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This page of the Lego section will highlight some of the current offerings of block trains NOT made by Lego.
The majority of non-Lego trains appear to be manufactured by MOULD KING and JIE STAR, followed by GOIRZI. Generally, with the kits I have assembled so far, the builds have been fun and I haven't encountered many issues except for one of the models being dark green, and the black lines don't show up well :-) It -seems- like most of the non-Lego manufacturers offer at least one version of the High Speed Train set offered by Lego (the one pictured below is by Goirzi):
In ordering and building many of these models, it seems that maybe half are powered and half are not. Some of those that are not powered can be retrofit easily for powered operation, others, not so easy, and some may not be possible at all., and because of this
Some models, such as the Big Boy, is not powered, and probably wouldn't take to being powered at all, BECAUSE, the two sets of drivers have four axles each, and as such, would not negotiate any curved track without derailing, even if two of the four axles in each driver set didn't have rims.
Some engines use a powered truck (or two) like the Lego trains do. Others have a central motor with a shaft on both ends of the motor, going to a vertical shaft transferring power into the middle of the the truck, and then finally to the two axles via a set of gears.
In yet another "class" of models, there appears to be quite a few kits offered to be just display models. Good examples of this are the Jie Star 59007 and 59009 kits.
Few of the models have a lighting kit included with them, and one that did include a lighting kit (just a pair of white LED's), gave no instructions in the assembly manual for their inclusion into the model.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep in mind, that the offerings from the Chinese manufacturers may be short production runs, so, if you're looking for some of these items I have mentioned on this page, this page was originally done in early 2023, and the kits may not be available when you go looking for them. I have not provided links to the sellers pages on EBay, but you can do a search by the sellers name to see what they currently have offered, if anything. SOme of the models I feature on this page (as of mid-May 2023), no longer seem to be available - and it wasn't all that long ago that I started the Lego section.
Standard Lego couplers are magnetic, and I have seen 20 car trains being pulled by two locomotives at the train shows with no problem. Most of the sets and kits featured here follow the practice, and offer similar versions of the Lego coupler. One exception is the UP Zombie engine....
Acknowledgements:
lego.com
Various EBay seller sites
Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the topic:
https://www.ebay.com/str/bricksmyheartvarietystore?_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2563 Bricksmyheart store on EBay
Non Lego Trains
Mould King Trains
Jie Star
Lepin
Goirzi
Heart Bricker Trains
FunWhole Trains
BuildMOC
Other "Unbranded" Manufacturers
Mould King 12001 - NJ2 Diesel Cargo Train
The basic 12001 kit contains 1808 pieces, and makes a locomotive with one passenger car. The locomotive was a frustrating build, and missing a few pieces - for one of them, I actually had the same color Lego part in my spare parts box! :-).
One of the hardest parts of assembling the engine were the drawings, while well done, it is VERY hard to see the black lines on the dark green part pieces - I had to use a high intensity flashlight to light up the drawing sufficiently enough to see how the parts were assembled.
And while many of you do not advocate the use of Superglue, it IS a necessity in many places to hold things together that would otherwise fall apart while handling - especially little dangling parts on that "thing" hanging down from the under carriage!
Both the locomotive and passenger car are fairly heavy, and weight almost as much as their, say, MTH counterparts. The engine also includes two weights and rubber bands for the eight "real" wheels for better traction.
Other notes for assembly: 1) there are two pieces which hang onto the center equipment section of the under carriage, which left in place, does not allow the trucks to rotate - so I removed them, 2) The non-powered truck has two studs protruding up enough to keep the truck from rotating smoothly on curves - so I cut them off, 3) Although a headlight lighting kit is included, there are no instructions in the manual on where to place the LEDs - and the only reference to them is made at the front of the manual, 4) The center wheel of each truck is a poor design, and I haven't figured out if there is an easy fix for them, 5) At times, the steps may be somewhat confusing, and you may later on down the road in assembling the model, that you need to backtrack and re-orient a piece or two - this happened several times, 6) You have to play with the wheels and their placement on the axle to make sure the engine doesn't derail, especially on curves, 7) AND why, on the right side of the front of the engine, do they have two white pieces on the frame that can be seen on the finished model?
Operationally, the motor and the gear chain runs smooth. The only problem with the included Mould King controller is that it is only a single speed controller, and you need to keep your finger on the button to keep it running. The headlight LEDs come on as soon as the unit is powered up, and no matter which of the three open ports I plugged them into, none of them turned the lights on and off - don't know if that is the way they are supposed to operate. The locomotive has a very difficult time negotiating the included R40 curved sections - so I would remove the center wheels of the trucks if you're going to use it at home without buying third party curved sections.
