I just received Lego set #10194 The Emerald Night this afternoon. After a much anticipated day of waiting.
The new Emerald Night comes with some new bricks and features that are well worth the cost in my opinion. This set is the first steam set Lego has developed in a good long time, and was given a great deal of detail to add to it's Shock Value.
There is no doubt about it that the new Drive wheels and Blind Drivers are an exciting new feature for lego train lovers. Following in the footsteps of Big Ben Bricks and their wheels, which I admit I have bought. They match in size, allowing them to be compatible with one another, a great plus to those of us who constantly have the need to build something else with our bricks.
Along with the addition of the new wheels we see the new slope bricks, not just in grey, but in the rich green. These create most of the detail within the boiler and really bring out the powerful distinctions that make steam engines so elegant and unique.
Now, about color; The Emerald Night comes with 4 new color additions to the Lego line, dark Brown, Dark Green, gold, and silver. We have seen gold and silver before but in more, metallic colors, as a color coat on bricks.
Assembling the Emerald Night is fairly quick and easy if you're a regular at building with Legos. She runs exceptionally well and the drive rods don't seem to interfere with the clean, smooth movement of the wheels. The only exception is around turns there is a dramatic slow-down, and sometimes, depending on the condition of your rails she can get stuck. Now, the slow-down is to be expected around turns, just not as much as she sometimes will.
Overall I would give the Emerald Night a 9 star rating, and recommend adding this set to your collection, if you haven't already. Now if they would just make individual carriage sets for other cars to add onto the train.
