It was only a matter of time before Lego jumped on the bandwagon and created a specialty train for the holidays. Sure, there have been other trains in the past, most notably the Hogwarts train from the Harry Potter collection, but none of them have been as seasonal or festive as this train. It’s busting at the seams with Lego related things and has some very interesting figures that you can position in the passenger cars. With a total of 965 pieces in the set, there is a lot that you can do with it. If you have other accessory pieces you can add a lot of seasonal things to it to customize it.
There are a total of six train cars in the set, all varying in size and design. The largest is the passenger car that has windows so you can see inside but the coolest one is the engine. Unlike some of the other train sets, this one can be adapted for use with the motorized Lego train pieces; they sell a start up kit for $186.99 that includes this set, the motor, speed regulator and eighteen train track pieces. Right now it is on sale for $165.99 so after you deduct the cost of the Holiday Train set from it, you are only paying $76.00 but keep in mind, that is if you get the Holiday Train Starter Collection (set K2159) while it is on sale.
One of the nicest things about the set is that it comes with some very well done figures. There are four passengers, all with different clothing designs, and three railroad workers. You can have a lot of fun with the figures and if you have other accessories from other sets, you can customize them. Since there is extra room on the train you can add other figures if you want to. Likewise, if you have a lot of spare pieces and elements you can customize the train cars as well.
Another thing that makes this really nice is the accessories that come with it. Lots of toys, presents and packages that can be added to the flat cars. There are also some full pine trees that can be added to another of the flat rail cars if you want; we used them in another Lego scene and added smaller trees to the train so they didn’t look so out of scale with everything else. Because of the smaller things like presents and packages, this is suggested for those ages eight and older. If you have smaller children sharing the holidays with you please tell them to “look, not touch” as some of the things (animals, boxes, accessories and elements) can pose a choking hazard if they are swallowed.
Building this isn’t hard but it does take some time. We managed to complete it in about ninety minutes but if you don’t have a lot of experience with Lego sets, it may take a little longer. Because the set is made up of different train cars if you do make a mistake it isn’t going to cost you a lot of time to fix errors. If you are working on something larger or something that is one solid structure and you make it mistake, you might have to rip a apart a lot of sections to get to the mistake and correct it.
While this may have a high price tag, it is something that can be used year after year. Remove the seasonal accents from the side of the train and you can use it year round. I don’t regret spending almost a hundred dollars on this train; it is something that I will use over and over again and allows me to show my love for Lego during the holiday season. This set can be purchased online, through the Shop At Home catalog or at selected retail stores that carry larger Lego sets.
Name: Holiday Train
Set Theme: Lego Collections
Set Number: 10173
Piece Count: 965
Age Recommendation: 9 and older
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Build Time: 1 – 2 hours
Price: $89.99
