I.M. Wolfgang Richter - Part 4

This continues (a series of) an article/interview that was first printed in the  German magazine  "GARTENBAHN profi" , issue 1/2009, pages 12 through 18. You can also go to www.gartenbahnprofi.de and download this article then utilizing a translator from your Google or Internet explorer service. In remembering Wolfgang Richter, the co-founder of LGB (Lehmann Gartenbahn) who passed away in November 2012 at the age of  84, this German article was published again by GARTENBAHN profi as a download. Italic text in parentheses is background information about related topics in the article.

Above:US-LGB-Club Convention 1996 at Seaworld in San Diego. Wolfgang Richter  (center w/apron) at a photo shoot with LGB fans









Left: from left Wolfgang Richter, Klaus Baumann, Eberhard Richter presenting the very first LGB model of an American Mogul steam loco. It was to become a successful model (train). (about 1983)

• GBP: It stands out that many of the very early LGB models had Austrian archetypes just contrary to today. Did it coincide with the fact that Wolfgang Richter liked to vacation in Austria?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: I don't think so. Back then in preparation for production when they were researching suitable archetypes they quickly came across the "Stainz". Even as an archetype she was just lovable and her proportions were typical for narrow gauge scale. And  there were several similar locomotives, so they put 3 different types into their (initial manufacturing) program. By the way, there are currently some LGB collectors who collected all Stainz locos and their 'siblings'. I believe my LGB friend Gerd Buerger is pretty complete in this (regard)...    Other than that there are just a lot of train lines in Austria: Zillertal line, Steiermärkische Landesbahn line, Salzkammergut Local Line, Pinzgauer Local Line, Murtal Line, Steyrtalbahn Line, Local Line Mitznix St. Erhard just to name a few. And back then for starters there were smaller engines on offer. Big Swiss locomotives and long coaches wouldn't have been technically possible at that time not even mentioning DB-Standard Gauge-Coaches.
• GBP: In 1987 the subsidiary LGBoA was established mainly to provide a local service station for the North American market namely the LGB fan. Later a distribution center was added and the location was at beautiful San Diego on the West Coast in California. Every year Wolfgang Richter spent several weeks over there and the rumor went that he wanted to retire there especially since he loved the American way of live. The first general manager in San Diego was Rudi Enners, born in Düsseldorf, who actually moved there. He once said that the mild climate over there literally presented him with 10 additional years of his life. Does Wolfgang Richter regret not to have moved there?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: It is correct that he always liked the American way of life. Shortly after the war (WWII) he worked for the US-Army Administration in Munich where he experienced and liked their casual and straightforward way. Regarding our joint friend Rudi Enners he didn't have any more family (to take care of) when he moved to San Diego. Wolfgang Richter's roots in Germany and Nuremberg were different then. So he was commuting a bit between those worlds and those cultures. He did not want to completely break away from his German home front. And even after leaving his post of CEO and turning it over to his son about ten years ago he still was engaged in making decisions within the LGB factory and wanted to bring his experience to the table. Plus asking  'what if ' in light of present-day-events is moot
• GBP: Temporarily, allegedly San Diego (LGBoA) received up to two freight containers per day from Nuremberg being distributed to wholesalers and dealers. The American LGB-Club had several thousand members at one time. And Europeans who went to their yearly conventions could only admire wondrously the range of dimensions that took place  in all kinds of areas.      However, there were a lot of competing products. Unlike in Europe some suppliers of G-Scale models were already manufacturing in China and thus could offer them at low price. They weren't very pleased about this in Nuremberg where they?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: "competition is good for business" as the proverb says. But when a company finds out that their products are copied on an identical scale then you are pretty annoyed. That's when LGB had to take action in full force against plagiarism. Then again, nice products by other manufacturers appeared on the market. Series were made especially for the American market  that were very well accepted and sold in huge numbers due to the size of the American market. of course production capacity was limited in Nuremberg in regard to new models and building their molds. Somehow I have the feeling they didn't remain at the wheel. But it is moot to ask now why they came up with the 20th edition of a Mogul or Mikado instead of a new K 27. Mistakes were made and they overestimated their own market power. That led to the rise of their competition.+++++stop on page 16++++to be continued+++

I.M. Wolfgang Richter - Part 3

This continues (a series of) an article/interview that was first printed in the  German magazine  "GARTENBAHN profi" , issue 1/2009, pages 12 through 18. You can also go to www.gartenbahnprofi.de and download this article then utilizing a translator from your Google or Internet explorer service. In remembering Wolfgang Richter, the co-founder of LGB (Lehmann Gartenbahn) who passed away in November 2012 at the age of  84, this German article was published again by GARTENBAHN profi as a download. Italic text in parentheses is background information about related topics in the article.

