LEGO Historian

Thanks guys! Jodawill... now I have to figure out how many sets were prebuilt like that! Actually the battery pack could be purchased built into a train tender car. It was available in the service pack section of the store, or as mail-order. LEGO used to have retailer binders that all the independent toy store owners would get from TLG (by 1961 there were over 11,000 independent toy stores in Europe that sold LEGO). Some of the images from these retailer catalogs are shown here... A LEGO metal display rack was available to the retailers from TLG, that held both Town and Train sets for easy display. This rack design dates to 1967-68... Starting in 1966 these retailer catalogs listed all the train related items to promote the new LEGO Trains. This included customized designing for Store Windows that TLG would create for the retailers. Here's an example of one of the 3 window display designs from the retailer catalog.... And here's a finish retailer window, as seen in their catalog.... So LEGO Trains were the first successful "System" after Town.... and evolved into the 12V electric trains by 1969, and eventually the current 9V trains by the early 1990s. But in the 1960s, it was just the 4.5V battery powered trains, as well as simpler push trains. That train track display (with points) on the right side of the previous image eventually evolved into a 12V electric version of that same track. Here is a rare surviving display model of that track for the 12V trains.... Because there are wires included in this glued display model (the tracks are glued to the wooden board)... this could have been a working model (with transformer used by LEGO retailers for demonstrating the 12V system. I have seen an image of a 12V 721 LEGO Steam Locomotive running on this type of track in a TLG display at the LEGO Idea House in Billund.

Check out my posts in EUROBRICKS TRAINS TECH Forum.... Blue Track and Gray Track Box images for future updates (for free to current owners)... http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=108675 The half off price is still in effect for a while!

Thanks so much Murdoch17!! I didn't make you wait long... did I? One of the benefits of sharing MY information is that I learn from so many others. LEGO is a vast puzzle... and I'm still finding pieces under the proverbial sofa! The 1970s blue track era trains were basically identical, apparently all produced in Denmark, with the major difference being the stickers or ink stamps or both. Here is a Canadian 182 Train Set with Signal of 1975. This set has a large Samsonite of Canada bilingual sticker on it. Here is the same 182 Train Set from France, with a round French sticker.... And here is the 1982 Train Set from Britain, with a round English sticker.... Also... these sets appear to have another label (the first label mentions that it's a motorized set and needs batteries) and this 2nd label on the French set mentions the age group that could play with this set. I believe this says that the parts in this set are not suitable for children under 36 months old. That's odd for 2 reasons... it gives what appears to be a chocking hazard warning in months. The age determination for this set (not for children under so or so years) is seen on the side of the box.... "D" is the highest age range for more mature children who have LEGO expertise. Chartres was the LEGO HQ in France, just like Wrexham was for Britain and Ireland, Hohenwestedt was for Germany, Lerum was for Sweden, Vienna was for Austria, etc... Here is the French stamp.... And here is the LEGO catalog age determinator.... letters A, B, C and D, as found on each LEGO box for a brief time in the 1970s. This 1976 set... the 183 Train Set with Signal. This set has a very interesting pedigree.... the box (like all the boxes of this era) came from Denmark. But the stamps on the box are an English rectangular sticker, and a Spanish stamp. The strange thing about this set is that it could not have originated from North America (after being made in Denmark). None of the blue train track trains were sold in the 1970s in the USA, and the 183 was not sold in Canada. So this import from Denmark (with a sticker usually put onto Canadian sets)... was exported to Argentina, where an additional Spanish language stamp was added to the front of the box. Here is the 183 Train Set of Argentina.... And here is the Spanish stamp (in place of a sticker).... The strange thing is that no LEGO sets were supposed to have been sold in South America before the 1980s. So the existence of this set was quite a surprise to me... which begs the question... what other LEGO sets were sold in South America in the 1970s?? Also, I'm looking for other 1970s sets that have these kinds of stickers and stamps.

When LEGO trains were introduced in mid 1966, for some odd reason LEGO Sweden decided to have a special "sampler set" available to retailers in Sweden for customers to try out the new Train System. In years of trying to find out if any other countries came out with anything similar to this, the answer seems to be NO. But I'm always on the lookout for this type of unique rare items that other countries may have produced. Here is the Swedish sampler box... Here are the parts that came in this box... just train wheels... that short lived and bizarre looking 4x7 4 axle brick and a pair of straight and curved rails, along with 2 sleepers (2x8 plates). Just enough parts for the customers to play around with and eventually entice them to buy the first LEGO trains in the summer of 1966. And here is the mid year 1966 addendum to the 1966 LEGO catalogs, which was included in this box, which showed the first LEGO train sets and also the first (except for the Nov. 1965 introduced Samsonite LEGO motor) LEGO train motor... This train brochure was available in most all European languages, and also available in the USA/Canada, at LEGO retailers everywhere. Unlike the brochure, this box has not been seen outside of Sweden... but I was wondering if any other European country may have produced such a "sampler set" for early LEGO Trains....

