Happy 2019!

I had a great Christmas. You know what's better than getting a Lego train for Christmas?

Getting two!

Thanks to my wife and my brother getting some Black Friday deals, I was a very lucky boy.

The set comes in multiple bags, as per usual. You also get a loop of track with only 4 straight pieces. It's practically a circle.
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What's new about this is the Powered Up system, which operates on bluetooth instead of infra-red. The main functionality is contained in the battery box, which has a built in bluetooth receiver rather than using a separate IR receiver. Everything runs off AAA batteries as well, making it lighter than the Power Functions system my other trains use.

I learned all this building the first part of the train - the powered loco.

I like the styling of this train and it feels much better designed than the white passenger train. The cab is much easier to access.

The battery box is built into the design and is also very easy to access compared to other trains.

The two coaches are a buffet car and a passenger car. The buffet car has a small serving area complete with coffee maker.

As it's a passenger train, it comes with a passenger.

She's packed Lego for her trip.

And her case fits into a neat little luggage rack between the set of seats. It's a good thing she's the only passenger with luggage.

The set also comes with a massively underwhelming platform.

Maybe I should have put the sticker on the panel, but I don't think it would have made it look any better. I left it off because I might use the panel elsewhere.

Also in that bag was a traffic signal. It's not the most exciting thing, but hey, better than nothing.

I have got some video and overall pictures of the train - I will sort those for another post. Having two sets means I could create a six car train, rather than a 3 car train. But the 3 car train whips along.

Overall verdict

Pros
A very nice-looking train set.
Much better design than some of the previous ones. No holes in the floor, easy access to the batteries and to the cab, it honestly feels like Lego have taken some real care over this set.
Buffet car interior is fun. Loved the coffee machine detail.
Passenger luggage complete with Lego set made me laugh.
Powered Up is a much nicer system and worked with absolutely no glitches. The battery box is nicer than the Power Functions one that it replaced. Not having to make room for an IR receiver is helpful, as that always had to 'poke out' of the top of a train using Power Functions.
The motor is, if anything, overpowered for the contents of the box. it pulls a six car train with no bother to a scale speed of at least 100 mph.

Cons
The passenger station is just a token gesture.
Limited seats - 4 in the carriage. This is not mass transit at all.
No working doors anywhere. You can take the roof off to place people inside. And they can't get out once you put the roof back on, bwahahahaha.
Stickers. The front of the cab and the rear of the power car have large stickers. They're not too annoying to place. I just have a thing about sets with an RRP over £100 coming with stickers.