If this was ever for sale in the USA I was either too young to find it or I was overwhelmed with the other big 1985 toy properties and it was overshadowed. I never saw any Lego Trains until the 1990s.

Those letters look way too thick to fit through the sorting machine.

@Rimefang said:
"If this was ever for sale in the USA I was either too young to find it or I was overwhelmed with the other big 1985 toy properties and it was overshadowed. I never saw any Lego Trains until the 1990s."

Lego trains weren’t really sold in the US until 9V in 1991.

@Rimefang said:
"If this was ever for sale in the USA I was either too young to find it or I was overwhelmed with the other big 1985 toy properties and it was overshadowed. I never saw any Lego Trains until the 1990s."

It was available in Canada, so I would be surprised if it were not also available in the USA. One oddity though, the 4.5V crossing track, 7853, never appeared to be available. I never saw it for sale and I have met other people who seemed to agree. However, the 12V equivalent, 7857, was available in Canada. So I had to make due with arbitrary electrodes at my cross tracks.

@PurpleDave said:
"Those letters look way too thick to fit through the sorting machine."

That's why the postman has a whole boxcar allocated for manual sorting. :-)

Is huwbot hinting the release of a train set soon? Perhaps with lights? Hmmm

Ah, a beautiful old train set. Good work Huwbot. I love that the mailman gets an entire van to himself to sort the parcels.

I regret not being interested in Trains and Castle theme back in the day. While having ample amount of space and town sets, I got nothing on these two themes.

As a kid, I always saw this in the LEGO catalog and wanted it. After getting back into LEGO from my dark ages and buying eBay LEGO lots I finally got one and it brought back all those memories of playing with LEGO in the 80's

@OneIsLit said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Those letters look way too thick to fit through the sorting machine."

That's why the postman has a whole boxcar allocated for manual sorting. :-)"
I'm not sure you mean this as a joke, but that's actually exactly the way it was.

This set is obviously based on a German prototype (as was the case with basically all LEGO train sets back then, even though the sticker sheet contained the logos of other European railroad services), and up until 1997 there used to be special railcars/wagons for manually sorting mail on the go.
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnpost

This was my first LEGO train. There was so much choice. Push along, battery or electric - I decided to go down the middle. Soon replaced everything with electric. I used the DB stickers the British Rail stickers didn't look right.

Due to the three large batteries, the battery wagon was too heavy, compared to the high acceleration of the locomotive (only one speed): the magnetic coupling did not hold. My father solved this with a hook made out of a paperclip.

Of course, I applied the Belgian NMBS/SNCB logo.

At the time this seemed really out of date compared to the modern 7735 and 7745 12V electric trains sitting on the same toy shelf? Although these required an additional transformer, whereas this was allowing compatibility with those who already had loads of the 'blue' 1970's track, or just wanted something self-contained on a small scale.

The 'Battery Box, Train Car' 3443c02 was the most interesting part of this set as the first time a battery box had wheels and switch on the side between the wheels to flick on and off so you could try and place a vertical post by the rail so that the train stopped (which never worked). I didn't realize this appeared in 10 sets before discontinued as only ever saw a few times, as enthusiasts soon tired of batteries running down that 12V easily became dominate.

Found this beauty at a flea market a couple of years ago. It’s now loved and on full display.

7720 was in our house as a kid so they were definitely available before the 90s

@natro220 said:
" @Rimefang said:
"If this was ever for sale in the USA I was either too young to find it or I was overwhelmed with the other big 1985 toy properties and it was overshadowed. I never saw any Lego Trains until the 1990s."

Lego trains weren’t really sold in the US until 9V in 1991.
"

This train was sold in the U.S. when it came out. I bought mine in 1989 at Toys R Us. They also had the accessory track available.

@AustinPowers said:
" @OneIsLit said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Those letters look way too thick to fit through the sorting machine."

That's why the postman has a whole boxcar allocated for manual sorting. :-)"
I'm not sure you mean this as a joke, but that's actually exactly the way it was.

This set is obviously based on a German prototype (as was the case with basically all LEGO train sets back then, even though the sticker sheet contained the logos of other European railroad services), and up until 1997 there used to be special railcars/wagons for manually sorting mail on the go.
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnpost "

That's absolutely fascinating. I love that image of the long green Bundespost rail car. From the little bit of reading I have done about LEGO's history, it does not surprise me at all that it is based on a German prototype. I believe that Germany was still LEGO Group's largest market at the time.

@ambr said:
"The 'Battery Box, Train Car' 3443c02 was the most interesting part of this set as the first time a battery box had wheels and switch on the side between the wheels to flick on and off so you could try and place a vertical post by the rail so that the train stopped (which never worked)."

