How to Power the LEGO Winter Holiday Train

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By now,  you’ve seen the photos for the new LEGO Winter Holiday Train (10254) or even seen it in person at the store. The train is a bitty thing, compared to some of the other LEGO trains, but if you don’t have a train for your LEGO Winter Village setup, this is an awesome addition for you.

LEGO Winter Holiday Train 10254

And let’s say you, purchased the train set, but you want to add some motion to your winter village setup. Don’t have the first clue on how to do that?

No worries! Below I listed all the additional sets you will need to get your LEGO Winter Holiday Train moving.

Sets needed to power the LEGO Winter Holiday Train

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You might be put off by the following list of items needed to power your LEGO Winter Holiday Train (10254), but don’t let it. While the process is a little difficult, it is well worth the extra $55 for some holiday magic!

Now, most LEGO stores *should* have these sets in stock. However, if your store doesn’t, or they are all sold out, you can find them online at LEGO Shop@Home. The links below will take you directly to the item:

LEGO Power Functions AAA Battery (88000) on Shop@Home or Amazon

LEGO Power Functions Train Motor (88002) on Shop@Home or Amazon

LEGO IR Receiver (8884) on Shop@Home or Amazon

LEGO Remote Control (8879) on Shop@Home or Amazon

Just a quick note regarding the remote control. If you already own this remote control, you probably do not need another one. The reason being there is a 4 position switch at the bottom of the remote. This switch allows the remote to control four different receivers.

For example, in our setup, our one remote controls our train and our ski lift. If we add the LEGO Winter Holiday Train, it will also control it, too.

And don’t forget the batteries!

Even after purchasing all of that, you will still need batteries. I’m not just talking about your casual user 4-pack you can pick up at any grocery store, either. You’re gonna need a humongous box of batteries. So I recommend you pick up a good rechargeable battery brand. We went through a box of regular batteries ourselves when we exhibited at Celebricktion last year. Over the course of the holidays… and depending on how excited you and your kids are about the train, you could easily do the same.

Save the planet, use rechargeables!

Overview of how to connect the parts to power the LEGO Winter Holiday Train

Now you’re probably wondering how all of this works together. Fortunately for you, LEGO was kind enough to put the instructions on how to power the train in the back of the second instruction booklet.

There are more pages than the one you see above, but I thought I’d just give you a quick look at what you’ll be doing.

After you build your train, you will dismantle the back portion and the bottom of the train, so you can attach the LEGO Train Motor (88002) and hide the LEGO IR Receiver (8884). You will be running the cable that goes from the motor to the receiver through the floorboard of the train.

Then you will connect your receiver to the LEGO Power Functions AAA Battery (88000) box, which will sit in the charcoal wagon. This will give you easy access to the start and stop button on the battery box. It will also allow you to easily switch out batteries.

It’s going to look a little more scary than you anticipated in the instructions, but I promise you it will be a snap!

A note on tracks for the LEGO Winter Holiday Train

Finally, as you can see, the LEGO Winter Holiday Train comes with enough curved track for you to make a closed loop around your Christmas tree. The problem comes when you need more track, because like it was for us, the area you may be working with requires a much longer track.

That’s where you now have two options for purchasing additional track:

LEGO Flexible and Straight Tracks (7499) – (Price varies on Amazon)

This is a retired set of track and currently available on Amazon. It comes with 8 straight track and 8 flexible track. While this is a decent set, the consensus is that the flexible track was not better than the LEGO City Straight & Curved Rails (7896) set it replace. There were plenty of complaints about the track in the comments section of the product page of the 7499 set on the LEGO website, where others described the flexible track as fickle, useless without a baseplate and unreliable.

To be honest, we’re not fans of it either.

LEGO Tracks (60205) on Shop@Home
LEGO Tracks (60205) on Amazon

With that, LEGO decided to release a new version that includes straight, flexible and curved track pieces with the LEGO Tracks (60205) set. You get a little less flex track in exchange for some curved track pieces. This is a true win!

And that, my friends, is how you will power your LEGO Winter Holiday Train!

Have you purchased the LEGO Winter Holiday Train? Do you plan on picking up the power functions, too?

9 thoughts on “How to Power the LEGO Winter Holiday Train

  1. I got the train when it came out (I’m new to Lego trains and Lego winter village!), and I plan to power it. The question now is, get it now (with the other things in my wish list) to get extra points and a second Christmas bonus set for the bricklink store, or wait and get the power functions and more goodies next month to get the Christmas snow globe?

  2. Hey guys, I just finished the build and I don’t like the way the power functions look as Lego designed them. I think I am going to add one brick height to the coal tender so I can cover the battery pack with loose “coal”. Also the sensor in the engine, the grey sides… wish it was green! Let me know if you run into anyone with a creative alternate build for the power functions.

    In addition if people have to buy power functions, remote, and track, they may be able to get a previously released train on sale for not much more. I pirated old battery box, sensor and remote and have lots of extra track but if someone were just getting into trains it’s an idea!

    1. Sorry about the late reply, I didn’t receive a notification that you replied. No, we are not having any problems with the addition of the new car. We don’t typically run at full possible speed and the train naturally slows in curvy parts of the run but that is the same for all our trains (we only have battery power, no 9V). I feel like the ice car satisfied me that there are not wires everywhere even though I don’t have the brick to completely build in the style of the train. If I remember this weekend, I will post a photo to the group of the whole village. :-)

  3. Hi! 1st time builder. Built through train and added power functions as per instructions. The green light on battery pack is on, but train isn’t moving or making a any kind of sound (to let me know something is happening). What am I doing wrong? I toggle the little orange switch on the battery box, but that doesn’t appear to do anything. Thanks in advance for any help.

    1. Hi. I know its years later but did you solve this issue? as mine is now the same the front 2 sections work well on their own but not with the back 2 se tons attached. Thanks

  4. My holiday train with power was working fine. Replaced the batteries as needed. It recently stopped working. If I hold the train in my hand and turn it on the wheels move. When it is on the track, the train moves about 1/2 inch, then stopped rolling. Any suggestions?

    1. I have just had this problem and it was a loose connection at the motor. However, even when working the train struggles to pull everything and is only happy when the Xmas tree and present coach is ditched.

      1. Thank you for that info! We’ll have to see if we have the same issue when we finally build the train. Hopefully, your insight will be helpful to others.

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