It’s a seldom opportunity that we are able to review a new official LEGO train set here on Brick Model Railroader. But, at long, last, we have again been blessed with a new train, even if it has a well-known mouse at the throttle and his friends in tow. Regardless, a new train is a new train, which, I think, is cause for celebration. Further still, this set happens to include a steam locomotive.
I’ll be providing as in depth of a review as I can, detailing the build, some of the interesting techniques and features I caught, and finally I’ll offer some of my own thoughts on the set as a whole. This is going to be a pretty lengthy article.
I should say here before getting too far into anything. Brick Model Railroader was not offered a set to review. We were aware of it’s existence at the same time the rest of the world was, even though we’re the only dedicated LEGO train news website around. We would have asked for it, but we cannot request to review sets that we don’t know exist. While annoying, our spirits are not dampened. I personally went to my local LEGO store after work on Wednesday, August 21st and picked up a copy of this set and began building it that night with the intention to write this review from a train modeler’s perspective.
Without further delay, let’s dive in.
Mixed Reaction
The announcement of this set was met with some mixed reaction. Many train fans, myself included, were legitimately excited and happy to see it, commenting on the locomotive, station building, and the fact that it’s eight studs wide. You read that correctly, an official LEGO train set is 8 studs wide at the core, with some portions less, and some more. More on this later.
Others were not at all excited about the set, owing to the fact that it was tied to Disney IP. A fair viewpoint, because you can’t get just the train without the Disney novelty, it’s all or nothing. I can see why, at a $330 price tag, this fact would turn many individuals away. Additionally, the idea of a theme park train is less appealing than a more classic looking passenger train.
Cale also pointed out a handful of Disney fans finding errors in the details on the train, such as boiler color among other things. A few of these people believed that Disney missed the mark entirely.
Inspiration & Prototypes
The train included in this set was modeled after the locomotives and cars which operate on the Disneyland Railroad (DRR) at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Specifically, the locomotive is modeled after DRR 1, named C. K. Holliday.
The real C. K. Holliday locomotive was built in 1955 by WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises, formerly Walt Disney, Inc., which was founded to oversee production of Disneyland and eventually became Walt Disney Imagineering. The locomotive was intended to closely resemble the Lilly Belle, which was Walt’s own live steam locomotive which he operated on his home railroad, the Carolwood Pacific.
The Lilly Belle was in turn modeled as an exact replica of Central Pacific #173. Coincidentally, CP 173 was a common design and influenced a number of other CP and Virginia & Truckee locomotives.
The open air car is modeled to represent one of the Holiday Blue train cars, of which there are five. The Holiday Blue cars sport side-facing seats and an attractive blue and white striped awning and walls. These cars have been in service on the Disneyland Railroad since 1966.
The observation car is based off of the presidential car Lilly Belle.
The real Lilly Belle was originally an observation coach named Grand Canyon, which belonged to the Retlaw 1 train set, retired officially in 1974 and replaced by the Holiday cars. It was completely overhauled on the inside and given a new exterior paint scheme. It is still used on Disneyland Railroad trains.
All Disneyland Railroad trains are 3-foot gauge, and most of them are built by Disney, including the C.K. Holliday and E.P. Ripley locomotives and all cars.
Box and Contents
The set is contained in a large attractive box which details the train, building, and features, including Powered Up.
Inside, we find bag numbers 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, and 18, along with the four stacks of curved track (making 16 curved sections total) and a second box, plain and white.
The white box contains bags 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 13, and 15, the instructions books and stickers, sealed in a bag, and the motor, straight track, couplers, drive wheels, Powered Up hub, and large plates used in the station.
Instructions
There are four instruction books in this set, which are laid out as follows:
- Locomotive and tender
- Holiday Blue car
- Lilly Belle observation car
- Station building
I found it particularly interesting how thick the station book is.
Just inside the first book are a few pictures and short paragraphs of text about Disney’s love for trains and the C. K. Holliday locomotive.
Minifigs
Five Disney-specific minifigs are included in this set and are built in this order:
- Mickey Mouse
- Dale
- Goofy
- Chip
- Minnie Mouse
Of particular importance is Goofy. This is the only time he has been available as a minifig.
Mickey is dressed in a stylized engineer’s overalls and bandanna. The torso is a little too cartoon-like to be used on more realistic models, but the leg assembly is nice, as it feature black printing to represent shoes.
Chip and Dale have unique conductor’s uniforms: Chip’s torso includes a dress coat over his vest. Dale lacks this feature, making both unique to the character. Both torsos show a pocket watch on a chain and are printed such that they could be used for a regular conductor’s uniform on any LEGO railroad without being too cartoon-looking. Chip and Dale both use the new leg assembly which is shorter than normal but still able to be posed walking.
