Close your eyes... come with me...
Where it's clean and green and pretty...
And they went and made a city outta clay...
Why the minute that you get there
Folks will walk right up and say
Welcome home, son
Welcome home to Santa Fe...

(The Newsies reference was obligatory)

Angels
Come to paint the desert nightly
While the moon is beaming brightly
Along the Santa Fe trail...

Oh, train. I misread.

Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose).

Man I missed out on that gold mine. Kid me didnt want them because it was plain grey/silver train cars :\

Had a chance to buy about 6 of these at a train shop but opted not to as I already had a couple for my Santa Fe train.. Man do I regret that.

IIRC LEGO did have a complete 'kit' of 2 locos (or maybe it was 1) and the 5 cards and track IIRC, but it was insanely expensive.. now? Not so much.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I get selling separate cars, but I'm surprised there wasn't just a Santa Fe Train set that gave you one of each set, and then you could then add as many or as little of the additional cars as you wanted. Nope, locomotive, and two types of cars were all sold separate from one another. I'm not a train guy, but surely this isn't standard practice for other types of train toys, right?"

The My Own Train sub-theme basically did the same thing. There was a bundle that let you get essentially a complete (albeit tiny) train, but mostly you could buy your train a la carte. There are at least a couple high-speed trains that are basically just half of a train, so you can buy two copies of you want a proper double-ender. And yeah, as @JavaBrix hints at, while hobby trains do have prepackaged starter kits, anyone who is serious about that hobby is buying a lot of stuff by the piece. At the comic shop I frequented in college, the train guy once told me that there are high-end locomotives that retail in the 3-4 figure range (for just the engine!) where you have to preorder it if you want to get a copy. Either they regularly sell out on preorders alone, or they only make them to order and stop.

@Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). "
EMD F7 I believe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_F7

@Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). "

The 'new-ish' part 67810 should really help achieve the look. Still, nice work from the designers to get the overall look with the parts they had at the time.

It certainly is grey

@jockos198 said:
"You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout
I'm telling you why,
Santa Fe is coming to town."

If that thing tries to squeeze down my chimney…I’ll just have to remind it that my condo building doesn’t have chimneys. Just stink pipes, and nobody wants to end up where those lead. Serves it right if it tries anyways…

I’m so thankful I got these… one of the most iconic ever <3

@Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). "

F3, F7 F9

@Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief."

Seconded! The Super Chief is one of those ones on my wish list that I know I'll never actually obtain, and yet I keep it on there...

I only later learned these go with the Santa Fe locomotive after seeing it in the catalog. That one is a lot more colorful than this...

(The locomotive was in the 2005 Lego Shop @ Home catalog and later I discovered the cars online on places like Peeron.com, where I wondered if it really was meant for a different Santa Fe train. They weren't.)

Selling single carriages are a useful addition to those with the main locomotive whether steam or high speed electric, but Lego may have lost interest as there are plenty of secondary sellers doing this on-line whether from breaking up complete sets or own mocs. Plus you can also just order the individual pieces and build your required design nowadays which was not really possible back then.

@ambr said:
"Selling single carriages are a useful addition to those with the main locomotive whether steam or high speed electric, but Lego may have lost interest as there are plenty of secondary sellers doing this on-line whether from breaking up complete sets or own mocs. Plus you can also just order the individual pieces and build your required design nowadays which was not really possible back then. "

And don't forget other brands....Lego isn't interested in kids' pocket money, they rather see them spend that on AliExpress.

'She's got a list of passengers thats pretty big
and they all want lifts to Brown's hotel
Cause lots of them have been traveling for quiet a spell
All the way from Philadelphiay
On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe'

- 'On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe' sung by Judy Garland from the 1946 musical 'The Harvey Girls'

@JavaBrix said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"Nope, locomotive, and two types of cars were all sold separate from one another. I'm not a train guy, but surely this isn't standard practice for other types of train toys, right?"

(Laughs nervously in HO scale)
"

HO, Z, N, O, G, and all the other scales sell everything separately.... why can't L Gauge? It would make things a lot easier....

I'm all for selling separate cars for any train set they release.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I get selling separate cars, but I'm surprised there wasn't just a Santa Fe Train set that gave you one of each set, and then you could then add as many or as little of the additional cars as you wanted. Nope, locomotive, and two types of cars were all sold separate from one another. I'm not a train guy, but surely this isn't standard practice for other types of train toys, right?"

Thing is, you would probably want multiples of the carriages, as each one had multiple builds. I don't know if they did it with this train, but sometimes Lego will have an SKU where you can order the whole thing.

