LGB STAINZ - The Train Sets, year 1988

The year 1988 marked the 10th anniversary of the LGB Club in Pittsburgh /Pennsylvania. From August 01 to Aug. 04 1988. Al Lentz and Howard Gombert were among those organizing the show. LGB honored the club's loyalty and their ongoing impact on the sales volume for USA by issuing the 

LGB 1988 BTO 1

LGB 1988 BTO 1- Courtesy of liveauctioneers.com

The edition was 500 which did not leave much stock to be sold to interested non-club LGB fans.

But wait - there is more....

LGB also issued 20 (!!) train sets in all black for the same occasion

LGB 1988 BTO 2

LGB 1988 BTO 2 - Courtesy of picclick.com

This is the only image we could find. Don't expect these to come on the market often. YT is taken a wild guess by assuming this set was made for the "upper ten" of the LGB Club Pittsburgh/PA...

Well, LGB was on a roll concerning the 'tiny-series' edition volume train sets. On they went. After the city of Dortmund and their LGB club got a special edition train set (LGB 20536, see previous blog) , the home-based Nuremberg club didn't want to be left in the outfield... and got the 

LGB 20539-1

LGB 20539 1- Courtesy of Only Trains

Volume was 950 and the set was sold exclusively by Schweiger (LGB dealer) again. This time, Schweiger got another identical train set, too. With an edition volume of 50(!) the same set was made with the loco displaying a gold (colored) steam chest. 

LGB 20539 2

LGB 20539-2 - Courtesy of a now defunct business

 All 1,000 sets were numbered starting 1 through 1,000.

Maybe LGB finally figured  that after all there was actually no "method in this madness" since they stopped manufacturing these tiny volumes. If a business needs to make roughly $80 mill in sales a year just to make ends meet you're wasting your energy on dwarf series like that. So back to business as usual and 

LGB 21401

LGB 21401 - Courtesy of Only Trains

This set could be assembled from stock on shelf at LGB Nuremberg. The engine was the regular # 2020 and the cars were on regular catalog offer as well (# 4010, # 4042). The set was featured in the 1988/89 main catalog and the set came complete with a transformer, tracks and figurines. Price was DM 315.00 or about US$ 150.00 (relating to $ 350.00 today).

With all the LGB club hype going on that year in the USA LGBoA wanted some piece of the pie and got the 

LGB 21988

LGB 21988 - Courtesy of Only Trains

LGBoA got this Circus train set as an USA exclusive with an edition volume of 12,500. But as always, it didn't take long for the set to make its way back to Europe. With 12,500 produced - no wonder. They are still on the market and currently (mid October 2021) for sale  on eBay for roughly US$ 200.00.

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