LEGO Minifigure History

When first reIeased in 1974, Lego minifigures were at the same scaIe as the current minifigures. However, these figures differed in tooling and articulation: they had solid torsos without separate movable arms, solid lower body pieces that were not moveable, and heads without printed features. They had a small variety of headpieces, including caps, pigtail hair and cowboy hats. An image on Minifigs.net shows the earlier, larger scale, human figures.

The first modern minifigures were released in 1977, with seven different figures in Castle, Space, and Town themes. For the next 11 years, minifigure heads were produced with a simple facial expression, rendered as two solid black dots for eyes and a smile, also painted in solid black. In 1989, minifigures in the Pirates theme were produced with different facial expressions.The Pirates minifigures also included hooks for hands, as well as peg legs; this was the first departure from the traditional body parts.

Another departure from traditional parts was the use of spring-loaded legs. These legs are joined together at the top. These legs were only featured in basketball sets, 2002-2003.
By 2003, Lego had reportedly produced 3.7 billion minifigures.

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LEGO Minifigure

Minifigures are small, plastic figural toys produced by Danish toy manufacturer LEGO, which are customarily sold with Lego sets, as characters intended to populate modular Lego environments. Although many Lego sets include minifigures, Lego also sells collections of minifigures separate from other sets. They are also referred to as as minifigs, figs or simply Lego people. Minifigures are collected by both children and adults, sometimes independently of Lego bricks themselves.

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LEGO Train Track

There are four different track types: blue, grey, 9V and RC.

Blue tracks are constructed of 2x8 plates as sleepers and pieces of rail. The rails are straight, inner curve and outer curve pieces. The straight pieces and outer curve pieces are grooved on the top to facilitate friction with the drive wheels of powered engines. The inner curve pieces have a smooth finish. The rails are only connected at each end on the sleeper with no intermediate sleepers. When laying out the track, this system is susceptible to distortion which can vary the gauge and lead to derailment.

The grey track introduced in 1980 was an improvement of the same design, with modifications to the rails and a new sleeper plate which included special clips to hold the track together more firmly. In addition, fixing points for intermediate sleepers were provided at the mid-point of each rail making the construction even more sturdy.

For both blue and grey tracks, electrical power (for 12v trains) was provided by means of separate conductor rails placed in between the running rails. It was possible to upgrade from battery power to 12v electrical power simply by purchasing an electric motor unit, transformer and sets of conductor rails (with the exception of special track pieces such as points and crossovers which were available in separate 12v versions, with the electrical connections included).

9V and RC tracks are one piece sections of straight and curved track. The sleepers are formed as one piece with the rails making for a more reliable gauge and turning radius. There are a number of intermediate sleepers which give strength to the piece, but also lend a more realistic appearance to the track. The attached sleepers are made to look like independent 2x8 plates, except for the end sleepers which are special. These end sleepers are shaped like 1x8 plates but have a connectors that allow the tracks to click together. When the end sleepers of two track pieces are together, the end sleepers combine to look like one 2x8 plate.

The track from all four eras are somewhat compatible. The gauge has remained the same throughout, as has the turning radius of the curved pieces. The points vary in configuration which may make laying out combined systems awkward. The end to end connection of the blue and grey track types with the 9V and RC track types only requires some "Lego" ingenuity on the part of the user. Of course, the 9V engines must be restricted to the 9V rails to operate.
Specialized pieces are available as points and track cross sections. Matt Bates created a program called "Track designer" to plan track layouts on the computer.

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LEGO Train Models

The early Lego train series of sets were developed in Germany. Many of the sets in the grey era were modeled after or inspired by prototypes in use by the Deutsche Bahn (yellow/red for electric trains, black superstructures over red running gear for steam locomotives). A few sets have been based on other prototypes – for example the French TGV trains and Austrian "Krokodil" engine.

More recently, sets modeled after United States trains have been released, reflecting the introduction and subsequent popularity of LEGO Trains in the US: the Santa Fe Super Chief(10020) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (10133) Locomotive.
Lego also modeled the fictional Hogwarts Express (4758) under the Harry Potter license, although the model is neither powered nor does it use the correct type of wheels to be a true LEGO Train model. In 2005, Lego offered a 9V motorized Hogwarts Express, (10132), which was discontinued in 2006.

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