LEGO said that the Orient Express cannot be motorized. They were wrong.

After the reveal with the Ideas team interview and the detailed building review, here is my 3rd video about the 21344 Ideas Orient Express set! LEGO has said that the train is too heavy to be motorized, but we're going to give it a go today anyway!

If you'd like to see more LEGO® RC fun then please follow me on Instagram, on my Facebook page or on my blog:

#lego #racingbrick #motorization

[wrench]

Funny how they didn’t say the bucket wheel excavator wasn’t too heavy to motorise, that thing won’t move at all unless the clutch is brand new

[OfficialTomsSkujinsFanClub]

So lego misspelled the city names on the stickers, were too lazy to even bother to motorize the train, completely changed the original engine from the original ideas submission, and were still like “yeah let’s charge 300 for it.”

[EmersonacReviews]

I have NO idea why LEGO decided that it can't be motorised. I've seen realistic LEGO trains with meter-long wagons easily get pulled by a standard LEGO motor. Also the city names are very annoying. LEGO really didn't do the OE the justice it deserves.

I love how the Crocodile locomotive looks with the wagons. Absolutely great!

[essa]

"we tried for months' Fixes the problem in a few hours.

[bogd]

The fact that they couldn't be bothered to check a few city names on Google is INFURIATING. Really??? It's so sloppy. But yes, $300 please...

[pikapower]

From the amount of easy to fix errors in this set, it seems like it wasn't a important priority for lego and/or didn't want to make it

[Pugwash.]

Emerald Night came unmotorised but with instructions on how to fit a motor. Still my favourite train and I bought it RRP when it came out.

[FalconWing]

I believe it should be a rule that every train that LEGO releases should be able to be motorized but also include at the minimum instructions on how to do it. I have spoken / This is the Way !

[joevictor]

This is what I love about Racing Brick and the Lego community in general. They'll fix the stuff Lego messes up and give more value to sets like this that should've been there from the beginning

[ethribin]

Yeah.... i think the only reason they say its not motorizeable because the specs are just outside the motor specs.
So its one of those situations they cant say it works because chances that it doesnt, or breaks, are higher.
Not by much, but enough for them to put their high quality confirmation on it.

[patthecat]

Really any lego set can be motorized if you really try

[schoppi]

Coming from HO model trains, a solution to increase the "power" of the locomotive is to add more weight to the locomotive. If the powered up motor has enough power, the control behavior is also better.

The easiest and least intrusive way to motorize is, just simply swap out 1 or 2 bogies from a train car with 9v motors, for those who have 9v track 😃

[hobbymakemyhappyp]

This shows that "LE-O" needs people like you with passion and not for money. A combination of business and pleasure.

[kenty]

Of all the early attempts from other Youtubers to motorize this set, yours is the best in terms of function and aesthetics. Great job!

[neothermic]

One other consideration is that the front four on the engine are the rubber band version of the train wheels; if they're not being used to drive the train's motion then they're adding friction. Might be worth swapping them out for metal axle versions if you want to reduce friction a bit.

[gieselats]

Pretty good job. Motorized trains make sense. Under the Christmas tree such a train would be perfect. Come on, lego. You can do it better. I know. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and test performances. I love it. Keep up the good work.

[MagicCityBrix]

I was thinking it would take a few weeks after release to have the set motorized, I was way off! I think part of leaving it out was the cost, a lot of people are complaining about the $200+ sets and want cheaper options.

[MikkoRantalainen]

This set makes me believe that Lego might again be entering into era where the marketing department and bean counters decide about all the things. As a result, quality is pushed down to increase margins.

[rudyvalle]

Other than the design of the locomotive, I think we have the best case scenario for this set. Lego train enthusiasts use trucks/bogies with roller bearings on 3rd party wide radius curved tracks. Even a single train motor could pull ten cars if they all have roller bearing wheels. I think your theory about cutting cost is correct. Lego designers released the set knowing those that have an interest would get the train motorized and running smoothly. Those that don't have an interest in motorization don't have to support the cost of the additional parts.