I first got this set for a christmas in the early nineties, I remember being taken with just how big it was! So when i dug this set out again and decided to rebuild it, i couldn't wait to get stuck in,

The motor is more than capable of hauling this loco at a fair old pace, the interior is nicely detailed with two control panels and a chair at each end of the loco, there is also an engine in the middle section of the loco. The one thing that could be better, is better provision for equipping 9v lights, it could be done, but theres no prism on the loco, but its a minor issue...

From me this engine gets a 5, i'd give more, it deserves it, this should be the pride of any 9v railway! get some articulated wagons behind it, set your transformer to a third power and watch it crawl round your track like a big goods train should.

This is an imitation of the Austrian locomotive 1020. So the Santa Fe locomotives 10020 and 10133 are not the only ones that have a big brother in real life. Even the colour scheme of the crocodile engine is like the one of the really existing original. However, in reality this engine also existed in green colour. So it would have been nice if LEGO had also produced one in that colour.

The engine looks great, but the "tail" and the "mouth" of the crocodile - the front and the back parts - easily fall off and derail, especially when you send the engine through curvy areas of your track layout at high velocities. The front and the back parts are not heavy enough. Weight bricks would be good. Those parts are held in place with a tile (format 2x2) with a pin in its centre. That's why they often fall off.

The instructions also show you how to build an alternate model withtout the back and front parts that are always falling off and derailing. So if you are fed up with that, simply build the alternate model.

But it is still a great set which looks fantastic!