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I purchased my first LEGO train last night, the Railway Express 4561.
It was definitely an impulse purchase; the trains that I really want (and
will get) are the ones in the 2001 catalog, but when I saw the set on the
shelves at Toys R Us (Times Square, NYC) I decided to pick it up to get
initiated. (Thank you to the Trains users who took the time to get me some
information.)
The Railway Express is more modern than I like*, but I'll have fun with it
while I put together my order at S@H.
WHAT I LIKE
So far, I've built the engine and two cars. My favorite thing about the
trains are the way the sides of the two cars swing up and close smoothly,
and the nice sleek overall design. The trailing, fin-like details finishing
the tops of the cars are nice. Once I had built them, I liked them more.
Perhaps it was the photos on the box I did not like.
Also what is great are the detailed directions LEGO prints (same with all
the other sets I purchased yesterday). They really seem to spare NO
expense, when other toy companies offer horrible black and white pages with
tiny line drawings and either no directions, or text that sounds like it was
translated from Russian to Chinese before making it to English. LEGO's
documentation is superb, colorful and generous.
WHAT I'M NOT SO CRAZY ABOUT
What I don't like about this particular train set (apart from all those damn
briefcases; someone please tell me why I need so many briefcases!) is the
way the little automobiles load on the auto transport car. Inside that car,
there are white flaps that fold down to form ramps for the autos to drive
up, but unfortunately there isn't quite room enough to accommodate the
length of the autos; their back ends are in the way when it's time to swing
the white ramp into a vertical position (which, I'm guessing, is what
prevents the cars from sliding back down the ramp, crushing the minifigs and
knocking the briefcases out of their hands).
MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS
(The only other problem I had: Max and Tina from set 4121 ("Creator: All
Kinds of Animals") boarded the train without tickets and made a nasty scene
at the concession counter. Be careful with these two; when Tina has been
drinking she is a handful, and Max is NO help at all.)
NEXT
Now that the trains are built, I'll finish the accessories, build the track
and give it a trial run. At that time I'll append this review.
* Perhaps once I get some towns started, I'll do a City theme and a Town
theme, and use the more modern Amtrak-type train in the city, and the more
old-fashioned one for the country.
p.s. Has LEGO given any thought about substituting PalmPilots for briefcases?
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: REVIEW: Railway Express 4561
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| (...) Hey, thanks for that review. It's a good contrast with the two other 4561 reviews we have: (URL) by Mark Herzburg and (URL) by Bradley Dale It is always fascinating to see how different folks like and dislike different things. Newbies to (...) (23 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.reviews)
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