10254 - Winter Holiday Train

[Val-E]

Guess the rumor tag can be removed now. Shouldn´t be long till we get a DS reveal either,

[jaisonline]

1 hour ago, thegooch49 said:

I like the train, but I think it misses the mark for "around the tree" possibilities. With no PF, it makes it more of a static decoration. Who wants to push a train around the track by hand?

Prob the target audience, kids 

however, I do think some 12 year old kids wouldn't mind adding Power Functions. We'll find out soon enough if that will be an option. 

[Ed Mack]

1 hour ago, KShine said:

The set is ok, but it certainly isn't an inspired thing of beauty.

If you have the LR one, the Toy Story one, and a few spare parts - you could probably build a better one yourself.

Right...the word iconic does not come to mind when I see this set.

[Val-E]

No need to if no track is included! Now if it is PF compatible, I may yet be able to get rid of my 7938 passenger train in a bundle!

Edited August 6, 2016 by Val-E

[Lordoflego]

1 minute ago, jaisonline said:

Prob the target audience, kids 

I agree, as a kid I broke all the remote controlled cars because instead of doing what they were intended for (controlling with a remote) I wanted to push them. I guess it's not so much fan for little kids to play with a toy from a distance without really touching it.....

[asharerin]

I really like this set. The train is alot more detailed than 10173. Only thing missing is one or two cars. Need the christmas tree open top car and then another one to put some candy in to the have it whizzing around the xmas tree. Easy and fun MOC to add those. Glad I don't have to pay $600+ for an official xmas train anymore.

[Alpinemaps]

4 hours ago, thegooch49 said:

I like the train, but I think it misses the mark for "around the tree" possibilities. With no PF, it makes it more of a static decoration. Who wants to push a train around the track by hand?

Looking at the photo, I see straight track, not curved track.  I don't think they believe many will be putting it around the tree.  I think they believe people will display it at the front of their winter villages.  There's already 7 winter village sets, all as static displays that you'd have on a table.  Why not put this train in front of all of those, in a long line.  You also don't need power functions for a train that only is displayed in a straight line.

Not saying they didn't miss an opportunity, Ed Mack said it earlier - they could have had a $200 set with power functions that is truly a "go around the tree" set and they still would have sold a ton of them.

4 hours ago, Val-E said:

Guess the rumor tag can be removed now. Shouldn´t be long till we get a DS reveal either,

Still no official announcement, so no removing the rumor tag. 

I like the looks of this set.  And I expect there will be a community effort to really expand this thing, and make it even more awesome.  Adding power functions, different styles of cars, etc.

 

[Phil B]

28 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

Looking at the photo, I see straight track, not curved track.  I don't think they believe many will be putting it around the tree.  I think they believe people will display it at the front of their winter villages.  There's already 7 winter village sets, all as static displays that you'd have on a table.  Why not put this train in front of all of those, in a long line.  You also don't need power functions for a train that only is displayed in a straight line.

 

Only having seen the box art, it clearly shows on the right hand side that it comes with 16x curved track (and only curved track). Not sure where you see straight track - even the big picture is a sequence of alternating left and right curving curved track.

[Alpinemaps]

8 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Only having seen the box art, it clearly shows on the right hand side that it comes with 16x curved track (and only curved track). Not sure where you see straight track - even the big picture is a sequence of alternating left and right curving curved track.

That's what I'm talking about.  That's flexible track on the box.  I don't have any experience with tracks - does that flex enough to allow something to go in a circle?  I just see it as track that allows it to go in a relatively straight line.

 

[Will 4]

Call me a Grinch but that does not look to good it is too disorganized.

 

[gregpj]

That's what I'm talking about.  That's flexible track on the box.  I don't have any experience with tracks - does that flex enough to allow something to go in a circle?  I just see it as track that allows it to go in a relatively straight line.

 

Flex track will allow you to make a curve that is just slightly more curved than curved pieces (maybe 4 studs?) but it does put pressure on the connections.

[Phil B]

8 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

That's what I'm talking about.  That's flexible track on the box.  I don't have any experience with tracks - does that flex enough to allow something to go in a circle?  I just see it as track that allows it to go in a relatively straight line.

