Random set of the day: Monorail Accessory Track
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6347 Monorail Accessory Track, released during 1991. It's one of 22 Town sets produced that year. It contains 54 pieces, and its retail price was US$35.
It's owned by 674 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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46 comments on this article
Looks like a giant soda can tab.
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
@MCLegoboy said: "Looks like a giant soda can tab."
Monorail Accessory Track, sponsored by Coca Cola TM.
Currently worth over 10x their original RRP… these would have been a fantastic investment set.
Monorail.
Once upon a time, looking at me from the catalogue, but never in my hands. We could've had so many childhood memories together, but that path was not the one I walked in. Circling that endless loop, forever frozen in time, as we grew old.
This is the first of only two sets to include monorail switches.
@NatureBricks:
Several years ago, myself and another LUG member had expressed interest in buying any monorail parts that a third member might feel like selling someday. Instead, the guy posted them on a Bricklink while I was sleeping. And because he listed the track at 50% the going rate at the time, it all sold before I woke up.
I’ve built monorails in Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook and by gum it put them on the map!
I have 2 of these but boxes are damaged. Also 2 City and 1 Space monorail set plus extra track and supports. Also have 2 boxed LEGO spare monorail motors.
Passing this in a Shop in 1997 is among my top Tier list of regrets.
I had managed to buy some loose track from a classified ad a while back, but the box of it is in my main storage room and I have no idea which box it is anymore. I will find it eventually!
As for this particular set, I don't have it, but unlike train track (who needs 32948023 curves?) the more the merrier I say.
All these comments, and nobody has made a "Marge vs The Monorail" reference yet...
@TheEpicLuke said:
"All these comments, and nobody has made a "Marge vs The Monorail" reference yet..."
Apparently you missed WemWem’s comment above.
@TheEpicLuke:
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I believe the second comment by @Harmonious_Building is a quote, and the 8th comment by @WemWem definitely is (ironically, the name “Ogdenville” is burned in my memory because of that line).
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Got this lot in a LEGO eBay lot, I got both this and the other track set in LEGO eBay lots, boxes and all.
Nah...this is more of a Shelbyville idea...
And, of course: There's never been a monorail, no way, no, never (shutters window, shutter reads "Monorail Cafe")
(Hope I got those 'in the ballpark'...)
Seriously though, this is another "TLG needs to bring this back" things...Hmm...didn't TLG do a questionnaire containing questions about railroads (esp. rails) and monorail...wonder where that's at...
I didn’t know there were two expansion sets for monorails, I’ll have to go and count the number of switchers I have to work out which one I own.
@PurpleDave said:
"This is the first of only two sets to include monorail switches.
@NatureBricks:
Several years ago, myself and another LUG member had expressed interest in buying any monorail parts that a third member might feel like selling someday. Instead, the guy posted them on a Bricklink while I was sleeping. And because he listed the track at 50% the going rate at the time, it all sold before I woke up."
If he sold it for 50% of the going rate, you’re either a cheapskate or really unpopular!
This random set of the day is just here to taunt me.
There are times I wish I had all the town sets. Then I think about the space to build that town. Then I wish my previous wish to come true even more than before. This happens everytime I see a classic set in RSOTD.
I'm not ashamed to admit that if someone made KO versions of straight monorail track, I'd buy'em.
@Kynareth:
Hush. He didn’t sell it to the other member either. And he sold it for half the going rate because he didn’t think to check what track was selling for before listing it, instead just going off what he remembered they’d been selling for.
I found this box new in a store somewhere around Boston in 1996. It was a golden age to go around and check stores for old sets. Independent toy shops would let stuff like this collect dust and there was a Toys R Us south of Boston (in Dorchester) where they seemed to send all the older sets that weren't selling elsewhere. I picked up some stuff (including a whole case of Classic Space and Blacktron 2 landing pad road plates for 50% off) in 1996 and 1997 that were absolute TREASURES! The most amazing find was some really old gray pre-9V switch track from 1980. (Set 7852) I found a few boxes of that still sealed. Sold them on eBay since I had no use for them.
I think there just weren't a lot of AFOLs at the time, so stores were ripe for the picking. Of course, now with the closure of TRU, a lot of independent toy stores being priced out of their storefronts, and the known value of old Lego, those sort of finds are now impossible.
The only monorail set missing in my collection, have other four sets. Was looking into getting this couple months ago, but the prices are crazy
Monorail is was one of the themes I never bought but totday I have regrets not buying it back then.
The other themes were Western and Pirates. But I must admit that you didn't see the Western sets in the stores back then.
