Hey, that's not a Star War...
Also, wagon? I always heard them called train cars. Maybe it's because it's not enclosed in some capacity, or it's the different kind of English terminology.

Didn't notice that one before. Interesting crane piece.

I really liking the fact TLG has soooo many Train and train adjacent options thing year. Now if they'd just put out individual rolling-stock, like they use to...:)

40+ years and we still got 6-wide trains! TLG when are we have 8-wide?!!

I wondered what the structure at the front was about so I looked up the instructions. As expected the crane van rest on it and there's room for the hook in there. But more interestingly, there's instructions for an alternate build in there too! You can make a mostly identical looking crane, but this time on a side platform. The flatbed holds some random leftovers.
https://lego.brickinstructions.com/lego_instructions/set/7814/Crane_Wagon

Pretty cool. I had no idea that set instructions with alternate build instructions had been a thing back then outside of Technic and Universal Building Sets. Just goes to show how little I know about this era of Trains, and how different it is from Town.

Like a crane kick but with more power behind it

I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason.

This by itself may not be the best train set Lego has made over the years but looking at the entire range of the trains' sets Lego released that year it has its place there. Simplicity and functionality (playability) was amazing.

I never had this set or any other train set as a kid in the 80s but I'm building this collection now as an adult and still feel like a kid every single time I get a set like this. :)

@MCLegoboy said:
"Hey, that's not a Star War...
Also, wagon? I always heard them called train cars. Maybe it's because it's not enclosed in some capacity, or it's the different kind of English terminology."

European*

Suppose it is similar to how we have trams while ye have street cars.

@AustinPowers said:
"Imho that year was one of the best LEGO train years ever.

All I can say is we will never see the likes of it again.

But one has to be fair too. Back then, almost every boy over here had some form of train set. Either a model railway or something from Playmobil, LGB, or LEGO. Having a train layout was basically a given.
Nowadays, with so many more toy and entertainment options, train layouts have fallen out of favour, at least with most kids and teens. I know plenty of adults who still have them, and model railroad clubs in our area have young members too. But if the market was still as huge as it was in the Seventies and Eighties, LEGO surely would still produce as many train sets as back then.
At least brick train enthusiasts these days have plenty of other options for train related sets. "

12V was the best train _system_ Lego ever produced. Newer and contemporary trains like what's coming in BDP may be more detailed, but are sorely lacking the system. You had not only passenger and cargo trains, and associated additional wagons, but much more!

Passenger and cargo train stations (7824 7822 7838 7823 7839) , lights to illuminate said stations and tracks (7867), stop signal that stopped the train (7860), rail crossing that you could control manually (7834 and 7835) or remotely (7866), track switch that again you could control manually (7856) or remotely (7859).

But also, in exchange, you get tracks that you can damage so easily when dismantling, especially as they age

As a side note, I think that the prettiest passenger train was 7745 High-Speed City Express Passenger Train Set :-)

@Binnekamp said:
"I wondered what the structure at the front was about so I looked up the instructions. As expected the crane van rest on it and there's room for the hook in there. But more interestingly, there's instructions for an alternate build in there too! You can make a mostly identical looking crane, but this time on a side platform. The flatbed holds some random leftovers.
https://lego.brickinstructions.com/lego_instructions/set/7814/Crane_Wagon

Pretty cool. I had no idea that set instructions with alternate build instructions had been a thing back then outside of Technic and Universal Building Sets. Just goes to show how little I know about this era of Trains, and how different it is from Town."

I was also surprised when I got my first 12V set, I was only halfway through instructions and had no pieces left :-) Only then I discovered that the rest were alternative models.

Here and there it also appeared in other themes, for example Lion Knight's 6040 Blacksmith Shop also contains instruction for a guard tower http://peeron.com/scans/6040-1/6

I bought this set from Myer (department store) at Tea Tree Plaza (Adelaide, South Australia). Being 1990 I knew that it shouldn't have been there but there it was! I quickly snapped it up quite happy at my find.

I also picked up a copy of 6690-1 around the same time frame. 10 years after it originally came out but I expect it was for a different market as the promotional literature within showed an assortment of sets from the last 10 years... 6690 and 6379-1 which were years apart in release dates, together on the same page!

@gsom7 said:
"40+ years and we still got 6-wide trains! TLG when are we have 8-wide?!!"

71044 was eight wide along with 21344 , and 10277 was seven wide. Those are the only three official track-ready sets, and I'd rather it stay that way. (BDP sets are their own special cases, and 71437 can't run on tracks so it doesn't count!) Six wide forever!

