Is the 4559 Cargo Railway based on a real train?

[Carefree_Dude]

Many years ago, I got 4559 as my first ever lego train. I found that it doesn't quite fit well with the other trains I have. I noticed many lego trains have inspiration from real world ones, so I was wondering if there is a good real world train with the black/yellow color scheme that I could base it on?  

[dr_spock]

It could have been based off the Windhoff Cargo Sprinter.

 

[MAB]

I think it was probably more down to availability of parts / colours at the time than any specific link to a real train.

[dr_spock]

The colours are probably not specific to any prototype train paint scheme.  Maybe LEGO was trying to do Blacktron on rails or simply inverted the colours.  Yellow tops and black bottoms can be found on MOW equipment and service trains. Windhoff didn't find success selling the concept for freight duty but they did well selling for MOW and fire rescue trains. There seems to be some shape and containerized cargo semblance to the Windhoff concept at the time.

Windhoff concept drawing:

4559:

 

[zephyr1934]

That is insane that there was a real prototype that 4559 was based off of, I had always thought that the lego designers simply departed from reality with that one. Wasn't that one of the first lego train sets widely available in the US? Turned me off to lego trains until the superchief came out, at which point I did get two copies of 4561 on clearance (not a bad parts pack) to complement my then new superchief and the rest is history as they say.

[Q3671]

i love that 4559 train

[zephyr1934]

Oh yes, 4559 (and to a lesser extent 4561) looks like it has a lot of play value. But at the time they came out I was far more in to trains than lego, and neither set really looks like any trains I am familiar with.

[McWaffel]

Wow I never thought there was a real prototype of this train! Incredible. This was the first Lego train I've seen in my life, when I was a small child. Maybe about 5-6 years old. I can still remember it clearly. I've always wanted one

[dr_spock]

It seems like there is a prototype for anything and everything.  What could have been the inspiration for the 4561?

I don't remember the availability of 4559 in the USA.  I was in that Dark Ages period.

 

 

[112123]

4559,my favorite train,many many fantastic parts.