Are LEGO Trains Too Small?

I´d love to see someone make a MOC of Snowpiercer with its 1000 cars. Can you imagine something like that rolling around a city? Even in micro-scale it would be something massive!

For 8-stud wide trains, there would be more details, but that also means more pieces, more weight, and more power required to move them. Also a bigger price as well. 6-studs wide seems like a good balance of having a decently sized train, sufficient detailing, weight and power balance, and affordability. It's also important to mention that different train sets are made for different purposes and different audiences. The crocodile train, emerald night, and others like that are specialty trains for enthusiasts and people who like trains, while the city passenger and cargo trains are mainly for kids who want a playable LEGO train set and a full loop of track, and for most kids this may be their first LEGO train set.

Keep the track size the same, just increase the size of the locomotive and Car body size. They are normally a little wider than the track ties.

Honestly 8 stud wide trains would be optimal as you could still use the same track and wheels and still have it look fine. (I mean the Emerald Knight has a 9 stud wide locomotive and it looks great)

Personally I like 6 stud wide trains. I’m biased however because I like vintage scale 4 wide road vehicles

8-stud train frames on a 6-stud track (9v or PF/PUp) are the best in my opinion. They have the best balance between accuracy and lego city integration & playability. I'm planning to MOC my two 60197 passenger trains (the yellow-cabin ones) into 8-stud model with double-length railcars.

I think the problem is not size of the trains but cars and everything else. This crazy size increase needs more and more space which is not available at everyone's house. Personaly I stopped buy Speed Champions after TLG have changed the size from 6studs to 8ones. I can not see any added value in this huges cars compare to the old ones from the 80's.

Really great summary, analysis and recommendations. Personally, I'd be happy with moving to a 7, 8, 9 or 10 stud wide configuration which would still stay within the reasonable bounds of most cities. It would also provide far greater internal seat configurations like realy trains have. Also, why not more suburban designs. I agree they've stayed safe (lazy) with the same general roll-out but suspect safe is simply profitable.

I feel like they could keep the same tracks with 8 stud trains, just have a bit of overhang... They also need to start making more station, level crossing etc sets

I think they are within tolerance but I still think it is possble for them to begin making 8 stud wide base plates that are also longer.

From '69 the 12v trains drew their power from a slot-car like third rail that ran down the the middle of the tracks. In '91 that third rail went to the actual tracks and we lost the "model rail" feel that we had from 1980: like switching tracks (7856, 7858, 7859); stopping trains at station (7860); and lowering booms at crossing (7866), all from our transformer bases (7864).

I believe that trains should definitely be expanded to at least eight studs wide, while keeping to the six stud-wide gauge for compatibility. The criticism that they would be too large for the City theme is a bit of a misdemeanor, as the issue lies truly with the City theme being vastly underscaled for minifigures. City is pretty clearly designed to be playset oriented, and thus, with lower part counts and smaller buildings so young fans can afford them. When you see people make minifigure scale MOC buildings, they're typically much larger than even the Creator modular buildings - so themes like Speed Champions fit in really well. I think LEGO should continue to advance the scale of sets to be more accurate, if you can say that with minifigures, instead of catering to a inaccurate scale established in the 1970s. Yes, tracks gauge and buildings size may need to increase, but it would be for the betterment of LEGO's scaling as a whole.

Love the fact that this video showed many lego sets i owned back in the days.. but you included them all in a big city: Any childs dream!!

I think the 6 stud trains are just fine. What lego really needs to do is make more realistic trains like the Maersk, the BNSF or the Santa Fe Chief (and rolling stock) for the avid train collector and they would be able to compete with the model train world. I would love to add an official lego version of the black Northern Southern train to my collection.

I figured the six stud wide train standards has sustained itself because any wider would lose compatibility and increase set costs overall. A passenger train costs around 150-60 now and with eight stud wide tracks and cars we could see 250$ passenger trains and 500$ cargo trains,which means citys intended audience of kids won't be able to even dream of getting a train set anymore.

Now would be the perfect time for Lego to change the train standard. So many people are rebuilding their Lego cities for the new road plate system!

Thanks for the video! :-) There are a few things that can improve your Lego/brick railroad: - longer radius curves, for example Trixbrix offer up to r120 plus r104 switches instead of Lego r40 - a massive difference. Also, special pieces like 1/2, 1/4, etc. straights are available. - take a soft underground, I use artificial lawn carpets underneath - the trains will run much smoother. - If you use PoweredUp, "supercharge" your hub easily by attaching 2 (or even 3 are possible) additional AA batteries. You only need a battery box for a dollar, a tiny drill to make holes for the wires and something to cut a small metal plate in half. No more tools or materials necessary. 8 wide trains are already commercially available. Mould King models are 8 wide and way more interesting and complex than anything Lego has produced to date. And German BlueBrixx have announced a wave of 8 wide models soon (scroll down their trains page and look for announcements with the hint (8w)), together with a larger scale small display steamer like suggested in this video.

I personally like the 6 stud wide trains they work really great in my city they don't take up a whole lot of room. I personally hope they continue to make 6 stud wide trains for many reasons I like how they fit my city and my City's already designed around these trains second I don't want to have to buy a bunch of new train track my city uses slightly over 100 pieces of track so buying all new track would be very expensive. Instead of making new trains that or 8 studs wide I personally would rather them re-release monorail but that is just me and this is just my opinion and what works for me.

Nice video! I think Lego could make a killing from having a specific train brand with locos, rolling stock, buildings. It's much cheaper, quicker and more versatile than building a real HO railroad for example. I know there are loads of mocks but this is something Lego should really look into.

I like the size as it is. I would also like to see the electric rail return and keep the battery powered stuff for the technique and mindstorm builds.