English translation of 1980s trains book now available
Posted by Huw,
A free English translation of Holger Matthes' excellent book on the 12v train era, LEGO Railway World: the 80s: Models - Landscapes - Sets is now available.
The PDF document, designed to be read in conjunction with the German-language hard copy of the book (it does not contain the images), has been produced with the help of Brickset member David Graham. It can be obtained from Holger's website.
View sample spreads of the physical book after the break and order it from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de.
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17 comments on this article
Wow, this book looks great. Will definitely consider buying a physical copy of this!
Glad I can read German well enough.....those two years of German lessons at school with mostly ungenügends wasn't all for naught after all....
(To be fair, I probably learned more from watching a lot of German TV as a kid (Sendung mit der Maus, Knoff-Hoff-Show, Wetten Das....), reading German railway magazines and books, listening to Rammstein, and more recently watching Held der Steine rants on Youtube)
And the book is pretty awesome indeed!
@Huw thanks so much for sharing this information on brickset!
I had been disappointed that no English version was available, so thought about translating it for my own use. On contacting Holger we decided to work together to create this translation. I thought I was an "expert" on 12V trains but I learnt so much on this adventure.
The book is not just about sets, but also models & landscapes and specific train parts.
It's a really nice book. Bought it years ago. Glad it will be easier to enjoy for more people now. Actually I thought it had already been translated into English as a hardcopy. Apparently not.
I have this book too.
Can't recommend it highly enough. It's absolutely awesome imho.
@Wrecknbuild said:
"It's a really nice book. Bought it years ago. Glad it will be easier to enjoy for more people now. Actually I thought it had already been translated into English as a hardcopy. Apparently not."
... don't get mixed up with my first Book "LEGO Trains". The first one was translated and printed in English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Russian. The second book, the one about "The grey era" is officially only available in German ... plus the translation @DavidGraham and I worked on.
@HoMa said:
" @Wrecknbuild said:
"It's a really nice book. Bought it years ago. Glad it will be easier to enjoy for more people now. Actually I thought it had already been translated into English as a hardcopy. Apparently not."
... don't get mixed up with my first Book "LEGO Trains". The first one was translated and printed in English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Russian. The second book, the one about "The grey era" is officially only available in German ... plus the translation @DavidGraham and I worked on."
Aha, danke. Dann werde ich mir das andere auch irgendwann mal zulegen.
@DavidGraham said:
"I had been disappointed that no English version was available, so thought about translating it for my own use. On contacting Holger we decided to work together to create this translation. I thought I was an "expert" on 12V trains but I learnt so much on this adventure.
The book is not just about sets, but also models & landscapes and specific train parts."
But just to be clear: the MOC's and landscapes shown in this book also use more modern parts than were available in the '12V era', correct? For me (personal opinion!), it feels like a bit of a mismatch, the old, blocky (but charming!) trains and the more 'refined' buildings.
@BeaR_the_Builder said:
" @DavidGraham said:
"I had been disappointed that no English version was available, so thought about translating it for my own use. On contacting Holger we decided to work together to create this translation. I thought I was an "expert" on 12V trains but I learnt so much on this adventure.
The book is not just about sets, but also models & landscapes and specific train parts."
But just to be clear: the MOC's and landscapes shown in this book also use more modern parts than were available in the '12V era', correct? For me (personal opinion!), it feels like a bit of a mismatch, the old, blocky (but charming!) trains and the more 'refined' buildings."
I believe it's all authentic 1980s but @HoMa will confirm.
It's clearly not all authentic 1980s, Huw, you can see dark red and masonry bricks
It's 1980s-inspired
For USA folks... about $45 shipped from Amazon.co.uk.
@BeaR_the_Builder said:
" @DavidGraham said:
"I had been disappointed that no English version was available, so thought about translating it for my own use. On contacting Holger we decided to work together to create this translation. I thought I was an "expert" on 12V trains but I learnt so much on this adventure.
The book is not just about sets, but also models & landscapes and specific train parts."
But just to be clear: the MOC's and landscapes shown in this book also use more modern parts than were available in the '12V era', correct? For me (personal opinion!), it feels like a bit of a mismatch, the old, blocky (but charming!) trains and the more 'refined' buildings."
Yes, right. It's not strict 80's using only bricks, shapes and colors available back then. It's more an steampunk approach: consider the 12 V system was never discontinued but new shapes and colors for bricks showed up over the years.
In the end it's up to you if you like it or not.
If this book is so great, why did it take decades for a translation? /s
I love the book, bought it more than a year ago. Stunning photos and a great read. My German is not perfect, so now I can understand every word in it, thank you for your work. The MOC of Bamberg is simply amazing and looks like it's an improvement on the 7777 idea book. It's a shame that no book publisher saw the opportunity to produce the hardcover edition in English, it would have deserved it.
@Norikins said:
"If this book is so great, why did it take decades for a translation? /s"
... unpaid volunteer work from @DavidGraham and myself besides our regular jobs does take it's time.
@HoMa said:
" @Norikins said:
"If this book is so great, why did it take decades for a translation? /s"
... unpaid volunteer work from @DavidGraham and myself besides our regular jobs does take it's time.
"
If you are in need for more volunteers for future projects I'd be happy to help.