Subject:
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Re: Future of LEGO Trains?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Wed, 23 Feb 2000 23:36:39 GMT
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In lugnet.trains, John Neal writes:
>
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> Jonathan Reynolds wrote:
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> >
> > TLG have got to sell this to the larger market - kids, or more specifically,
> > parents buying for kids. If the scale gets too big, and the radius of the
> > curves gets too large, there is a danger that parents will look at the space
> > required for a simple oval and dismiss it :"it takes up too much space on • the
> > floor and we'll have nowhere to put Grandma when she comes to visit" etc. • etc.
>
> I might have thought that too except for the existence of Playmobil trains...
> Playmobil was smart in choosing an existing track gauge (G) and therefore • didn't
> even necessarily need to support its own products with track, etc.
Oh, before anyone gets into too much of a tizzy about Playmobil trains...they
are on there 3rd incarnation. The first one was made by Fallar (sp), the
German Kit maker. (Play train/Hit Train) and they were to O gauge. Battery
operated, and quite nice. Then came along the LGB stuff, which was made by LGB
for Playmobil. Some changes were made, but most of the stuff was straight
lifited from the LGB catalog, and was pricy. ($200 for a loco for a kid? I
know of live steamers that sell for that sort of price...) Now, we are onto
version 3 of Playmobil trains, with the Gauge 1 plastic track, RC system. The
RC bit is quite nice, but not all that required. The old Fallar system has
neat little "arrow" pieces that you can use to change the direction of the
trains, and had signals that worked quite like the Lego ones (I think the idea
was lifted from lego in fact...).
I think that Playmobil has gone through more changes, and more signifigant
changes than Lego trains have in the past 20-25 years. Lego has changed
voltages once, and kept the same track gauge as always. Playmobil has changed
voltages 2 times, and gauge once. If you had 2 locos + track from the LGB
playmobil, then you would be very reluctant to put down the $ for _another_
system, esp. considering that the new track would be useless with the old
engines.
Also, the Playmobil plastic track is stupidly expensive. I think it was
$6/piece in BC, which is just crazy. Track should be no more than $2 a piece,
even Lego track isn't as pricey as Playmobil (almost 1/3 the price).
James P
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Future of LEGO Trains?
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| (...) Not to be picky, but there have been 3 voltages: 4.5v, 9v, and 12v. I've never seen any 12v and played with 4.5v once, a long time ago, so I can't comment on the gauge of the different tracks. Ben Roller (25 years ago, 24-Feb-00, to lugnet.trains)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Future of LEGO Trains?
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| (...) I might have thought that too except for the existence of Playmobil trains... Playmobil was smart in choosing an existing track gauge (G) and therefore didn't even necessarily need to support its own products with track, etc. (...) You can't (...) (25 years ago, 23-Feb-00, to lugnet.trains)
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