Tag Archives: vintage advertising

25 Days of Holiday “Trainvertising” #4: A Very Spielberg Christmas

Today’s catalog comes to you straight from 2000. The cover art of this U.S. holiday catalog prominently features the engine from “Freight and Crane Railway” (set 4565), originally released in 1996.  This time, Santa takes charge of the controls and ditches Rudolph in favor of everyone’s favorite little astromech droid, R2-D2.

A lot of memorable characters are here, including Johnny Thunder (aka: Joe Freeman & Sam Grant). Emperor Palpatine uses force lightning to shake a package, while Darth Maul is left with nothing but coal to sort through. The Sith may be causing trouble, but Steven Spielberg is calling all the shots.

25 Days of Holiday “Trainvertising” #2: Miracle on 56th Street

Our second post comes straight to you from 2001. The winter was cold, and LEGO’s financial situation wasn’t so hot either. In a partnership that will probably never happen again, LEGO teamed up with Department 56 to release ceramic holiday miniatures. These depicted portions of Santa’s workshop involved in the manufacture of….LEGO toys!

I know, I know….You’re probably asking yourself, “where are all the trains?” While there aren’t any trains per se, the Department 56 buildings and figures often wind up in holiday train layouts. Therein lies the train connection….Hey, I have to fill 25 days, people!

On an unrelated note, I think we can all agree that is some nice brick-built scenery.

P.S.: I promise Monday’s image will contain actual LEGO trains. 🙂

Celebrate Halloween with a Scary Train Mod

In the LEGO hobby, people are sometimes divided over the issue of modifying parts. Whether you do or don’t, as long as you are having fun that is what it is all about.

However, for Halloween I decided to pick a scary LEGO train mod from LEGO’s past advertising. This ad dates from 1988. On the surface, it would appear to have nothing to do with trains. Can you spot the train mod?

“Trains with unlimited possibilities” (1983)

If you walked into a toy store in 1983 and saw this, how could you not fall in love with LEGO trains? The following illustration comes from a set of photographs of dealer displays distributed to toy stores in Germany. This display designed to promote LEGO trains is absolutely gorgeous and features an operating signal light. Other themes covered in the packet include Town, Classic Space, Fabuland, etc. However, only the train-themed display featured functional lighting! Were any of our German readers fortunate enough to see this display in stores?