Passenger Express Train

Building this is a gentle, pleasant few hours rather than a technical workout. The locomotive is the highlight by a mile, because you assemble that famous bullet nose out of small slopes and curved slopes stacked on angled sections, and watching the profile emerge brick by brick is the most rewarding stretch of the whole set. The carriages that follow are more of a comfortable routine, long floors, rows of windows, a roof that snaps on, repeated across the dining car and passenger car. It is relaxing, though by the third go you can predict every step.

For parts, the real value here lives in the Powered Up electronics, the hub and the train motor, which is where a good part of that price disappears. You also get the new-style train wheels that click together instead of mounting on a metal rod, and opinion is split on them, they are easier to assemble but roll with more resistance and feel less durable to longtime train builders. The station platform quietly hides a lot of useful City parts, tiles, printed elements and the accessibility ramp, and the six minifigures come loaded with extras like a bike and helmet, a briefcase, a backpack and a wheelchair. It is not a set collectors will strip for rare recolors, but the powered core and the run of curved slopes give it a real purpose in the parts bin.