In 1970 LEGO released 5 Trains sets across 2 subthemes. The largest Trains set from 1970 was
722-2 12V Electric Train with 2 Wagons with a piece count of 151 and a retail price of $15.25.
LEGO Trains is one of the longer running themes that dates back from 1966 and ran up until 2006. During its run there were multiple sets released running on various power platforms from 4.5volt, to 9 and 12 volt sets. Later in 2011 LEGO released additional train sets using RC and Power Functions controllers under different themes like City.
1970 LEGO Sets
By 1970, LEGO grew to over 1,000 employees. The LEGO Group started the process to regain the LEGO license from Samsonite in the United States market after the founder of Samsonite, Jesse Shwayder, died. By 1973 LEGO will take control of all US LEGO sales. As LEGO continues its European growth, in Italy, the Italian Parliament restricts the import of LEGO products and LEGO responds by creating their own Italian manufacturing subsidiary called LEGO Minitalia. In 1970 LEGO produced their first sets on the Minitalia theme which were essentially Basic systems. In total from 1970 until 1975 there were 21 Minitalia sets produced. During the same year, the long-running Town Plan theme was discontinued as this was part of the phasing out of multiple scaled models.