Interesting. It seemed to work well enough for me, so long as the batteries were fresh. I wonder if the type of flooring made a difference? I have seen others online claim that this worked well enough to reverse the direction of the train even. My train never picked up that much speed and would only go fast enough for the switch to hit the post and stop.

The feature I liked best was the second switch mounted under the battery boxcar which worked to stop the train when it was under the signal post, and the signal post was lowered. Unfortunately, after about 30 years, the plastics seemed to have hardened and this feature no long works smoothly.

@OneIsLit said:
"That's absolutely fascinating. I love that image of the long green Bundespost rail car. From the little bit of reading I have done about LEGO's history, it does not surprise me at all that it is based on a German prototype. I believe that Germany was still LEGO Group's largest market at the time. "
Indeed.
One of the reasons an alternative brick manufacturer from Germany is currently doing so well here is because they offer loads of trains based on German prototypes from past to present.
Model trains have traditionally been very popular over here, and that includes LEGO as well as Playmobil, who in the Eighties had their own model train system (compatible I believe with the highly popular LGB outdoor/garden model trains). For more information:
https://playmorama.de/playmobil/playmobil-eisenbahn/

And this lucky person apparently managed to aquire each and every set there ever was of the lineup. See his collection in action:
https://youtu.be/-5uD1T0XWEg

@Jupiter said:
"Due to the three large batteries, the battery wagon was too heavy, compared to the high acceleration of the locomotive (only one speed): the magnetic coupling did not hold. My father solved this with a hook made out of a paperclip.

Of course, I applied the Belgian NMBS/SNCB logo. "

I never had an issue with the magnets myself. In fact they still hold well today. I see that there are at least a few likes to your comment, indicating that other people must have had the same issue, or are from Belgium. I wonder if there were some production issues?

Also, I don't remember having the choice as to which sticker set to apply. However, I applied the DB stickers, probably because those were the ones depicted in the instructions. There were no CP or CN options for Canadian customers.

@oldtodd33 said:
" @natro220 said:
" @Rimefang said:
"If this was ever for sale in the USA I was either too young to find it or I was overwhelmed with the other big 1985 toy properties and it was overshadowed. I never saw any Lego Trains until the 1990s."

Lego trains weren’t really sold in the US until 9V in 1991.
"

This train was sold in the U.S. when it came out. I bought mine in 1989 at Toys R Us. They also had the accessory track available. "

It could vary by region. Where I grew up, I got the impression that LEGO was a fringe toy, or only for little children. Most boys played with action figures of some sort. The only other kids that I knew liked LEGO in the '80s were of European descent. But of course, I suffer from some confirmation bias.

@AustinPowers said:
" Model trains have traditionally been very popular over here, and that includes LEGO as well as Playmobil, who in the Eighties had their own model train system (compatible I believe with the highly popular LGB outdoor/garden model trains). For more information:
https://playmorama.de/playmobil/playmobil-eisenbahn/

And this lucky person apparently managed to aquire each and every set there ever was of the lineup. See his collection in action:
https://youtu.be/-5uD1T0XWEg
"

Those Playmobile trains look great. I never knew they existed.

I have guessed that scale modelling, including trains, must be popular in Germany. I have always wanted to visit Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg. I "visited" using the Google Maps tour, but I expect it would be much more impressive to see in person.

@AustinPowers:
The British beat you to it in 1830:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_Post_Office

The US followed right after in 1831, though it took several years to develop into a regular operation:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_post_office

RPO was apparently the only reason a lot of train lines were profitable in the first place, which explains a lot of the trouble passenger rail has staying in the black these days (and why any suggestion that we abandon cars for high-speed rail draws uncontrollable laughter in response).

The US was also among the first to abandon mail-by-rail in favor of vastly more efficient machine sorting facilities, and faster transportation by air combined with more versatile transportation by road. Because in the end, the USPS is focused on delivery of mail as fast and as efficiently as possible, and not on feeding the nostalgia of railheads.

@OneIsLit:
From sometime post-WWII (as of the result that they were the _only_ European toy company that was willing to do business in Germany right after the war, combined with the fact that Germany had no surviving toy industry of their own) until the Star Wars theme was introduced in 1999, Germany did buy more LEGO product than any other nation. Then they figured out there were far more lucrative markets out there, which led to them surpassing Hasbro and Mattel to become the largest toy manufacturer in the world.

