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Subject: 
Re: 1999 Train 4561
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.trains
Date: 
Mon, 7 Dec 1998 17:33:00 GMT
Viewed: 
1000 times
  
My thoughts on the 4561 express:

Given that Lego apparently uses playability as a requisite design constraint,
the design makes sense.  It appears you can load and unload the cars, and the
cockpit design of the engine, makes it easy to get the driver/engineer in and
out.  Plus you can play out the scene for mission impossible with the
helicopter chase through the chunnel with Tom Cruise.  The passenger coaches
are a wealth of good pieces and would look pretty good when combined into
longer chains.  If you do not like the engine, build a different one to match
the cars.  That is the magic of Lego.  Also, you get two low boy black train
baseplates.  A feature that keeps the overall height of the train comparable to
the cargo railway.  And like the cargo railway, I'm sure this train will do
near full throttle without derailing; depends how top heavy the engine is.

Lego is apparently going for playability in their train sets; not realism.  So
I find it difficult to be critical of this design.  However, I do wish they
would create more models with realism as a design criteria.  For the time
being, I'm happy to build my own trains based on my own designs.

In fact, after seeing the picture for the 4561, I sat down for 6 hours last
night and build a new 4-8-4 steam engine full of creative ideas for achieving
realism.  Pictures to publish on the web later this week.

Ben



Larry Pieniazek writes:
which is available July 1, seen here:

http://www.lugnet.com/catalog/images/4112683-4112684-AM/150/30.jpg

After what Grahame said about it, I was expecting something a bit
different. Lego seems to have continued this "futuristic" theme that was
started in 4559.

It appears to me that this set does NOT use train windows. Instead, it's
either using thinwalls or some other sort of other frameless glass in
the coaches. It's hard to tell from the picture if the coaches use the
drop center plates like 4559 did but it looks like it. Fairly
unprototypical as well.

And the only good thing to say about the engine is that it at least
seems to be standing alone instead of having an articulation point for
the front of the first coach.

The open air station seems interesting but not very prototypical. Not at
all.

Sigh. Please, TLG, will you let ME design the darn things?

--
Larry Pieniazek    http://my.voyager.net/lar
For me: No voyager e-mail please. All snail-mail to Ada, please.
- Posting Binaries to RTL causes flamage... Don't do it, please.
- Stick to the facts when posting about others, please.
- This is a family newsgroup, thanks.



Message is in Reply To:
  1999 Train 4561
 
which is available July 1, seen here: (URL) what Grahame said about it, I was expecting something a bit different. Lego seems to have continued this "futuristic" theme that was started in 4559. It appears to me that this set does NOT use train (...) (26 years ago, 6-Dec-98, to lugnet.trains)

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