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..."