LGB 2040 -- The Crocodile

The first LGB crocodile electric locomotive Ge 6/6 I was presented by LGB in 1978. It was modeled after the Electric locomotive Ge 6/6 I of the RhB (Swiss Rhaetian Railway). The 6-axle loco has 2 powered pivoted bogies with a C'C' wheel arrangement. C'C' wheel arrangement is (standard European code)  for  the number of coupled  or jointly powered axles in a truck, following the alphabet (A=1,B=2,C=3) with the ' standing for pivoted axles. Quoting Wikipedia:"The class is so named because it was the first class of locomotives of the Swiss locomotive and railcar classification type Ge 6/6 to be acquired by the Rhaetian Railway. According to that classification system, Ge 6/6 denotes a narrow gauge electric adhesion locomotive with a total of six axles, all of which are drive axles." Quote end.

Your Famous Klaus has had quite a few LGB crocodiles in his workshop over the years. Their owners love their engines wanting to have high quality sound and a good digital system in their Crocodiles.

The first LGB crocodile had the number 2040 which was earlier used by LGB for a 2-axle tender locomotive (see future LGB Yarner blog for more details). Details for the LGB 2040-1 are:

This 2040 hand model is from the 1979/80 catalog, page 32

The LGB 2040 Crocodile chassis (body), rail-guard, headlights, handrails are in black. Locomotive body in medium brown. Roof and running board in medium grey, wheels red  (Y.T. The Kompendium might err here, YT never saw a Crocodile with red wheels anywhere in any publishing. Then again, some dealers got hold of early hand models in 1980 and it is not known what they might have had). Multi purpose pantographs (LGB# 2030/3, later 2040/3) nickel plated with one contact strip. (Pantographs came also silver colored).Insulators  in brown color. Labeled "413" and "RhB" elevated and golden colored. (The Kompendium lists an "LGB" plate which is incorrect since already the hand models show the RhB letters). 2 motors.  With Swiss headlight change as in the original. Mode switch for track power to overhead power. Connecting rods in chromed/black. Jack shaft with grey background color. Loco wheels (full, no spokes) in black.

This very first LGB crocodile # 2040 was announced as new item late 1978. But Gunter Ruhland, head mold master at LGB had his problems with the molds. To make a hand model for the catalog is one thing. To get the molds ready for serial production quite another.  Mr. Ruhland had to figure out how to built the front and rear end hood mold without showing any division lines in the manufactured product. The finished mold was a masterpiece in molding technology in those days. It took about a year to come up with a satisfying solution that Wolfgang and Eberhard Richter found acceptable. Therefor the LGB fan and customer saw 1979 approaching and ending with just another announcement in the 1979/80 catalog for the  LGB Crocodile to come into dealers stores. Then eventually in 1980 the wait was over and the new LGB crocodile was delivered to dealers and costumers alike.

It will be hard to find a 1978 LGB crocodile here in the USA. The US market was not exactly established yet and only very few German LGB locos made the transatlantic trip. Most crocodiles came over after 1989 when the San Diego LGB office was fully established and a growing number of USA LGB clubs began operating promoting the product with the hobby. By then, even in (Western) Germany the 1978 model was mostly not available anymore.

Color changes for the next 'models' were plenty and in short order. Starting with # 2040-2 Running rails changed to grey, isolators came in red, then grey or red and later, after 1993 in green, the jack shafts got stickers, the locomotive body was medium brown , then brown, then darker brown. handrails turned to yellow and head lights got golden rings.The numbers indicated color changes in these details, from 2040-2 to 2040-5 and then from 1993 on 20400-1, -2 and 20400-8 in 2001 with digital decoder. According to the Kompendium the first sales price was in Deutsche Mark 495.00 (in 1980) and the LGB Kompendium lists the 20400-2 for Euro 450.00 (US$ 500.00 in 1994). However Klaus got his first Crocodile in mid 1980 and paid DM 740.00 for her. The equivalent in todays $-value being a stunning  $ 3500.00.

In 1990 LGB edited a specialty series crocodile in green, LGB # 2140, for DM 895.00 (US$ equivalent in 1990 was $ 300.00 or US$ 585.00 today).

In 1993/94 a red crocodile followed with LGB# 22400 and a rather small edition of 2500.

LGB # 24402 was a blue crocodile offered in the 2001/2002 catalog as a specialty limited edition series of  1,000 titled 'collectors edition'. The price had been upped to DM 1695.00 or roughly US$ 850.00.  LGB 24402.8 had the added digital decoder.

In 2003-2004 a dark brown Crocodile followed with # LGB 25402 with yellow handrails and silver colored pantographs and green isolators. It was offered under the eXtra program which offered dealers a somewhat clumsy alternative to the regular ordering with a pretty high price range for actually not-so-special LGB stock. List price was Euro 999.00 or US$ 1,250.00.