For an extra fee, you can purchase the 1009 piece model 12001CX, and add additional cars.
Mould King 12002 - CRH Speed Train
The basic 12002 kit contains 1808 pieces, and will make for you a locomotive with one passenger car. It is a model of a Chinese High Speed train. Available at an extra cost, is 838 piece model 12002cx, which adds a dining car. With a few tweaks, this car could be modified to stand in for almost any white colored passenger car - like substituting orange bricks for the blue (or adding orange and keeping the blue), and now you have a MARC commuter train passenger car :-).
Mould King 12003 - QJ Steam Locomotive
This model of a Chinese steam engine with tender is a 1552 piece build. If it wasn't for those red drivers, you could turn this into just about any railroads steam engine :-)
Mould King 12003CX - Hopper
This is an add-on kit to the 12003 steamer above. It has 608 pieces.
Mould King 12004 - Kingland Dream Train
Looks like this was patterned after the Disney trains.... The kit contains 1554 pieces, and includes two trailing cars in addition to the engine and tender.
Mould King 12005 - SL7 Asia Express Train
A motorized model with 1873+ pieces. The engine with tender and passenger car is 93cm long. The engine also has a steam box atomizer that uses water, a lighting kit (2 LED's), and an extra large motor. With all black parts and wheels, you could make it look like a half decent N&W 611! :-) (OK, so it's missing a driver and trailing axle)
Mould King 12006 - Mallard Steam Engine
A powered steam locomotive with a kit build of 2139 pieces. The kit includes a tender, motor, controller, remote control, lighting kit (with 2 LED's), steam generator, and one passenger car (oh yeah, don't let me forget the complimentary water dropper :-). Finished, the engine and car are 83cm/32.6in long. One "bad note" on the engine - it will not negotiate the (Lego standard) R40 curves provided with the kit. If I had my choice between the two of these kits below, I would choose the new one from Amazon, unless you could get the EBay seller to drop it to a hundred bucks (or less) including shipping.
Mould King 12010 - Hogwarts Castle Magic Train
A 2086 piece model kit with a steam engine, tender, and passenger car - looks pretty cool.
Jie Star 59001 - Steam Locomotive
This kit contains 560 pieces, and gives you a no-name-railroad non-powered 4-6-0 steamer, with one freight car. Patterned after an American style wood burning steam engine.
Jie Star 59002 - Unknown
I would put money on the fact that they have (or had) a 59002 kit, but I don't find it anywhere, or any reference to it.
Jie Star 59003 - Southern Pacific Steam Locomotive
This kit contains 1136 pieces, and gives you a Southern Pacific 2-6-0 steamer. It is non-powered as supplied, would probably need to be powered from Lego trucks under the tender, as there isn't any room inside the engine for a motor. My kit was short a LOT of pieces, perhaps as many as a whole (small) bags worth, so I ordered a second kit in the hopes it wasn't short the same pieces. Otherwise, it was an easy and fun build. The retailer, bricksmyheart, was very understanding with the shortage, and offered me a discount for the second engine - very good dealing with them - thank you!
Jie Star 59004 - German BR01 Steam Locomotive
This kit contains 1173 pieces, 50cm long with tender.
Jie Star 59005 - Big Boy Steam Locomotive
This 1608 piece model of Union Pacific's Big Boy (a 4-8-8-4) is available from several different sources, at a price of around $100-$120. Most shipped from China - but I found one supplier who shipped from the U.S., it is probably not shipped in a "pretty" box. None of the listings I found stated that it was a powered model. The finished model with the tender is just under 31 inches long.
Well, we received this fella on a Sunday delivery (Superbowl Sunday :-), and here are a few pictures. So yes, the axles have gears on them to make it a powered model, but NO instructions are given to do that, so you are on your own..... and, there was no box, everything is put into a sealed padded package - probably done at the factory.
Jie Star 59006 - Union Pacific - Red, White & Blue "Doomsday Train" RS-3
This RS unit is a 2399 piece kit, and includes 6 zombie figures. The listing does not mention if it is a powered unit, and it is not. The pictures also show the finished model being lit up, but again, the listing doesn't say anything. We'll let you know once it arrives, I snagged the last one, supposedly...... Well, the kit arrived, and nope, the model does not contain a motor or a lighting kit. It does, however, have provisions for powering, as they provide a drive shaft with a few gears, but nothing about lighting or powering is in the assembly manual.
Jie Star 59007 - Crocodile Locomotive
Cute take on the "crocodile" style locomotive. The kit contains 669 pieces, which includes a base plate, two signals, power line, and other stuff to adorn the base plate. Judging from the track it's sitting on, it's about 10 inches long.