Minnie is dressed in a classic red blouse and red skirt with white polka dots, very iconic for the character. The skirt is fabric, which comes packaged in a small white box.
Donald Duck seems to be the only main Disney character missing from the ensemble, which I found surprising given Donald’s history with model trains:
The Build
I’ll next be discussing each part of this set in detail as I built it, highlighting interesting techniques and other things I noticed during the process.
Locomotive and Tender
The locomotive was built cab to pilot, followed by the tender. Instead of a rigidly connecting the frame to the boiler and cab, the drive wheels and functional act as an independent bogie, as do the pilot wheels and decorative cylinders. The drive wheels pivot on a 4×4 turntable, and the pilot wheels use Technic.
The construction of the pilot truck was very interesting. It uses the new wheels (in red) and new wheel holders and Technic in between.
A nice feature I caught on the locomotive was the limiters included on both trucks. This is a simple protrusion which sits in a pocket and acts to limit the amount the truck can turn, so when the locomotive is handled, the trucks don’t swing 180 degrees, and it’s much easier to place the locomotive back on the rails.
The pilot truck also sports the one-piece cowcatcher sitting on a 1×8 plate, so the pilot beam is a proper eight studs wide. Flag poles adorn each end of the pilot beam, but no flags are included. I feel this would have been a nice addition to the set, as the C.K. Holliday and other Disney locomotives can often be found with flags on the pilot. Aesthetic cylinders are included between the wheels but serve no purpose other than looks. This part of the locomotive pushes ten studs wide.
The smokebox has two boiler supports placed just forward to the builder’s plates on each side. The classic looking spark arrestor chimney completes the look of this 19th century styled locomotive.
The two domes are also very neat. it is attached studs-down and features a nice fluted look, achieved using a grooved 2×2 round brick and red train wheel.
Stickers are placed on the cab walls, boiler sides, and front number plate to give the locomotive a coherent scheme. The finished product is quite nice.
There is a small amount of backhead detail inside the cab. The cab roof also is mounted with a hinge so Mickey or an engineer can be placed standing inside. A magnetic coupler is on the rear of the driver truck to easily connect to the tender.
The tender is a very simple construction, sitting entirely on top of a Powered Up train motor with magnetic couplers at both ends. Each side has “Disney Railroad” stickers placed on two pairs of red 2×4 tiles and looks very good. The Powered Up hub sits inside the walls of the tender and butts up against the rear wall, leaving a small space in the front for the motor wire. The hub is topped with black parts to resemble an oil bunker and hide the unsightly white of the hub. A hinge is placed over the power button for easy on/off access.
The wall panel construction of the tender adds a nice visual drama to an otherwise boxy tender. The main body is six studs wide, and the flared bunker boards at the top bring the total width to exactly eight studs.
One thing I feel could have been improved upon is the front of the tender. Instead of a small footplate where a fireman could be placed, it’s simply filled in with more wall panels. I believe this decision was made so the motor wire could be more neatly packaged, but it still would have been nice to have a little extra decking on the front of the tender.
I did notice one of at least a couple errors in the instruction book. One step for the tender shows the additions of the four wheels and two axles into the train motor. On the next page, these parts are absent, and remain absent for several succeeding steps.
Open Air Car
The open air car is a nice blue and white with red framing and reddish brown seats, which, as mentioned above, is homage to the Holiday Blue train set.The car is built on a 6×24 stud black train base. The parts of the floor which can be seen are tiled over in red, and the car has a total of 14 seats in two rows, six on a lower front row and eight on a raised back row. The studs-out wall construction bring the main width to the car to eight studs plus two plates.
The awning roof is built in sections, where two eight-stud sections hinge open to allow minifigs to be easily placed inside.
The car uses the new all plastic wheels and magnetic couplers. There are no stickers or printed parts on this car.
Observation Car
The observation car is also built off of a 6×24 stud black train base. The floor is covered in dark red plates and tiles, leaving room for trucks to be attached without interference.
This car also has some neat parts in neat colors, namely the following:
And everyone’s favorite:
The interior features a nice reddish brown chair and table with teapot, teacup, and flower arrangement. Bench-style seating is placed at the rear of the car.
The observation platform is enclosed by black railing with a dark green top, and features a Disney drumhead, with is a sticker. A door separates the platform from the interior, and two pearl gold lights are mounted on either side. Dark green tiles are added to the corners and topped of with an ornate design on a sticker. These dark green tiles are also applied to the front of the car at the same location.
