Random set of the day: Freight Rail Runner
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 4564 Freight Rail Runner, released during 1994. It's one of 3 Trains sets produced that year. It contains 587 pieces and 3 minifigs, and its retail price was US$134.
It's owned by 1,805 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $716.80, or eBay.
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32 comments on this article
I’d just like to see the person who designed this background explain what’s supposed to be going on there.
@PurpleDave said:
"I’d just like to see the person who designed this background explain what’s supposed to be going on there."
There is this thing going on sometimes: "ask any questions to Lego". Someone should remember to ask this question next time they do that.
One of my holy grail Lego sets. I'm not sure this was ever available in Australia -- maybe it was, but I don't remember ever seeing it -- but it's one of those early 9V train sets that I want so badly, it's painful.
My second train - and the first freights train.
It's the only regular train released the same year a monorail came out.
This set basically introduced those 1.5 x 6 fence pieces that were used a lot in the years to follow.
I like the aesthetic of the locomotive although it's hard to imagine how the driver gets in and out with the weird way the doors open.
@PurpleDave said:
"I’d just like to see the person who designed this background explain what’s supposed to be going on there."
It’s obviously the demon train from hell
Yeah, you’d better run!
I've always loved classic Lego trains, from afar sadly.
This is seriously one of the only logical complete freight train sets ever made by Lego. The truck performs a logical function hauling logically-built containers from a flatcar. The mail car actually has machinery in it for loading and unloading. The hopper looks and acts like a hopper. The locomotive looks like an actual freight train locomotive. While Lego always takes inspiration from real-life trains for its locomotives, it seems to increasingly take liberties with the freight cars. .
Engineer: "Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down; Workin' in a coal mine, oops, about to slip down..."
Foreman: "Not funny John...":D
Obviously a proto-Space set, judging from the box branding.
I always wanted those train sets with the blue cave background, kind of a holy grail for me along with the weigh station one
I absolutely love this old Lego box art. Why can't the train be park coming out of an ominous cave? We lost something when Lego moved away from this style.
My chief memory of this is the time I had adding 9v lighting (it's got passive provision: space for the light bricks, cables and so on). All the lights and cables worked fine on their own, but when in the loco there was a bad connection somewhere and I had to keep switching the parts round until the lights reliably came on.
Rail Runner....that were the Hfl. 1,- train tickets for kids up to 11 years old. Which were often still used by kids a few years older, as the conductor had no way to actually check your age. Though in 1994, when this set was released, I don't think I would still get away with it....
Cool set though!
Seems to be carrying mostly mail, but I can’t help but feel like letters from the denizens of Hell would probably get a bit repetitive after a while
Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud.
@johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
The late '90s called. They want their Slizers, Town Jr., Scala, and Insectoids back...
@brick_r said:
"Engineer: "Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down; Workin' in a coal mine, oops, about to slip down..."
Foreman: "Not funny John...":D"
I understood that song reference!
@Murdoch17 said:
" @johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
The late '90s called. They want their Slizers, Town Jr., Scala, and Insectoids back..."
You’d best not be talking smack ‘bout my guys the Insectoids, those were some great designs
"Hey Frank. ... Ayo Frank, answer the walkie!"
"gofer franch"
"Yeah we got another shipment coming in from the Underworld from The Prince of Darkness."
"leni gesh, da deshtinajun's unclur egan, ret?"
"Yeah I know, I keep telling him he has to write the addresses legibly, but it's just a bunch of lines."
"ijit tu late tu gobak?"
"I don't want to head back, it's awful down there."
"canyu zhust leevit der?"
"If I leave the shipment here at the entrance, he'll come after me. I got kids man."
"wel wutju wanme tudu?"
"Well I want you to come down here and fix it."
"ogh nod dish egan"
"You're right, 'This again!' I told you not to sign that contract, but you don't listen!"
I love the way those grates in the hopper and post carriage were made with technic liftarms from the time. Very ingenious stuff to nestle them like that.
