Entry posted by Jongudmund
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I know this follows hard on the heels of a previous set review, but there were about six months between purchases. I'm not just running out and buying sets. This is the third set I've bought, having started the whole thing with the 60052 Cargo Train Set.
(To address the obvious question, did I need another train set? Not really, but this set is disappearing from the shelves in most stores. It had a 20% discount and my lovely wife said she thought I deserved a reward for working hard on my MSc Dissertation when I got my results a few weeks ago.)
I don't have the usual box pic to start, so I'm just going to get straight on with the build.
First up, the loco. This is in red and comes with the usual Lego power functions control set up.
The starting point is a grey 28 stud base, exactly as in the Passenger train set.
I had some help from two little guys during the byuild
The cab swings up to get the train driver in. This is yet another train with no working doors.
And here is a shot of the engine on the lay out.
The most exciting wagon in the set is the brown hopper wagon. I built this next.
I felt the hopper had a prototypical feel. It looks like it could be used in a genuine industry. This may be why it is commanding a decent price on the aftermarket.
The other wagons were incredibly basic, with most of the building being the "loads". First there was a helicopter transporter wagon, which had a bit of an underframe, but otherwise was mainly a rather basic helicopter in a bag.
You can see how the wagon itself offered a very small technical challenge.
I was actually quite disappointed with the helicopter. It looks very low-definition and blocky compared to most City sets. A friend described it as the kind of Lego set that would be a "giveaway" in a newspaper and that does about sum it up.
The next wagon was even more basic. A 28 stud base and two bogie sets and a backhoe to go on top of it. The backhoe at least could serve some use as lineside ornamentation. It has a 70s JCB feel to it.
Both the helicopter wagon and the backhoe wagon are likely to get upcycled into different wagons, a bit like the cattle wagons (now minerals wagons) and the blue wagon (now a car transporter) from 60052.
The whole set suffers from 'mixed freight' syndrome as per the other Lego cargo set. I can understand Lego doing that as this is a toy marketed mainly at children, similar to Hornby starter sets. However I feel the contrast between the quality of the hopper wagon and the other wagons lets it down a bit.
The other contents of the set were a long loop of track, a blue loading scoop crane and a small pedestrian crossing set. I'd already purchased and built a blue crane, so the new one is sat in its bags. I will build it at some point, especially as I have re-used the other one in a mash-up to create a mobile crane. The blue crane is a great build and looks very nice so that is definitely a point in favour of this set.
The verdict
Pros
The red loco looks really nice. I think it looks a bit more UK prototype than the other cargo train.
The hopper wagon is very nicely made and I can see why people would want to acquire more of them. (I do too!)
The blue crane was a great build when I bought one from a re-seller. I'm looking forward to building another one.
I really like the 'hard hat area' sign in the blue crane set. That's useful in an industrial railway setting.
A useful source of parts for building other wagons.
The JCB-esque backhoe could feature in a permanent way yard.
A long loop of track and none of the 'flexible track' pieces.
The track crossing signs could also be useful.
Cons
Two very simple wagons let the set down.
The helicopter included as a wagon load is beyond basic. I can't really see a use for it anywhere on the lay out.
No points (switches) in the set, so not much of a challenge operationally.
So overall, the good aspects of the set outweigh the slightly disappointing bits. Having 20% off RRP made it more worthwhile in my opinion.
What next?
I need to build the blue crane. Originally I planned to use the blue crane in a scrapyard setting, but now I wonder if a permanent way yard would be better with ballast to load into hopper wagons. That may mean acquiring more hopper wagons...
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