The roof is reddish brown and built in clerestory style. A nice detail I noticed is that there is actually an open space in the clerestory, and includes a light mounted in the center of the roof.
The right-side wall is removable to place minifigs inside and show off the interior details.
As expected, the observation car uses the all-plastic wheels and magnetic couplers on the trucks, but there are also steps included on both ends.
Station Building
The station is by far the most intense phase of the set. It is built from eleven part bags, out of the eighteen in total, plus a few large plates used in the foundation. Most of the stickers in this set are used in the station as well.
The station starts by assembling the foundation and small exterior platform, which has a few studs placed to pose minifigs waiting for the train.
The corners of the building feature an alternating tile pattern which compliments the dark red masonry bricks. Four doors are included in the first floor. Three are on the front side on the right, left, and center, and the fourth being on the left side. A neat light is mounted centered over each door.
The ground floor interior is quite a nice place to be, with many posters on the walls and other detailing. Posters are various unique stickers placed over a nougat 2×3 tile.
There is also a baggage scale, umbrella box, and clock, the latter being one of the few printed elements in the set.
Towards the center of the station is a ticket counter complete with prices and a flower arrangement, along with a bench for waiting passengers.
From this point on the instructions alternate between adding some parts to the top floor and ground floor. A nice rug is in on the floor of the second story, comprising of three stickers placed over dark tan 2×4 tiles.
A chandelier is mounted hanging over the baggage scale, and a trash receptacle is place in front of one of the support columns. A sticker is placed on the front of the receptacle.
A Disney Railroad sticker is applied to a 2×2 tile and placed a t the center of the front of the building, overhead the door.
There are several window assemblies which protrude from the front of the roof on the second floor. I thought the build technique for the roof above them was very neat.
On the interior of the second floor is three curtained windows. Each window has ornate tassels on the ends and uses a sticker on a red 2×4 tile to complete the assembly.
Two reddish brown wall panels are placed between the windows with stickers applied to the “inside”. I found it easiest to use an X-Acto knife to apply these stickers.
The right side of the station sports a tower with a small balcony.
We then go back to the other side of the station to add a chair and table with a teacup.
The station features two micro-scale locomotives which represent the Walter E. Disney, a 4-6-0 locomotive found in Disneyland in Orlando, Florida. This model is placed on the second story. A similar model of the C.K. Holliday is placed on the ground floor. Each locomotive has a unique stickered tile placed above, which suggests an image of the “real” locomotive.
Returning to the tower, we add a 4×4 printed clock on the outside. A micro-scale model of the LEGO 71040 The Disney Castle set (with printed box) is placed inside.
Build Complete
After finishing and placing the Disney Castle into the station, the set is complete. It took me several hours, I would estimate that I spent around 7 hours of legitimate, focused building. 2,925 is a lot of parts.
My Thoughts
Now that the build is complete, I’ll offer some of my thoughts and opinions on the set as a whole.
New Wheels
Like it or not, (I certainly don’t) the new wheels without the metal axle are the new norm, having been in two sets at this point: this and the Hidden Side Train, set 70424. We’re all aware that they have more friction compared to the (now) old style wheels, and even more so compared to our bearings. For those of us that choose to use bearings, BrickTracks is already working on a solution.
With regards to this set, though, the new wheels are a less major problem. The train motor in the tender handles the two cars with ease. I would feel comfortable adding a couple extra cars to this train and expect it to handle just as nicely, even with the added resistance. They are easier to install than metal axles, a simple press into position does the job, rather than having to put wheels on the ends of an axle first. It’s also important to note that for the first time we have wheels in a new color. The pilot wheels on the locomotive are red, and the same wheels in black are used for both passenger cars.
For the ease of building, and likely cost to produce, the new wheels do have some advantages. However, as LEGO continues to revamp their train products, it does add another item to the list of essential third-party parts for the more serious modelers.
Powered Up
Like the new wheels, Powered Up is also now our vanilla solution to motorizing our trains. Again, for the hardcore model builders, it’s a less than ideal solution, and some have already started exploring other options.
However, I do like Powered Up. For the applications LEGO is using it for, that being table-top and playroom floor layouts, Powered Up is a nice and easy system to use. In the case of this set, the only action required is to plug the motor into the hub. For younger builders and adults building with them, this is much easier than Power Functions. It also doesn’t require a line of sight to operate, and the pairing process is easy and intuitive.
That is, using the remote, which is not included with this set.
Unless you have a remote which came included in one of the two city trains, you are forced to control this train using your smart device and the Powered Up application. For me, this is a negative, as a dedicated controller is much preferred over using something like my personal cell phone. I did, though, download the app and give it a test.