@choo_choo said:
"I bought this set from Myer (department store) at Tea Tree Plaza (Adelaide, South Australia). Being 1990 I knew that it shouldn't have been there but there it was! I quickly snapped it up quite happy at my find."
Don't know about Australia, but in Germany back in the day, sets had a much longer shelf life than today. I bought 7760 in the late Eighties where it was still regularly available at toy stores, even though it came out in 1980 just like this set.
I got a lot of my childhood LEGO sets back then many years after they were first released.

@BlackFalconBirdman said:
"Didn't notice that one before. Interesting crane piece."

I always wanted some sets with that piece.

@Jack_Sassy said:" @MCLegoboy said:"Hey, that's not a Star War...
Also, wagon? I always heard them called train cars. Maybe it's because it's not enclosed in some capacity, or it's the different kind of English terminology."

European*

Suppose it is similar to how we have trams while ye have street cars."

Or trolleys.

@AustinPowers said:
" @choo_choo said:
"I bought this set from Myer (department store) at Tea Tree Plaza (Adelaide, South Australia). Being 1990 I knew that it shouldn't have been there but there it was! I quickly snapped it up quite happy at my find."
Don't know about Australia, but in Germany back in the day, sets had a much longer shelf life than today. I bought 7760 in the late Eighties where it was still regularly available at toy stores, even though it came out in 1980 just like this set.
I got a lot of my childhood LEGO sets back then many years after they were first released. "

I remember an awkward story from a couple decades ago. Yes, in the past, product might stick around for a few years. I don’t know if they were actively producing it that whole time, or if there just weren’t enough new SKUs coming in that they needed to make room, but until sometime in the mid-aughts you could definitely find older sets still priced at MSRP a couple years after it came out. Then I heard retailers were pushing for faster turnover, because people really only bought stuff right when it came out, or leading up to Christmas, and the rest of the year it just collected dust. They wanted churn, all year long, so every foot of shelf space would be profitable regardless of what month it was. They also pushed for new product to be rolled out every month, instead of just twice a year (January and July, I believe). So TLG takes this in, and asks the retailers what kind of sets they wanted, and the retailers responded back with, “You’re the manufacturer. You tell us.”

@AustinPowers said:
" @choo_choo said:
"I bought this set from Myer (department store) at Tea Tree Plaza (Adelaide, South Australia). Being 1990 I knew that it shouldn't have been there but there it was! I quickly snapped it up quite happy at my find."
Don't know about Australia, but in Germany back in the day, sets had a much longer shelf life than today. I bought 7760 in the late Eighties where it was still regularly available at toy stores, even though it came out in 1980 just like this set.
I got a lot of my childhood LEGO sets back then many years after they were first released. "

at the times, private toy stores bought sets and let them on the shelves until they can resell... today we had franchise shops (like Toys R Us or similar in every nation) and sets are paid ONLY when they sell them (on consignment). so, every few months, they retire old sets and change them for the new ones...

@PurpleDave said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @choo_choo said:
"I bought this set from Myer (department store) at Tea Tree Plaza (Adelaide, South Australia). Being 1990 I knew that it shouldn't have been there but there it was! I quickly snapped it up quite happy at my find."
Don't know about Australia, but in Germany back in the day, sets had a much longer shelf life than today. I bought 7760 in the late Eighties where it was still regularly available at toy stores, even though it came out in 1980 just like this set.
I got a lot of my childhood LEGO sets back then many years after they were first released. "

I remember an awkward story from a couple decades ago. Yes, in the past, product might stick around for a few years. I don’t know if they were actively producing it that whole time, or if there just weren’t enough new SKUs coming in that they needed to make room, but until sometime in the mid-aughts you could definitely find older sets still priced at MSRP a couple years after it came out. Then I heard retailers were pushing for faster turnover, because people really only bought stuff right when it came out, or leading up to Christmas, and the rest of the year it just collected dust. They wanted churn, all year long, so every foot of shelf space would be profitable regardless of what month it was. They also pushed for new product to be rolled out every month, instead of just twice a year (January and July, I believe). So TLG takes this in, and asks the retailers what kind of sets they wanted, and the retailers responded back with, “You’re the manufacturer. You tell us.”"
This sounds exactly like the typical American consumerism excesses that now plague so many stores.
Back in the day stores (at least the ones over here) neither wanted nor needed constant "churn". And customers didn't either. There wasn't the constant push for "always everything new all the time". Times were slower, people were more patient, and most people wouldn't even have known when a new product was about to be launched - because manufacturers didn't make a fuss about it. At the beginning of the year new stuff would become available, in the case of clothing more often, to adapt to the seasons of course.
Just look at old LEGO catalogues to see how many years sets were available officially back then. It might surprise you.
And nobody needed hundreds or thousands of sets new every year or every couple years.
Open the catalogue from 1984 for example. Count the entire number of sets across all themes. Then open the catalogue from say 1987 or 1988 and do the same thing. And compare how many sets have changed, been discontinued or added new. Be amazed by how small the numbers are.

