The recent revival of the Horizon Express topic made me think about the future value of this set.

The train theme growth stagnated in 2015 and I was wondering what people really expect from this set.

I thought that I would list some pros and cons and maybe some other people will have some input too.

 

Pro:

The crane dock is very well done and easy to expand upon
The engine is excellent, especially if you are from North America. 
There's a cow
There is no helicopter
Two switches are included and that makes it easy to start a collection with this train or to make this your second purchase.

Con:

The "cargo" wagons are unremarkable.  I don't need to ferry animals around and carry fuel at the same time, it really seems like combining elements of this set with 60098 would have made more sense.  Only the drum car is interesting
The part out value is low compared to other options: eBay sales will put it at about $200 after shipping and fees and Bricklink indicates that the new value is around $280 but that seems about 15-18% too high to me.
The minifigures add nothing to the set.
This set has been heavily discounted for all of 2015 and although 60098 Heavy Haul train is not a huge improvement on this set, the fact that it will be available at retail will probably hinder the growth of new copies of the 60052 train.

Does anyone see this train blossoming after retirement or are there simply too many cargo train options on the market for this one to stand out.  This really seems like a low growth set, based on MSRP, but it should have nice part out value.
 

I'm surprised we don't already have a topic for 60052 given how many times it has gone on sale (and good ones) all over the place.

It's a nice set, but with LEGO rehashing train sets all the time I don't see these common sets - i.e. cargo trains and passenger trains - going up in value all that much. The real way to win with these is to get them at steep discount and flip them. There is nothing all that special about these sets so, in my opinion, holding them for 3-5 years won't yield the kind of gains people are expecting.

*caveat - if LEGO replaces the RC style with an updated one that is deemed less desirable, these could all of a sudden become more valuable as people look to expand on their train collection without going into a new style of electronics.*

PS No helicopter is a big bonus to me.

Yeah, these sets have everything not to like for investors; easy to find, lots of steep discounts, long shelf lives and few rare or exclusive parts. Perhaps the most interesting thing is to part them out of the buy-in is good as train fans who already have track and PF will oly want the train itself and the PF can be bundled with 10233, for instance.

 

38 minutes ago, valenciaeric said:

Yeah, these sets have everything not to like for investors; easy to find, lots of steep discounts, long shelf lives and few rare or exclusive parts. Perhaps the most interesting thing is to part them out of the buy-in is good as train fans who already have track and PF will oly want the train itself and the PF can be bundled with 10233, for instance.

 

Good tip. Hadn't even thought of this.

I hope 142.99 with 2 day shipping free wasn't paying too much. I have been following the prices on this thing for weeks all over the web. I could pay less on ebay sure but the shipping is always at least 20 bucks which puts it over 142.99 almost every time...

I am gonna love this set and my 2 year old will even more... (with supervision) I'll post another comment once I get mine up and running. Maybe I'll have something new to add to the discussion... heh.

Been parting out a few of my $99 yoyo.com trains, not as hot as one might think

Just now, justapilgrim said:

Been parting out a few of my $99 yoyo.com trains, not as hot as one might think

Parting out as in selling sub-builds, or as in brick-by-brick?

 

I hope 142.99 with 2 day shipping free wasn't paying too much. I have been following the prices on this thing for weeks all over the web. I could pay less on ebay sure but the shipping is always at least 20 bucks which puts it over 142.99 almost every time...

I am gonna love this set and my 2 year old will even more... (with supervision) I'll post another comment once I get mine up and running. Maybe I'll have something new to add to the discussion... heh.

IIRC, this was available for about $100 (including shipping) a couple of months ago from yo-yo part of a 2 promocode deal...

Set up the train. Had to reinforce the crane it simply wasn't heavy enough for me and the boy. We love it though... it sets up a nice border for the center of our Lego city! A necessary purchase for a city builder.

 

135.99 for 60052 a good deal?

I saw this on Amazon and can't decide if I should pull the trigger. What do you guys think?

 

I saw this on Amazon and can't decide if I should pull the trigger. What do you guys think?

You should probably try asking this in the "deal or no deal" thread.

7 minutes ago, PickSomeBricks said:

 

I saw this on Amazon and can't decide if I should pull the trigger. What do you guys think?

 

Too much do not buy

9 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

You should probably try asking this in the "deal or no deal" thread.

I liked the thread post ...... it screams 911

Lowest I paid was $88.28 (Did pay $147 when it was a new release)

Thank you for the responses. Sorry for the misplaced thread. I'm a new user

It's cool. The Internet is a very forgiving place.

4 hours ago, PickSomeBricks said:

Thank you for the responses. Sorry for the misplaced thread. I'm a new user

You'll get a range of responses. Some people say they won't buy under ##% off, some say if you want something, get it before it's too late. If I were afraid of missing out on one for myself, I might consider jumping at 30% off. However, I wouldn't go nuts stocking up on them at this price though. With drmirage's $88 deal, it'd be hard to spend much more after that. I snagged one from Yoyo at $120 during some after-xmas sale (20% off $149.99). There's no guarantees, but I'd be surprised if there weren't another good sale or clearance before it's retired.

Whether it's for personal use or future resale should also factor into his decision. I wouldn't touch that price if it's for resale. Personal collection go for it.

There are way better prices out there for this set. For example https://jet.com/product/City-Trains-Cargo-Train-60052/afbd1ed32e54416d893db8e70a910d36

$132 plus tax if you waive free returns, plus an additional 15% off with code TRIPLE15 (new accounts only) to get you to $113 plus tax.

Buying 2 gets another $6 off that price.

Trains are always good. But at this price, I wouldn't pull the trigger if it is for resale.