Toy trains, it depends. Brio (the wooden train) definite is like this and has always had tons of separate sets. Your Turn-key Christmas tree train would be an all-in-one package though. And of course serious train hobby is definitely build your own, which I think is what this was supposed to be more like, which is why so many people wish LEGO would go back to this way of releasing train sets.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I get selling separate cars, but I'm surprised there wasn't just a Santa Fe Train set that gave you one of each set, and then you could then add as many or as little of the additional cars as you wanted. Nope, locomotive, and two types of cars were all sold separate from one another. I'm not a train guy, but surely this isn't standard practice for other types of train toys, right?"

In model trains it certainly is. Yeah, there are sets you can buy but the majority of rolling stock are sold individually. I would love it if Lego were to revisit selling trains this way.

As a business model it does make sense though....just look at the last few passenger train sets: It's only half a train. If you want a complete train, Lego rather sells you another set than just that one missing car....

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Bring back the trains theme!

Some of the sets were so cool! I would like to see the theme return."

In 8-wide version!

I echo all the comments above wishing Lego to release more trains and with options of additional carriages!!!

@Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). " F units were rounded like this, often E units...Ask @Diamondback.

I distinctly remember seeing these in the LEGO Catalogs and thinking they looked so cool. I was a bit young to appreciate the idea, but LEGO trains always seemed fun to me. Not my usual fare though, that was more reserved for BIONICLE and Star Wars. A bit out of my price range too, if I recall. Only train I ended up with was 7898, which was quite fun for a younger me. Still have it packed away somewhere. I've thought about trying out some of the newer ones but they're pricey enough that they don't catch my eye - not just to try out, at least.

Interestingly, I am way more intrigued now by a train layout. Given the immense popularity of LEGO trains, I'm always intrigued they don't try and corner that market a bit more. Maybe it's a hard sell against regular model trains? I'd hardly say it's a niche endeavor, but I don't have any actual numbers there.

@TBOC:
It’s hard to justify next to non-train LEGO sets. “Hey, that looks cool,” doesn’t necessarily translate to product sold.

@netlife said:
" @Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). "

F3, F7 F9"

The style itself is called the bulldog nose, and was used in EMD's series of F-units and E-units.

Baldwin had an extremely similar style option for the DR-4-4-1500, which came to be called the "babyface."

Several other locomotives sported similar appearances to varying degrees, including GE's Little Joe electrics, the Alco FA and PA, the Union Pacific's gas turbines, and even Krauss-Maffei's ML-4000.

modular train series. yes please! some would get just the loco, but many would get a whole train.
Back then I just got one of each of the cars/ carriages. Regretted it then (there weren't any more next time I visited the shop) and still do.
Still, loco and 2 cars looks great and I still have the bits to rebuild the options...

@Murdoch17: You are correct about other model railroad companies producing separate: engines, rolling stock/cars, and other stuff. But many also do as Lego does: the 'all (most?) in ones'; an engine, some cars, and track. After you got 'the basics', it was up to you to decide how much 'farther' you wanted to go...

@PurpleDave: You are correct about the "...that looks cool..." not always applying to "sale", but that doesn't mean TLG shouldn't just abandon train-stuff altogether. At least 'dip a toe'; use the data they gathered in that survey they did...how long ago was that...I mean: they did the 'jewelry thing' (check),'lighting thing' (check), only trains and whatever was the 'forth subject' seemed to get 'skipped'...

@daewoo said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I get selling separate cars, but I'm surprised there wasn't just a Santa Fe Train set that gave you one of each set, and then you could then add as many or as little of the additional cars as you wanted. Nope, locomotive, and two types of cars were all sold separate from one another. I'm not a train guy, but surely this isn't standard practice for other types of train toys, right?"

In model trains it certainly is. Yeah, there are sets you can buy but the majority of rolling stock are sold individually. I would love it if Lego were to revisit selling trains this way."
The poor treatment of the trains theme by LEGO was one of main reasons I was so enamored by BlueBrixx and their gigantic assortment of trains sets. Locos, wagons, buildings, accessories, you name it. It's like having a time machine, going back to when LEGO offered similar sets, but turned up to eleven.

Uhh, and I always thought it was silver!
-takes off wanted list.

@brick -r, most model railroad companies do indeed offer starter sets as not only an easy entry into the hobby, but also to get customers into their system. Buy a Märklin HO set, and you'll likely be stuck with their tracks and mostly their train models for life. While a lot of stuff is compatible among brand, not everything is. And in the end those starter sets are just a tiny piece of the pie. In many cases a complete set is even cheaper than just a regular, proper train model.

