October 1, 2007 was a sad day for LEGO Trains.? LEGO announced (see LUGNET thread) that 9v trains will no longer be produced.? While disappointing, this is not really a susprise.? LEGO has for the most part, ignored the train line for several years and the LEGO Hobby Train was simply not enough to generate new interest in Trains.? So what many people have speculated will indeed come to pass.? Like the 4.5v and 12v before it, 9v had a great run and really supported the growth of LEGO as a viable medium for model railroading.? I have been expecting this since the day Steve Barile, Holger Mathes, Huw Millington and I participated in a conference call with the LEGO Train team where they shared their IR plans with us.? They had asked for some feedback and were so far down the commitment path with IR that none of the things we suggested were ever implemented.
Part of the announcement talks about a new LEGO Power System.? It will be interesting to see what comes from this.? Right now it looks like the current IR trains may be short lived as well.? Only time will tell.
