Category:LGB (Lehmann Gross Bahn)

Toy Brands and Manufacturers

LGB (Lehmann Gross Bahn)

1968 -

1978/1981 cover of the Instruction Booklet [image info]

1981 page from the Instruction Booklet [image info]

1978 cover of "LGB Depesche" [image info]

The company Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk of Nuremberg, Germany was founded in 1881, and is best-known for the 1968 creation of a garden railway system, the Lehmann Gross Bahn (Lehmann Big Railway) system, known as LGB for short.

LGB became well known as a solid and reliable system for garden railways, and became especially popular in the US, where the proportions and styling of their 0-4-0 locomotive chimed well with early US locomotive design style.

Marklin took over the product line in 2007, after Lehman got into financial difficulties.

Walthers have been handling the US distribution since 2009.

Format and scale

The LGB system uses rails with gauge 1 (45mm) track spacing, and in order to justify the use of comparatively large locomotives and running stock on such a small track spacing, LGB locomotives tend to be styled after real-life narrow-gauge locomotives, which have a naturally disproportionally large bodywork compared to wheel-spacing, compared to locos that run on standard gauge track.

As a result, G-scale used for LGB figures is a scale of 1:22.5 .

Part of the appeal of LGB railways is therefore that the trains look quaint and cute and toyishly proportioned ... but are actually reasonably closely based on authentic, genuine locomotive designs.

As well as the advantage that 45mm track is already available from a variety of sources for use with gauge 1 trains, and the lower cost and smaller "footprint" of narrower track, using narrower track also tends to give tighter turning circles than wider track – which is obviously very useful in a garden environment where one doesn't have unlimited space to work with.

Since different real-life narrow-gauge railways have different track spacings, the scale of accurate LGB-compatible models can range anywhere from a scale of 1:20.5 all the way down to conventional Gauge 1, a scale of 1:32

Promotional text:

LGB Scale G Gauge 45 mm Scale 1/22.5

G is Großbahn (Large or Garden Railway)
The LGB, a model railway for indoor and outdoor use, fascinates due to its size, which allows the finest details and also the unique possibility of a safe, weatherproof operation in the open.
The LGB offers, the largest local and branch line programme with reproduction locomotives to popular originals.

LGB Locomotives, from Oldtimer, to the modern express train locomotives, are exact replicas of their famous originals. They work on the International Standard 2 wire D.C. voltage of up to 18 Volts.

LGB-Gearings, are just about dustproof sealed and therefore also suitable for outdoor use.

It was wonderfully romantic, when the old steam locomotives drove without competition over the complete networks. The dreamy ancient railway world, with its passenger coaches, gas lanterns, guard vans, signal bells and steam whistles, can once again, with the LEHMANN-Giant railway be a reality.
A model railway, which runs everywhere, in the house, in the garden, in summer and in winter.
A railway, not only for show but also to play with.
This comprehensive operating instruction brochure, which contains the latest technical information, should be your guide and helper for your LGB-Hobby, after all, it gives you more pleasure when you are fully informed.
If you have a particularly interesting layout, do send us a photo, prizes are awarded for really beautiful layouts.

An open-air layout does not necessarily have to be mounted on a railway embankment, this is only required for permanent layouts, which are then exposed to all kind of weather.
For short outdoor operation, one can lay the tracks on the short, freshly-mown lawn.

RIGI 900 cable car

Lehmann also (unusually) produced a tinplate model overhead cable-car system of a similar or same scale to the LGB system, which they patented in the late Sixties and early Seventies.

This was based on the Rigi cable-cars that operate on the Rigi mountain in Switzerland.

LGB Depesche magazine

The company-produced magazine LGB Depesche ("LGB Despatch") has been published since 1968, and is currently being published quarterly by Marklin.

https://www.lgb.com/experience/lgb-depesche

BIG magazine

Since 2012. Marklin have also published BIG Magazine, a quarterly that currently costs €7.50, but is included for free with membership of the LGB Club.

The name, "BIG" reflects the fact that, in Germany, the "G" in LGB is taken as representing the word "Grosse", or "big".

https://www.lgb-trains.com/lib/big/en/index.html?idx=214601

Modern developments: LGB and Lego

Although Marklin do supply a range of G-scale rolling stock, for those who want something unique, the company sell an LGB flatbed truck whose upper surface is blank other than an array of Lego-compatible studs.

This allows users to build their own custom superstructure using Lego ... which both adds a level of future-proofing, increases customisability, and stays within the LGB "garden" criteria of being weatherproof. Even if the range is discontinued and the company goes bust, if people have the flatbeds, they will still be able to make their own versions of further wagons and rolling-stock items that were never released.

LGB is particularly suitable for this approach, since the large size allows a good amount of detail (the Lego-compatible flatbed is twelve studs wide, so even 1-stud-thick walls on a wagon can appear reasonably thin).