Hi all, For those who don't know me, (Gary Istok) I wrote a 2800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on 20th Century LEGO. I am expanding the guide to include early 9V trains, as well as trying to get all the different country variations to Train System (and all LEGO Systems) sets. For example... the 7745 train came in 3 versions (so far as I know).... I am trying to document and provide images for all the language variation train sets for the blue track and gray track sets, also early 9V sets. This would include British LEGO (UK, Ireland, Australia), continental Europe, and USA and Canada Samsonite versions of the 1960s, and (no USA trains in the 70s) just Samsonite of Canada in the 1970s, as well as other language stickers on some of the sets in the blue track era of the 1970s. For example for the 182 Train Set, I have images for Canada, and several EU countries. I even received a 183 train image of that set that was sold in Argentina with Spanish stickers on it. But I'm also looking for the 3 language gray track set images as seen above and below for the gray track era sets. I realize that the smaller sets and parts packs can have from 8 to 12 languages on the box, but I'm especially interested in images in the 1-3 language larger set boxes. Here's the 7740 Intercity Train.... DANISH SWEDISH FINNISH GERMAN DUTCH FRENCH ENGLISH ITALIAN FRENCH All online guides only show a Generic image of all the train sets, but I have been updating my guide with images of all the different language variations. I am also adding some images of some of the earlier sets by year.... for example... the first LEGO train sets.... in 1966.... The sides of the first 1966 Train boxes (needs some Photoshopping)..... Or the sets of 1967 (also needs some Photoshopping.... And the sides to the 1967 Train System sets (more Photoshopping to be done).... My collectors guide already has hundreds of images of the early trains sets... including some of these rarities.... 1967 LEGO Train Catalog from Finland.... European Train Retailer Boxes..... Even early Rail Couplings.... Anyway, if anyone has any LEGO train images they would like to contribute, I would give you credit in my collectors guide (a 668MB computer desktop guide, with over 7000 images). In several months it will be expanding from 2800 pages up to 3700 pages, with all updates free to current owners. If you have any images please send me a PM or an Email! Thank you, Vielen Dank, Grazie, Merci! Gary Istok P.S. I'm having a 1/2 off sale for my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide in the Bazaar right now! Since it's a desktop download, no shipping charges, no customs fees! ;-)

Thanks for the complements. The images are a compilation of many different sources... from the 1959 established LEGO Photography Department, until the present using a Nikon camera. I sent you a Private Message.

Hi WoutR! That 1970 LEGO Gear Dealer Model that Henk Van Zanten has is still a work in progress, he hasn't yet totally found all the answers to how the right side works.... but it is a very interesting and mesmerizing display model. I just wanted to correct you on something you mentioned last year. The USA/Samsonite LEGO gears were not a Samsonite invention. They were invented by a Dane named Knud Moller Kristiansen (no relationship to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen). That was designed for LEGO around 1964-65, with the patent process starting in March 1965. The patent is owned by Interlego AG, the Swiss LEGO company that owns all the LEGO patents.... http://www.google.com/patents/US3461601 And also to correct something that someone else mentioned about the LEGO Memory Lane Archive... the TLG Archives/Collections/Vault do NOT have all of the LEGO sets ever produced. I'm going to say they are missing over 100 sets, at least. In my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... the chapter on LEGO wooden box sets has images of over 80 wooden box sets. From what I gather, the Vault contains only perhaps 10 wooden box sets. Also because I have been dealing with the LEGO Archives/Collections folks for the last 7 years in putting together my collectors guide, I have introduced them to several sets that they had never seen before. Also, they are always on the lookout to find additional sets that they do not yet have in their collections. This is especially true for Norwegian (1953-60) and Swedish (1955-60) sets.

mpfirmhaber, I've notice super-sized bricks produced by TLG as far back as 1960 at the Nuremberg Toy Fair....

Sorry no clue on an European flea markets....

Yeah.... here's part of a Norwegian Retailer Price List that mentions the 1309 Church Set containing a lighting brick "lys-sten"... and a 1245 Lighting Pack. Also, in most other countries the 1308 Fire Station and 1309 Church set are the same price. Here in Norway there's more than a bit of a price difference.