That old style of stanchion is the only piece I know of with double-height studs (meaning they had to have a brick on top rather than a plate).
...I've never seen a monorail track piece in person, but I guess they must have a brick-type underside.
@phi13 said:
"That old style of stanchion is the only piece I know of with double-height studs (meaning they had to have a brick on top rather than a plate).
...I've never seen a monorail track piece in person, but I guess they must have a brick-type underside."
They do. They're also as high as a brick and when you put a track between two tiles-on-top-of-two-plates arrangements, you get ground level monorail =)
As a kid, I thought these track accessory sets must lead a lonely life (they were shelf ground level while the monorails sat on the very top). Little did I suspect complete accessory sets would be almost as valuable as the starter pack!
It looks weird to see a monorail set with such a modern background. Or at least comoared to the space accesory packs. This one was for the airport shuttle, so that's why.
@PDelahanty , I wish that still was the case. Back in the late 00s over here you could sometimes find things from 5 or so years ago. This was always exciting because the 2000s was a time of rapid change, so finding a 2002 set in 2008 meant finding something from a different era. In general every summer you would find stuff on heavy discounts up to 2015 or so. And they were good sets being discounted too!
Now you're lucky to catch something on 20% discount here if you don't buy online on Amazon. It's just too popular for that now. Everything gets snagged up quickly, and -as you said- small stores are too expensive now. But also rarer and rarer, as they kept closing one by one.
In the 80s and 90s sets were also designated much longer shelf lives whereas now it is increasingly getting shorter. Some sets are only available for a few months!
I once got super lucky and found a great deal for this, 6347 , the amazing 1994 Monorail Transport 6991-1 AND a Fort Legoredo 6769-1 all three of them in the box!
I also got super unlucky before that and was scammed for the same 6991-1 by a seller who took my money and never sent anything...
Some days you lose, some you win!
@Binnekamp said:
"It looks weird to see a monorail set with such a modern background. Or at least comoared to the space accesory packs. This one was for the airport shuttle, so that's why."
It is space themed on the other side of the box.
I got lucky in the early 2000s with extremely low priced copies of the two Space monorails (my 6990 even had it's Box with trays and everything except the Display cardboard). Still on the Hunt for 6399 though... Anyways, what's your favourite Monorail? I like 6991's track Layout the most, it's a Lot of fun to play around. However the train Design is the worst of the 3 I think. 6399 has a very beautiful train (thanks to the specially made Motor cover) and those clever bridge track Layouts, but is a bit lackluster in other play Features. 6990 has the most boring track, but a very cool cargo pod System and also a nice looking train.
@Atuin said:
"I got lucky in the early 2000s with extremely low priced copies of the two Space monorails (my 6990 even had it's Box with trays and everything except the Display cardboard). Still on the Hunt for 6399 though... Anyways, what's your favourite Monorail? I like 6991's track Layout the most, it's a Lot of fun to play around. However the train Design is the worst of the 3 I think. 6399 has a very beautiful train (thanks to the specially made Motor cover) and those clever bridge track Layouts, but is a bit lackluster in other play Features. 6990 has the most boring track, but a very cool cargo pod System and also a nice looking train. "
Agree with you on 100%. 6991 would have sold much better if product management had allowed Unitron sets to be sold worldwide AND launched at the same time, as the pods are widely interchangable (1789 can't accept any other pod besides its own).
Monorail
Monorail
MONORAIL
Mono.....Doh
@bookmum said:
"Monorail
Monorail
MONORAIL
Mono.....Doh"
Mono means one;
and Rail means rail.
That concludes our 3 week intensive course
A few years ago, someone posted the track from 6399 Airport Shuttle for sale here on Brickset. Not only was it $125, which I thought was a deal, but he was literally just a couple towns over so we were able to meet in person. I was explaining how rare the monorail track is to a buddy of mine later that night, and went on eBay to show him the prices, only to see among the sets for sale a 99% complete 6991 Monorail Transport Base (the Unitron one) for a Buy It Now of $175. He looks at me and says, "Mark, click the button" which was all the convincing I needed.
@ra226 You're in luck. Check this out:
https://www.4dbrix.com/products/monorail/
Monorail.....officially the coolest thing Lego ever made. And easily the coolest thing I never had...
@phi13:
I don’t have a stanchion handy, so I can’t check exactly what height the studs are, but there’s a tall stanchion with a 6x6 base, and a short stanchion that’s half as tall with a 4x4 base. Minifig hips, short legs, and the new skirts (not the 2x2x2 slopes) have highly specialized studs that are about 3x the height of a stud. Minifig torsos have a round stud that’s about half a stud taller. At least three skeleton torsos have the same height of stud. There’s a 1x2 tile with the same style of stud that’s also intended to attach a minifig head securely. At least two torso extenders have the same neck stud. And I don’t own one, but I know there’s a Minecraft Villager torso that I believe has the same neck stud. But note that all of the rest are dedicated to making sure minifigs don’t fall apart easily.
