Random set of the day: Horizon Express
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 10233 Horizon Express, released during 2013. It's one of 4 Creator Expert sets produced that year. It contains 1351 pieces and 6 minifigs, and its retail price was US$129.99/£79.99.
It's owned by 6,504 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 $241.30, or eBay.
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34 comments on this article
How did I not know this existed? Creator doesn't get the attention it deserves.
So determined to reach the horizon, it even jumped the tracks!
5yo undiagnosed-autistic me loved the color scheme of these trains (although this actual set came out when i was 7)
As train names go, this is one of the best ever! Can easily rival a real-life one! Can you imagine the marketing and advertising possibilities with a name like that??
Fantastic set. Got a couple of these to make the complete train.
Quite an excellent year for Creator Expert!
@Euroseb11 said:
"As train names go, this is one of the best ever! Can easily rival a real-life one! Can you imagine the marketing and advertising possibilities with a name like that?? "
It's probably inspired by the Daylight Express.
Now *this* was a train.
Everything about it was gorgeous. Even the interiors were wonderful, with plenty of details and play features, and the photos don't do it justice.
Of course, you needed 2 to make a full train (all by design, obviously), but still. This is one of those trains that's a joy to own.
I regret not buying two of these! We run it st Christmas time and my kids asked me why there’s only the one side. And I feel ashamed.
@Zordboy said: "Of course, you needed 2 to make a full train"
If you want an authentic TGV, you need four sets and connect the cars like
1 + 2=3 - 3=2 + 2=3 - 3=2 + 1
where "+" means regular coupler, "=" means jacobs bogie and "-" means that a jacobs bogie needs to be added.
Maybe the best train LEGO has ever done. This would look perfect in my LEGO City, if I had room for a train layout that is.
Totally not an unlicensed TGV :-)
"Bring me that horizon!"
One of the passengers even looks like he could be descended from Gibbs...
Waiting for Lego to make 8-wide version
It looks really good. What happened to the review though? Was there a data loss?
@axeleng said:
" @Zordboy said: "Of course, you needed 2 to make a full train"
If you want an authentic TGV, you need four sets and connect the cars like
1 + 2=3 - 3=2 + 2=3 - 3=2 + 1
where "+" means regular coupler, "=" means jacobs bogie and "-" means that a jacobs bogie needs to be added."
I’m preparing for my maths exam and got a headache when I read this…
When I left France in the early '80s and moved to the US with my parents, I had been saving up for a Joeuf deluxe TGV model train set. I wound up with a Tyco Chessie System set with a chromed-out locomotive and a wind-up signal crossing. It felt downright caveman-like after the electronic traffic control system that came with the Joeuf TGV set.
I moved away from model trains, but not LEGO. I picked up two of these when they came out because, I mean look at it! It's totally a first generation TGV! I also got several Maersk trains and plan to have a nice layout at some point.
@axeleng said:
" @Zordboy said: "Of course, you needed 2 to make a full train"
If you want an authentic TGV, you need four sets and connect the cars like
1 + 2=3 - 3=2 + 2=3 - 3=2 + 1
where "+" means regular coupler, "=" means jacobs bogie and "-" means that a jacobs bogie needs to be added."
Well, if you meant Bo'Bo'-Bo'+2'2'2'2'2'2'2'+Bo'-Bo'Bo', you could have just said that in the first place. :P
@WizardOfOss said:
"Totally not an unlicensed TGV :-)"
Yeah, totally not the TGV Sud-Est. The fact that the livery is an exact match, and the shaping and details of the cars, especially the power car, are as close as 2013 Lego gets to them, is just a complete coincidence, an accident that could have happened to any designer.
Interestingly, the TGV Sud-Est trains began to be decommissioned the year before this set came out.
I love this set. It just sparks joy by color and refinement alone.
Creator Expert > Icons IMHO
Lego Trains may be the best lego theme as a kid for fantasising about huge lego lay-outs with all kind of different worlds connecting to each other. I know i did.
