LGB STAINZ - Train Sets, LGB 20401 and LGB 1981

The very first LGB catalog (1968) featured also the very first "STAINZ" LGB freight train set, the LGB 20401. As with the passenger train set, the German version did not have an item number the first year but the English version did. However the next year's catalog (1969) showed an item number for the freight train set in both catalogs, English and German.

Below are examples of the very first STAINZ freight train set:

LGB 20401 - Courtesy of worthpoint.com

LGB 20401 - Courtesy of liveauctioneers.com

LGB 20401 - Courtesy of eBay.com

LGB 20401 - Courtesy of eBay.com

The above photos all show versions of the LGB 20401 set. All in all LGB offered 13 (!) versions of this freight train set. The first ever set contained these items:

(1) steam locomotive base model 2040 and 2 freight cars (plus 4 figurines, tracks to form a circle and one power cable). Loco cabin and boiler in black, chassis in red, "Heuler" motor, no pick-up shoes, a small dummy headlight, round roof vent, red loco wheels, cabin labeled "4". One high-sided (freight) gondola (base model 4020) and one boxcar (base model 4030) both in light brown

Thereafter and over the years they differed as follows:

20401-2:  as (1) but operating head and rear lights, cabin # "4" sometimes in silver color

20401-3:  as (2) but Cabin # "4" gold color, high sided gondola in green (base model 4021)

20401-4:  as (3) but motor now a regular Buehler motor, w/pick-up shoes, big operating head and rear lights, square roof vent.

20401-5:  as (4) but yellow boxcar "Chiquita" w/ wraparound platform railing (starting 1973)

20401-6:  as (5) but loco base model 2010 with green cabin

20401-7:  as (6) but loco in dark brown w/ loco # "1",  high sided gondola either green or brown(model 4021) w/labeling

20401-8:  as (7) but both freight cars w/plastic covered steel axles, boxcar w/ open sided platform railing

20401-9:  as (8) but matte red covering box w/cellophane window

20401-10:as (9) but shiny red covering box w/window; edition later came with labeling:"Lehmann Gross-Bahn-The Big Train"

20401-11:as(10) but high sided gondola in  brown and sometimes grey inside

20401-12:as(11) but high sided gondola in  dark brown and sometimes grey inside

20401-13:as(12) but loco 2020 w/green cabin

All sets in boxes w/ windows have transformers.

Pricing started with DM 176.00 which was about US$ 45.00 in 1968/70 or about US$ 339.00 in today's money. Edition wise 10,000 were manufactured at least every year and the Internet, retail and/or eBay market offers them every now and then. They are neither rare nor massively valuable and even more seldom complete.

LGB built/manufactured the LGB 20401 sets until 1987.

There is another LGB set that also carries the number 20401 albeit with the addition RZ, that is LGB 20401 RZ which is a diesel loco set, called the "Red Train Set". It was made from 1983 to 1985 and had an edition volume of 15,000.

Well, after all this set mania and confusion LGB had profited immensely from their well earned success and it was time to celebrate. In 1981 Lehmann Brothers celebrated their 100th anniversary (remember they started out in 1881 in Berlin with a tin toy company) and they manufactured and offered the "100 Year Lehmann 1881-1981" Anniversary Set

LGB 1981 1 - Courtesy worthpoint.com

LGB 1981 1 - Courtesy of Only Trains 

Here are some very special facts about this anniversary set:

No 1: It was NEVER offered in any LGB catalog

No 2: It was NEVER mentioned in the 100th Anniversary catalog of 1981

No 3: It NEVER got its own flyer or brochure

No 4: 19,000 sets were manufactured

No 5: It came out on the height of the LGB craze. In Germany as well as in the USA the market was growing immensely.

No 6: It is still available on the market mostly in very good condition. Why? People simply fell for the marketing trick that it would be valuable and kept it on a shelve instead of enjoying it.

No 7: In 1984 the set was released AGAIN with an edition of 1,000 and a loco with a red steam chest. This edition was cataloged in the 1984 catalog on page 14. Why? That will remain an LGB mystery. That edition was RARE and was hard to find, even for your Famous Klaus. We tracked it down on Hattons Model Railways in the UK:

LGB 1981 2 - Courtesy of hattons.co.uk

+++++++++++++++++ to be continued...