In the early 00’s, they released info that identified Bionicle as their top seller, original license Star Wars as No2, and newcomer Harry Potter as No4. During this period, Mattel reportedly floated an offer to buy the company, which they were probably only able to shrug off because they had seen significant growth in North America. So, imagine what fate might have befallen the company if they were still chasing German tastes post-2000.

This was my first LEGO train set that lead tro me collecting ALL the 9 volt sets.

"Trains" as whole, are/were in my 'dark period'. The last good 'run' was the "My Own Train" line. Don't get me wrong, several "City" trains are great; it's just to bad TLG can't go back/copy the model railroad format: Sets and individual parts/pieces (Engines, Cars, Track...).

Hmmm...now that I think about it: I wonder where TLG is with that 'thing' they mentioned in a questionnaire (the working w/3D print company/ies on making new track and components).

@brick_r: apparently there are lots of fans of brick trains who think alike.
No wonder there are so many alternatives who cater for that market that LEGO has decided to abandon.

@AustinPowers:
They didn’t just decide to abandon the train market. The market decided to abandon trains. One of the big issues has been the shift to battery power over plug-in power, as serious hobbyists would never want to feed a crate of batteries to their layout.

But a bigger factor is the push for quicker turnover. Large retail chains want churn. They want new stuff coming in all the time, selling all the time, and getting replaced as soon as it stops selling. The old model was to release all the new product in January, with maybe a second wave in the summer, but that just results in product selling right after launch, and again during the Christmas shopping season, but warming shelves the rest of the year. Companies like Walmart pushed them to the point where we now have monthly launches, which has probably put a spotlight on which products are year-long sellers and which only sold during the months favored by the old model.

Trains are something that traditionally haven’t sold well here outside of the Christmas season. Target tried My Own Train for a bit, but otherwise Target and Walmart have largely shied away from selling powered trains because the buy-in put them way out of impulse purchase range, and the inclusion of electronics means you get a lot less model for your money. There’s just no market left for trains as a kid’s toy.

There could be a market for adult hobbyists, but right now a major problem is the powered components. LUGs generally prefer 9v for convenience, but steam enthusiasts prefer PF because it allows them to build powered engines. Nobody prefers PU. Until they fix it or replace it, nobody will want to pay extra for a powered train, but they might be interested in buying trains that can be upgraded to your power source of preference. Right now, the Crocodile is either a one-and-done, or they’re waiting for sales to drop off before rolling out a new engine to replace it. Strength of sales will determine which is the case.

Regarding the discussion as to whether this train was sold in the U.S., I recall seeing it in the U.S. catalogs that were included in the boxes of larger sets. However, I don't recall ever seeing it in the stores. Moreover, I don't recall having any knowledge of the other sets that were part of this theme (except for 7835 Level Crossing and 7839 Car Transport Depot, which were available in the Shop At Home Catalog).
I was able to obtain this set on a family summer trip to Toronto. The Canadian National Exhibition happened to be going on while we were in town and LEGO had an huge multi-room exhibit of Town, Space, and Castle layouts. The exhibit, of course, included a shop at the end and there--to my delight--was this train, which my parents bought for my brother and me. I also bought 6023 (Maiden's Cart), which was a major discovery for me since it wasn't released in the U.S. My biggest regret is that I didn't buy 6067 (Guarded Inn), which was on the shelves there but only available through the Shop At Home catalog in the U.S. Guarded Inn is my set that got away (though I did get the rerelease, 10000 in 2000).

It is amazing how--before the internet--FOLs generally did not know what sets were available in other markets. For example, until I discovered Brickset in 2010, I had no idea 6011 Black Knight's Treasure even existed! (You can tell from my set focus in the post that I was a Castle fan).

In any event, this set was fantastic! I loved the red triangular column piece that attached to the track that caused the train to switch directions. I still have this set with a very damaged box and instructions and I'm currently working on BrickLinking the missing pieces.

I got this lovely set as a kid for Christmas one year. Adored the way you could rebuild the train into a diesel, it was all very clever.

@Librarian1976 said:
"I was able to obtain this set on a family summer trip to Toronto. The Canadian National Exhibition happened to be going on while we were in town and LEGO had an huge multi-room exhibit of Town, Space, and Castle layouts."

I believe I was at the same event. The LEGO showcase I saw in Toronto was hosted in a facility called Ontario Place.

I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to have access to European catalogues when I was growing up. On the one hand, I would marvel at all these great sets. But on the other hand, I could never hope to get any of them, since there weren't for sale in North America.

I know that everybody really likes the 9V system, but I just have to cast my vote for the 12V system. I always wanted a 12V layout when I was a kid.