As a kid, I did have some old Lego train stuff, but never any tracks. Never got into the "system". I did have Fischertechnik trains however, which just ran on regular HO track. And how convenient that my father was working in a big HO scale layout in the attic, so plenty of tracks for me to play with...

But back to Lego, those big and pretty pricey train sets seem to always sell pretty well. So I can't help but wonder why so many people seem to think a smaller, cheaper set with just a single car wouldn't sell nowadays?

@AllenSmith said:
" @netlife said:
" @Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). "

F3, F7 F9"

The style itself is called the bulldog nose, and was used in EMD's series of F-units and E-units.

Baldwin had an extremely similar style option for the DR-4-4-1500, which came to be called the "babyface."

Several other locomotives sported similar appearances to varying degrees, including GE's Little Joe electrics, the Alco FA and PA, the Union Pacific's gas turbines, and even Krauss-Maffei's ML-4000."

Don't forget the Baldwin Sharknose or the Fairbanks-Morse 'Erie-built' classes of locos! We are lucky to have a sizable number of Alco FA's, the four PA's, and the two 'Sharknose' Baldwin's, but it's so tragic that no Erie-built locos were saved!

@CamberbrickGreen said:
"Uhh, and I always thought it was silver!
-takes off wanted list."

The grille bricks are silver. Pearl-silver, I think.

@Murdoch17 said:
" @CamberbrickGreen said:
"Uhh, and I always thought it was silver!
-takes off wanted list."

The grille bricks are silver. Pearl-silver, I think."

Yes, indeed. I was given the whole train that year for Christmas and birthdays, and can confirm it was pearl silver. (I was one of those kids LEGO says 'don't exist'.)

@Murdoch17 said:
" @AllenSmith said:
" @netlife said:
" @Brickchap said:
"Id love a re-release/update of the Santa Fe Super Chief.

Or just a 1950s American diesel locomotive in that style (train experts what is the name of the locomotive class with the rounded front nose and curved windscreen sort of looks like a sad dog face. Often had a single light in the nose). "

F3, F7 F9"

The style itself is called the bulldog nose, and was used in EMD's series of F-units and E-units.

Baldwin had an extremely similar style option for the DR-4-4-1500, which came to be called the "babyface."

Several other locomotives sported similar appearances to varying degrees, including GE's Little Joe electrics, the Alco FA and PA, the Union Pacific's gas turbines, and even Krauss-Maffei's ML-4000."
Don't forget the Baldwin Sharknose or the Fairbanks-Morse 'Erie-built' classes of locos! We are lucky to have a sizable number of Alco FA's, the four PA's, and the two 'Sharknose' Baldwin's, but it's so tragic that no Erie-built locos were saved!"

I did forget the FM Erie-builts, and a few other Baldwins like the Centipedes (DR-12-8-1500/2).

But I think the Sharknose is a completely different branch of the streamlined family tree. All the other units I mentioned appear to be a direct derivation from the EMD EA in 1937. But the Sharknoses were a direct derivation of a steam locomotive, the PRR T1 of 1940. The prototype T1 looks very little like a bulldog nose. In the end they all derive from the streamlining fad started by the Pioneer Zephyr and the UP M-10000. But the T1 is much more influenced by the shape of the steam locomotive boiler, which became the trend for streamlined steam.

The Sharknose has always been my favorite diesel. They have such attractive flair among diesels, which have struggled to be beautiful. I very much hope the survivors can be restored—I would like to see one someday!

@brick_r:
I think they’ve just reached a point where train sales aren’t enticing enough to convince them to keep at it. This could be because, post-1999, other themes have far outsold the train stuff, with much less expensive components. Or because trains are a dying hobby in general (seriously, the train shows we display at, nearly every person there with a hobby club display has white hair). There’s also the fact that the electronic components keep getting fancier, more expensive, and less desired (being app-based absolutely doesn’t help in that regard). I expect we’ll continue to see a slow trickle of high-end train sets, but probably never again a time when the catalog has a dedicated Train section.

@CamberbrickGreen said:
"Uhh, and I always thought it was silver!
-takes off wanted list."

They are. 78x Pearl-light-grey 1x2 grille bricks. Very expensive. Those list for a couple bucks each in New condition. The rest of it…eh, yeah, they did kinda let that one grille brick do all the heavy lifting.

@WizardOfOss:
The issue isn’t whether or not it would sell, but would it sell well enough to be worth bumping a different set off store shelves. With limited real estate at brick and mortar stores, a minimum performance is going to be expected. If it can’t hit that target, something else will probably make more money than this. That can be avoided by limiting sales to online, but that’s just going to further reduce sales.