Random set of the day: High Speed Train Locomotive
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 10157 High Speed Train Locomotive, released during 2004. It's one of 10 World City sets produced that year. It contains 143 pieces and 2 minifigs, and its retail price was US$25/£19.99.
It's owned by 534 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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21 comments on this article
It's only the one car... Not an incorrect description, it is a high speed train locomotive, but the implications suggest at least an additional passenger car, right?
Best modern passenger locomotive in Town / World City / City that has been released yet.
Yeah, I said it.
@MCLegoboy said:
"It's only the one car... Not an incorrect description, it is a high speed train locomotive, but the implications suggest at least an additional passenger car, right?"
Yes, it's just the engine, you had to buy at least one matching carriage to make a train- the matching set is 10158, the one where Agent Smith is about to assassinate Timmy
@EvilTwin said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"It's only the one car... Not an incorrect description, it is a high speed train locomotive, but the implications suggest at least an additional passenger car, right?"
Yes, it's just the engine, you had to buy at least one matching carriage to make a train- the matching set is 10158 , the one where Agent Smith is about to assassinate Timmy"
Timmy didn't know it at the time, but framing your "best picture ever" with a secret agent doing a drop probably wasn't the smartest idea. That and making eye contact with the agent while taking said picture.
That train is from 4511
@Murdoch17 said: "Best modern passenger locomotive in Town / World City / City that has been released yet. Yeah, I said it."
I bought the set this engine was based on, when it first came out. But I wasn't too impressed, and I thought it was a bit of a step down from the gorgeous trains of the 90s. There were no doors (which I could've forgiven), and the train was only 4 bricks high (and then, one row of tiles before the roof), so the minifigures barely had room to sit in the carriages, let alone stand up or walk around. I didn't keep it, I just sold it on, via eBay, and that was that.
But years later, I kind of regretted that. Because there are pleasing aspects to the train. It was Lego's first real attempt at a bullet train, and I liked it, for that. I liked the dark-glass windows, and the gorgeous huge windscreen for the driver. The dark windows added to World City's sense of grittiness, which was so different and unusual.
So in 2020, I made it one of my lockdown goals to track down this, and the connecting passenger carriage. And I did! It took me all year (and I had to wait for international postage between various European countries and Australia to start up again), but I managed to own this train again, and I was glad.
Even if the carriages aren't tall enough, because they just aren't.
@Murdoch17 said:
"Best modern passenger locomotive in Town / World City / City that has been released yet.
Yeah, I said it."
I don't think anyone will fight you, since most LEGO city fans don't know what brickset is, and the ones who knows what this is agree with you.
It's too bad this was during my second Dark Age. I'd have picked up 4511 for sure...and maybe this and a few of 10158 to make the train longer...because 4511 by itself is way too small.
I just noticed that in 4511, the sticker on the locomotive says "4511-1" and the coach says "4511-2". In this set, the locomotive says "4511-2". In 10158, it also says "4511-2". Oops!
@R1_Drift said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"Best modern passenger locomotive in Town / World City / City that has been released yet.
Yeah, I said it."
I don't think anyone will fight you, since most LEGO city fans don't know what brickset is, and the ones who knows what this is agree with you."
I know what it is and I disagree. I think it's ugly and, as others have pointed out, the structure is anemic. But to be fair, I also think most City bullet trains are ugly.
I wanted a complete train. I’m not sure exactly which combination of sets I bought to achieve it, but I ended up with two locomotives and four cars. It’s pretty impressive all laid out.
Part of 4511, a train I was obsessed with when I first saw it in the catalogue, but never got, and today have a love-hate relationship with because it's still a beautiful train design, but how on earth did I ever obsess over a train set with no straight tracks (but at least you could get those separately), and a single engine and a single car? Standalone rolling stock was never available in my country, neither from My Own Train nor regular themes (including the Trains theme).
@peterlmorris said:
"I wanted a complete train. I’m not sure exactly which combination of sets I bought to achieve it, but I ended up with two locomotives and four cars. It’s pretty impressive all laid out. "
Yes, nice of Lego to release the locomotive and passenger cars as separate sets (after the initial 4511 ) so that you would make a longer/complete train without buying multiples of 4511. One of the few (only?) times this has happened. It was a decent take on the "shinkansen" (bullet train); it closely resembles the 300 series Shinkansen. Wonder if anyone's used the specialised head piece creatively in a MOC for something else.
I like 9V trains as much as the next guy: good control, no bulky boxes to hide in the carriages and of course no batteries.
But they have their drawbacks, too: the connecting wire under the tracks is notorious for being easily damaged (yes it has to be thin to fit under the track, I know), you are tied to within a few feet of an outlet (solved with extension cables to trip over), and worst of all it is nearly impossible to run more than one train on a single layout. It can be done, but unless there is some kind of siding or clever switching going on the lighter train will always run into the heavier one.
I appreciate both AC and battery-powered trains, and I am glad we have the joy of operating them. If only I could get some DBG 9V track!
@Murdoch17 said:
"Best modern passenger locomotive in Town / World City / City that has been released yet.
Yeah, I said it."
