the LEGO Train Set I was Hoping for...

The rumors were swirling around for a while that we’d be getting a large Harry Potter themed set in 2022. Then the rumor changed to it being a Hogwarts Express and I was super stoked. I pictured a detailed train similar to #10194-1: Emerald Night with lots of details. We’d then get a full up train station and maybe even multiple carriages.

So then some fans in New Zealand accidentally got shipped this set when they ordered #10305-1: Lion Knight Castle. You can read about that here from a blog down under. And The LEGO Group quickly introduced this…

LEGO.com

In case you missed it, the set is #76405-1: Hogwarts Express Collector’s Edition. Unless you were one of the folks in New Zealand who got an early copy, it is scheduled to be released in the US on 31 August 2022. It contains 5,129 pieces and should retail in the US for $499.99. This works out to $0.097 per piece.

At a quick glance, I was super impressed. I’ve built #75955-1: Hogwarts Express, but that one has far fewer details. There are a bunch of minifigures as well which is awesome. So besides the price tag, what could be bad here?

LEGO.com

Oh wait… this set is 1:32 scale and oh by the way besides it being massive, it DOES NOT FIT ON L-GAUGE RAILS!!!!! Much like #10277-1: Crocodile Locomotive, this set comes on a display stand. However, you can transfer the Crocodile Locomotive to L-Gauge rails and run it with your other trains and add a motor. This one, not so much.

I was also hoping for more passenger carriages. Where are they? We get just one so often, but having a few would be much better. I can’t imagine how much it would be to build your own replica or to buy other sets to just get cars. Next time LEGO, more passenger cars please!

Also, the train station is not a train station, but rather a small chunk of structure. I was hoping for a lot more detail and the ability to actually connect it to a train line. This one will require a lot of building on your own with additional pieces to make that happen.

I can’t be all negative. You do get some cool train parts for MOCs, 20 minifigures isn’t too shabby, and if you don’t like it, you’ve got over 5,000 parts to use elsewhere. . For $500, I’m not sure I can bite the bullet on this one just to get some train parts and 20 minifigures. I’m a fan of the Potter sets and a train fan, but this set doesn’t seem to hit the mark. I’ll wait and see on this one.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

So That's Why We Haven't Seen More Creator Expert Trains!

I wrote a post a while back complaining that it’s been a while since we had a Creator Expert style LEGO train. Well I think I may have found our answer.

I found an interview with LEGO Designer Jamie Berard by the show Assembled which is an interview done by Mike Psiaki. It’s about a 30 minute interview and I found it pretty interesting. They talk mainly about the new Roller Coaster set (#10261-1)., but they also talk a few more topics like set re-releases and to the point of this post, Creator Expert trains.

Mike asks why there aren’t more Creator Expert themed trains at the 27:50 mark or so. Without directly stating it, Jamie’s response is pretty much that LEGO doesn’t make the money they want to on Creator Expert themed trains. There is a subset of LEGO fans out there that love trains, they each buy one or two of the train sets and that’s it. So LEGO will release the standard LEGO CITY passenger and freight trains on a regular basis, but that’s mostly it.

Jamie also brings up some of the other ways they have tried to incorporate trains. The goal is to get a group that enjoys another theme and to add a train to that theme. He brings up #10254-1: Winter Holiday Train as an example. There is a larger group that enjoys the Winter Village theme. They may not be into a Creator Expert style train, but when a train fits in with the Winter Village theme then it is a buy for them.

After hearing that, you can tell LEGO has done that elsewhere. For example the Hogwarts Express (#75955-1) and the upcoming Hidden Side theme has a set titled Train (#70424-1). It will be interesting to see where else LEGO can add the train line into another theme in the future.

With that being said it leaves us LEGO Creator Expert train fans left out. As Mike mentions in the video interview, he likes the Winter Holiday Train, but it’s not on par with the Horizon Express (#10233-1). I don’t think the LEGO Ideas platform will work either based on Jamie’s interview response. If LEGO doesn’t think there is a market out there to sell advanced train sets, then even if a train set does get 10,000 supporters it might not go into production. Another way to get advanced train sets out there might be the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program. There are some design limitations that I’d have to look up and there are potentially some piece restrictions too, but it could be a possibility. If BrickLink sees this program as a way to increase profits in the future, then submitting train designs there might be the better way to go versus LEGO Ideas.

