Northern Train was better than.

Actually, it looks more like it's heading South if that's the sunset. And worse off, it might even be heading East with that curve in the tracks!

oh, nice. I didn't remember this one.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Northern Train was better than."

You mean 60470?

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Northern Train was better than."

A western Train is the best, but only if it's being chased: 7597

From the Western theme before the Western theme.

Seriously, TLG actively marketed those sets (homemaker cowboys, 12V trains, "stage extra" cowboy sets and even Hobby Sets) as "one" collective new Western toy line in 1976-1977.

Never seen a train with a 'spare-tire' before...I mean; it makes sense, but...:)

I didn't know that steam engines were carrying a spare wheel.

Cute set. I'm glad Lego was thinking of us back then. I have most of them including this one.

I miss magnets being in sets. I know they were exiled for safety reasons but they always seemed so cool to have and play with even if it was for something as mundane as holding a train together

@Brickalili said:
"I miss magnets being in sets. I know they were exiled for safety reasons but they always seemed so cool to have and play with even if it was for something as mundane as holding a train together "

The blue/red magnet thing was always a pain. The 80s bi-pole black magnets were so much more useful.

@8lackmagic said:
" @Brickalili said:
"I miss magnets being in sets. I know they were exiled for safety reasons but they always seemed so cool to have and play with even if it was for something as mundane as holding a train together "

The blue/red magnet thing was always a pain. The 80s bi-pole black magnets were so much more useful."

I hadn't realised the practical consequence of that until now. Always thought it was a stylistic thing!

Classic! Kinda funny though that the biggest window on the locomotive isn't actually a window though.....and indeed, that spare wheel is creative....

@8lackmagic said:
"The blue/red magnet thing was always a pain. The 80s bi-pole black magnets were so much more useful."
I actually always kinda liked those as a kid....we didn't have a motorized train, but with these magnets you could push a (light) train forward without actually touching it! Magnetic Magic!

@Brickchap said:
"NPU with the train wheel as the front boiler plate (?) Not sure the correct term sorry.

Also, proper pistons!"

According to Wikipedia it is called smokebox door:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokebox

And to other commentators: No, locomotives don’t have spare wheels.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Northern Train was better than."

A western Train is the best, but only if it's being chased: 7597 "

I've gotten a heck of a lot of use out of engine in set 7597 's basic 'look'. I've stretched it into a 4-6-0, revised to make a coal burning 4-4-0, took a rolling pin to it to make a 4-10-0 (styled after 'El Gobernador' - the one-time biggest engine in the world!), and so on. I added working pistons and a proper tender to all these locos as well.

It's pretty cool and it feels almost ahead of its time in how it's just a classic playset when at the time the protofigs couldn't really do much with the builds yet. Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle! How cool is that!

Even the shaping and colors feel lively and not as blocky as usual because that can be expected from the type of vehicle.

You really can see that the time for the first minifigs has arrived!

@Binnekamp said:"A vehicle carrying another vehicle!"

"Machines making machines! How perverse!"

@Binnekamp said:
"Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle!!"

The horse is a vehicle? So it's a motorized fake horse. It also is built with two very illegal techniques.

Arguably the worst LEGO horse ever. It's inexcusably horrendous, considering it launched alongside the much better 617.

@Norikins said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle!!"

The horse is a vehicle? So it's a motorized fake horse. It also is built with two very illegal techniques.

Arguably the worst LEGO horse ever. It's inexcusably horrendous, considering it launched alongside the much better 617."

I'm aware that the ears being a plate pinched between studs is an illegal technique, but I hadn't even know the tail was possible. Having never seen this before now, I wouldn't know if it's illegal or not.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Norikins said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle!!"

The horse is a vehicle? So it's a motorized fake horse. It also is built with two very illegal techniques.

Arguably the worst LEGO horse ever. It's inexcusably horrendous, considering it launched alongside the much better 617."

I'm aware that the ears being a plate pinched between studs is an illegal technique, but I hadn't even know the tail was possible. Having never seen this before now, I wouldn't know if it's illegal or not."

Just looked through my copy of Jamie Berard's Stressing the Elements (which, admittedly, is a bit out of date now, as the 1x1cone and 1x1 tile with clip have been modified to make those connections legal, but still otherwise a good guide) and it's not mentioned at all. This set may have been the only one to even use it!

