The Silver Crystal Express

The Silver Crystal Express train – for the train spotters amongst you! All the carriages of the Silver Crystal Express train were designed by Gabriele Stamey.

Originally, the train comprised just 3 pieces, a locomotive, a tender car and a passenger carriage, some of the earliest ones released featured all three pieces packed in one Swarovski box. This policy later changed with each piece being sold individually. These first 3 components were available from 1988. The train proved to be highly popular with collectors, and further carriages were produced to make it even longer.

The first new addition was a petrol wagon with 3 little cylindrical tanks. This was introduced in 1990, and for a time could be found in a boxed set of 4 (included with the earlier 3 pieces) although it is more typically found in individual packaging. In 1993 another carriage was added, a tipping wagon which actually does rotate – try it (gently)!

Just when it seemed like there would be no more carriages, in 1998 a tank (or tanker) wagon appeared, and this is often the one which people are seeking as it had the shortest shelf life, retiring along with all the other components in 2003.

For those of you who can’t resist variation pieces, so far, the only documented variation on the train pieces is the passenger carriage, and this is all to do with the placement of the windows caused by the hand assembly process. The carriage can be found in 3 formats – windows spaced equally apart, in pairs or in “extreme” pairs (ie very close together pairs).