It's holiday time, and that's when I break out my collection of G-scale trains, which is a family custom of the Littles that stretches back 2 generations. Well, it's not really that much of a stretch, but myself, my brother, my father and my uncle are into it. As a family we used to acquire a new LGB piece about every year. I got my first set a few years ago and have been adding once a year or so ever since. Here are a few from my childhood, that I remember quite vividly.  I’m sure BJ and Dad will get a kick out of these:

It's the Rio Grande caboose, No. 4065 and the Shell Tanker, that contains a working valve. What great cars! Anyway...I struck the mother lode two years ago when Uncle Joey and Aunt Mary saw fit to bless the family with a boxful of rolling stock. That added about 7 cars to the train.

This year, in my semi annual quest to add LGB stock to my collection, I found out that LGB of Germany filed for bankruptcy back in late 2006 and production had stopped. That wouldn't normally bother me at all because I don't usually by brand-new stuff, but lack of replacement parts could be problematic. What's more is that the recently-spun off LGB of America (LGBoA) was unable to provide service and parts after their agreements expired and local stock ran out.

LGBoA made a bid to purchase the defunct LGB Gmbh's assets, but lost out to Marklin, another Germany model train manufacturer. Marklin got rights to the LGB brand and distribution channels. Marklin started producing and shipping again in 2007, and signed an agreement with LGB0A for existing product, however that agreement has expired and LGBoA retains rights to distribute LGB-branded product in the US. The president of LGBoA formed a separate company as a hobby distributor and bought the stock from LGBoA, and has resumed distribution of said stock. In the meantime, Marklin will be distributing new LGB product in the US in January 2009.

Who knows what will happen after that, but I was able to get some new-to-me stuff from eBay this year, which has me quite jazzed! Specifically, a vintage box set, which appears to be missing the original track, transformers and people, but has an engine and two coaches. The exciting part? This is the exact same set that I had growing up, which my uncle gave to the family way-back-when. Here are some pictures of the set, before it gets into my hands: