Random set of the day: LEGO Express Deluxe
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 4535 LEGO Express Deluxe, released during 2002. It's one of 10 Trains sets produced that year. It contains 762 pieces, and its retail price was US$170.
It's owned by 362 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 $775.00, or eBay.
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31 comments on this article
Yeah, I ordered my package as Express Deluxe, but it's been nearly 21 years and it still hasn't gotten here.
Never heard of this in my life. I love you Huwbot.
Train and cars are very cool. The platform needs work.
While the set itself feels familiar, I've never seen this shot of the box. It's neat!
At first I thought I'd never seen or heard of this set before, but actually I think one of my cousins had it. Anyone know where I can find some half-decent pictures of this set?
The individual carriages (and engine) were all available for sale separately.
But there were a couple of these bigger sets where the carriages were bundled together and sold as a set, with a platform and track.
I don't think the bigger sets were available overseas (and most of them are hideously expensive to pick up, on the second-hand market, although some of the freight carriages can sell cheaply, you just have to keep an eye out), but the individual components (the engine, tender and carriage) were available everywhere.
I still regret not purchasing this set when it was released. Instead I went for multiple sets of the individual rolling stock and customized the engine via My Own Train.
It’s a magic carpet on a wheel, never takes a rest, come take a laxative on the LEGO Express!
The last of the old grey 9V LEGO trains, as far as I know. And what a send-off.
@GSR_MataNui said:
"While the set itself feels familiar, I've never seen this shot of the box. It's neat! "
That's because it is! I guess I'll be the loremaster on this one. I'm going off of memory alone here...
So in 2001 LEGO started the My Own Train program, where customers could order a train locomotive with two variations (small and large), and they could option for a tender as well. All had separate product numbers, but they would come in one box that had checkboxes on the side that were marked with the contents of the box.
A box with a tender would come with three separate packages inside though, not two as someone would expect. That's because these sets come with color options! The locomotive's bricks that were universal to all color variations came in one packet, and the color-specific bricks came in another. This has led to many, many separate sets listed on BrickLink, as each packet has its own set number.
But that's not all! Individually boxed rolling stock was released at the same time so that customers could truly build their own trains, and/or add to them as time went on. If I remember correctly, there was a green passenger car, a caboose, an Octan tanker car, a blue hopper that dumped 1x1 round bricks, and a blue flatbed with logs.
This program ran all the way into the mid-2000s (I remember receiving my second customized locomotive as a gift in 2005), and in that time, some bundle sets like this one were released - they would put a pre-specced (as in color and size choice) locomotive with various pieces of rolling stock from the lineup, and some additional minifigures and platforms. The elusive blue recolor of the green passenger coach came from one of these bundles.
There was even a selection of flash games released as tie-ins for the line. I remember playing 2 of them online when I was about 4 years old. I think one was a train creator game where you would simply pick the colors and sizes - like one would when picking their product - and run it on some virtual track. The second game was one I tried to track down more recently, but it involved Conductor Charlie and his adventure trying to catch a criminal on the train.
Man, I love the Conductor Charlie and Engineer Max characters from this line!
(if anyone has more details on those games please let me know)
Anyway, all that said, these probably look familiar since they are repackaged bundles of more widely known individual train car sets.
I really wish we still got sets like this, and I'm not even THAT into trains. I think the My Own Train was a great idea, especially selling rolling stock/carriages separately. That's one of the reasons lego trains fail; the only way for parents to buy their children a Lego train is to spend $200+ on one train that usually just does a round track and only comes out roughly every four years. There's nothing to expand the layout and it is very difficult for kids (or adults) to make custom railway stuff as the necessary wheels/bogies are only available in said $200+ sets.
All I got from this subtheme was four 9v train motors and two 9v regulators. And all the train motors have since died.
I rediscovered my used copy of this set (with box) in my pile o sets I have, went through it and while it was missing a few parts, all the main stuff was there, including the sticker sheet with all stickers on it. I wanted to buy it new, but thought that the price of 170 USD was too pricey for what came in the box...Found someone selling it used for about 80 USD at the time.
@Harmonious_Building said:
"Never heard of this in my life. I love you Huwbot. "
Same here. What a strange set. Must have been some kind of exclusive.
@Brickchap : how very true!
That's one of the reasons why a certain alternative manufacturer has become so successful over here in recent years, because they offer so many individual train rolling stock and accessories, and of actual existing prototypes too.
Nearly $800??!!!!!
That's some big money.
If I got one, though, I think I would open it. Just seems like a fun toy from LEGO's original heyday.
I had completely forgotten that the MSRP on this set was pretty dang high for 2002. This was my first LEGO Train set and I have fond memories of my parents gifting this to me for one of my birthdays. I still have this put together and bring it out on the city layout every now and then.
Ah, My Own Train. You are sorely missed!
Actually, anything Trains related beyond a station, a passenger train and a freight train superset is missed. RIP trains.
Except for that hell tunnel. That one can stay in the 90s.
I remember the My Own Train collection was advertised in the very first Lego catalog I remember seeing. I only ended up getting the small blue locomotive, but I wish I'd been able to get a few more sets.
Such a great idea for a theme, having a fully customizable train with individually purchasable rolling stock. Lego really should consider reviving the idea, the cookie-cutter city passenger and cargo trains got old about a decade ago.
