The 'Magic' Train

During Christmas 2023 I had a lot of fun putting together the Lego Orient Express set, so this year I thought I'd do something similar again and spend the days between Christmas and New Year assembling a brick based train. It turned out to be anything but simple.

Let me introduce you all to 'The Magic Train', produced by a company called Mould King.

Yes, I know, this is clearly sailing very close to the wind with the lawyers of a certain wizarding world...

Normally I wouldn't particularly care much for something that wasn't made by the official Danish Building Brick company, but even I'll admit that over the last few years the imitations have upped their game considerably, probably as a result of Lego gaining a massively popularity boost amongst the masses during the events of 2020.

Two things swayed me into this set: 1 - I thought it was actually quite a good representation of Olton Hall, certainly compared to some of the offical sets, and 2 - the only other train available from the same manufacturer was a rendition of 4468 Mallard that looked comically undersized compared to the MK1 coach that was the same build as the one seen here.

So how was it build wise?

Well... It was going fairly well as I assembled the chassis of the main locomotive. There were even a couple of ideas that were new to me and I quite liked, such as using a flexible rubber hose piece to join the bogie to the front of the chassis giving it a slightly self centring effect. Then came the start of the electronic section, and this is where the complications and frustrations started.

The above is an straight up photograph of the instruction book, and the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that not only does the wiring suddenly disappear from view, but that when compared to the photos of the finished model there is literally no space for the wiring!

I tried every conceivable trick I could to try and make it all fit in as delivered, but this is a very dense build with little to no internal cavity space. The wire looping back onto the footplate also has an added problem in that the firebox back head is shown to sit flush up against the boiler in the instructions. I have a very strong suspicion that the actual model and the electrics were designed by two separate teams with no collaboration. It's simply impossible to build as show.

There was nothing for it. If I wanted to finish the build I had to get out the wire cutters and soldering iron.

I'll admit I was very nervous about trying to cut and shut these electrical connections, and even more so about having a hot iron near highly meltable bricks, but it all went surprisingly well and worked again first time. It did highlight just how much excess wiring there was though - In total I cut out over 13" of wire, and even then the remaining cables were still a tight fit.

The wiring for the headlights though was almost impossible to cut down, though being of a thinner gauge compared to that used for the motor and smoke generator (And also being coloured black and red!) it didn't look too bad. It is squashed between the boiler and the frames though, resulting a an every so slight hump where the bricks can't butt up against each other properly.

From here the rest of the build for the locomotive went along with no problems -  

Bar the handrails being FAR too long. Again, I had to take the model railway tools to these and cut them down to boiler length.

I did quite like the hidden feature of the tender, a space to conceal a speaker unit.

It's has a rechargeable battery so it's totally independent from the electronics upfront (Which run on their own battery pack, though this does require part disassembly of the boiler to recharge) Unfortunately though turning it on it blares out that stock steam train sound effects compilation so beloved of very cheap train sets.

Assembled and tested, another couple of issues reared their heads: Firstly, the piston/connecting rods.

Again, I think this is possibly the result of the model being designed digitally rather than physically. Unfortunately when power is applied the motion is very stiff, until more power is applied at which point the coupling/piston rods ping off in quite dramatic style! Think it might be a simple case of the technic style pins used to hold the assembly together not having much clutch power.

Secondly, the case of the traction tyres. Those supplied to put on the front bogie foul the pistons when trying to round the bends of the 'not quite Lego' track. Removed it goes round almost perfectly. More tyres were supplied for the tender, but they're another size that's physically too big for the wheels! 

For comparison, here the Magic Castle compared to the Orient Express's Sapphire Star! It makes a really interesting comparison between the semi-accurate and the caricatured, and honestly I think I prefer the latter. I think I also prefer just how much more solid the Star feels, despite the Castle being a denser build with more bricks.

The MK1-esque coach went together nicely, 

The roof does come off, with a little difficulty revealing a trio of compartment literally squeezed in to the interior, though they are just about big enough to accommodate a minifigure. Apologies, the Muppet Show's Beaker was the first one to hand! You'll also notice the somewhat over-engineered doors.

I'm still not sure about these, though they do allow the door assembly to sit totally flush against the body work.

Like the locomotive though, the coach has one unfortunate flaw in it's design...

The bogies physically can't connect with the carriage body!

The cause of this is the connecting pins on the bogies. Unlike the official Lego piece these are very clearly inspired by these copies don't have the important 'lip' at the top that allows them to clutch a technic style hole.

So after all that it's time for the million dollar question. Would I recommend this set?

No.

No I wouldn't.

I will elaborate a bit though. If you're looking for something nice and relaxing that you can spend the course of a few evenings putting together, then this IS NOT the set for you. If you haven't already, go pick up the Lego Orient Express, that's not just a really nice build but if you're like me and fondly remember the Orient Expedition line it's also a great nostalgia trip!

IF however, you're up for doing some extra head scratching and soldering this MIGHT be the additional challenge you're looking for...

I think the thing that truly sums this up though is the fact that the set is no longer listed on Amazon. Make of that what you will.

Next time, back to the 009!