I was going to say "Horizon Express would like to talk to you" but then I reread your comment. And dangit you're right
It was amazing that they release the full set (including motor & track) 4511, the locomotive only 10157 and the coach only 10158. Therefore you only needed to buy an extra locomotive to make a full train and optionally add extra coaches. They don't do that anymore.
I personally didn't think it was the 'best', I think if it had a red stripe it would have been more popular as it would have looked like the ICE. Later LEGO released 7897 and 60051 which both had a red stripe.
It’s pretty fast.
First train I bought in the 2000's. Well, In fact I bought 2 4511 . I likes the shape, but many things were disappointing.
first : No doors. Second, too low, and finally, the green pattern of the nose wasn't aligned with the brick behind, and the color wasn't matching with green bricks. But remember the terrible 7897 with the massive gap behind the nose part. What a huge mistake in the mold conception of the part 55768 https://brickset.com/parts/4294137/train-front
I transformed it to create an articulated train like the French TGV, allowing him to take very fast turns without accident : https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=108648 Unfortunaltey I left it in my town during 1-2 years, and it heavily yellowed (and so did my town). https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2126450
Fun fact 1 ; if I'm right, the 10157 and 10158 were produced in 2003, so with Bluish grey and dark grey parts. My 4511 were built with classic grey and dark grey parts.
Fun fact 2 ; in the instruction the 1st and 2class stickers were not positioned the same way, for one it was on a white panel, for the other on a window panel. And it is different on the box.
Fun fact 3 : watch the picture of this set : the light piece is mounted upside down. 2003 was still a terrible era for TLC.
Great train if you already have 4511 and wish to complete the end carriage, but otherwise looks a little strange on its own with no tracks, but for the same price far more preferable than a microscale!
@Murdoch17:
My only real experience with LEGO trains comes from doing group layouts with my LUG. Modern bullet trains are easy to operate because there are very few greebly bits that can fall off, and they tend to be lightweight hollow shells. That said, they are also incredibly boring to look at.
This looks worse than normal because they didn’t have a good cockpit designed yet, so they ended up having to put that awkward beak on the front bogey, which in real life would likely cause all kinds of aerodynamic problems (not to mention it’d cause any animals you strike to get wedged between that and the cockpit). Or this may be their solution for uneven table surfaces, giving the cockpit some freedom to tip down without hooking the track, while making the bogey (which has less issues because of its short wheelbase) look streamlined.
Whatever the case, it looks goofy, and in my experience, large attachments on the bogeys tend to shed and derail trains, if you run them often enough, and you’re not meticulous about making sure everything is firmly attached before wheels hit the track.
@MeisterDad:
Huh? Do you not have enough room to run a double loop? As for the wires, several of us had 9v wires and leads with the thick, molded insulation, which just started crumbling to dust. One of the guys in my LUG found some wire that looks nearly the same, and has started rebuilding them.
@ubaru_69:
The color change happened in 2004, so any sets produced in 2003 were likely strictly produced with old greys, unless production lasted more than one year. The first UCS ISD is the one instance I’m aware of that definitely transitioned from 100% old greys to increasingly being replaced with bleys as they used up old grey stock.
@ambr:
Or you could buy two of this and as many of the passenger cars as you feel like putting between them. Or you could buy two copies of 4511 and you’ve got a full train with two passenger cars, which you can also add more passenger cars to. It’s beyond weird that they offered three different sets in this manner. Usually everything is bundled in one set, especially of late. Alternately, you get one set with the engine, and one or two with different rolling stock (My Own Train was a special exception that I’m guessing was a financial flop).
Would it surprise anyone to read I've got on my Lego 'Bucket List' to build a...spiritual successor to this idea/set. Still siting on my LDD, the main different my 'build' is: I want to use one of those helicopter/cargo-plane/bomber-nose sections (11293) for the operator's compartment (or would that be 'engineer'). I went with that as I really like how the window layout is on the part.
I also heard a rumor, and just a 'rumor': apparently TLG is looking at doing a Train theme...let's hope this more than rumor.:) (Seriously, 'My Own Train' was a great idea...just to bad it was in my 'dark age'.)
@brick_r:
MoT felt like a failure. Target stocked it, for one thing, and they don’t like products that are slow movers. TRU could get away with stocking a more complete range because they also tended to charge more than MSRP, but the instant Target got involved, they split the customer base, meaning they didn’t move fast enough for Target, and they weren’t profitable enough for TRU. Trains don’t really have a budget-friendly low end, so while young kids love them, parents of young kids aren’t going to want to shell out hundreds of dollars to build up _one_ train. It also wasn’t a huge hit with AFOLs. I know people who’ve bought several of the sets, even multiple times in some cases, and the only praise I seem to hear for it is that the blue train windows are incredibly rare.
AFOL trainheads fall all over themselves for stuff like the Santa Fe, the BNSF, the Emerald Night, the Horizon Express, or the Crocodile, but parents don’t want to pay that much. And what parents are willing to buy won’t interest AFOLs. They really need to decide which market they want to focus on, and figure out how best to do that. And ditch PU (it stinks).