The new LEGO Ideas Orient Express officially launches on Friday and the number question I’ve been asked ahead of time is if the train can be motorized. I can now officially report on an answer, and it’s one that builders are going to be excited to hear. Yes! Yes you can motorize the LEGO Ideas Orient Express, and we’ll explain how to down below.
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Right when the Orient Express was officially revealed, I had a suspicion that the LEGO train would be able to be motorized. The tender which sits right behind the locomotive’s engine was suspiciously empty, and so the idea of cramming in a battery box to power all the needed motors and control units seemed like a challenge offered by the designer for any builder skilled enough to answer the call.
Now before the set even officially hits store shelves, builders are showing off their ingenuity to prove that the set is in fact ready to be modded. If the precedent that a train could be motorized with official LEGO pieces wasn’t enough from the official instructions of Christmas Train set from a few years back, then all of the breakdowns from people who already have their hands on the set should be. There’s some general thoughts on the process as well as guides on how you’ll be able to breathe some life into the train.
This whole forum is over on EuroBricks is a great place to start if you’re looking for a proof of concept before you go and try your own hand at motorizing the LEGO Orient Express – just be warned, you’re going to need some extra pieces to make the magic happen. We’ll likely see more step-by-step guides released as more people get their hands on the set come Friday, but at least for now we know that it’s possible in the first place.
Arguably the biggest issue with modding the train so that it can be motorized is that the LEGO Group doesn’t even sell the Power Functions elements needed to make it happen. Normally, you could just go grab the required hub/battery box and train motor in order to convert your existing locomotive. But with all of those requirements discontinued or out of stock, you’ll have to head on over BrickLink in order to secure the parts.
If you’re looking to do so, here are the main elements that you’ll need:
- Power Functions Hub starting from $40
- Power Functions Train Motor starting from $11
The hub may be on the pricier side for the mod, but it does let you control your train via Bluetooth with the LEGO Powered Up app. These are the latest Power Functions releases from the LEGO Group, but there are also the original releases, too, which are even more affordable.
So why wasn’t it motorized out of the box?
Like all things, it’s likely just a money issue. The LEGO Group, as it does with just about every set, crafts each model to fit within a certain price point. It’s rare that a kit is assembled first and then outfitted with a price, and so the former is likely what happened with the Orient Express. At the $300 price point, there just likely wasn’t a way for the company to fit in all of the extra cost for the train to be motorized without drastically slimming down the build.
We’ve even seen motorized features in previous LEGO Ideas sets before – like last year’s lighthouse. But with the train already clocking in at $300 on its own, adding an extra $100 or so to motorize it was likely out of the question.
The LEGO Ideas Orient Express will officially be launching later this week on Friday, December 1. It’ll retail for $299.99. Does the fact that you can motorize it convince you to bring the new set to your brick-built train yard? Let us know in the comments below or over in our poll on Twitter.
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