Dear LEGO,
I would still like to see more Creator Expert themed train sets. Thank you for your understanding!
-Bricks for Bricks

Set Review - #75955-1 - Hogwarts Express - Harry Potter - Wizarding World

As I’ve stated, more Harry Potter sets to review… This one is #75955-1 Hogwarts Express. It was released on 5 September 2018 in the US and retails for $79.99. I picked it up on sale at Amazon.com and since buying it the set has moved up to 20% off. Anyways, the set has 801 pieces and 6 minifigures. It works out to $0.10 per piece at retail (obviously less if you get it on sale). That’s right about average in my mind and not bad for a licensed set. Onto the review…

Standard box… Front shows the set with all of the minifigures. The back shows the play features with the Dementor appearing 3 times. I think this set will be popular just for the Dementor alone.

The set includes 7 bags of parts, an instruction book, and a sticker sheet.

Bag one starts to build Kings Cross station to include platform 9 3/4. It also includes the minifigures for Professor Remus Lupin and Ron Weasley as well as a baggage cart. 9 3/4 is a wall on Technic pins that rotates when you run a minifigure into it. Bag one also includes a piece separator.

The second bag includes the rest of the station and the Harry Potter minifigure. One of the nice features of this set is the mix between stickers and printed parts. The 2x2 newspaper tiles are printed which are 2 less stickers to worry about.

The station itself is pretty simple, but to make it any bigger would bring the price up. For the set, I think the platform gets the key part which is the wall to go through. If builders want more of the features, they can build them on themselves.

The third bag starts the engine itself with the wheels and the bottom part of the engine. The wheels are a pretty simple assembly as compared to the Emerald Night set.

The next bag completes the engine. I was glad that the front curved piece (what’s the official term? Nose?) was printed as well as the “Hogwarts Castle” rounded tile piece on each side. The only thing that confused me on this set are the turning ratio of the front 4 wheels. There is an assembly that can be moved up to allow the wheels to turn and then put down to lock them into staying straight. For someone like me who plans on motorizing this train eventually, this piece seems unnecessary. I would rather have the front able to turn all the time without the awkward piece to lock it into place. This will be something that I redesign eventually.

Everyone else has brought this up and I have to as well. This train is not motorized. There are numerous videos and sites out there where you can see how others have motorized this train. You can use Power Functions train motor or an M motor with some Technic pieces. Either way, it is possible to motorize it without totally wrecking the design. While I would have preferred for the train to come motorized, I think this would have brought the price up pretty high… maybe over $100?

The fifth bag adds the tender and Hermione. The tender is a very simple build and it is connected by Technic pins versus the magnets of trains of old. My guess is that this helps to keep the cost down. Thoughts? I’ve heard builders complain about them and others say they are okay so we’ll see…

The next bag starts the passenger coach with a Trolley Witch. The coach is a pretty simple build and is fairly small. I think I would have made it larger, but it fits the scale of the engine. I will add that to my to-do list… re-designing the coach and adding some more.

The seventh bag completes the coach and adds a Dementor. On the positive side, the Dementor is a cool design and in my mind it matches the actual character well considering it is a minifigures. On the negative side, the coach is small and only has 4 wheels. If you go back to the coaches in the Emerald Night or Horizon Express, they have 8 wheels and each set is on a piece that pivots with a Technic pin that fits into the car itself. This one has wheels that are just attached to the car without the ability to pivot. Since it’s such a small car, the wheels are closer together and it shouldn’t be an issue that they don’t pivot. This car is similar to this old set…

So I realize that I am not the intended audience for this set. After all, the box says it is meant for ages 8 to 14. I would have beefed up the coach, motorized the engine, and added in a few pieces of straight track. I will add “building more coaches” to my LEGO building to-do list. In the meantime, I think this is a great set. It does the Hogwarts Express good justice and I think the play factor for this set is good given there are 6 minifigures. While there were a lot of stickers, I think they added some good detail to the set and they weren’t too bad to apply. In the end, I recommend buying this set. Try and pick it up on sale at Amazon.com, Walmart, or elsewhere.

Happy building!