German collector Jan K. has an off shoot on these old bricks.... he has an assortment of the type used in the 245/1245 Lighting Bricks Parts Pack.... but no bulbs.... With the recent discovery that the 1309 Church set in Norway had a 1245 lighting device included, I now think that these may have originated in Norway, as part of that Church set, which was introduced in 1957, but the lighting part of the set was discontinued within a year. No other country appears to have had this lighting device as part of this church set, and we have still not found an original boxed example of this 1309 set (but my Norwegian collector friends are on the lookout!! ). The 1957 Norwegian catalogs mention that a 1245 lighting device was included with the 1309 Church set... but we're still looking!! I have found an example of the church model that was glued for a display piece, and has some melting from heat, likely interior lighting. But I think this example would have had to have had several of these lighting bricks connected together to generate anything near the amount of heat that caused this!! P.S. The baseplates of this set are not made of Cellulose Acetate, but of another plastic (unknown type). So that plastic may have had a lower melting point than Cellulose Acetate, which would account for it's extreme deformity versus the CA bricks of the model. One of the few "missing links" I 'm still searching for, for the collectors guide....

Well that's an easy one to answer..... The "Grand Theatre"/"GRAND THEATER" brick was sold in the Netherlands from 1957 until 1966. It was found in 2 places... either the #700 "with contents" wooden box set (along with 6 other printed bricks), or more commonly in the Dutch #226 Printed Brick Spare parts pack (7 different bricks). All of the 1955-72 era printed bricks came in several variations, depending on how old they were... the older the brick the less "streamlined" the text looked. Your GRAND THEATRE brick dates to about 1963-65, as the most modern looking of the 3 varieties. Here is a chapter from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (a 2800 page collectors guide as a Computer Desktop download).... this is Chapter 48 - Printed and Painted LEGO. Page 2 shows a Dutch model (including a Grand Theatre) with printed bricks from the 1950s. Page 6 shows an example of some of the printed bricks that could be found in a typical Dutch #226 parts packs. But because after Denmark and Germany there were more Dutch language beams than anywhere in Europe, the 7 beams that came in a Dutch #226 pack (or earlier #700 wooden box set) could vary quite a bit. If you scroll down to page 9, you will see the list of the 17 Dutch language bricks that were produced in that era. http://www.1000stein...ter 48 Vol2.pdf Since you only have 1 post, I cannot Private Message you, but if you like what's in this chapter, check out my page here in the Eurobricks Bazaar... 1/2 off price... http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73780

Special offer of 1/2 off on my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide.... only $14.95, instead of the $29.95 original price, for a short time. If you are interested, just Paypal me $14.95 ( istokg@earthlink.net ). No shipping costs (you download it from the CLOUD per my instructions) and no Customs fees!! This offer won't last long!!

Rolf, if you're still around... one of the most beautiful glued display models just came to light, found by my Dutch collector friend Henk..... going into my Retailer glued display model chapter.... this one is a real beauty... and is also found in the 238 Building Idea Book of 1960-64....

Well LEGO sloped bricks were introduced in 1958 (in straight sizes)... and 1959 (in convex and concave types)... in red. And in 1960 blue was added to the sloped bricks "system".... as seen in this 1961 Retailer Glued Display model (as seen in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide).... Although these parts are warped (since they were made of Cellulose Acetate, an unstable plastic, until 1962)... they show the "not smooth" sloped bricks that were available in a system of 13 different parts that worked nicely together. Now granted... the 1x1 "cheese slope" wasn't invented until modern times... but the 13 different slope types could build almost any house roof model. Now granted.... in the 1970s and 1980s, as more colors of slopes became avaliable.... the level of coarseness on the slopes changed.... and some decades the slopes looked coarser than before. But I think today the problem is not the texture of the slopes, the sloped bricks texture is pretty uniform, as compared to previous decades.... the bigger problem is getting enough of the different slopes you need for a construction... ALL IN THE SAME COLOR!!! My biggest beef about LEGO today is the problem with the quality of the color... but also just as important.... getting a "system" together of parts in a single color to build what you want. Don't expect to find everything in a dark blue or a sand green or any number of colors.... that is very discouraging for builders today. But in my opinion... nowhere is the worlds most popular construction toy more of a let-down... than in having a decent windows "system"! The 1956-87 classic LEGO winodws/doors gave you 9 different window elements that could function together to build just about anything imaginable. Today we are stuck depending on just a few colors for maybe 3 or 4 windows (1x2x2, 1x2x3 and 1x4x3)... and my biggest annoyance is using the back of headlight bricks as 1x1 windows.... like in the Ole Kirk Christiansen house.... what an abomination to have to revert to using parts for uses that they were never designed for!!

