LGB STAINZ - The Train Sets , Years 2001 -2006 (Conclusion)

 After all the German toy dealers had their pick at customized LGB Stainz train sets (see previous blog) LGBoA got a bit grumpy and wanted their piece of the pie. Which is a bit astounding since the "New Item 2001" brochure for LGBoA already listed a slew of LGB engines new to their customers and some were real smashes like the F 7 See Through or the Aster Garret NGG 13. With their financial back to the wall already LGB Headquarters in Nuremberg tried to get away on the cheap by offering them the set of the

LGB 72302

LGB 72302 - Courtesy of Only Trains

and the  LGB 72402

LGB 72402 - Courtesy of Only Trains

Dearest blog-follower, of course you are asking, why.... these are not new..?! And right you are. Built since 1997 (or even before that, not minding the color scheme) LGB put a new transformer into the set and declared the product a new item. And both (set)engines came with sound.

Even though 2001 marked the 120th Anniversary for LGB - since the grandparent company Lehmann Tin Toys was established in Berlin in 1881 - LGB only marketed that event with a European Anniversary catalog. Nothing for the USA/LGBoA... go figure. 

The "2002 LGBoA New Item Info" is a 68(!) page catalog in addition to the "LGBoA Program Overview 2002" with 28 pages and the standard main catalog for 2001/2002. Still, no mention of the 120th anniversary. So - to find the "new" 2002 Stainz Train set the LGB fan had to travel to page 17(!!) of the "2002 LGBoA New Item Info" to find the

LGB 29151

LGB 29151 shown on pg 17 of "2002 LGBoA New Item Info"

The set was sold for US$ 699.99 (or US$ 1,300.00 in today's value) as a Limited Edition of 1,300. 

The current market offers include just the engine and tender (no cars) for Euro/$ 445.00 (BigTrainWorld)  and  Euro/$ 245.00 (Grootspoor). (At the time of this blog Euro and US$ are on par).

In 2005 LGB manufactured another custom-painted Stainz set, this time for the Swiss garden center GARPA located in Zurich. The set had an edition of 350 and could only be purchased  through GARPA.

LGB 70315

LGB 70315 - Courtesy of ricardo.ch

This is one of the rarest LGB STAINZ Sets we have found while writing this blog.  GARPA still exists

The LGB 72920

LGB 72920 - Courtesy of central-hobbies.com

also came out in 2005. It was an uncatalogued set that was offered by LGBoA in the  2005 4-page "LGBoA LIMITED EDITION". The Richter family and their LGB company already had to face the music in 2005. Cash strapped, interest payments coming due, payroll payments on hold, creditors and suppliers put on hold - all of that either lead to or was mixed with a plain horrible marketing strategy and a motley crew of sales efforts. 16 publications in up to 4 languages tell the story of things to come.

The last LGB STAINZ train set to be offered was the

LGB 70403

LGB 70403 - Courtesy of jb-webshop.de

This type of Stainz set has multiple variants and one similar to the above shown is still on offer today by the new LGB/Maerklin company. The above shown set is also still available at the time of writing for about US$ 370.00 via the internet by a German shop.

In July of 2006 LGB was celebrating their 125th Anniversary with pomp and circumstance. In September of 2006 they declared bankruptcy and by the end of 2006 the Old Original LGB was history.