LGB STAINZ - The Train Sets, Years 1992-1994

After a smaller edition of the Christmas train set was selling well in 1990 LGB went down that road again in 1992:

LGB 22540

LGB 22540 - Courtesy of worthpoint.com

The difference to LGB 20540: the number "4" on the engine (was "2"). The big difference was the edition volume. This time 10,000 were made. And sold 'worldwide'.

That same year the LGB New Item flyer also presented the Circus Train set No

LGB 22988

LGB 70988 (1993)

LGB 22988 - Courtesy of picclick.com

LGB 70988 - Courtesy of picclick.com

10,000 were made and sold 'worldwide'. The set included 3 figurines and a little box on the truck bed. These Circus train sets are still offered on the internet at the time of writing.

1994 saw these Stainz train sets being offered:

LGB 70545

LGB 70545 - Courtesy of workwithyoung.com

After two red Christmas train sets in 2 years, not differing much, LGB saw the great trick in offering a blue version. Edition is not known but an educated guess points to another 10,000 edition volume. And the price was raised to a plump US$ 500.00. These blue Stainz train sets today are offered for US$ 650.00 to $ 750.00 or more.

And since LGB was already in the copying mood they continued the  series for the German Toy-Dealer-Marketing-Associations. 

LGB 70994

LGB 70994 Vedes - Courtesy of picclick.com

VEDES  hat to take 10,000 of these sets while the competing association of "Toy-Ring" (German: Spielzeug-Ring) also received 10,000 as a marketing 'special', same time, same train set, the only difference  was a logo printed on the yellow boxcar: Grafitti-Express

LGB 70996

LGB 70996 Spielzeug-Ring - Courtesy of picclick.com

Both had to be sold in the very same toy dealer stores since both associations supplied the same toy dealers. You can imagine how happy those toy dealers were...Yep, LGB made great friends back then in the retail business....

And to make matters funnier they made a 3rd edition with a blank yellow boxcar as a special for the MC stores only- also a group of toy retailers. This time the edition was 500

LGB 70995

LGB 70995  - Courtesy of grootspoor.com

And all three sets were standard LGB 'fare' which were produced for the annual catalog-offer anyway. That at least kept the costs low which LGB had to learn as a new virtue.

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

LGB STAINZ Train Sets - years 1990/91

The 1990's. A time of economic thrive in Germany. LGB made money. Or so they thought. Wolfgang Richter had borrowed money, lots of it. And he was forced to change banks at a time where he didn't need more trouble. And he had decided to take his son on, Rolf Richter. Made him 2nd in command. Rolf had no knowledge of the business at hand. and no love of it either. But LGB still had their crowd pullers. One of them the Stainz engine family. And a thriving US market.

LGB 20540US

LGB 20540US - Courtesy of worthpoint.com

This Christmas train set was advertised  in the US only and had an edition volume of 2,000. It sold for roughly $ 350.00

The year 1991 brought a number of LGB Stainz specialties. The most outstanding was the 

LGB 20100NB

LGB 20100NB 24 karat gold plated - Courtesy of Only Trains

Initially it was planned to have 1,000 manufactured. Then that number was lowered. The plan also called for the train set being sold exclusively at German high-end porcelain retailers. Go figure. Well, in the end less were made, the numbers swing between 200 and a little over 50. And 30 years later, the 'Golden Train' had found its way into the USA where as of the time of this article you can find an offer of one single gold-plated gondola for US$ 500.00 on eBay. Also at this time on eBay the complete train set in original black box for US$ 4,000.00

You think that was weird. Wait - there is more:

LGB 2020EM

LGB 2020EM - Kompendium LGB 2012, pg 1204

This "Aqua-Florian-Zug" was made for the event of the founding of the LGB Club "Friends of LGB Niederrhein (Lower Rhine)".  The edition volume was 10!! YT could find not one single photo of the set on the internet but could find an offer of the boxcar in picclick.fr for Euro 430.00 for the car alone.

The company who served as the train set donor seems to be still in business in Germany at the time of writing.

The Christmas set for 1991 for the USA was the

LGB 21540US

LGB 21540US- Courtesy of worthpoint.com

Dear reader, have a little fun and do a pic-comparison with the two Christmas sets. Your "Spot the difference"- game will find a pretty limited number of  differences...

Edition volume had sprung up from 2,000 to 5,000 this time and sales price was again around US$ 350.00. It was an USA- exclusive also.

LGB 23301 

LGB 23301 - Courtesy of eBay

This set was an LGB mainstay as was the 
LGB 23401 

LGB 23401 - Courtesy of worthpoint.com

This set came with a smoke generator. Another change in construction was the motor block,. Until 1990 LGB used 2-shell motor blocks (left and right shell) and changed that to a three-part motor block (top lid, main body, bottom lid) in 1991. The price was around US 200.00.

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