After having produced more than 900,000 Stainz sets and Stainz engines LGB was still going strong with their most successful locomotive. By the turn of the century (2000) times were starting to get really tough at LGB and the banks were giving them a pretty hard time. Cash was short, top- managing was weary and incompetent, their best (employees) had already left or were about to leave and bills were mounting. In addition, industries in Germany were flooded by a deluge of new work-related legislature regarding decreased allowed work-time, shift-regulation, time-off-regulation for pregnant women and new mothers, sick-leave, compulsory vacation obligations (not kidding!!) and more.
Still, LGB tried to hang on and published their next Stainz set. It was presented in the 2000 catalog/ new item brochure (there was no new Stainz set in 1999)
LGB 70950/72950
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| LGB 70950/72950 - Courtesy of worthpoint.com |
This set was honoring the 950th Anniversary of the city of Nuremberg. It had a limited edition of 1,200 sets. The passenger cars displayed the printing:" 950 Jahre" and " 50 Jahre/ E.P. LEHMANN/SPIELZEUG/ AUS NUERNBERG" ("950 Years" and " 50 Years/E.P.LEHMANN/TOYS/FROM NUREMBERG") The "50 Years" referred to the re-opening of the tin toy company by EP Lehmann in 1950 in Nuremberg after moving there from Berlin after WW II; Berlin was becoming politically unsafe due to the Russian occupation of the Eastern part of Germany and half of Berlin).
The set had 2 item numbers, the 70950 referring to the German/European set package and the 72950 referring to the US version. LGB also offered the set with a digital decoder with the item # 70950.8
These days the set is often advertised as Christmas set since the coloring of the loco, cars and the colorful festoons are mistaken for Christmas decoration. Whereas in fact it relates to the Bavarian custom to embellish huge objects, buildings and whole street parts with fir garlands to honor anniversaries or important political events.
For 2001 there were these LGB Stainz sets, LGB 72302 and 72402
LGB 72302
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| LGB 72302 - Courtesy amazon.com |
LGB 72302 green version
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LGB 72302 - Courtesy LGBoA new item flyer 2001
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Yours Truly has no idea why those two have identical item#s. We also found varied assorted sets with the same number on the internet where the green loco is offered with 2 red cars or other mix. There is a chance that LGB Nuremberg was in such a quest for income that it not only sold the green loco set to LGBoA but also assembled other sets from stock and gave them (maybe as limited or exclusive editions) to various US LGB dealers. It is also possible that the red set is a new item from the new LGB/Maerklin and they re-used an old LGB number. Hard-to-say...
LGB 72402
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| LGB 72402 - Courtesy LGBoA new item flyer 2001 |
No information available about edition volume for the above item numbers.
The German market was graced with these sets: - non of which were offered in any catalog but were exclusively made for dealer associations, most of them in aggressive competition to each other... Klaus Baumann, the late VP Sales of LGB was so furious about this LGB policy that he predicted the ruin of the longstanding cooperation between LGB and toy dealers - which was to come true 2 years later.
LGB 70920
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| LGB 70920 - Courtesy of Only Trains |
This set was not in any catalog nor flyer/brochure. It was probably made for a dealer or the German Postal Service (Deutsche Post) which at that time was changing their outlet policy from federal stores and buildings to private grocery stores with a section reserved for the German Postal Service.
LGB 70938
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| LGB 70938 - Courtesy of debruijn-bussum.nl |
This toy set was exclusively made for VEDES Association of Toy Dealers and was limited to 2,000 sets. It was a big set with 3 cars (instead of the standard 2 cars) and was very attractive. It can still be found on eBay and at some European dealers. Price today runs about US$ 400.00 (plus shipping)
LGB 70940
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| LGB 70940 - Courtesy of BigTrainWorld.com |
This set was named the "Fire department" train, also featuring 3 cars in an all red coloring. The edition was limited to 2,400 sets and was exclusively made for Idee + Spiel toy dealer association. It is still available today, mostly on the European market and runs around US$ 400.00 (plus shipping from Europe)
Idee + Spiel got another exclusive set that year, outmaneuvering VEDES ( the bigger association, representing a lot (!) more dealers with better financial power):
LGB 70942
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| LGB 70942 - Courtesy of THW-modell-liste.de |
It was called the THW-train referring to the
Technisches
Hilfs
Werk or the equivalent of FEMA in Germany. The blue color is characteristic for the THW as all their equipment features this specific blue. Edition volume was not made public but would have been somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000.
+++++++++++++++++++ to be continued...
