[REVIEW] 10194 Emerald Night

[Ice]

Indexed

Basic LEGO Set Details

Theme: Creator
Set Name: 10194 Emerald Night
Piece: 1087
MSRP: $99.99 USA | $129.99 Canada | £69.99 UK
Price Per Piece: $0.920 USA | $0.120 Canada | £0.0644 UK

LEGO's Description

With piston-powered wheels, this train is an all-new LEGO® classic!

Here comes the Emerald Night! Build this incredible classic-styled train with loads of amazing details, from the steam locomotive with furnace to the opening tender and dining car with removable roof, opening doors and detailed interior. Measures 27.2" (68cm) long! Includes three minifigures, elements in rare colors and all-new large train wheels with piston motion! Add LEGO® Power Functions to motorize.

•This classically-styled train features a steam locomotive with furnace, opening tender, dining car with removable roof, opening doors and detailed interior!
•Train measures 27.2" (68cm) long
•Lots of authentic touches including elements in rare colors and all-new large train wheels with piston motion!
•Includes 3 minifigures!
•Motorize your Emerald Night by adding LEGO Power Functions #8882 Power Functions XL Motor, #8867 Flexible Train Track, #8878 Power Functions Rechargeable Battery Box, #8887 Transformer 10v DC adapter, #8884 Power Functions IR Receiver,#8870 Power Functions LED Lights, #8879 Power Functions IR Speed Remote Control!

The Box

The front of the box.


The back of the box.


The instructions and stickers came with cardboard protection like the new Pirates of the Caribbean sets. I would assume that this is only for the newer production runs of 10194 emerald night. LEGO is listening to us! :D

For those that want to power the train, instructions are also included on how to add power functions.

The Minifigures

We get 3 minifigures in this set. A train driver, a train attendant, and a passenger. Nothing too special about them. Let's move on to the train instead!


The Set

The front of the locomotive engine.


View from the side.


You can see a nicely built furnace at the back of the engine. You can also cover it up.


The opening tender car. There's lots of space here to add power functions.


The locomotive and tender car together. The cars are attached together by magnets.


Here's the passenger car.


You can open the doors on all 4 sides. In this picture, I only showed you 2 sides with the doors opened.


The roof can easily be removed to access the interior of the passenger car. For this picture, I have also removed the windows so you can have a better look. There are 4 seats and also spaces to hold the briefcases. To the left, there's a cabinet with drawers that can be opened. The only thing that could be improved here is space. There's barley enough space for a minifigure to walk through the aisle. Other than that, its very well designed and detailed!


The complete set with all cars together.


In the end, we get extra pieces as usual. But this time, we get 2 spare train wheels! :)


There are also extra stickers left for those that are planning to get multiple passenger cars.


Summary

What a superb set! I'm very impressed by its detail and accuracy. Its a very nice train and I would say the price you pay is well worth it. The build was quite interesting and fun. The only thing that bugged me was the stickers sheet. Other than that, I would say go get this set now before it gets discontinued!

Ratings

Build: 4.75/5
Minifigures: 3/5
Pieces: 4.75/5
Price: 4.75/5
Play Features: 4.75/5
Overall: 4.75/5

[legitimatealex]

Very nice review. Is this your first? : P Vynsane show toss in his two cents, he got one of these in a contest.

[Knobby Plastic]

Nice review as usual Ice, thanks!

[vynsane]

This set is a real beauty. It may have made a train man out of me, something I never expected. They're just so awfully expensive!

[slacker]

Thanks for the review. I did pick this up last year. It was my first train set and I love it. I think I did complain somewhere that it needed some train tracks. Atleast some for you to display it. To make this motorized the way Lego intended, it would cost you around $100. Now that's a shame. Overall a great set. I also agree about the stickers but we all complain about the stickers regardless of the set.

[DrBeaker]

Nice review, Ice.

I've been tempted by this beautiful set, but it wouldn't mesh with my other motorized trains. When I add in the cost of motorizing the Emerald Night, the overall price just becomes too prohibitive.

[autobrick]

This was one set that did not really impress me at first glance, but after I took the time to take in all the details, I am a big fan. It is too bad that Lego doesn't sell passenger cars on their own; having a single passenger car seems a bit lacking to me.

Am I the only one here that intends to display this train (along with the Maersk train) on a section of rail on a shelf? I really don't have the room for a full train layout (not to mention the expenses) so this seems to be the best option.

[vynsane]

Am I the only one here that intends to display this train [...] on a section of rail on a shelf? I really don't have the room for a full train layout (not to mention the expenses) so this seems to be the best option.

This is probably the route I will go with this and the newest Hogwart's Express. The Maersk train is beautiful, too, but I don't see myself purchasing it.

[Ice]

Very nice review. Is this your first? : P

No its not. I took all the photos from a smart phone, hence, the poor quality images. You may have noticed this in my other reviews. :P

[lukeskywalker]

Good review. This may start me on lego trains.

[iamFLIP]

I just got into Lego trains about couple of months ago and in a span of a week I built 7597 Toy Story Western Train Chase, 4841 Hogwarts Express, 4558 Metroliner, 10020 Santa Fe Super Chief, 10022 Santa Fe Dining Car, 10025 Santa Fe Mail Car, 7939 Cargo Train, 3677 Red Cargo Train, and lastly the 10194 Emerald Night. From those builds, I can definitely say that 10194 was the most enjoyable one for me.

Once my 2 year-old son saw EN after the build, he screamed "Emily" (from Thomas and Friends train engines which is also in a dark-green color).

[Legobrandon]

Does anyone else have the problem of the pistons getting stuck when you push the train backwards quickly?

[slacker]

No, but I just ordered all the PF parts yesterday. The Lego salesman told me not to get the rechargable battery box and the transformer because of the price. AAA battery box was $12.99 vs $59.99.

woohoo got my parts in two days. The battery box sits flush. When the train is moving, you don't really see it. The hardest part was sticking the one light inside the train. I didn't realize that to move the train foward, you had to rotate the knob. I thought that it was like a real remote control where you push foward or backward. Now I need more tracks.

[evo8hks]

Does anyone else have the problem of the pistons getting stuck when you push the train backwards quickly?

I found a fix somewhere on the net, which I did to mine for this problem. Clock the pin holes on the drive wheels 90 degrees from one side to the other. So that the left side is at 12 o'clock and the right side is at 3 o'clock.