Wolfgang Richter (left) and H.-Jürgen Neumann  at the Sinsheimer Modeltrain fair in 2006, enjoying the LGB layout by "LGB Freunde Much"

• GBP: This hobby-family is then probably the reason for the success of LGB. A product works as the binding link between a number of like-minded people. And not just like any member of any type of anonymous fan club. "At home I drive an LGB (train) " was a car sticker back then used to reveal oneself; today you would say 'outing'. What was the impact of this LGB family on Wolfgang Richter?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: Each and every single contact with an LGB friend was important to him. He listened attentively when they were talking and he always carried a notebook with him, in which he jotted down the those wishes and ideas and then, later, analyzed them. He was present at (the LGB) booth at many model train conventions and fairs; and later visited many LGB clubs whenever his schedule allowed. And don't think that he ever got tired of leafing through LGB layout photos or photo albums. Even years later he could still delighted in what became of the 'material' that the LGB company put into the hands of model train enthusiasts. What ideas were put into reality, how joint playing developed with the children , how many a retiree found a new activity (to engage in). That was (something) that he liked about the LGB family and that he was always proud of. Where else do you find that, a hobby carried on over and by generations. 
• GBP: A good marketing concept. But today such a close contact to the (single) customer is hardly conceivable.
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: Correct. What Wolfgang Richter's activities are concerned you have to admit in hind sight: there's a time for everything. It is a process in motion because at a certain magnitude you cannot dedicate that much time to a single person anymore - like they used to do in former times. An invitation to lunch like I was privileged to experience in 1972 would have not been possible for (for a stranger) 20 years later.
• GBP: Those leafing through old LGB-Depeschen (LGB Telegrams)again and again happens to come across photos showing Wolfgang Richter as a visitor to the original big role models trains (real live-size locomotives). And it is no secret that in search of new LGB models he loved to do field work on location. Did he combine business with pleasure?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: yes, that was the case. You know very well how intense some model train enthusiast did put new models under the microscope; so it was important to take detailed photos in the run-up and recruit original blue prints as much as you could. But there were also employees and LGB friends who loved to provide those photos to the LGB  factory. people like Mr. Backhaus, Mr. Himmelreich and Dr. Strässle come to mind. And the train lines usually were very proud when their original locomotive was chosen to become an LGB model and loved to help.

A photo from 'good old times':Wolfgang and Eberhard Richter and the just newly displayed factory field loco in front of the LGB factory at the Saganer Strasse in Nuremberg (maybe 1981)

+++++++++stop on page15+++++++++to be continued

I.M. Wolfgang Richter - Part 2

This continues (a series of) an article/interview that was first printed in the  German magazine  "GARTENBAHN profi" , issue 1/2009, pages 12 through 18. You can also go to www.gartenbahnprofi.de and download this article then utilizing a translator from your Google or Internet explorer service. In remembering Wolfgang Richter, the co-founder of LGB (Lehmann Gartenbahn) who passed away in November 2012 at the age of  84, this German article was published again by GARTENBAHN profi as a download. Italic text in parentheses is background information about related topics in the article.

• GBP: I know from earlier publishing that the founding activities for LGB had already started by 1964. So they took a 4 year time span until eventually made a presentation; which might explain that everything seemed to be perfect from the beginning. We ourselves depicted that a multitude of models was presented from the start; even if  quite a few were based on standardized components. You did talk to Wolfgang Richter quite often about the beginnings. How did they react to the huge success?
• H.Jürgen Neumann: Wolfgang Richter and his brother Eberhard made a good team, for starters. Eberhard being the technician, Wolfgang the businessman. Whereupon authorities were overlapping important decisions were made jointly.   You also know that family run businesses are often more successful compared to achieving things with non-family staff. You just share the same interests and there's no time checking at 5 p.m. But you need capital for your projects. And you always have another partner on board when you loan money from a bank. And when they say that the banks dispense parasols when the sun is shining but collect (repossess) them when it's raining - there is some truth to that. So it wasn't always that easy to translate that big success  LGB had in the beginning into space and machine park(s) and financial matters.   When it comes to how to deal with success personally, Wolfgang Richter should be our role model. He always kept his feet firmly on the ground, he was always friendly, sometimes he was too humble. He never liked this celebrity buzz but always viewed himself as a model train enthusiast and LGB fan.
• GBP: But still he was always the center of activity wherever he went. His presence made him into kind of the Überfather for the LGB family. It almost seems as if the Great Harmony was at home here. Though there were very big problems due to the early passing of Eberhard Richter in 1984 - he was 53 years old back then- as well as 3 years earlier the big almost deadly health scare which he had to overcome.
• H.Jürgen Neumann: Yes, you're right. The first 20 years must have been a wonderful time; but you know as well that some things rosy up in hindsight. It was a lot of work I think. It wasn't in-vain that their workday started at 6:30 a.m. But a model-train wasn't just another article needing to be manufactured (for the Richters) For them a 'piece'of their heart and soul always became part of the game. And that was what the LGB fan could sense. There was just this spark that seemed to arced to the LGB family. Lehmann were the first that presented a big train in times when toy trains became smaller and smaller. And you know:" there is...' enchantment inherent in every new beginning' to quote Hermann Hesse" And the enchantment of LGB was very intense back then.   In any case Wolfgang Richter was the patriarch of the family which became most obvious at the American LGB Club convention in San Diego which he attended and at night at dinner in this humongous gala pavilion people besieged him just to have their photograph taken with him in the center. +++++ stop on page 14+++to be continued++++

In Memoriam Wolfgang Richter

Welcome to our additional blog. With LGB changing through the decades we wanted to add a forum that will focus on biographies and stories from the past. So sit back, read, let the memories drift by and if we put a smile on your face then we did something right today.

