Customer Reviews

LEGO Toy Story Western Train Chase (7597)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

**Update December 2011: Lego has delisted this set. There are, as of writing, still supplies of this train available. At some point, prices for the set will start to appreciate quickly.**

This is a five star train for kids in the 5 to 8 year old range. Older kids may be more interested in the City line trains (7938 and 7939) or the Harry Potter Hogwart's Express train (4841). The City trains, incidentally, are the only ones that come as complete sets with track, motors and remote control devices.

Wow, this is a good looking train! I believe that the photos and box art for the set don't do justice to how it looks when it is built, and how much fun it is to play with. This is an Old West 4-4-0 steam engine, box car, passenger car, and caboose. I would describe the design as more cartoon-like than realistic, with the engine having exaggerated proportions and the cars a tad short. The set includes no track or motor. It is designed as a push train. The engine uses four new drivers (and comes with two extra un-flanged drivers) as well as a cattle-catcher (a new part). The train cars themselves are short but attractively designed. As with the other new trains for 2010, this set is largely brick-built (i.e., few specialized plastic moldings). The set includes Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex, and Evil Doctor Pork Chops mini-figures. The passenger car and the caboose are designed with lift-off tops to make it easier to place characters inside, and the box car has a trap door in the roof. The caboose and the passenger car also have doors at each end, but these are hard to close unless you lift off the top. And I find that the engine is not as sturdy as I would like (e.g., the piston cylinders can pivot out of the proper orientation, the cattle catcher comes off when the kids hit objects -- as they are wont to do). The train is not a difficult build, but younger children will likely need some assistance.

Regarding adding a motor, it is possible to use Lego's Power Function (PF) accessories to add one. The easiest way is power the drivers with a motor, place an IR receiver in the engine cab, and a battery in the box car. The problem with this method is that the drivers are large and so even at slow motor speeds, the train goes faster than it should. It is preferable, but more of a hastle, to build a tender and put both the motor and battery box in it. This engine deserves a tender, and a tender's wheels are a more appropriate size for the motor. Wheels, coupling magnets and bricks can be had, piece-by-piece, directly from Lego. Obviously, motorization is really a project for tinkerers, but isn't that what Lego is about? In any case, the major parts that you need are (usually directly from Lego): 88002 (motor), 8884 (IR receiver), 8879 (IR transmitter), and one of the following:
-8878 (rechargeable battery) with 8887 (transformer for recharging)
-88000 (AAA battery box).

Though train buffs will likely be put-off by the design, this set is going to be very, very popular among children. Grandparents, I think this makes a perfect birthday or holiday gift. I do recommend buying track; the engine's wheels are on two bogies, so the whole thing can get a little sideways without it. As of early 2011, Lego discontinued their standard track pack, #7896. Two such sets gave you an oval. 7896 is still available but often at outrageous prices. In place of 7896, Lego currently offers a flex-track pack (#8867, which is enough to make a circle) and a combination straight and flex pack (#7499). I don't believe the flex track is ideal for curves, but it is not clear what Lego's plan is at the moment. There are also switches available (set #7895). If you want to add additional old west structures, you can add 7594, Woody's Roundup (which is a scene in Toy Story 2, not 3).

Yes, the box says ages 8 through 14, but honestly... What 14-year-old is going to be thrilled with a Lego train featuring the Toy Story gang? The age-range/difficulty level seems out of sync with the nature of the toy. Older children will probably not be entranced by the idea of playing with Woody and Rex, and younger children will need assistance with assembly of the components.

On to the product itself:

The contents were very nicely packaged, in what turned out to be separate portions of the instructions tied to the numbered bags of parts. The instructions were very clear, with little text, but with very good three dimensional graphics that provided all the information needed to assemble the various train cars without the annoying text found in so many instructions. The only portion of the instructions that wasn't spot-on was the assembly of the Toy Story characters. It turns out that not all the parts for the characters are in the character bag - a few key parts were actually in the bag used in the next set of instructions. Once that was figured out, all was well.

During construction, I began to notice that the fit and finish of the parts was extremely well done. After final construction, I was amazed that I could run my fingernail across the length of one of the railroad cars and it felt like one solid piece! That's got to be some manufacturing feat. Along with the fit and finish, the cars and characters are fully functional. For example, the two doors on the caboose actually opened and closed, the wheels turn very easily but were not wobbly at all, the cars interlocked well. The detail in the painted parts, especially the characters, was very well done. You can actually see the iris of the eyes, and we're talking about a less than two inch high character.

The only warning is that besides the actual characters, the finished cars are somewhat fragile in the sense that they will come apart slightly if handled anything more than average. A rough handling or a drop of more than 8 inches (on tile) results in the cars coming apart in large chunks - which I suppose is better than every piece coming apart. In any case, in about a minute with no directions to have to look at, it can be reassembled. The worry is that a seven year old might not be gentle with the toy once it's assembled. The characters have already withstood very rough handling from two three year olds and a five year old and have survived without any issue other than Woody's head coming off once when pulled very hard (which would be very easily replaced once I find it in the van).


Overall, I would rate this product very highly. Having put together many Legos together before, from the large toddler size to the normal size Legos, this is an amazing feat of manufacturing accuracy in comparison. The kids relate well to the characters and love the idea of trains. All in all, a great product.