Interestingly enough.... something that most people never realized was that the whole reason that TLG got rid of their earliest slotted bricks of 1949-56, along with the windows/doors with "wings" to fit into the slots was because this arrangement worked OK with 2 stud wide bricks, where the slots were in the middle of the side of the bricks... but when TLG started their Town Plan System in 1955, they switched to using a lot of 1 stud wide building techniques.... problems arose! The earliest slotted bricks were just 2x2 and 2x4... with no problems for constructions... due to the slots being in the middle of the side of the bricks.... Here's a 1952 LEGO Automatic Binding Bricks catalog image showing how 2 stud thick constructions were OK for the thin windows that fit between the slots. In fact TLG even had art cards (similar to post cards) that would fit within the slotted bricks, so kids could make framed images.... Then in 1954 TLG came out with classic style windows/doors with wings for the slots.... and they worked just as fine as the earlier thin paned varieties... Then in 1955 with the new Town Plan sets using only 1 stud think constructions..... problems arose.... and TLG created models that put a LOT of stress on the windows/doors as well as the bricks being used in ways they were never intended.... as this small house and LEGO garage model show... So it was because of these earliest illegal builds.... that LEGO slotted bricks were retired, in favor of bricks without slots. And the LEGO windows/doors were redesigned without wings (for the slots)... and with studs on top to fit within the bricks. It was this early illegal build technique... that modern LEGO would be born (after the introduction of tubes underneath 2 years later in 1958).....

There's even a chapter on LEGO commercials and LEGO movable models.... which give a whole new meaning to "Studs Not On Top".... .... as seen in this video from my collectors guide (which links you online and back from a desktop document).....

It's not LEGO.... I was just looking at the 2 dozen clones that I reference in one of my LEGO Collectors Guide Appendices.... and these aren't shown.... Sigh..... Googling "LEGO Clones" no longer produces the desired results..... https://www.google.com/search?q=LEGO+clones&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=3Q0nVY2XN8zuoASx1YHgCA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1280&bih=923

Still offering a 1/2 off sale of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide..... with rare images such as this of printed bricks over the years....

The waffle bottom plates come in sizes 2x8, 4x8, 4x8 left curve, 4x8 right curve and 6x8. They were produced from 1955 until 1963 in continental Europe, Britain, and Australia, but were found as late as 1971 in USA/Canada. Since the circle bottom plates use up 1/3 less plastic as the waffle bottom plates, TLG got rid of their molds ASAP, and shipped them to USA/Canada Samsonite... where they continued to make waffle bottom plates for many years (1971). Samsonite made a few in gray (common), red (rare) and black (rare) in sizes 4x8. I recently sold a mint red and black 4x8 waffle plate for $85 each. But the truly rare Waffle bottom plates were those produced for Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1955-57 in white and red (their first years)... and the rarest of these were red ones. These early waffle bottom plates did not have holes in the bottom (middle of each waffle square). Also these early plates did not have LEGO on the studs, but once on the underside in what is called a "dogbone" LEGO logo. Here is a 6x8 red waffle bottom plate from Sweden... from 1955-56.... Here is the waffle underside without the holes in each waffle..... The LEGO logo is easy to spot in this image. These early red waffle plates are worth $20-$50 each depending on condition. Even rarer than the red waffle bottom plates are the old 820 garage baseplates that came in garage kits 235/1235 in the 1955-70 era. The early Danish, Norwegian and Swedish versions came with either a white (common) or red (rare) garage baseplate. The red garage plates alone are worth well over $120 each, as seen here in this Swedish garage set (with box)..... I talk about these rare plates, garages and other rare LEGO items that people may have stashed away in attics or basements in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (computer desktop download), now on sale in the Eurobricks Bazaar.

Wow..... you guys are talking way over my head! But here's the whistles involved with the 118/139A (Forward/Stop) and 138/139 (Forward/Stop/Backward) models.

aernschld .... are you sure that is a 138 electronic train unit? In 1968 the 118 Electronic Train was introduced in Europe and Australia, which only went forwards.... here's the box.... This particular box is sealed inside, and shows all the paperwork and cardboard imagery.... In 1969 the 138 Forward/Backward Electronic Train was introduced, as well as the 139 Control Unit (forward/backward) and the 139A Control Unit (forward only) for the earlier 118 train, as shown here....

Zusammengebaut vielen dank für den schönen video.... Es wird doch der Hauptzentrale der LEGO Welt sein.... Thanks for the nice video.... This will be the center of the LEGO universe when it's done...

In 2000 LEGO came out with a series of sets for German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, which has been a continuous sponsor for the Tour de France bicycle races. Interestingly enough their German team came in second place behind later (2012) disqualified Lance Armstrong. The sets were .... 1196 - Biker with Bicycle Set 1197 - Race Cyclist with Television Motorbike 1198 Service Team - 2 Cyclists with Servie Tools Set. 1999- Winning Team Set .... which is sort of a misnomer, since they only came in 2nd place..... All 4 of these sets could also have been purchased as an unnumbered combo pack. Although Deutsche Telekom were race sponsors for many years, these year 2000 sets were the only promotional sets that they obtained from LEGO.

Yes it is....