 

There is no flex track on the box. Only curved track, 16 pieces. The track under the train on the picture is an alternating sequence of curved rail placed left then right curve (which sort of makes a wobbly "straight" track). Curved track does not have any "flex" to it - 16 pieces is enough for a circle with a 40 stud radius. Anything fancier needs additional rail (at $20 per pack of 8 straight rail pieces).

[redghostx]

The only nice thing about flex track is making large banks (flex straight flex or flex curve flex curve flex) so that you can corner at maximum velocity.

I like the train because it's not like 10173 and it's cheap enough to be right at the cusp of most giveaways to maximize self-made discount.

[lodibricks]

13 hours ago, Alpinemaps said:

Sorry folks, had to remove it.  I'm sure there are other places this photo will show up.  When it's official, we can post the pics.

Curse you! I was starting to think you guys were all crazy talking about a pic in the thread that doesn't exist.

How about a replacement pic instead?

Unless that's too complicated. Not trying to make anyone's job more work. That's what you're paid for...oh wait, nevermind.   

Edited August 6, 2016 by lodibricks

[scatmanjack]

Each of the cars has a different axle piece/set-ups/cosmetic pieces... Seems odd.   The 'gift car' even has one black and one tan axle... I was going to say that this car was PF train motor but it doesn't look like existing rocker mount for PF motor... unless they made a new motor...

[Phil B]

Just now, scatmanjack said:

Each of the cars has a different axle piece/set-ups/cosmetic pieces... Seems odd.   The 'gift car' even has one black and one tan axle... I was going to say that this car was PF train motor but it doesn't look like existing rocker mount for PF motor... unless they made a new motor...

You can see that there is a dummy mount for the PF motor used for the front 2 axles of the engine itself. I think that's where LEGO will tell you the PF motor should go, with an IR in the cab and the entire contents of the tender for the PF battery box. Plus cables everywhere.

[inversion]

Making PF optional is good. It jacks up the price while many people already have enough PF parts. For example I only use the expensive as hell li-ion battery, the cheap one could land in the trash bin as far as I am concerned. 

The set looks okay, but overpriced. The 16x rail tracks make it too expensive. I would rather have additional cars instead. Anybody can purchase rails if needed and it is not unlikely that lots of folks have enough already.

And regarding the pics, use the internet with the right words. Cheers.

Edited August 6, 2016 by inversion

[Flanagan Bros Inc]

^It also helps if you set the search settings to look for things in the past 24 hours, or week depending on when you read this. 

[HandyHand]

Just keep in mind that the Dutch website http://www.bouwsteentjes.info has no qualms with showing leaked pictures, so you can always look there. 

[Deadfraggle]

Let's speculate for a minute that LEGO is only going to offer a non-powered version of #10254 at $99 USD. While they may provide free instructions on how to motorize, I'm assuming they won't offer an official train + PF combo pack (perhaps a poor assumption on my part)

I'll also assume that for many people, the standard #88000 battery pack for $12.99 will meet their needs. At the same time, I think a large population of builders might prefer the rechargeable battery pack #8878 for $49.99?

The rechargeable battery pack is already back-ordered until 17 OCT on the US LEGO Shop at Home website.

Is it worth picking up one or two of these now during double VIP (again assuming you don't have any new stock lying around), in the event there's a shortage of this part during the holiday season?

LEGO Shop at Home Power Functions Category

[Val-E]

I would not bother as they will be easy to find on BL or ebay or people will just get the cheap one and wait. However, we also need to see how the 2017 PF update works out - if there are radical differences, the existing PF items could be a good investment.

[Beef]

Is it weird that I'm considering grabbing this set

just to grab the PF components and put them into the holiday train set?

(set is on sale at Target for $135.99, reg. $199.99)

[Alucard1982]

6 hours ago, Beef said:

Is it weird that I'm considering grabbing this set

just to grab the PF components and put them into the holiday train set?

(set is on sale at Target for $135.99, reg. $199.99)

Added track as a bonus....

[Brian Briggs]

48 minutes ago, Alucard1982 said:

Added track as a bonus....

plus 1 long-horn, the main selling point of the set for me

[Will 4]

1 hour ago, Beef said:

Is it weird that I'm considering grabbing this set

just to grab the PF components and put them into the holiday train set?

(set is on sale at Target for $135.99, reg. $199.99)

I approve it is good as you also get wagons to add to the trains length