Introducing the 2017 Winter Village set – LEGO 10259 Winter Village Station

August 23, 2017 | 36

There are a few things in life that are certain – death, taxes and a new LEGO Winter Village set each year. This year, much to my surprise, LEGO have unveiled 10259 Winter Village Station, a quaint holiday-themed set that is the perfect companion to 2016’s Winter Holiday Train!

It kinda makes sense for LEGO to release a Winter Village train station to accompany the Holiday Train – while I did like the Winter Holiday Train (I scored it a 3/5 in my review), what was really missing from it was some sort of structure or station to anchor it within LEGO’s expansive Winter Village.

10259 Winter Village Station’s release date will be 1 October 2017, with early access for LEGO VIP members on 14 September. 

Here’s the regional pricing for the Winter Village Station. They’ll be linked once the product page on LEGO.com.

• LEGO 10259 Winter Village Station – US$79.99 [US]
• LEGO 10259 Winter Village Station – AU$119.99 [AUS]
• LEGO 10259 Winter Village Station – £74.99 [UK]
• LEGO 10259 Winter Village Station – CAD$99.99 [CA]

Here’s a look at the back of the box, which clearly suggests for it to be combined with the Winter Holiday Train, as we have the festive locomotive prominently displayed pulling into the station. At first glance, I was a little let down that the model was a little small, but after taking time to consider the context of the set, I think LEGO made the right call keeping the set’s design modest.

The set’s piece count is 902 pieces, so it isn’t too shabby, although there are a lot of smaller elements that contribute to the set.

The core attraction of the set is the train station itself. Yes, it’s small, but I think it perfectly fits the setting of LEGO’s Winter Village theme. It’s a remote-ish village in the north, so you’d expect a small rural, quaint but functional train station instead of a large, architectural structure.

I think the simplicity of it all works particularly well in this case. I was ready to hate on the set, but after popping into my study to take a look at my LEGO Winter Village sets, I had a change of heart.

One of the more exciting new elements in the set is possibly the new clock face. I kinda like that we tend to get new clocks in Winter Village sets – check out the most recent one from Santa’s Workshop

While it may be small the Winter Village Station has all that a respectful rural train station needs for it to function. There’s a ticket counter for passengers to buy their tickets and it appears in this photo above that the “Tickets” sign-tile is printed which is a neat sign.

Here’s the front of the station, where the barista also doubles up as a station attendant to sweep the ice off the pathway.

For the passengers or family members who are awaiting visitors, there’s also a small cafe manned by a female barista with a neat coffee machine.

Interestingly, if you read the menu in the background, there’s “eggnog” on the list which probably makes this one of the very rare cases where LEGO explicitly references an alcoholic beverage.

But hey, it’s the Winter Village, the land of forever Christmas, so I guess ordering an eggnog at a cafe is the same as me ordering a Long Black or Latte.

There’s also a bench for passengers to sit and wait for the train. Here you can see what appears to be a nice newspaper tile, which is a nice update to the traditional “The LEGO News” tile. The yellow paper gives it a very quaint small-town feel as well.

To bump up the set’s piece count, there’s a “festive bus” included as well. It’s honestly, just okay to me. Thematically, it does fit as the passengers would need some sort of means of transportation to get them to the Winter Village.

The bus has a very classic, retro design, but it mostly feels like a generic bus. Outside of the wreaths hanging off the site, I don’t quite see how it qualifies as a festive bus.

That said, I do like the colours used. Dark blue and yellow with white accents make for a very attractive colour scheme.

You also get 4 straight track pieces to allow it to connect to the tracks from the Winter Holiday train. As a bonus, you also get a railroad crossing section, complete with boom gates and a small signboard to go along with it as well.

Lastly, here’s a look at the 5 minifigures included. You get a bus driver, barista, grandmother, child and a ticket agent. It’s a typical spread of winter village minifigures.

I’m a big fan of LEGO’s Winter Village theme, so naturally, I quite like the train station. I think a lot of LEGO fans are going to be turned off by how small this set is, but I think its price point of US$80 and AU$120 makes this quite a compelling buy.

In a year where our wallets have been savaged by all the cool sets released by LEGO, it’s nice to have a relatively cheap set that won’t burn a hole in your wallet. It’s not the most affordable Winter Village set ever (that honour still goes to the original Winter Village Toy Shop which retailed for US$60) but I think it’s fairly priced.

If I were to poke holes at the set, the size and lack of ambition when it comes to the design would be my number one gripe. I also feel like this set feels incomplete in a sense that you need the Winter Holiday Train to go with this set.

My theory? This station was originally conceptualised as part of the Winter Holiday Train set, but LEGO decided to split it up into two sets. They make more money this way and they also save the hassle of having to design a new Winter Village set. *removes tinfoil*.

So yeah, I like this set, but I don’t love it. I’m still waiting for LEGO to give us a Winter Village tavern! Maybe next year.

What do you think about the Winter Village Station? For those of you that religiously collect the Winter Village sets, how do you feel about this set? Let me know in the comments!