Three new passenger cars and one new freight car entered the program. The two old-timer passenger cars (LGB# 3011 and # 3012) were color variations of passenger car # 3010 of the Salzkammergut local line; passenger car # 3040 "Mixnitz-St Erhard-Bahn) was a complete new model. Car # 3011 was colored in red and was referred to as passenger car of the Northern German Isle Line. The # 3012 was white/blue (not blue/white- note!) (this is in reference to the Bavarian State colors of "blue & white) and depicted a "Bavarian" type. Both cars and a Stainz loco also made up the LGB Starter Set ( # 20301) which sold umpteen thousand times. Colorful- something for children...
(We are pretty sure that) with the Austrian passenger car CD 2 of the narrow gauge Mixnitz-St Erhard line LGb was already planning ahead for presenting the little matching electric loco of the same train line, which then was released in 1970.
Back then nobody shed any thoughts about the fact that a "Northern German Isle Line" was operating in conjunction with the Austrian "Salzkammergut Local Line", possibly the (Austrian) "Pinzgauer Local Line" all behind a (South-Western German) "Upper Rhine Rail Road". What was liked was favored - by children as well as by the huge numbers of the grown-up LGB fans!
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| Top: passenger car LGB # 3011 red/beige w/ chromed steel axles, 1969 Middle: passenger car LGB # 3012 blue/beige type"Bavaria" w/ chromed steel axles, 1969 Bottom: passenger car CD 2 LGB# 3040, 1969 |
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| Top: tank car LGB# 4040 in grey imbued plastic, 1969 Middle: Hopper car 1200 LGB# 4041 red imbued plastic, 1969 Bottom: Hopper car 1200 LGB# 4041G grey imbued plastic, 1969 |
Also very beautiful was the first 2-axle tank car R 360 of the Zillertalbahn (LGB# 4040), grey and labeled "Petroleum". It was followed by "ARAL", "SHELL", "ESSO", and "BP" one year later. It was a fluent transition from "Petroleum" to "ARAL: the grey petroleum tank car was released with additional "ARAL" stickers, then the "Petroleum" sticker was left out, then the car got a white tank first and then a blue tank. It got the labeling "ARAL" with the LGB# 4040A. Compared with its colorful 'brothers' the green BP tank car always got a bit neglected, was less popular with the customer base and was taken off the program first. Which then later on led to it becoming a highly sought after collector's item.
Another new item in 1969 was the hopper car # 4041 in red and in grey (LGB# 4041G). The December 1969 LGB Depesche issue # 4 reported:
Just in time for Christmas the LGB fleet added an especially attractive model; the 2-axle hopper car # 4041 with opening side hatches went into serial production.A really splendid model built just as strong and solid as all LGB models, made of weather resistant plastic and highly detailed up to the louver chains. Carriage and frame w/ planked platform are black while the (container) structure is red. Both platform and container are labeled in white according to the archetype.
The big container body can easily carry one liter ( a quart) of bulk cargo (sand,gravel etc) Empty the container on both sides via slant chutes manually operated by rotary slides.
We're locating the Original archetype of this LGB hopper car at the OEG (Upper Rhine Railroad) car # 1200. The Original car was built by RailWay Car Maker H Fuchs, Heidelberg, Germany in 1925 and carries 7 cubic meter load at 10,500 kg capacity. The rolled out accessory was an uncoupling track # 1050W. Even though still manually operated it already served as a big help in uncoupling the LGB cars. By pushing the side button the uncoupling piece lifts inbetween the tracks and thus separates the couplers of the rolling cars above.
Also very practical was a small bridge of 45 cm(18 inches) in length built like an iron truss(LGB# 5060). This is still offered by LGB as of today (2006) and probably utilized many a thousand times. A small distributor plate (LGB # 5070) could be used to connect station lamps electrically or be utilized as a coupler between two extension cables. Some-when sometime later it fell victim to advancing LGB technology.....++++++++++++++++++to be continued............