Jie Star 59009 - "Western Train" Steam Engine
Number of pieces: 1773. Freelance mid 1800's American style steam engine in/on a nicely done winter scene.
Jie Star 59010 - Genoa Steam Locomotive
Cute little 4-4-0 steam engine patterned after a mid 1800's American style locomotive, non-powered with a tender. The kit contains 950 pieces. Judging from the track it's sitting on, it's about 14 inches long - the 53cm in the photo is probably the whole display which includes track, a base, and a nice looking tree. I think I would find something else to put on top of the smoke stack other than that "control lever" :-).
Jie Star 59020 - "Retro" Steam Locomotive
This kit features a baby blue steam engine with 1031 pieces. It's probably a free-styled engine, not patterned after any specific engine. Seems like they added the light brown colored base plates, four sections of brown track, and landscaping to maybe boost the parts count?
Lepin 21005 - Emerald Night Train
Non-powered engine, tender, and one passenger car. Why do they put rubber tyres on the wheels if they are non-powered?
It looks like only a few of these models are powered. They can be found on EBay, but ship out of China without a nice box. Compatible with Lego bricks. As of May 2023, I ordered #0307, #0308, and #0313. We'll see how long it takes for them to arrive, and how the builds go along with the quality.
Goirzi also makes dinosaurs, dragons, motorcycles, guns, and a variety of buildings
Goirzi 0307 - High Speed Train
Powered engine, one passenger car, and a non-powered engine. Falls in line with the Lego City series. Contains 641 pieces. Includes track (4 straights, 16 curved sections) to make a simple oval, half of a grade crossing with gate, and a vehicle.
Goirzi 0308 - MOW Train
Engine and two axle MOW cart - 431 pieces. Includes track to make a simple oval, and three figures. Might be able to motorize with Lego components.
Goirzi 0313 - Steam Train
Powered engine, tender, freight car, and one passenger car. Contains 1464 pieces. Includes a simple station, grade crossing gates, and track to make a simple oval with a siding (18 curved, 6 straight, and a pair of (L/R) turnouts). The engine lacks a realistic appearance because it uses the same trucks their electric engines use - but at least it is powered :-)
Goirzi 0318 - High Speed Train
Engine and one passenger car, no motor. Falls in line with the Lego City series. Contains 513 pieces. Includes track to make a simple oval with a siding (18 curved, 6 straight, and a pair of (L/R) turnouts). Notice this is the same train set as #0307, but without the truck and grade crossing accessories, about $20 less this way.
It appears that Heart Bricker is a custom builder/manufacturer using genuine Lego parts.
Heartbreaker Flat Bed Wagon
FunWhole F9006 - Steampunk Steam Engine
Nice looking model with 1056 pieces, probably not powered.
BuildMOC Back To The Future III Steam Train
Not anything in the listing but the number of pieces, which is 882.
BuildMOC Santa Fe Passenger Engine
Number of pieces: 570.
Drift Art Freight Cars
This listing is for two freight cars with several options. You can get the flat car with or without containers, and the tank car you can get in grey or a light green.
City Series Power Red Diesel Cargo Train
The set contains 1002 pieces, a powered truck and controller - altho it has only a start/stop button and no remote control. The finished set is 31" (78cm) long, and includes a short 2 axle car, a tanker, and a flat car with load. The set also comes with a tractor trailer, track (6 straights, 18 curved, a section a flex track, and a pair of L/R switches), and a manually operated loading gantry. The listing is confusing because it states it only comes with 6 straight and 16 curved track sections, but the illustrations show the other track I mentioned. Looks like a nice starter set, and it should be easy to make the engine look more American. Around $100.
City Series Power Blue Diesel Cargo Train
The set contains 1002 pieces, a powered truck and controller - altho it has only a start/stop button and no remote control. The finished set is 28" (71cm) long, and includes a passenger car and a freight car. The set also comes with a truck, track (6 straights, 18 curved, a section a flex track, and a pair of L/R switches), and accessories. The listing is confusing because it states it only comes with 4 straight and 16 curved track sections, but the illustrations show the other track I mentioned. Around $100.
Funwhole Steampunk Ore Train
This non-powered set contains 1056 pieces. The model has lighting.
Trolley Coffee House
While technically not a model train, this is cute little model nevertheless. Note that this is not made from standard sized "Lego" bricks - it is done using mini-bricks, so if you're missing pieces, and don't have any mini's laying around, you're out of luck - mine was missing one 2x2 brick, so the top of one end isn't finished. Otherwise it was a pleasant build, and went smoothly - and it's nicely detailed!
Disclaimers:
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them. For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted. Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given! Please be NICE!!! Contact info is here
Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
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