The following is an article/interview that was first printed in the  German magazine  "GARTENBAHN profi" , issue 1/2009, pages 12 through 18. You can also go to www.gartenbahnprofi.de and download this article then utilizing a translator from your Google or Internet explorer service. In remembering Wolfgang Richter, the co-founder of LGB (Lehmann Gartenbahn) who passed away in November 2012 at the age of  84, this German article was published again by GARTENBAHN profi as a download. Italic text in parentheses is background information about related topics in the article.

" 40 Years of LGB: Wolfgang Richter in focus
From A Vision To LGB
The "UhrwerkLok" by Bing (a toy loco made by Bing. For more information about Bing go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_(company) ) - once brought the brothers Wolfgang and Eberhard Richter into the backyard. Alas, the tin-tracks were rusting and the tracks got twisted - an experience from childhood days that did not get forgotten when , in 1964, in the course of  searching for a new system-toy the brothers invented the LGB train with the world premiere in the spring of 1968. Wolfgang Richter turned 40 that year; the other day he turned 80 ( in 2008). H.-Jürgen Neumann, a companion for many years is looking back on the numerous encounters with this bigger-than-life-entrepreneur, interviewed by Hans-Joachim Gilbert.
From the start, and accompanying our series' 40 years of LGB'..., we wanted to let the man speak who was known as the "father of LGB" and who was the top leader for LGB for the last 3 decades. But the whirlwind of events in the last years ( bankruptcy of LGB in 2006 followed by numerous investigations into W.Richter's style of management and financing) led to Wolfgang Richter's inability to join 'GARTENBAHN profi' for this interview - it is:" too early for that" as he said in a letter written to us.
We  did not want  this series- which is published at a time where LGB is at the start of a new beginning- to end without a portrait of Wolfgang Richter and therefore have ask H.-Jürgen Neumann, again, for his recount. Neumann has been studying LGB for many years, precisely since 1972  - including LGB's (founding) fathers. Therefore it stood to reason that he would tell stories from the olden days of LGB and about Wolfgang Richter. Both gentlemen share a longstanding amicable bond. Based foremost on the love for LGB they share(d) lots of joint activities surrounding the LGB hobby .

• GBP: Mr. Neumann you have met Wolfgang Richter very early on. Do you remember the first (chance)meeting?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: Yes, very well indeed. The first encounter with Wolfgang Richter was a key experience for me. Back then, it was 1972, I had won first place in the LGB-contest " Beautiful interior layouts" and had asked the LGB factory if I might visit the company. Not only was I invited, Wolfgang Richter personally gave me a tour and, afterwards invited me for lunch. I was thrilled.   The following years I first engaged myself with LGB and started  a LGB collection. In 1985 I established the LGB Club Rhein/Sieg  which turned into kind of a 'home-club' for LGB company. I also know that the "Spur II Nachrichten" (G-Scale News) which I published were always well liked and read by Wolfgang Richter. I also always strived to report in a fair manner; but if something was wrong I would also rub it in.      Without seeing each other on a regular base we shared a mental friendship. On the occasion of " 30 Years of LGB" I interviewed him and published it in a special anniversary edition of "Spur II Nachrichten" back then.
• GBP: On the 100-Year-anniversary of Ernst-Paul-Lehmann company in 1981 Wolfgang Richter gave a speech commemorating the Gala at the Nuremberg City Park restaurant. Quoting from the article that followed  in the LGB-Depesche (LGB Telegram) he said that:"...the basically endearing toy industry has little reason to be jolly presently. She (the industry) was shrinking in the last years and has suffered due to increasing imports. How could she survive in the future with an import-overhang of DM 180 mill (US$ 60 mill in 1981) while facing a decreasing birthrate and while the playing age is constantly shortened ".    Those statements that I came upon while researching for the report about "40 Years of LGB" they surprised me. Because back then LGB was about to soar. What do you think made Wolfgang Richter be so pessimistic about the future?
• H.-Jürgen Neumann: One was pretty happy that LGB had such a huge success. But one should not forget what kind of strength is required to get to this level (of success). For one there was the company Ernst Paul Lehmann which had to undergo existential problems due to commotions caused by the war and condemnation, then there was a new beginning in Nuremberg and then there were the circumstances that miniature toys made by Lehmann were being imitated constantly by counterfeiters in the Far East. One was forced to do something and one had a vision. A model train in scale 1:22.5 was just something completely new. The Richter-brothers first tended to build scale 0, which is 1:43. But they were manufactured by other manufacturers already. So they put all their eggs in one basket - with plenty of advise to be cautious. They had thought through things deliberately but it is well known what harm impacts from the outside can do, impacts that often cannot be influenced at all. So at first one was very careful mind all the enthusiasm++++stop on page 13+++++to be continued++

NOTE:  German and British English tends to use the form " one does ...." in comparison to the American English "  Joe Doe does..."