Customer Reviews

LEGO City Train Starter Set

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My son is too old for the Brio/Thomas trains although at one time they consumed his every waking moment. He is not quite ready (nor am I) for the various scaled electic trains. He has always been a Lego fan so when he saw this he jumped. The train itself is really well designed with nearly perfect instructions. It is reminiscent of the hi-speed trains (TGV) in Europe. The track goes together easily and precisely. It seems to be durable enough to handle many assembly cycles. The neatest aspect of the system is the IR control. The train is powered locally, not from energized track. The speed and direction are controlled via an infrared controller. The trains maximum speed seems well matched with the curvature of the track so my son was able to run full speed through the turns without derailing. Top speed is really fast!

My only negative comment is that it came with just enough track to build an oval. I would been happy to spend a little more money and receive enough track to be creative. We had to wait a week for the track expansion kit to arrive.

Great train, great service.

Another great LEGO toy. We bought this set to go with the Lego City Train Deluxe Set we had purchased earlier in 2006. The only draw back is the amount of tracks included with the city train starter set. It is only enough to create an oval. I recommend buying additional tracks to increase the joy of playing with this wonderful toy.

This was my 5 1/2-year-old's most favorite gift this Christmas. He plays with it every single day. At first he didn't think he could build it himself but the way the step-by-step drawings were printed and the way each of the train car pieces were separately packaged really made it easy for him. We thought he would build it once and that would be it but now that he's got the hang of it, he likes to break it apart, put other lego people in the coach and try other ideas. The different speeds are fun, too. It's amazing how well the train stays on the tracks even at the highest speed which really whips it around. My Thomas the Tank Engine fan is really having a terrific time with this toy. PS - He's had the primos and the duplos but this is his first set of big kid "little legos" and he's thrilled.

We purchased this train as a birthday present for our daughter, and it was great fun for a while; a short while. We experienced technical difficulties after having the train for only 2 short months and the train stopped working. The good news is that the folks at LEGO were very responsive and promptly sent out replacement parts to resolve our issues. They reported having a lot of problems with this model. It took two calls to customer service and about three weeks to get everything through the mail (in 2 separate shipments). Our train is now working again. Thanks LEGO.

An excellent set! This may be my favorite LEGO set I've ever owned. The train runs very well on the track, smoothly and quickly with 7 speeds forward and 7 in reverse. Top speed is quite fast--fast enough with completely fresh batteries to crash the train, but the construction is very durable, and you're not going to break it with a little mishap. My living room carpet is a perfect base for the track, so unless you have serious shag, you're not going to need to set up a special play area.

The train has seating for 11 minifigure passengers and the engineer (an engineer and 2 passengers come with the set). The roofs of the cars come off easily to get figures in and out while fitting snuggly enough not to fall off during use. There is enough track for a small oval (about 28 x 39 inches). You would need to buy more track to get the train to run under most Christmas trees.

I gave it 4 stars instead of five because the cowling on the locomotives doesn't fit very flush to the train body at all. It kind of bugs me when I'm looking at it, but once we start playing, it's quickly forgotten.

We gave our nine yr. old grandson this train for Christmas. He had a such a good time putting it together, then running it on the track. The train absolutely glides on the track, so quietly and smoothly. It is a great product.

Lego delisted this set in late 2009. This set and #7898 were the of the "RC" generation of trains. The prior generation was the 9 volt series which used electrified track. The next (and current) generation is the Power Functions (PF) series which uses updated components (a new motor and new infrared signaling devices). The battery compartment and infrared receiver of the RC generation is a single, large unit; this is unique to 7897 and 7898. Battery power comes from AA batteries. It is not out of the question to modify the old trains with PF elements (to varying degrees of elegance). 9 volt, RC and PF all use the same gauge track, but the 9 volt track is electrified (RC and PF can still use it). Lego still calls its track "RC."

This passenger train is loosely modeled after a German ICE high speed train. With the two custom molded fairings (nose and tail), as well as a large number of fairly specialized roof and window pieces, the train does not lend itself easily to modification. More particular users have complained about the molded fairings, both for the lack of ingenuity (why not try to build it out of bricks?) and gaps between the fairing and the train. I agree with both of these points and that is why I've marked this down to 4 stars. Kids don't care, however. This is an otherwise fantastic train. It has a very modest station platform and two mini-figures. It comes with all the necessary motors and track; it requires only batteries.

Cheers

This is the best Lego train assembly ever. The tracks snap smoothly so is the train moving above. You need lots of AA batteries: Nine! but they seem to last. If you are into the train thing, make sure you buy additional tracks and switches to make more fun than just an oval.

My 4-year old has been obsessed with H.O. scale train stuff for over a year but I've never felt comfortable setting up a layout for him because I realize he doesn't have the skills yet.

This train is the perfect transition from the slower, clunkier Brio or Tomy sets to something swift and precise. Assembling it was a pleasure, and the 4-year old was able to snap together 75% of the train within a couple of hours with some guidance. I should mention that this particular 4-year old has assembled half a dozen smaller lego kits over the past 6-months, so he's Lego literate.

The train starts and stops quietly and smoothly, and reaches a dramatic top speed emphasized by its rather large size. It appears to be a little larger in scale than a Lionel type O-scale set.

Some of the detractors mentioned above are true -- too little track provided, and some of the larger molded parts don't fit perfectly. But to me these are small concessions for a fantastic-looking toy that is an absolute pleasure to assemble and operate.

Can't wait to get more track for it and take over the whole house! And I may even let my son play with it once in a while :)

My 5 year old loves this toy. He needed very little help in building this, which is a reminder that anyone buying legos should know, always pay attention to the recommended age group on the box. Its always right on the money. As for this product, I would recommend buying the additional track package that is available for it. As this is packaged, its fun to build, but only comes with a very simple oval track, which is very short.

As for troubleshooting - at first, my Son said it wouldn't move. I didn't notice at first that he had put the basic metal rod through the part of the 1st car that has the motor. He missed in the instructions that you need to put the black rod through (which is in the shape of an "x") and actually provides the traction to drive the train forward.

Once we figured that out, after about 10 minutes, he started looking at the book and asked if we could get more track - the book shows the various related packages/boxes sold for the train. Probably worth buying to keep his interest in it.