LEGO® Set Review: 4525 Road and Rail Repair

4525

[4525 Set Photo] Road N' Rail Repair (us)
Refection voies-et-railes (fr)
Reparavias (es)
Gravemaskine (da)
Schaufelbagger (de)
Trains Banner 9v Banner
Trains / 9v

Ages 8-12 / 81 Pcs
15 page manual. 1 models. Booklet. Model 1: 10+10 steps. ©1994
Price Range: $13 CDN Per Element: 6.23 cents per piece

Review Written: 6 July 1995 by Calum Tsang
Special Features / Compatibility
Extra Elements Decals: Yes
Scale: Mini-Figure, Trains
Errors: None

Ratings: Set: Must-Have Models: Good Playability: Must-Have

Description

4525 is a really cool set, it's a landrail vehicle, which has a car/truck chassis and rubber tires, but also a set of train wheels/axles allowing it to get onto the rail line from the road and travel along. It's a backhoe/digger thing, with four big (well, bigger than the usual car tires) tires and four small train wheels (not the same as the usual Metroliner wheels). The top part, which swivels, is mostly yellow, with a Train Company insignia on each side. The little minifigure sits in the top part, and has a set of control sticks. The digger arm is kinda thin, but it's okay. A small black dig bucket is at the end of this arm.

The chassis is red, and has smooth tiles on the top (for the yellow part to rotate easily on) It has a magnetic coupler to attach to the end of a train and four support jacks to keep it steady (more for show, really). Four tires, of a design I'm new to, have a nice spring suspension. At each end are train wheels which swing up to allow the rubber tires touch ground.

It comes with one minifigure, a train worker in blue, with the requisite giant warning stripes on his front and a white hardhat.

Impression

After ten years of having virtually NO accessories for LEGO trains in the old 4.5V battery era (North Americans only got 7710, 7720, 7722 and 7715 trains) it's a welcome addition to my Metroliner, even if it doesn't really fit into the train's looks. It would certainly fit better with a 4563 Load and Haul or 4564 Freight Rail Runner, but no matter what train you own, it's a low-cost amusing set to pick up.

Ratings

Set Rating:Must-Have

It's a must have for train owners, because any car is important for a train system. Sorta like the Club Car. However, what I really enjoy about it is that it's an interesting model, heck every train has cars, but this is a landrail vehicle, half truck, half digger, half train car.

While there are quite a few old ones (swivel plate, usual basic pieces) the tires, suspensions, and smaller train axles, plus two strange technic like 1x1 with a hole in it pieces are all new to me. Some pieces, such as those technic pieces and the half pins are used ineffectively, but the others are used quite well. I think the major component that makes this set great is the small train axles.

Model Rating:Good

It's a nice looking model. However, there's nothing that is breathtaking or incredible about it. It certainly is innovative and interesting, but it's not enough to warrant a "superwickedawesomenifty-oid" description or something.

The colour scheme fits nicely into other train sets and looks good.

Playability Rating:Must-Have

Why is it a must-have? Because it's a train set. In my opinion, something like the MetroStation isn't an absolute must have, because you can easily build a train station. But this, well, for thirteen bucks, it's a nice addition to your set. My six year old cousin got a kick out of placing it on the track, backing up the Metroliner to it, then slowly moving the train till the 4525 was attached. He would then slam the acceleration and pull the entire train away.

I got a kick out of putting it around the town, digging pieces of stray LEGO. The little supports are pretty useless and get annoying after a while. They do hold the thing onto the track so it won't tip, but that's more for looks and less for actually play value.

Elements

Special/Unusual Elements:

  • Two tire suspension axles (2)
  • Bulbous truck tires (2)
  • Miniature train wheels/axles (2)
  • Magnetic coupler, train type
  • 1x1 with technic pin sized hole in it (2)
  • Technic half pin (2)

    New

  • The 1x1 technic pieces look new

    Non-Plastic Elements

  • Magnetic coupler

    Decals

  • Small Train Company insignia (2)
  • Large Train Company insignia (2)

    The small ones go on each side of the top part. The large ones, well, I suspect this label sheet is also for the little landrail truck that the LEGO Group also makes (with the trashcan in the back).


    Reviewer Information
    Reviewer Name Age (at review) E-Mail WWW Favorite Theme
    Calum Tsang 18 tsangc@ecf.utoronto.ca http://www.io.org/~tsangc/lego.html Town, Trains, Floating Boats, DACTA


    This is a fan created web site. LEGO® is a registered trademark of The LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site.
    All views expressed in the reviews on this site are those of the review author, and do not necessarily represent the views of Joshua Delahunty or the University of California.
    Set names and photos are copyrighted materials owned by The LEGO Group, used according to its Fair-Use Policy. Set photo scans courtesy of Pause Magazine.
    Background imagery supplied by and Copyright © Todd Lehman. Used with permission.
    3-D Element bitmaps supplied by and Copyright © James Jessiman. Used with permission.
    All product line and theme banner graphics hand-drawn (not scanned) and Copyright © 1996 Joshua Delahunty.

    Send comments on these pages to the editor at dulcaoin@alumni.cse.ucsc.edu.


    Return to Trains Menu Return to LEGO® Reviews Menu