One of the best parts of the holiday season for me is the annual release of LEGO's Winter Village sets. This year, in addition to the Train Station for the Winter Village, LEGO released a pair of small ($10) sets that serve as a nice compliment to any Winter Village display. I was enamored enough by both of the small sets that I purchased them...and today, I had the great fun of opening up and building the first one: LEGO 40262 - LEGO Christmas Train Ride.
For a $10 set, you actually get quite a bit including a small train, two small stands, a light pole, a tree, and a picnic table. In addition, you get three minifigures: a conductor, a coffee barista, and a young girl. All told, the set contains 169 pieces including a tree piece so it's a decent value for your money no matter how you slice it.
Looking at each part individually, we have to start with the set's namesake: the train.
The train consists of two cars and a locomotive. The two train cars are built exactly the same - and yes, if you were to buy another version of the set you could easily make the train four cars long instead of only two. Still, for its size, the train is quite nice. I particularly like the use of the pearl gold accent pieces on the train - it adds a bit of a holiday feel to the entire set! My only complaint about the ticket booth is that the yellow tiles that LEGO used for tickets are simply plain tiles. No printing or any other way to really see that those are tickets. Heck, I think a 1x1 yellow tile would have been a better choice (the 1x2 tile ticket seems huge in relation to the size of the train)!
Next, the coffee stand and picnic table.
I love the torso that the coffee stand worker is sporting, it's a print that I don't think I can get enough of (maybe some day I'll make my own proper coffee shop store)! The picnic table isn't very exciting (and it's much too large for the scale of the rest of the bits of the set). The little stand is quite lovely though...and yes, you do get two red mugs (one for the "sign" and one for a customer).
Finally, the street light and tree.
Quite honestly, I think I like the little street light build the best of all! I suppose this could be a bus/train stop (so that the small set goes with this year's larger Winter Village set) but it works just fine on its own as well. The small pine tree is always appreciated - you can't have too many pine trees in a Winter Village display!
All told, for $10 I'm quite satisfied by the set. You get three minifigures, a smattering of nice pieces in useful colors, and some quality small builds...plus a tree. I don't know what you can expect out of such a small set! I will say that while I have no plans to keep the set completely in tact as it is, I am quite happy to add the various bits to my collection - and even better, to this year's Winter Village display that I need to start working on soon!
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 9
Play Value: 8
Kid Value: 8
Adult Value: 10
Overall: 9
Trains are always fun - and while this set doesn't offer a load of play value, for it's price there is quite a bit here for kids to mess around with. For adults, you can't really beat the set for the money... If only LEGO had included printed 1x1 ticket tiles instead, this might have been a perfect small set.
For a $10 set, you actually get quite a bit including a small train, two small stands, a light pole, a tree, and a picnic table. In addition, you get three minifigures: a conductor, a coffee barista, and a young girl. All told, the set contains 169 pieces including a tree piece so it's a decent value for your money no matter how you slice it.
Looking at each part individually, we have to start with the set's namesake: the train.
The train consists of two cars and a locomotive. The two train cars are built exactly the same - and yes, if you were to buy another version of the set you could easily make the train four cars long instead of only two. Still, for its size, the train is quite nice. I particularly like the use of the pearl gold accent pieces on the train - it adds a bit of a holiday feel to the entire set! My only complaint about the ticket booth is that the yellow tiles that LEGO used for tickets are simply plain tiles. No printing or any other way to really see that those are tickets. Heck, I think a 1x1 yellow tile would have been a better choice (the 1x2 tile ticket seems huge in relation to the size of the train)!
Next, the coffee stand and picnic table.
I love the torso that the coffee stand worker is sporting, it's a print that I don't think I can get enough of (maybe some day I'll make my own proper coffee shop store)! The picnic table isn't very exciting (and it's much too large for the scale of the rest of the bits of the set). The little stand is quite lovely though...and yes, you do get two red mugs (one for the "sign" and one for a customer).
Finally, the street light and tree.
Quite honestly, I think I like the little street light build the best of all! I suppose this could be a bus/train stop (so that the small set goes with this year's larger Winter Village set) but it works just fine on its own as well. The small pine tree is always appreciated - you can't have too many pine trees in a Winter Village display!
All told, for $10 I'm quite satisfied by the set. You get three minifigures, a smattering of nice pieces in useful colors, and some quality small builds...plus a tree. I don't know what you can expect out of such a small set! I will say that while I have no plans to keep the set completely in tact as it is, I am quite happy to add the various bits to my collection - and even better, to this year's Winter Village display that I need to start working on soon!
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 9
Play Value: 8
Kid Value: 8
Adult Value: 10
Overall: 9
Trains are always fun - and while this set doesn't offer a load of play value, for it's price there is quite a bit here for kids to mess around with. For adults, you can't really beat the set for the money... If only LEGO had included printed 1x1 ticket tiles instead, this might have been a perfect small set.
Hey. I own a fellow LEGO blog, and I was wondering if you had an email i could contact you on regarding co-operation between our blogs. My email is james.hirlehey@myport.ac.uk . Thanks!
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