The last crocodile - again in blue - under the old original LGB was the LGB# 27402 "Glacier express/ 75/ 1930-2005/ St.Moritz/Davos-Zermatt" from 2005 to 2007. The price was a dizzying Euro 1,034.00 or US$ 1,350.00 ( today about $1,700.00)) with the closing of the LGB factory right around the corner.

In 1999/2000 LGB issued the  # 70640 ; the collector's edition set "Alpine Classic RhB" with a classic brown loco and 2 long passenger cars # 34650 in a pretty blue - beige coloring. The edition was limited at 1,500 for a price of  DM 2,698.00 or about US$ 1450.00 (present day $ 2,220). A value that the current market does not accept. The pre-owned market of Spring 2019 ranges from $ 750.00 to $ 1,700.00 for the set with little demand for it on the eBay platform. However, pre-owned LGB stock dealers show their crocodiles moving fast,

The new LGB under Maerklin issued two more crocodiles until 2010 (YT didn't follow the  product lineage of new LGB after 2009) with #s: 20405 and 22405.

Permanent Operation Management with POM

Klaus' Plea: I want to keep you informed and entertained with our blogs without ads or the need for subscription.It takes great effort and time  to entertain the blog sites. Please support us in our endeavor of keeping the blogs ads-free, the LGB history alive and promoting this delightful avocation by donating any amount you feel comfortable with. Send me a check or go to our Go-Fund-Me page https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-the-lgb-traincraft-blogs-alive  .
THANK YOU for keeping the LGB hobby alive!! And God Bless!
Your donation will help in our efforts to have a new blog at least every week!

Permanent Operation
LGB Trains were designed to run in outdoor garden layouts. Turns out, the plastic chosen by the Richter brothers Wolfgang and Eberhard for their engines, cars and tracks has shown  to be holding out pretty well under straining  operating conditions. BUT--- when you are running your train almost 24/7 then you reach the limit even of an LGB train. And there are quite a few non-stop operation train layouts out there. From Botanical Gardens to Dental Practices, Restaurants, to Furniture Stores, Hospitals and Exhibitions, to name a few.
The wear and tear these trains endure is enormous. Even more so when those trains are operated at high or highest speed. A 'need' that is often highlighted by Klaus' customers when their customer base includes a lot of children like Botanical Gardens, family restaurants etc.

What happens under 24/7 running conditions is this:
over time the axles work themselves into the side walls of the motor block which are functioning as axle bearings. Once this happens, the wheel axle starts to wobble. Eventually this is going to damage the gear wheels and the loco tends to derail. The extreme wobbling of the axle is increasing the load on the motor ever more with the peril of the motor eventually starting to burn out or burn up in a worst case scenario.
The motor experiences the biggest strain while the train operates through curves. And the narrower the curve the more vigorous the impact on the interaction between axle and its bearing. Playing into this is the fact that almost no layout has an even number of left and right turn curves thus exerting a one-sided uber-workload to the motor block. Hence the fact of bearings being worn out unevenly.

Ball bearings and pin bearings stand the test only if and when they are sealed. Then they need no greasing. Unsealed bearings will not do the job since they collect dirt which leads to their demise.

This is Klaus' solution: As a bearing POM proves to be very succesful. POM is Polyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal, polyacetal, and polyformaldehyde, is an engineering thermoplastic used in precision parts requiring high stiffness, low friction, and excellent dimensional stability (quoted from Wikipedia). POM plastic doesn't require greasing and hence has stood the test of time as a bearing. Klaus' bearing inserts are installed into the motor block and are about 4 times the thickness of the motor block wall. This reduces the pressure on the POM plastic bearing massively. Also, the contact area of the axle bearing has increased by 4 fold as well. Because of these POM bearing inserts the axle guidance is more precise and can much better withstand strains from bigger loads in curves.





Klaus utilizes his precision CNC mill to create these bearing inserts as well as the cutouts for the inserts in the motor blocks. Once the new bearings are inserted, you can still pull out the axle from underneath the motor block because the new bearing inserts are U-shaped.

Another problem from permanent operation is the huge wear and tear on the chrome-plated loco wheels. The chrome plating wears off. This leads to the rash consumption of the wheel(s). A beneficial solution to this is the replacement with stainless steel loco wheels which have an enormous durability. They just need some cleaning from time to time. Klaus sources these stainless steel loco wheels from Germany.

So, go call Klaus and make an appointment for your overhaul of your 24/7 operated LGB trains. You will be merrily surprised how much money you can save with the POM procedure. And ask him about the many happy commercial customers he has. He will gladly give you their contacts for your own inquiries.


Klaus' Plea: I want to keep you informed and entertained with our blogs without ads or the need for subscription.It takes great effort and time  to entertain the blog sites. Please support us in our endeavor of keeping the blogs ads-free, the LGB history alive and promoting this delightful avocation by donating any amount you feel comfortable with. Send me a check or go to our Go-Fund-Me page at .https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-the-lgb-traincraft-blogs-alive
THANK YOU for keeping the LGB hobby alive!! And God Bless!
Your donation will help in our efforts to have a new blog at least every week!