I remember seeing "My Own Train" on a local toy store and then again a couple/few short years later a vacation in Edmonton at a toy store in 'the mall'...neither store's around anymore, but it was still cool to these sets 'in the wild'...and kinda' makes me wish TLG would take another kick-at-the-can which this series or a successor...
@Binnekamp said:
"Ah, My Own Train. You are sorely missed!
Actually, anything Trains related beyond a station, a passenger train and a freight train superset is missed. RIP trains.
Except for that hell tunnel. That one can stay in the 90s."
Was there a tunnel, apart from the Duplo one?
@AustinPowers said:
" @Harmonious_Building said:
"Never heard of this in my life. I love you Huwbot. "
Same here. What a strange set. Must have been some kind of exclusive.
@Brickchap : how very true!
That's one of the reasons why a certain alternative manufacturer has become so successful over here in recent years, because they offer so many individual train rolling stock and accessories, and of actual existing prototypes too. "
Can you PM me a link to these alternative manufacturer?
@Harmonious_Building said:
"Never heard of this in my life. I love you Huwbot. "
Agreed. Harmonious learning in action!
"It's one of 10 Trains sets produced that year."
There is not much to add really...
I love the huge disclaimer. "For ages 8 to 12", today it would be 18+. And twice the price :-)
The notes on the set page says that it's from a selection of the "My Own Train" series which I vividly remember looking at in the LEGO Shop @Home catalogue but never ordered. I wasn't a train kid, but there was something magical about seeing all the different cars you could buy and mix and match that filled my imagination. Part of me wanted to have the classic train circling the base of the Christmas Tree, but since we had cats who at that time they still chewed on pieces if I left them out where they could get them, it wasn't the purchase to make. I don't regret not getting a train, there's a high likelihood it would all be dismantled and all the parts sorted, but it would have been cool to have.
@Brickchap said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Harmonious_Building said:
"Never heard of this in my life. I love you Huwbot. "
Same here. What a strange set. Must have been some kind of exclusive.
@Brickchap : how very true!
That's one of the reasons why a certain alternative manufacturer has become so successful over here in recent years, because they offer so many individual train rolling stock and accessories, and of actual existing prototypes too. "
Can you PM me a link to these alternative manufacturer?"
I tried via a message on your profile page, but I am not sure whether it has reached you or Brickset in general. Haven't quite figured out how to send PMs.
@Train_of_Thought_Creations said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
"While the set itself feels familiar, I've never seen this shot of the box. It's neat! "
That's because it is! I guess I'll be the loremaster on this one. I'm going off of memory alone here...
So in 2001 LEGO started the My Own Train program, where customers could order a train locomotive with two variations (small and large), and they could option for a tender as well. All had separate product numbers, but they would come in one box that had checkboxes on the side that were marked with the contents of the box.
A box with a tender would come with three separate packages inside though, not two as someone would expect. That's because these sets come with color options! The locomotive's bricks that were universal to all color variations came in one packet, and the color-specific bricks came in another. This has led to many, many separate sets listed on BrickLink, as each packet has its own set number.
But that's not all! Individually boxed rolling stock was released at the same time so that customers could truly build their own trains, and/or add to them as time went on. If I remember correctly, there was a green passenger car, a caboose, an Octan tanker car, a blue hopper that dumped 1x1 round bricks, and a blue flatbed with logs.
This program ran all the way into the mid-2000s (I remember receiving my second customized locomotive as a gift in 2005), and in that time, some bundle sets like this one were released - they would put a pre-specced (as in color and size choice) locomotive with various pieces of rolling stock from the lineup, and some additional minifigures and platforms. The elusive blue recolor of the green passenger coach came from one of these bundles.
There was even a selection of flash games released as tie-ins for the line. I remember playing 2 of them online when I was about 4 years old. I think one was a train creator game where you would simply pick the colors and sizes - like one would when picking their product - and run it on some virtual track. The second game was one I tried to track down more recently, but it involved Conductor Charlie and his adventure trying to catch a criminal on the train.
Man, I love the Conductor Charlie and Engineer Max characters from this line!
(if anyone has more details on those games please let me know)
Anyway, all that said, these probably look familiar since they are repackaged bundles of more widely known individual train car sets.
"
The game involved getting on the 'Legoredo Express' and waiting for Conductor Charlie to punch you ticket while the train speeds along. When he doesn't arrive, you go looking for him and run into Senor Palomar - notorious villain! He puts you in a broom closet with the tied-up Charlie, who tells you you need to light a flare from the top of the train to alert Engineer Max to stop the train before Palomar gets to the engine.
I loved this game, and played hundreds of times as a child. I haven't played it since 2007, so the above is based on memory. I think I got everything....
The price looks really expensive for back then, although limited US edition and you did get everything; motor, transformer/ speed regulator plug, Just feel sorry for those US kids who only received the Express 4534, as for an extra $10 you received an extra 2 carriages and 400 pieces.
@Wrecknbuild said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Ah, My Own Train. You are sorely missed!
Actually, anything Trains related beyond a station, a passenger train and a freight train superset is missed. RIP trains.
Except for that hell tunnel. That one can stay in the 90s."
Was there a tunnel, apart from the Duplo one?"
There was never a tunnel set. I think it’s a reference to the tunnel seen in the catalogs that emitted an eerie reddish glow.
The other 9V sets in the 2003 World City wave such as 4511 and 4512 May have been the very last old dark gray 9V sets. 10027 Train Engine Shed and a few others exited production in 2006. That was the end of ODG (as far as I am aware).
My Own Train looks a bit small for My Dad, but ok....