10.6.07 - Great News From LGB

If you follow the model train indsutry, you'll know that LGB, the manufacturer of many of our trains, has been in quite a lot of trouble over the last year. The German company Ernst Paul Lehmann, owner of LGB, filed for insolvency in late 2006, around the same time that LGB of America (LGBoA) was spun off into its own company. LGBoA was the distributor and service provider for LGB products in the United States and was one of the companies that bid on the purchase of Lehmann's assets. However, it lost the final vote to Märklin, another German model train manufacturer. Märklin resumed production in late summer 2007, with the LGB brand intact. However, due to licensing issues with LGBoA, product was distributed to everywhere except the US. Finally, yesterday, on October 5, 2007, an agreement was signed between LGBoA and Märklin that again gives LGBoA exclusive distribution and service rights in the United States.

This is great news not only to us, as we look to the complete redesign of our layout with many possible train purchases, but to the model train industry as a whole. LGB brought the garden railway and G-scale to life, and this prominent and historic competitor will not be lost in the US marketplace.