| rdfs:comment | - Lego Trains is a Lego theme seen for the first time in 1966. It doesn't count as a Long Runner as much as LEGO City, however, as it has been completely redesigned several times.
* The first trains from 1966 had either no motor at all or a 4.5V motor fed by three C-cell batteries on the locomotive itself. The rails were blue, and the sleepers were white.
* 1969 brought magnetic couplers and the 12V system with a pair of electric rails in the middle of the track. Lego trains could finally be remote-controlled like real model trains.
* 1980 saw a major theme reboot and the transition from the Blue Era to the Gray Era. There were still unmotorized, 4.5V (with the batteries in a separate car since 1972) and 12V trains, but first of all, the rails were gray, and the sleepers were dark
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| abstract | - Lego Trains is a Lego theme seen for the first time in 1966. It doesn't count as a Long Runner as much as LEGO City, however, as it has been completely redesigned several times.
* The first trains from 1966 had either no motor at all or a 4.5V motor fed by three C-cell batteries on the locomotive itself. The rails were blue, and the sleepers were white.
* 1969 brought magnetic couplers and the 12V system with a pair of electric rails in the middle of the track. Lego trains could finally be remote-controlled like real model trains.
* 1980 saw a major theme reboot and the transition from the Blue Era to the Gray Era. There were still unmotorized, 4.5V (with the batteries in a separate car since 1972) and 12V trains, but first of all, the rails were gray, and the sleepers were dark gray now. Trains could be illuminated with 2×2 lightbricks now (which were pre-installed only in the biggest train sets, 7740 and 7745). Multiple trains on the same layout were possible now because they could be stopped at remote-controlled red signals. Other than these and points which had already been remote-controlled in the Blue Era, later additions with remote control were a decoupler and a level crossing. Last but not least, all trains were now compatible to the minifigs introduced in 1978.
* Most of this was discarded in 1991 when the new 9V railroad was launched. Its major advantages were the absence of the third and fourth rails in the middle because the electricity was now picked up from the outer rails, and the wheel bearing/suspension imitations outside the wheels. The downside was that almost all model railroad features had been canceled. There were no remote-controlled points anymore, nor were there remote-controlled signals at which to stop a train so that only one locomotive could be on a layout at a time. As if that weren't bad enough, LEGO quit making replacement parts for the 12V line, which soon started to run out of lightbricks, traction tires and motors.
* Within one year, starting in 2006, the 9V system was replaced with something even cheaper and simpler: battery-powered, radio-controlled trains. The battery pack made MOC trains more difficult, but on the other hand, terminal loops were possible for the first time since 4.5V was discontinued, and actually running multiple trains on the same layout independently was possible for the first time (at least without converting 12V trains to digital controls).
* Yet another battery-based system was introduced in 2009, probably also to appease the AWOLs, mostly on whose money Lego Trains lived after all. It is called Power Functions Trains, infrared-controlled, it works on technology already established in Lego Technic, and for the first time, decent large steam locomotives. Besides, Power Functions allows for running four trains independently at once and two functions to be controlled on each train (alternatively, up to eight trains with only the motor controlled). Power Functions Trains is not only the true successor to the 9V system, but it's planned to replace RC Trains as well. Something worth mentioning is the up-and-down in model quality. The 1980 12V system introduced life-like (for 1980s Lego standards, that is) trains, often based on real-life rolling stock. During The Nineties, however, more and more 9V sets looked nothing like any train at all. Then came the Super Chief, one of the first Lego Trains sets marketed at AFOLs directly. Soon, the futuristic fantasy designs were discarded, and trains looked like trains again.
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