@AustinPowers said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @choo_choo said:
"I bought this set from Myer (department store) at Tea Tree Plaza (Adelaide, South Australia). Being 1990 I knew that it shouldn't have been there but there it was! I quickly snapped it up quite happy at my find."
Don't know about Australia, but in Germany back in the day, sets had a much longer shelf life than today. I bought 7760 in the late Eighties where it was still regularly available at toy stores, even though it came out in 1980 just like this set.
I got a lot of my childhood LEGO sets back then many years after they were first released. "

I remember an awkward story from a couple decades ago. Yes, in the past, product might stick around for a few years. I don’t know if they were actively producing it that whole time, or if there just weren’t enough new SKUs coming in that they needed to make room, but until sometime in the mid-aughts you could definitely find older sets still priced at MSRP a couple years after it came out. Then I heard retailers were pushing for faster turnover, because people really only bought stuff right when it came out, or leading up to Christmas, and the rest of the year it just collected dust. They wanted churn, all year long, so every foot of shelf space would be profitable regardless of what month it was. They also pushed for new product to be rolled out every month, instead of just twice a year (January and July, I believe). So TLG takes this in, and asks the retailers what kind of sets they wanted, and the retailers responded back with, “You’re the manufacturer. You tell us.”"
This sounds exactly like the typical American consumerism excesses that now plague so many stores.
Back in the day stores (at least the ones over here) neither wanted nor needed constant "churn". And customers didn't either. There wasn't the constant push for "always everything new all the time". Times were slower, people were more patient, and most people wouldn't even have known when a new product was about to be launched - because manufacturers didn't make a fuss about it. At the beginning of the year new stuff would become available, in the case of clothing more often, to adapt to the seasons of course.
Just look at old LEGO catalogues to see how many years sets were available officially back then. It might surprise you.
And nobody needed hundreds or thousands of sets new every year or every couple years.
Open the catalogue from 1984 for example. Count the entire number of sets across all themes. Then open the catalogue from say 1987 or 1988 and do the same thing. And compare how many sets have changed, been discontinued or added new. Be amazed by how small the numbers are. "

Yeah, I remember those old catalogs denoting which sets were new for a given year.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason."

Because you have to use your imagination. Today, LEGO has pretty much taken that out of the equation with a ton of 1x 'whatevers', and a jillion pieces... But not to worry, they'll charge you a lot for that honor as well.

@madforLEGO said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason."

Because you have to use your imagination. Today, LEGO has pretty much taken that out of the equation with a ton of 1x 'whatevers', and a jillion pieces... But not to worry, they'll charge you a lot for that honor as well. "

Sounds like a PEBCAB situation.

@PurpleDave said:
" @madforLEGO said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason."

Because you have to use your imagination. Today, LEGO has pretty much taken that out of the equation with a ton of 1x 'whatevers', and a jillion pieces... But not to worry, they'll charge you a lot for that honor as well. "

Sounds like a PEBCAB situation."

Problem Exists Between Chair And... I'm assuming Build or Building?

@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @madforLEGO said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason."

Because you have to use your imagination. Today, LEGO has pretty much taken that out of the equation with a ton of 1x 'whatevers', and a jillion pieces... But not to worry, they'll charge you a lot for that honor as well. "

Sounds like a PEBCAB situation."

Problem Exists Between Chair And... I'm assuming Build or Building?"

Bricks.

@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @madforLEGO said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason."

Because you have to use your imagination. Today, LEGO has pretty much taken that out of the equation with a ton of 1x 'whatevers', and a jillion pieces... But not to worry, they'll charge you a lot for that honor as well. "

Sounds like a PEBCAB situation."

Problem Exists Between Chair And... I'm assuming Build or Building?"

Bricks."

Awww did I hit the 'LEGO cheerleader' nerve?

@madforLEGO said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @madforLEGO said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I always find simple sets like this so cool for some reason."

Because you have to use your imagination. Today, LEGO has pretty much taken that out of the equation with a ton of 1x 'whatevers', and a jillion pieces... But not to worry, they'll charge you a lot for that honor as well. "

Sounds like a PEBCAB situation."

Problem Exists Between Chair And... I'm assuming Build or Building?"

Bricks."

Awww did I hit the 'LEGO cheerleader' nerve?"

No, you just the limitations of your creativity. If you're that upset about "1x 'whatevers'", then you're clearly not part of the reason they cost more by weight than 2x4 bricks on the secondary market. That's unfortunate, but it's ultimately your own problem to deal with. Nobody's forcing you to stay in this hobby. I, on the other hand, finally got my 15th SC DeLorean, and need to start working on how to modify some of them for BttF3. With "1x 'whatevers'", some of the best parts they've ever introduced.