While some might disagree, I firmly believe that the creators of Lego developed the perfect toy when they invented those interlocking little plastic blocks so many years ago. From the first minute I played with a set of Lego, I was in heaven. Whatever I might imagine, I could build it, as long as I had enough pieces to snap together to bring my imagination to life. Over time my parents bought more and more pieces for myself and my siblings to play with, and soon we were introduced to "sets" of Lego that were designed to offer the opportunity to build pre-planned designs (LEGO City Fire Station (7208), LEGO City Police Headquarters). Those sets offered the opportunity to follow instructions to build items in a manner similar to the way someone might assemble a model of a car, boat, or other item, and yet the pieces that came in those sets could also be used to build other items from your own imagination.

Over time Lego sets have been introduced that can be used to build items from the Star Wars universe, as well as many other sources (comic book characters, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, etc.) including the world of Disney/Pixar's Toy Story, which bring us to this wonderful set.

With this set builders get the pieces needed to build the train along with the character figures for Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex and Hamm as "Evil Doctor Porkchops". Builders can take those figures and put them into any other Lego environment that they may imagine and build, or they can remain purists and just assemble this set to match the instructions, just as they can with other Lego sets. Of course, with this particular set builders are able to look at the assembled set and recall the inspirational scene from the Toy Story 3 film.

As noted on the product listing, this set includes many small parts that are choking hazards so it is not appropriate for smaller children and usage should be supervised as appropriate to avoid such problems.

In terms of value, this one is priceless to me and comes with my highest recommendation.

Let me first start by saying how incredibly perfect the character pieces of this train set are. They are exactly true to form. Every detail just perfect. The train is cute with exceptional quality in its details, but the characters take home the prize on this one. I was able to get this with my son, age 17,in mind to put together with my two neices, ages 4 and 5. My son has been an avid Lego builder since age two so I knew he would love to put this together with his young cousins, but even I couldn't imagine how much fun they would have and how incredbly cute the whole thing is. We've decided to keep it at my home to continue to use when the little ones stop by for a vist and of course for my son and his buddies to enjoy! Lego's are truly a toy for all ages and this Toy Story Train is no exception! Great, great product!

I bought this for my son for his birthday. He had so much fun putting it together. It is very durable. Came with so many figures. A lot of parts for them to figure out. Great gift.

I have been putting most of my sons legos together for a while now. I was expecting this set to be much harder to put together than most. It was very easy to assemble. I was thinking that there would be a ton of pieces because of the higher price tag, but that wasn't the case. So far so good with this one, it seems to take a little more abuse than some sets without falling apart.

I bought this Lego set for my son's 4th birthday last month. Despite the 7-14 year rating, I had a good idea that he would play nicely because his grandmother purchased the LEGO Toy Story Trash Compactor Escape (7596) for Christmas. After building it, to my surprise he played nicely and re-enacted the movie with some improvisations.

If your child likes to tear stuff apart and build new things, I would stick with regular Lego kits. Better yet: have both! Regular Legos are for building experiments, and models like this Toy Story 3 train are meant to be assembled and played with, but not disassembled.

Based on an adult constructing the kit, I would say this toy would be fine for age 3-4 and up.

My son's feedback is that he wishes Mr & Mrs Potato Head were in the kit. The Evil Doctor Porkchop didn't hijack this train by himself! :)

This year my kids and I discovered the fun in putting together the more elaborate Lego sets. My son loves trains and I love the fact that you get all the main characters as Minifigs. Seemed to goo to be true to get Buzz, Woody and Jesse all in one set.

*One con is that the price of this set fluctuates dramatically. I have seen it as low at $40 other places and as high as $70+.

My son is almost six and he was able to put it together with guidance. Some of the tinier parts were tricky but each car is assembled in a similar fashion so we both got the hang of it.

I was surprised by how much my son played with this. He seemed to be re-creating the opening scene in the TS3 movie. That being said, many of the characters are a little big for the coaches so he couldn't open/close the doors if the minifig was inside.

A couple of the sets are very rickety. I loved the idea of the sliding car doors on the $$ car, but the doors pop off easily when being played with by a young child.

My biggest complaint of the fragility of the engine. It is incredibly detailed but many of these details are only held together but two "circles" for lack of a better word. I was surprised that there was not more support on the underneath of the train once the segments are assembled. We have the biggest issues with the front wheel section (smaller wheels) and smoke stack details.

All in all though, this is a great set that my son will surely play with a long time. I also got him the trash compactor for his upcoming bday, so I'm excited about that one!

As always I love legos, my daughter loves toy story and trains so it was a win. Now she is only 4 so I had the task of putting it together... darn DAD is forced to play with Legos. :) All the train cars hold up pretty well. The engine could be a little better designed as the front wheels fall off a little too easy. only a 2 block holds them on. Also we were missing two o-rings and had to order them from Lego I dont know when we will receive them.

My 5-year-old is a huge train, LEGO AND Toy Story fan, so needless to say, it was an instant winner. I have never purchased one of these expensive LEGO sets and I had always been intrigued but refused to pay the high price tags despite the begging every time we see them in the store. I was very pleasantly surprised. This set is obviously not made for 5-year-olds, so I did most of the building though he was able to put quite a few parts together on his own. It took us about 2 hours to complete, whew! When it was done, I was afraid it would be very fragile and that he'd have to use caution when playing with it or it would fall apart. Not so! I can't believe how well it stays together during play along with Thomas and the Chuggington game at play time. I did remove a handful of the smaller pieces that stuck off the engine and were prone to falling off if bumped, but other than that, he has been having so much fun with this. The quality is really fantastic. The characters are more detailed than what I expected from a LEGO set and he has a great time sticking them all over the train in different poses and playing out his own stories. We may just have to get a few more sets as he gets older. Lots of fun for both of us!