21344 - The Orient Express Train

[BricksBrotha]

• Set number: 21344
• Name: The Orient Express Train
• Theme: Ideas
• Pieces: 2540
• Minifigures: 8
• Dimensions: 12 cm (5″) tall, 8 cm (4″) wide, and 116 cm (46″) deep
• Price: $299.99 in LEGO Shop
• Release date: December 1, 2023
• Age: 18+

 

 

 

Maybe a Polar express next?!?

Edited November 21 by BricksBrotha
duplicate photo

[Billy Brick]

Only 18% claimed on the Hogwarts UCS after like 12 hours, people hate spending money right now. Potter has taken a bad hit lately.

[Nicodaemus]

30 minutes ago, wegj15 said:

Only 18% claimed on the Hogwarts UCS after like 12 hours, people hate spending money right now. Potter has taken a bad hit lately.

Set got a lot of hate and consumers might be expecting better value in the Orient Express at $300.

As a hobbyist, I skipped the H.E. because the O.E looked so much better from the fan design.  The actual product looks worse (still like the color tho) and casuals may not realize it can't be motorized(still can't understand why they changed the original design bc it didn't fit normal tracks but then didn't make a version that could be motorized but still looks toyish).

Personally, I jumped on 1 H.E. for my hobby interests.  $350 hit the sweet spot for me.  I think by next year more folks will come around like I did to the H.E as the O.E. didn't live up to expectations.

Edited Saturday at 07:08 AM by Nicodaemus
Correcting grammar

[raindog]

13 minutes ago, Nicodaemus said:

The actual product looks worse (still like the color tho) and casuals may not realize it can't be motorized(still can't understand why

The Orient Express CAN be motorized, but they stated, as it is made now, you would have to remove one of the carriages.  It's not something that they wanted to do.  The builders also fully acknowledged that they expected some enterprising AFOL to figure out the problem and correct it without removing a carriage.  And they do so with their blessing.

[Nicodaemus]

14 minutes ago, raindog said:

The Orient Express CAN be motorized, but they stated, as it is made now, you would have to remove one of the carriages.  It's not something that they wanted to do.  The builders also fully acknowledged that they expected some enterprising AFOL to figure out the problem and correct it without removing a carriage.  And they do so with their blessing.

Fair points.  However, from a value perspective, consumers would have to either rob a motor set from another train or buy one separately.  That starts to bring this set closer to a $350 cost; just to run the set with over one third of its piece count sitting on a shelf.

If an AFOL does figure out a way, I expect it will push added costs even higher and possibly reach $400.

At that point consumers might see H.E. as a better and more desirable value.  

[raindog]

4 minutes ago, Nicodaemus said:

If an AFOL does figure out a way, I expect it will push added costs even higher and possibly reach $400.

At that point consumers might see H.E. as a better and more desirable value.  

That's some messed-up logic on your part.  Of course, motorizing a train is going to cost you the price of motor, battery, etc.  If it had been manufactured that way, prices would have been higher.  And why would people turn to the HE?  Not only would they have the same issue (no motor) but they would also have a train that won't fit on the tracks with their other trains.  And the OE is a lot better looking than the HE.

I'm done debating this question as I can sense a moderator is about to smack both of our pee-pees with a train track for gumming up the Deals thread.

[redcell]

2 hours ago, Nicodaemus said:

Fair points.  However, from a value perspective, consumers would have to either rob a motor set from another train or buy one separately.  That starts to bring this set closer to a $350 cost; just to run the set with over one third of its piece count sitting on a shelf.

If an AFOL does figure out a way, I expect it will push added costs even higher and possibly reach $400.

At that point consumers might see H.E. as a better and more desirable value.  

Somehow I think that anyone with the disposable income to drop on sets like O.E. and H.E. isn't going to bother themselves with the rational choice of which one offers the better value and will just end up buying both.

[Pseudoty]

Taking this out if the DD thread but can you clarify this please. I thought the designer said that no current single motor was strong enough, so you are saying to power it one of the passenger cars would need to be removed or modified? TIA

[exciter1]

1 hour ago, Pseudoty said:

Taking this out if the DD thread but can you clarify this please. I thought the designer said that no current single motor was strong enough, so you are saying to power it one of the passenger cars would need to be removed or modified? TIA

I moved the thread to here.

[Pseudoty]

 

[mlc3423]

Here's another review from StudCity....I don't care much for most YT channels but this is one of the few that i do....Not a douchebag like most

 

 

Edited Saturday at 05:07 PM by mlc3423

[Phil B]

The Orient Express CAN be motorized, but they stated, as it is made now, you would have to remove one of the carriages.  It's not something that they wanted to do.  The builders also fully acknowledged that they expected some enterprising AFOL to figure out the problem and correct it without removing a carriage.  And they do so with their blessing.

The Trains community on Eurobrick already has several designs ready (and TESTED!) that show how to motorize the engine using either PUp L or Medium motors.

Sent from my SM-A326U1 using Tapatalk

[raindog]

10 minutes ago, Phil B said:

The Trains community on Eurobrick already has several designs ready (and TESTED!) that show how to motorize the engine using either PUp L or Medium motors.

Great.  Let them publish and post how-to videos.  I'm just the messenger here, not the one that made the statement.

 

2 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

I thought the designer said that no current single motor was strong enough, so you are saying to power it one of the passenger cars would need to be removed or modified? TIA

It's been a few days since I saw the video and I've slept since then.  I don't recall if the designer said that it was due to weight.  I do know that he said that, if they removed a carriage car, that the train ran great.  Add the car back and nada.  Since the train looked terrible with a car removed, they gave up on selling the set motorized.  However, he followed that statement up immediately by saying that he was sure that an enterprising AFOL will solve the problem right away and that he wishes them luck.

 

[Pseudoty]

Definitely not buying this set day 1 and probably not at all, but if you do and plan on building it immediately please be aware of this:

https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-ideas-the-orient-express-train-21344-sticker-production-issue/