A Look Back: 1992 LEGO Magazine (Featuring Trains and Boats!)

Last time, I showed off the LEGO Town sets from the 1992 magazine.

Today, we take a look at a pair of themes that I always considered sub-themes of Town, but it appears LEGO did not:  Boats and Trains.

The first page features the three boats in the theme.  I never owned any of these but my brother used to have the Cabin Cruiser set (I remember thinking the fishing pole was particularly cool in that set).  Looking at the sets now, I have to admit that the Boats sub-theme didn't age well.  I think LEGO produces much, much better looking boats today (though the Fire Rescue boat is charming in its own sort of way).

Moving on to the other theme:  Trains!

Trains seem to be one of LEGO's most popular themes - and while the way trains have been motorized has changed over the years, the excitement of running your own train never fades.  Back in 1992, LEGO released a new collection of 9V trains (still my favorite way to power a train, for what it is worth).  You can see that you could purchase extra track if you wanted to expand your layout...or add to it with a sweet yellow train station (another set I never owned).

Back in '92, there were exactly two trains to choose from:  a freight train and a passenger train.  My brother and I received the Load N' Haul Railroad set as a shared Christmas present one year...and I think that present will probably go down as our all-time favorite present ever!  Today, my brother owns most of the train (I kept the one blue car but otherwise he was the set).  Hopefully some day he'll put together his own LEGO train table and play with that set with his daughter!

As for me, I now own three of my own train sets (four if you count the Christmas train).  Unfortunately, none of the three sets I own are 9V powered - but I did pick up an extra 9V motor off of eBay a couple of years ago (along with some metal track) so maybe I can convert one of my trains to run on 9V!

At this point, we are nearing the end of the 1992 LEGO Magazine catalog.  There's still a few other themes to go - one of which includes the biggest set (in terms of both size and piece count) that I ever received as a kid.  Stay tuned for that!

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