60051 – High Speed Passenger Train

When I look on YouTube at the LEGO cities created by LEGO fanatics, I never consider a city complete without some type of train system. I felt the exact same way about my own city setup, so over the holidays last year I decided to rectify that problem and purchase – actually received as a gift! – the High Speed Passenger Train. With a bit of extra Christmas money, I also bought a few extra boxes of tracks, including LEGO’s somewhat new flex-track. Of all the trains available from LEGO, the High Speed Passenger Train is definitely the least impressive, but is also significantly cheaper than some of the other options. Read on to see what we thought of this basic, yet still impressive, train system!

The Build

Putting the High Speed Passenger Train together didn’t actually take all that long. The set only includes 610 pieces, so if you look at this purely as a price-per-piece, it’s not really that great of a deal. However, there are a number of more expnsive items packed into this set, including all the tracks, power supplies, and remote. The build is broken down into a number of different sections, each corresponding to a numbered bag. Tackling this all at once, or breaking it up over a few days, is really easy to do. Overall, it shouldn’t take much longer than 1-2 hours.

Everything about this set is fairly basic, with the sticker placement probably the most difficult part. The only issues I had while putting this together was attempting to attach the large window pieces on the front and back of the train. Depending on how your plastic comes – as I’ve been told by some they had no issues – it might be difficult to fit the shell of the window over the studs where it needs to be placed. Outside of that, things are fairly basic; my 7 year old son completed most of this set on his own, without adult supervision.

When perusing Amazon, a number of user questions revolved around the complexity of the power system within the train. This my 7 year old DID have issues completing, and putting this part of the train together will probably require adult help and supervision. Everything is well labelled however, so there shouldn’t be any major issues or confusions. When all put together, a small round ‘button’ on the top of the front engine can be pressed in slightly to power the train on, and then everything is controlled by the remote.

Fair warning: stock up on AAA batteries, as this train will suck the life out of them fast, and you’ll need a LOT of them just to get up and running!

Structurally, everything on the trains cars holds together well, except the front and back windows, which easily fall off and can be problematic to put back on. As stated above, this was one of the more difficult aspects of this build because the plastic came a bit bent out of the box. It is unfortunate, however, that if I or my kids should grab the front of the train or the back, that it will quickly snap off and potentially cause more damage should the back half fall to the floor. It’s a minor gripe for sure, but one that I think should be noted.

The track pieces fit nicely together and completes an oval when finished. With 4 straight pieces and 16 curved pieces, we strongly recommend a couple extra boxes of track to make your train’s journey a bit more exciting. Be advised, however, that because of the long nose on each end of the train – and how far it extends past the wheels of the train – you will need to make room on the corners. If you plan to build up something right next to your train tracks, do it on the straight aways!

Their are a number of other small buildable items besides the train, including a small 2 seat platform, and a crossing area for vehicles. When it’s all put together, the set does look a bit lonely, so be ready to spruce it up with other LEGO City sets to give this a lively feel!

Playability + Conclusion

While you could argue that many LEGO sets are purely for display, the High Speed Passenger Train is definitely not one of those sets. Playability is the name of the game here, and with a few extra sets and a bit more track, you can have hours, days, if not months of fun out of this LEGO set. I’ve seen the price on this fluctuate quite a bit, and it’s not as easy to find now as it was when it first released, but if you play your cards right and wait for a sale, you can get this set for an easy 100 bucks!