Amongst my primarily 1980's collection, this set always stood out as an oddity. Even though it predated my grey era 12v sets by only five years, it seemed a world apart, scaled oddly and with crude minifigures. So how does it shape up today?

Box/Instructions

The instructions are a startling exercise in brevity - the main station building is complete in only 7 steps, with almost two complete layers of bricks added every step, though the bridge and other platform are covered off at a slightly more leisurely pace. The slightly awkward angle of the graphics combined with the all-red colour scheme does make part distinction difficult at times, but it's easy enough to correct later if you find you've gone wrong.

Parts

As could be expected from a set of this vintage, it does not contain the vast array of different parts in the riot of colours that we are used to now. Having said that, the set comprises mostly of a large number of 1xn bricks, ideal for constructing any kind of building (albeit only in red), as well as a good selection of large grey plates, three large 10x20 green 'bricks' which act as baseplates and a wonderful array of white windows in a variety of widths and heights. In short, though the main model was a station, this was ideal parts pack for nearly any building you could dream up. Additionally, this set included my only antenna piece, so it gets bonus marks just for that.

Minifigures

This was one of the first wave of sets to include what can just about be recognised as a Lego minifigure. Both the legs and the torso are little more than crudely modified 1x2 bricks, moulded in one piece, each with no poseability. They have no faces, with gender presumably designated by headgear - all the men sport hats and the women have pigtails (the latter being a piece which remained in production until 2010). They are made to 'sit' by placing the legs piece one row of studs in front of their body, a creepy attitude which makes them all look like they've been forcibly bisected. To top it off, they are just slightly out of scale with the actual building and would be receiving regular cracks on the head going through the doors.

Despite this, their inclusion should still be celebrated - at the time they would have added a whole new play dimension previously missing from the main System range of sets. Additionally there are a relatively generous five figures included which makes the station look fairly well populated.

The build

As I said above, the build is extremely rapid, to the extent that it rushes by some steps and the exact placement of some pieces require a bit of guesswork. Apart from this unintended frustration, there is nothing of interest in the building techniques used which are primarily just brick/plate stacking.

There are a large number of the dreaded stickers and they were as much a pain then as they are today - possibly more in fact, as the designers had no compunction with spreading them across multiple pieces. While they do help break up the all consuming red-ness of the building, there are arguably a few too many - my set has lost a couple, but looking at the pictures on the back of the instructions, this isn't necessarily a bad thing...

The completed model

The completed model does what it says on the box, and the structure includes enough design cues so that it seems like a familiar station building, even if you have never seen one like it. Unlike later sets in the Town range, the buildings are completely enclosed, so playability in the main station building is limited. Furthermore, the interior of the bridge over the track is built for strength and aesthetics - there is literally no space to play with minifigs in here even if you could easily access it, and the whole thing is out of scale with them anyway.

On the positive side, it does make a good backdrop for the train sets of the day, and even encourages expansion, with the central track designated at Platform 1 and the empty space the other side of the island as Platform 2. Additionally, the little handcar included is odd but fun, and means that it could still be played with by anyone who may have got the set but didn't have the full railway to accompany it.

Overall opinion

This is a set awkwardly straddling two distinct Lego philosophies. The station model is primarily of the old Town Plan approach, rooted in the build and display mindset - you can play around it, but the interior is not readily accessible and is pretty much useless. On the other hand, the inclusion of prototype minifigs encourages more of an interactive element, but that is not yet supported by the style or layout of the building. There was a new dawn coming, but sadly this set was not going to be a part of it.

I have mixed feelings about the resultant model - a deeply inexplicable nostalgia for the style and simplicity, but weighed against the fact that nearly every station that followed is superior from both play and display perspectives. And as could be expected, the odd scale of the set is even more glaringly obvious alongside modern models, which was most noticeable when I tried to run Horizon Express through the station - the low bridge caught the roof and pantograph section of the train and resulted in the entire station being relocated a good way down the track. A word of warning for anyone who wants to use it with the more recent rolling stock!

In conclusion, this is a lovely set to include in any vintage layout and really does look great alongside the rest of the 1970s range - but with limited application outside of that era and, lacking the enduring appeal of later stations in the 12v range, it will primarily be of interest to era-specific collectors.