It also must have taken up a lot of the budget, as at the time using such quantities of parts for detail wasn't common. But then again... train sets weren't exactly cheap.
That liftarm on the truck is also worthy of note. It uses a rubber band slung underneath the fuselage to make it go up and outwards if the hook on a string is moved to tow the cargo truckbeds out of the back of the truck. Pretty cool design, but I fear for the rubber bands included with this set. Although I believe that the rubber band disease might not have been as common before the late 90s/early 2000s.
Also, the alternate model actually has instructions on the back of the instruction booklet!
@Murdoch17 said:
" @brick_r said:
"Engineer: "Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down; Workin' in a coal mine, oops, about to slip down..."
Foreman: "Not funny John...":D"
I understood that song reference!"
I understood that Marvel reference!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
https://brickset.com/minifigs/belvbaby04
"I hope you have made peace with your gods, for I have killed them in the late nineties. Look into my soulless eyes and know this to be true.""
Well at least the place you go on holiday doesn't have that baby with its head and body separated in the toy barn...
@Murdoch17 said:
" @johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
The late '90s called. They want their Slizers, Town Jr., Scala, and Insectoids back..."
To be fair, I meant early-mid 90s. 1994 in particular had a spectacular lineup. By 1997-98 it already felt like it was going downhill.
@johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
I agree with you. The early 90s had the magic combination of excellent style, fun play, and thematic cohesion. Individual sets and one-off themes have eclipsed that era, especially in the late 2000s–early 2010s, but never across the entire catalog.
Today, Lego at retail is visually bewildering. It's going in every different direction at once. Individual sets may be brilliant, but I can't actually imagine playing with most of them together. It's almost all licenses (and some in-house IP) which make no sense if you haven't seen the movie. And it doesn't feel like there's any point in investing in any of them, because the whole idea will be gone in 6 months and replaced with something completely different.
And yes, I always thought Toolo looked amazing, even though I had essentially never played with Duplo and had long outgrown it. It looked like the kind of thing I would have liked to play with—exactly what you were saying.
This one is still missing in my train collection. Very expensive.
Also, the box art is wonderful. The flap shows the alternate design and the box is generally nice and sturdy.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
The late '90s called. They want their Slizers, Town Jr., Scala, and Insectoids back..."
Insectoids looks cool as hell tbh
@AllenSmith said:
" @johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
And yes, I always thought Toolo looked amazing, even though I had essentially never played with Duplo and had long outgrown it. It looked like the kind of thing I would have liked to play with—exactly what you were saying."
Same here, but I first got a Toolo set last week in a yard sale. It is absolutely brilliant. I never understood why Lego discontinued it. It is basically Technic for toddlers.
@johnnytifosi said:
" @AllenSmith said:
" @johnnytifosi said:
"Is it the nostalgia speaking or hasn't Lego still reached the heights of the 90s indeed? Every single theme in their catalog was pure perfection back then. Technic, Trains, Town, Space, Basic, even Toolo for crying out loud."
And yes, I always thought Toolo looked amazing, even though I had essentially never played with Duplo and had long outgrown it. It looked like the kind of thing I would have liked to play with—exactly what you were saying."
Same here, but I first got a Toolo set last week in a yard sale. It is absolutely brilliant. I never understood why Lego discontinued it. It is basically Technic for toddlers."
LEGO still makes a Toolo set (though I could swear they used to have more not that long ago) in the Education line.
https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/tech-machines-set-with-storage-by-lego-education/45002/
@Zordboy said:
"One of my holy grail Lego sets. I'm not sure this was ever available in Australia -- maybe it was, but I don't remember ever seeing it -- but it's one of those early 9V train sets that I want so badly, it's painful."
In the Aussie catalogues of the era; we kept 4563 until it was replaced by 4565. Never saw this 4564 in catalogues or shelves.
I got mine off eBay from europe about 25 years ago.
@Murdoch17 said:
"The late '90s called. They want their Slizers, Town Jr., Scala, and Insectoids back..."
You're throwing shade at the Throwbots? Them's fightin' words.
Choo Choo