As we discussed previously, this year’s addition to the LEGO Winter Village series is the #10361 LEGO Holiday Express Train. The set comes with 956 pieces and features a locomotive, coal tender, flatcar, end car, platform, a 16-piece circular track, miniature toys including a 3D-printed train piece, and 4 minifigures.
If you’re familiar with the LEGO Winter Village collection, you will notice that this year’s train is very similar to the #10254 LEGO Winter Holiday Train released in 2016. Although the color-schemes are different, the rest of the two trains are very similar. The 2016 train had a rotating Christmas tree on its flatcar, while this year’s train comes with a bell-ringing polar bear and a bobbing smokestack.
As I mentioned in previous articles, I’m a big fan of the 2016 train. It was a fun building experience, and having it run around the Christmas tree always made me happy. So I was glad to see that LEGO fans who missed out on the 2016 train can now enjoy a very similar locomotive.
I like the color-scheme of the new train very much. The dark-blue and light-blue combination is not as obviously Christmas-y as the earlier version, but this means that if you want, you could fairly easily turn it into a regular train by just removing and replacing the holiday decorations.
And just like the earlier train, this one can also be motorized (Powered Up components sold separately). Instructions for this modification are included at the back of the building instruction booklet.
The highlight of this set is the first-ever 3D-printed element in a LEGO retail set. It’s a little blue train that comes in its own gift box. I’m super impressed by this train! It features rolling wheels, movable couplers, and a moving smoke stack at the top. And it also has several standard attachment points, so it fits seamlessly in the LEGO universe. It’s interesting to note that this train wasn’t done by using standard FMD-style printers, but much more sophisticated and expensive machinery. This might explain the higher price of the set compared to LEGO Winter Village sets from previous years.
The only feature I don’t like about the new train is the polar bear. It’s just not as cute as the rotating Christmas tree on the earlier set. I’m hoping that there is a way to make the plain face of the bear cuter. In the video below, you can see the train in action.
Overall, I think those who got the previous train could easily skip this one, as they are so similar. However, if you have never had a LEGO Christmas train, this set would be a wonderful addition to a LEGO Winter Village layout, or to set up around the Christmas tree, or even just by itself. If it fits your budget, I highly recommend motorizing it, as the movement makes the train all the more festive. If you would like to check it out, the set is available at the LEGO Icons section of the seasonal items section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like the new LEGO Winter Village Train? Do you have the previous version? Are you planning to get the new version? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
- LEGO Holiday Train & Christmas Tree Press-Release
- LEGO Winter Village Skating at the Sugar Shack
- Working LEGO Ski Hill with Instructions
- LEGO Winter Village Style Custom Vehicles & More!
- LEGO Winter Village Santa’s Post Office Review
- Off-Season Storage for LEGO Winter Village Sets
- LEGO Winter Village Display Ideas
- Cute LEGO Winter Village Projects with Instructions
- More LEGO Winter Village Dioramas & Display Ideas
- LEGO Winter Village Dioramas & Display Ideas
- Light-Kits for Your LEGO Winter Village & More!
- Minifig-Scale LEGO Vintage Pickup Truck
- Build Up Your LEGO Winter Village – Book Series
- Custom LEGO Winter Village Ideas by ChatGPT
I agree that polar bear could be improved. But otherwise it’s great. I missed out on the first one, so will be picking up this. I’m just waiting for black Friday. 😊
I agree that the polar bear is a little weak. I mean, what do polar bears have to do with Christmas? But anyway, the rest of the train is fine. Although I agree that if you already have the first one, you don’t really need this.
Well, Santa Claus is supposed to live on the North Pole, as generally believed…
(Penguins, on the other hand, is a whole other matter…)
A cute set, but…
This is the first winter set over $100.
I have the winter train from 25 years ago. This is not in the same league.
I’m concerned with how train cars get connected. Ideally, one should be able to connect ALL Lego trains. That’s certainly not the case.
I think I’d rather buy 2-3 Spiderman train cars and get a train that I could run all year. But that set has NOTHING to connect cars. Ouch!
Anyway, I would consider this set as an addition to a winter villiage. But I’m behind — I still want the winter post office.
Any sales on winter sets?
The Spider-Man train car is an excellent set for train fans! And yes, I agree that the connections should be standardized on all train sets. I prefer the magnetic connectors.
As Lego has had train sets for about 60 years or so, I guess it’s not completely realistic that all the systems should be compatible. But it would be nice if they had one main system per era, at least…
(I have the old Spider-Man train car from the earlier set, I wonder how the different versions would look together…)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 🙂
Happy thanksgiving. Luckily, I managed to get great sales and deals at other places. ( sorry lego) . It seems like since October it’s been Black Friday every day. It kind of ruin the fun. It used to be kind of special like all the other holidays.( If you want to call it a holiday.) As for Christmas theme set up. I’ve decorated some of my modular buildings in Christmas decorations. I have Santa’s workshop, elves Clubhouse and Santa’s post office. Oh let’s not forget that one nice house set that Santa can slide down the chimney in. So I’m set. Family stick together, like the Lego bricks can click together.😀 May the fowl be with us.🦃.