The Powered Up app has been updated with a unique profile for this train. you can access this profile and pair with the locomotive by pressing the green button on the hub. There are two backgrounds available for this train, a Summer theme and a Winter theme, showing a depiction of the Disneyland park in California.
The throttle is at the right of the screen with ten speed steps forward and ten in reverse. When moving the train, a chuffing sound will play from the speaker of your device. The chuff does increase and decrease relative to the speed of the train. An emergency stop button is in between the speed up and slow down buttons. Pressing it will bring the train to a stop instantly while playing a screeching brakes sound. There is a second emergency stop at the top right of the screen which does not play a sound when pressed. At the bottom left are three sound buttons. The left button plays a thematic musical piece when pressed. This is set to silent by default, and the music for the Summer theme is different than the Winter theme. The middle button sounds a steam whistle, which seems to fit the essence of a theme park locomotive. The right button sounds a bell, which sounds more like an alert bell than a locomotive bell.
The app seems appropriately gimmicky to me, but gimmick can sell more sets, and it’s not distasteful either. I was pleasantly surprised at the music, but I know many others may not feel that way.
I still prefer having a dedicated controller, but the app is neat and seems to work well (except for conventions as we’ve seen before).
8 Studs
Perhaps the biggest feature to note about this set is that the train, with the exception of the tender, is eight studs wide at the core. In the past, the most we have gotten is seven with the Emerald Night, which required a wider cab to accommodate an XL motor. As mentioned, the pilot, cab, and both cars are eight studs wide at the core, with the non-functional cylinders pushing ten.
I believe much of the reason for this train being eight studs wide is owed to the observation car. It includes an accurate interior, which would have been much more challenging to include in a six wide car. The same could be said for the Holiday Blue car; two rows of seats look much better than one. The result is, in my opinion, a much more proportionate train. A four stud boiler on a six stud frame has always looked strange to me. I would love to know the actual reasons for the decision, though I may never.
I certainly look forward to the next train sets outside of the City line. It will be interesting to see if official eight stud trains are a new norm or if this is a one-off occurrence.
A Pattern Develops – Room for Upgrades
While we were not able to review the most recent rendition of the Hogwarts Express train, Cale and I did discuss it at length. The biggest point we took away from that set is that the set encourages people to expand upon it. The vanilla set yields a decent steam locomotive and a starting point for a passenger car, and includes enough complication for a more novice builder to learn some essential techniques of train building. It can easily be de-themed, meaning one can remove the Harry Potter specific details to produce a more generic train.
I see a lot of the same theory in this set. The locomotive is simply gorgeous, and while it isn’t a true steam locomotive, it offers a chance for the builder to tinker with it and produce a more realistic and/or detailed model. Simply not applying or removing the Disney stickers makes for a very nice generic 19th century train, with the exception of the Holiday Blue car. The observation car is a simple design and can be repeated in the same or different colors, and can also be modified to a passenger car with open vestibule and coach seating. The station can be gutted and made more generic just as easily.
Those that want to be even more daring can spend the extra time and parts to transform the locomotive from a 4-4-0 to a 4-6-0 using the extra blind wheels which are included in the set.
In all, this is a fantastic starter set for someone looking to have a reliable and attractive steam locomotive and fitting passenger car.
Closing Remarks
Do I recommend this set? Undoubtedly. I would rank this with some of the best modern train sets we’ve seen, and likely the best steam locomotive we’ve gotten, second to only the Emerald Night, and maybe the 7750 steam locomotive from the 12-volt era, but that’s hardly a fair comparison.
There is so much possibility with this set. For the Disney fan, it’s a wonderful addition to your collectible minifigs and Disney Castle. The Holiday Blue car is not part intensive and can be repeated to produce a longer train. For the beginner and intermediate modelers, this set is a great way to become familiar with steam locomotive mechanics while learning passenger car styling at the same time. Those who enjoy set modding can take this one and run as far as they like and enjoy every minute of it. And, for the advanced modeler, it can be a wonderful return to simplicity, and a relaxing and fun building experience.
$330 is a fairly high price, but the value contained in this set is, I think, worth so much more than that.
Thanks for reading.
Great review, Glen!
Another site specifically stated that you cannot operate this train with a remote, and you stated that you can. Did you ACTUALLY use a remote from one of the City sets to operate this train? If you did, I am buying this set.
Thanks, Vincent!
Yes, I used a remote from one of the new City train which also use Powered Up. The Disney train can pair to it an operate just as the City trains can.