@TheOtherMike:
Cone was definitely modified to make certain connections legal. The clip tile got changed to homogenize the clip family of elements. The new standard C-clip has rounded tips that should make insertion of a bar easier from the side, but came with the drawback that they ended up being more prone to snapping off at the base. I’m not sure what technique you believe was made legal by the change. If it’s clipping a plate, that’s more about the plate vs tile geometry than anything to do with the clip design, and still very stressful on the clip.

@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike:
Cone was definitely modified to make certain connections legal. The clip tile got changed to homogenize the clip family of elements. The new standard C-clip has rounded tips that should make insertion of a bar easier from the side, but came with the drawback that they ended up being more prone to snapping off at the base. I’m not sure what technique you believe was made legal by the change. If it’s clipping a plate, that’s more about the plate vs tile geometry than anything to do with the clip design, and still very stressful on the clip."

The document shows a 1x2 tile clipped into a https://brickset.com/parts/design-93794 and says that this is not a legal technique. I assumed that the current design was to make it legal, homogenizing the clip design across elements hadn't occurred to me.

@TheOtherMike said:
"The document shows a 1x2 tile clipped into a https://brickset.com/parts/design-93794 and says that this is not a legal technique. I assumed that the current design was to make it legal, homogenizing the clip design across elements hadn't occurred to me."

I don’t have the document handy, but there was a point where it shows two tiles in clips. One is illegal and the other is not. The one that is has no groove around the base, and hasn’t been made in decades. The groovy tile has just enough of a reduction in cross section that the clip (or minifig hand) isn’t unduly stressed. A plate is even worse than the ungroovy tile because plates are slightly thicker, plus you still have that hard edge at the bottom. And while I don’t think the document addresses this, there are older clip types that have very slender fingers where it’s barely safe to snap a bar in from the side, and they’re intended to hold bars.

But that presentation was given quite some time ago (maybe 20 years ago?), and the modern clips were still several years away from being introduced. There’s at least one instance in that document that shows it’s okay to clip a tile by the edge, which can’t be referring to the current clip design.

I always liked the box with this set with the insert for the train so that you didn't need to break up. Clever power transmission from rails to motor, but assumed you had the transformer which is not mentioned anywhere. Also the only train with a spare wheel.

@Norikins said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle!!"

The horse is a vehicle? So it's a motorized fake horse. It also is built with two very illegal techniques.

Arguably the worst LEGO horse ever. It's inexcusably horrendous, considering it launched alongside the much better 617 ."

Please, can we put this to rest? It was not 'illegal' then, it is 'illegal' now. But only in the sense that LEGO designers cannot use the technique in official sets. If you want to wedge them to together in some way, or cut, burn, glue, paint or shallow your Lego pieces, you can, nobody is coming to arrest you.

@rslotb said:
" @Norikins said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle!!"

The horse is a vehicle? So it's a motorized fake horse. It also is built with two very illegal techniques.

Arguably the worst LEGO horse ever. It's inexcusably horrendous, considering it launched alongside the much better 617 ."

Please, can we put this to rest? It was not 'illegal' then, it is 'illegal' now. But only in the sense that LEGO designers cannot use the technique in official sets. If you want to wedge them to together in some way, or cut, burn, glue, paint or shallow your Lego pieces, you can, nobody is coming to arrest you. "

Yeah, the concept of an "illegal technique" didn't even exist then.

@rslotb said:
" @Norikins said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Yet here there's spots to place them and the rear wagon can store the horse if you want. A vehicle carrying another vehicle!!"

The horse is a vehicle? So it's a motorized fake horse. It also is built with two very illegal techniques.

Arguably the worst LEGO horse ever. It's inexcusably horrendous, considering it launched alongside the much better 617 ."

Please, can we put this to rest? It was not 'illegal' then, it is 'illegal' now. But only in the sense that LEGO designers cannot use the technique in official sets. If you want to wedge them to together in some way, or cut, burn, glue, paint or shallow your Lego pieces, you can, nobody is coming to arrest you. "

Blame then-future LEGO set designer Jamie Berard. I don’t know if he coined the term, but he’s definitely the one who put it out in the AFOL community.