This is the first version of the French TGV from 1981 !
I've seen MOD's of this set that turn the orange into yellow or blue or green. But whatever color you build it in, it still holds as a good set up - even 12 years after it's release!
I got two of these when they came out, and then bought enough parts to make an extra cab, 6 extra coaches, and convert all the coach running wheels to jacob bogies. I also changed two cabs to each take double Power Functions (one motor etc wasn't enough to pull it) so that I could just swap the cabs over when one needed charging. End result, a train which was 3.5m long and which was quite a sight running round at Lego shows at the time. I sold the entire thing (minus the PF) a few years ago when I got out of Lego trains.
@Murdoch17 said:
"I've seen MOD's of this set that turn the orange into yellow or blue or green. But whatever color you build it in, it still holds as a good set up - even 12 years after it's release!"
Yellow? The "La Poste" version without windows?
I love the brick built noses on these.
The best colour scheme for a train... or for anything, really. There's literally no colour scheme I like more than orange-and-black like we have here, they always look so good together, and that alone gives me an immense fondness for this set.
I guess due to that colour scheme there's also a bit of association in my mind with Sebulba's podracer from 7171, the first set I owned that had a decent amount of orange parts - it wasn't exactly a common Lego colour in 1999! - which is also a fun association for me ^^
I really do need to find one or two of these someday. It's one of only a few white whales on my list, and it's just so cool.
@WizardOfOss said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"I've seen MOD's of this set that turn the orange into yellow or blue or green. But whatever color you build it in, it still holds as a good set up - even 12 years after it's release!"
Yellow? The "La Poste" version without windows?"
Yes! I don't remember where I saw it.... might have been Eurobricks. It's been a few years since i saw it!
as it happens, the latest (not yet in service) TGV model is called "Avelia Horizon" by the manufacturers (but TGV-M by SNCF).
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"I guess due to that colour scheme there's also a bit of association in my mind with Sebulba's podracer from 7171, the first set I owned that had a decent amount of orange parts - it wasn't exactly a common Lego colour in 1999! - which is also a fun association for me ^^"
It was a new color in 1999, between the need to model Sebulba's Podracer, and the X-Wing/Snowspeeder pilot outfit. Plus for some reason they gave Luke someone else's Snowspeeder.
It's a nice set, and 60337 Express Passenger Train is sort of impressive for being a City set too, and definately closer to Horizon Express then any other train since, just that round canopy looks really out of place even if it was meant to have a japanese shinkansen look for the City set.
I am fortunate to have two of these trains. They are always running during my public train displays. They operate so reliably and smoothly. You need to motorise both engines and have the rear engine operating in "reverse".
I have considered MOCing a jacobs bogie between the two models but that would make packing them away a little harder. The two x two carriages - each pair joined with a jacobs bogie - becoming four carriages joined with jacobs bogies would be unwieldly.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Euroseb11 said:
"As train names go, this is one of the best ever! Can easily rival a real-life one! Can you imagine the marketing and advertising possibilities with a name like that?? "
It's probably inspired by the Daylight Express."
I love the Daylight Express but this set is all classic TGV!
To mention something other than the model--talk about a 2010s collection of generic City torsos!
@gearwheel said: "Well, if you meant Bo'Bo'-Bo'+2'2'2'2'2'2'2'+Bo'-Bo'Bo', you could have just said that in the first place"
I'm not an expert on such notations, but are you sure it isn't supposed to be something like Bo'Bo'-Bo'+2'2'2'+Bo-Bo'+2'2'2'+Bo'-Bo'Bo', as it has a regular coupling in the middle (so it can be separated into two half-trains)?.
"Interestingly, the TGV Sud-Est trains began to be decommissioned the year before this set came out"
Pity, while I'm sure they're more technically advanced (and that 570kmh record is quite impressive), but I find many modern TGVs rather bland and ugly - it's like they defaced its front, called it a POS and wanked the logo on its side. BTW, would the new reddish orange color be more accurate for the Sud-Est?