As for monorail track undersides, mostly they’re completely hollow except maybe some structural ribs. Longer track have what looks like a 2x2 brick formed in the center. All track have a 1x2 formed into each end. Short curves and the curved side of points have what has to be the most complex mating, non-connecting surfaces in their entire product lineup. Because the motor would zip down a two-sides rack in the center of the track, precision joints were important. Straights and anything that connected to them were easy, as all you needed was a very basic “handshake” joint to line them up side-to-side. Where two short curves met, they created a diagonal joint across one of those 2x2 stanchion anchors, so the “handshake” had to allow each side to form a 1x2 anchor. But you needed to be able to take a left or right short curve and pair it with a left short curve, a right short curve, a left point’s curve, or a right point’s curve, allowing seven different track configurations off the same geometry (you could also arrange two left or two right points into a crossover between parallel tracks, but the point geometry would cause monorail trains to bind in the center unless you only ran it with one car and a motor).
And the reason stanchions had those tall studs was probably to help keep the mating ends of track aligned vertically, since the track isn’t likely to work free of those tall studs like it could on regular ones.
Why wasn't this revived for their Jurassic World theme in fact, they can still do so.
@PurpleDave said:
"This is the first of only two sets to include monorail switches."
Even more rare are parts 2677 and 2678: the ascending and descending ramp parts. These have only been available in official sets (all of theme fantastic in their own way): 6990 (1987), 6399 (1990), 6991 (1994).
I remember getting one of these off eBay in the early 2000’s (to go with my 6399 Airport Shuttle) for an absolute BARGAIN, before the AFOL boom happened, and the prices went thru the roof.
6347 is not a very fun set on its own. It is basically an expansion pack to the three Lego monorail sets, although this one is Town-themed so more specifically 6399 Airport Shuttle over the two space monorails. Airport Shuttle is the holy grail of most Townies and is thought to be the natural apex of the Classic Town era. Presumably, it is meant to be combined with 6396 International Jetport to form some kind of airport superset, but the shuttle has withstood the test of time a lot better than the jetport has, which is just some panels attached to some baseplates with very little brick structure.
Will the monorail ever be revisited? I suspect it will. The Bricklink Designer Program set BL19003: Skyline Express was a trial run.
Back in summer 2020, just a few months before my twins were due, I was super nostalgic about the LEGOs I did not have as a kid.
My wife was resting most of the time so I eBayed and BrickListed and looked for deals and bought 6990 ($350 - w/ box), 6991 ($450 no box), 6921 ($140 w/ box), and 6347 ($250 w/ box) as well as some loose monorail track pieces.
Building it all made so, so happy. The 25-year wait was finally over.
These LEGO sets will be buried with me in my tomb.
@CopperTablet said:
" 6347 is not a very fun set on its own. It is basically an expansion pack to the three Lego monorail sets, although this one is Town-themed so more specifically 6399 Airport Shuttle over the two space monorails."
This set wasn’t town themed over the space themed monorails… if you look at the set details page, the “More images” tab shows the other side of the box, which was space themed!
One side town, the other space, so neither theme was left out !
@CopperTablet said:
"Will the monorail ever be revisited? I suspect it will. The Bricklink Designer Program set BL19003: Skyline Express was a trial run."
I’d love to believe that will happen, but I really doubt that they’d ever get anything powered in a set. We get few enough train sets, I seriously doubt they’d launch a powered monorail set for an even more niche market than all the regular train fans
Many years ago I purchased a 6991 for a ridiculous £30. Much to my surprise this was in there too.
@NatureBricks said:
" @WesterBricks said:
"Currently worth over 10x their original RRP… these would have been a fantastic investment set."
A few years ago someone offered to sell me their monorail pieces for $350 or $400. I didn't have that money back then. I regret not taking the offer."
I have the track, cars, and a hardly used motor from the space set that had switch rails. Send me a message if interested
@WesterBricks said:
"Currently worth over 10x their original RRP… these would have been a fantastic investment set."
Good, but I wouldn't say fantastic. 30 years is a long time. 10x means an average 8% annual return. Enough to beat inflation most years, maybe even factoring in storage costs. Of course the tricky part is knowing this would be the product that took off and not hold on to a warehouse of something else like, say, Znap.