Electric Toy Train - Lego Land Style For Something Very Different

Electric Toy Train - Lego Land Style For Something Very Different

By Tim J Bennett




Electric Toy Train - Lego Land Style


When most people think of Electric Toy Trains, they think of Hornby, Lionel or some other equally famous model train replicas and with good reason as they are simply fantastic trains. But are you aware that Lego also produce electric toy trains and that they not only have trains, but also locomotives, track, rolling stock, train stations, signal houses and a whole load of other track side buildings and they all have the logo construction theme running through them.


This is a great way to introduce kids into the railroad passion without damaging your very expensive collection and also there is a big adult collectors area who are also passionate about this brand. Lego electric toy trains even have their own scale; known as L-scale. The first Lego trains were sold in 1966 (Lego set number 080) and were push-along trains and had a nice bright blue rail.


It wasn't until 1969 that they released a battery powered set (number 115) and one of the carriages carried the batteries. In late 1969, the first truly Lego electric toy train came out (set number 720).


One of the really cool things about Lego electric toy trains was that they could all be upgrade from one to the other. So if you had bought a push-along train it could be upgraded to battery operated one, which in turn could be upgraded to an electric one.
There were no major changes until 1980. Lego changed the tracks from blue to grey and the transformers now supported points, signals, crossing and other accessories and the trains now looked much more realistic.


1991 saw the introduction of the 9 volt system and metal rails being used. The 9 volt system was compatible with other products of theirs. However by 2007 the 9 volt system was completely discontinued. This was due largely to the introduction of the new line of remote control products they brought out in 2006. All rail was now made from plastic and the trains ran on remote control using battery power.


The major advantage of this was that more than one train could be run at the same time and there were no longer any problems with track layouts, point systems and polarity of rails, although there were now problems with range for the remote and also the batteries had to be changed.


In the summer of 2009, Lego released the new "Emerald Night" (set number 10194) and was part of their Technic Line, which I personally think is ugly, but it was a line that was launched to try and help them get some of their investment money back as they had spent so much developing the trains in the last few years.


Lego electric toy trains were very popular and there is even an international Lego Train Club Organization and they exhibit at such festivals as Brickfest. L gauge trains are becoming increasingly popular among middle-age hobbyists who grew up with the building toy as a child, and are frustrated with traditional model trains such as are found in the HO scale electric toy train.


There is nothing quite like watching the real thing to get excited, but if you do not have access to Lego trains, then watch a couple of videos here about the Electric Toy Train - Lego Land Style.


While you are there also grab the opportunity to find out about some of the model train secrets I have as well as photos, videos and other stimulating and refreshing information at http://www.modeltrainkitsolutions.com



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