LEGO Winter Village 10361 Holiday Express Train review

10361 Holiday Express Train chugs into the Winter Village Collection for 2025, but is this a Christmas LEGO set you’ll want to board, or are you better off hanging around for a replacement bus service?

Tickets please for the third festive LEGO locomotive released since 2006, and the second specifically under the Winter Village banner following 2016’s 10254 Winter Holiday Train. Less a spiritual successor and more a direct update to that set (only with a fresh coat of paint), 10361 Holiday Express Train faces an uphill battle as the Winter Village’s second remake – especially as it carries the subtheme’s first price bump in years.

10361 Holiday Express Train

Release: Oct 1, 2025

Retiring: Dec 31, 2028

Price: £109.99 / $129.99 / €119.99

Pieces: 956

Minifigures: 4

Aside from 10249 Winter Toy Shop, which was pretty much a direct re-release of 10199 Winter Village Toy Shop, every Winter Village set has brought something new to the table. 10361 Holiday Express Train instead revisits a tried and tested concept to a degree that’s almost too severe: here again is a locomotive and tender, two wagons – one a flatbed, the other for passengers – a small platform and a complete circle of track, which is an identical composition to the 2016 train.

There was a chance to do something different here (and the name ‘express train’ certainly implies something more high-speed than this quaint steam engine), and that it’s not been taken probably won’t sit well with veteran Winter Village collectors. But does it at least have plenty to offer anyone who wasn’t buying these sets nearly a decade ago? The answer is… sort of.

The LEGO Winter Village has always felt deliberately antiquated in its approach, skewering a charming and picturesque slice of wintery life that’s as happy to dive into the fantastical realm as it is to capture modern-day amenities. And in that vein, 10361 Holiday Express Train doesn’t so much pass up the opportunity to deliver a more powerful locomotive as it does outright reject it.

What we’ve got here is a cute and very much toyetic train, which abandons the notion of things like connecting rods in favour of a chimney that can bob up and down as the train moves along, or a polar bear that can swing its arms to ring a bell (not with any actual sounds, mind). It positions 10361 Holiday Express Train as a Winter Village set first, train second, and while it’s ready to motorise out of the box – as long as you’re prepared to spend big on the necessary Powered Up components – its proportions mean it probably won’t be a priority purchase for train fans in a year when so many other options are available.

It does feel slightly more assured in its execution than 10254 Winter Holiday Train, though, and that’s largely thanks to some clever part usage and bolder motifs. The gift-wrapped passenger car is a real highlight and a definite improvement on its predecessor, while the polar bear is a more inspired and unique use of the flatbed wagon’s space than just another Christmas tree.

Where 10361 Holiday Express Train stutters is in its construction: like many modern LEGO sets it often involves a fiddly assembly of hundreds of tiny pieces, and in reaching for its charming functionality – that bobbing chimney and moving polar bear – it sacrifices reliability. The wheels at the front of the locomotive and beneath the flatbed wagon are connected in such a way that you’re basically left to figure out the correct distance between each one (relative to the track and along its respective axle) for yourself, which will fill you with the Christmas spirit in the same way as untangling last year’s lights to put back on the tree.

It's a frustrating end point for what should be one of the most whimsical sets of the year, a title that in many ways it does lay claim to. In the colour scheme, for instance, which combines frosty blues with snowy white and gleaming pearl gold, then tops it off with red and green highlights; and in the wreaths and flowers that decorate the train in a more confident and attractive way than the random white leaves on the 2016 model.

As mentioned there’s the gift-wrapped carriage, which is joined by an oversized gift box on the front of the flatbed wagon, and that itself is topped with a microscale diorama. None of the included buildable toys fit inside this box, though – including the 3D-printed train, which is the first piece of its kind in a retail LEGO set and already proving divisive.

Any qualms about it being too far removed from the LEGO system will probably vanish the moment you roll it along and watch the wheels (complete with connector rods) turn and the chimney plume bob up and down. In some ways, it’s a more accomplished version of the actual train – although it obviously benefits from being a singular piece, and to some will feel a bit like cheating.

Just as it did in the 2016 set, the platform here feels a bit like an afterthought, but if we’re following the same pattern as back then it could easily be a precursor to a full station in 2026. The lamppost is cute at least, and it gives the passenger minifigures somewhere to stand if you want to see them more clearly. Speaking of minifigures, there are four here, and while that doesn’t sound like a lot it’s hard to imagine who else could have made the cut. You’ve got the train driver, conductor and a couple of civilians to fill the carriage. There’s not really room for anyone else.

But these sets aren’t really about the minifigures: what you actually want from a new Winter Village model is a feeling of cosiness, a way to get into the holiday spirit, and a cute and charming new addition to your wider collection. In that regard 10361 Holiday Express Train is largely on the right track – but it all comes at a higher price than any recent Winter Village sets.

To be fair, this subtheme has held fast at £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 even while prices have spiralled left, right and centre across other themes and even LEGO Icons sets. It’s just a shame the LEGO Group picked this one, which includes far fewer pieces than its immediate predecessors, to bump the price up to £109.99 / $129.99 / €119.99.

The full loop of track, which is comprised of 16 curved track pieces, has obviously made an impact – but you can get 20 track pieces of varying shapes and sizes for £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 at LEGO.com, so it does make you wonder where the other 500 pieces have gone compared to 10339 Santa’s Post Office and 10325 Alpine Lodge. A price increase for these sets was inevitable at some stage, but it’s felt very deeply here.

Does that mean taking 10361 Holiday Express Train off your Christmas list? Not necessarily. There’s a fair amount of festive frustration in getting the functions to work properly, but if you can look past that – and are happy to board a locomotive that’s more toy than train – there are things to enjoy here. It’s just not as easy to recommend as recent Winter Village instalments…

Our honest opinion: 10361 Holiday Express Train is cute, charming and festive, so it’s ticking most of the right boxes for a Winter Village set – but it sticks too closely to its predecessor, while its innovations don’t quite land.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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Can 10361 Holiday Express Train be motorised?

Yes, 10361 Holiday Express Train can be motorised right out of the box, with instructions included for incorporating LEGO Powered Up motors. You’ll need a hub, train motor and remote control to make the most of it.

How long does it take to build 10361 Holiday Express Train?

You’ll spend a breezy hour and a half assembling 10361 Holiday Express Train, though a disproportionate amount of that time is concentrated on getting the wheels just right on the locomotive and flatbed wagon.

How many pieces are in 10361 Holiday Express Train?

10361 Holiday Express Train includes 956 pieces, which is far fewer than recent LEGO Winter Village sets, though it does include 16 curved track pieces for a full railway loop – perfect for popping under the tree.

How much does 10361 Holiday Express Train cost?

10361 Holiday Express Train debuts October 1, 2025 for LEGO Insiders and retails for £109.99 / $129.99 / €119.99. That represents the first price bump for LEGO Winter Village sets since 2021 in the UK, and 2018 in the US.