I’ve posted two more vintage catalog sheets/inserts to the catalog archive. One is from the very late 1950’s and the other is probably from right around 1970. These sheets came from a fellow BRIO collector whose catalog collection is even larger than mine.

The 1970 catalog sheet is a gem because it still shows trains with the original hook-and-eye connectors in a color photo. Most catalog images for these are graphite drawings from the 1960’s inserts. You can also see the original, unfinished harbor set.

BRIO’s catalog for 2019 is out, and I’ve posted a copy of the dealer version to Issuu. It’s part of my BRIO catalog stack.

All in all, this looks like a lackluster year for BRIO, though there are a few gems in the rough. The #33963 Safari Airplane, #33472 Tank Wagon (a returning car with a new design) and #33436 Loader are real stand-outs. The safari animal wagon collection is also pretty appealing.

Reader Jean-Christophe from Canada discovered that many of the 2019 items are available for pre-order on Amazon’s UK site. BRIO is continuing the tradition of a dated special edition train, and the 2019 release is the Freight Locomotive in a red and chrome livery which is just begging to be paired with #33472.

I’ve added the four-page Jim Knopf catalog insert to the catalog archives, and the products in it to the Product Database. This insert came from the German edition of the 2000 Wooden Railway photo book.

The BRIO 2105 Retail Catalog was released on Issuu back in March but it managed to sneak by me because it was not published by BRIO directly. I have no explanation for that, but regardless it is online for viewing. It looks like BRIO is expanding the road and rail system and adding the Fun Park Theme (as I wrote about here earlier). And if you love horses, you are in for a real treat as 2015 will include several new accessories including an enormous horse stable play set, an equestrian accessory called the Horse Jumping Kit and a couple of other goodies.

The terms “dealer catalog” and “consumer catalog” are often times used interchangeably, but they aren’t always the same thing. See the photo below, which shows two BRIO catalog booklets for the year 1990.

These two books are nearly identical, though of course the difference in size is immediately obvious. The dealer catalog is the larger of the two, and certainly the more expensive to print. Since consumer catalogs were intended to be produced in much greater numbers, it would make sense that they would be made smaller so as to keep printing costs down.

There is more to this dealer catalog than just its larger size, however: there is also a slight difference in its content. While the product pages are identical between the two, the last two pages of the dealer catalog are devoted to campaign materials and other promotional items that are intended for use in retail store displays:

The consumer catalog has the same number of pages, but these final two pages are instead replaced with blank, ruled sheets:

The assumption here, of course, is that the average consumer would not be interested in expensive store displays and posters. Not so the collector, but of course the collector is not the average consumer.

An auction with eBay Canada turned up something interesting this week:

The seller confirms that it’s a foldout catalog. Given that the cover image is a match for the 2002 dealer catalog, and my collection of foldout catalogs has a hole in 2002, I’d say that this is a 2002 foldout. This is the first one I’ve seen and until now I didn’t think BRIO had even made one.

I seriously doubt there is anything earth shattering in this booklet, particularly since I’ve got pretty solid catalog coverage for the early 2000’s, but if you live in Canada, would like this rare booklet, and you’ve always wanted a 2000-era Post Office set, too, then this would be your opportunity.

One thing I have noticed watching eBay for BRIO catalogs over the years is that there seems to have been a major transition in 1992, and again in 2001. If you look at the BRIO dealer/consumer catalogs from the 80’s up to 1991 you’ll notice that they are all “full” catalog books: the complete lineup of BRIO products are shown inside, ranging from infant toys all the way to role play toys aimed at older children.

Beginning in the year 1992 and running through 2000, there don’t appear to be any of these full catalog booklets at all, however. Instead, what you see are specialized catalog books that focus on the individual product lines. For the purposes of this blog, what I am most interested in is the first Wooden Railway system catalog book which appears in 1992 along with its companion photo book. You’ll also note that 1991 is the first year that the modern foldout/brochure mini-catalog insert appears. Coincidence? Probably not. In 2001 the product-specific catalog books start to disappear and the full catalog book returns. There are no Wooden Railway-specific catalog books to be found after 2001 until the overhaul of the BRIO Wooden Railway system in 2010.

This change in the way catalogs were done in the 1990’s would make sense. You can think of the 90’s as being the golden age of the Wooden Railway system as this is when sales were increasing rapidly, peaking in the late 1990’s. Wooden Trains, in both the BRIO and Thomas the Tank Engine lines, were extremely popular toys driven in large part by the Thomas and Friends TV series. Why wouldn’t it have it’s own catalog, particularly versions of it that could be distributed with the large and popular starter sets in order to drive more sales? The full catalog book, in the mean time, was not abandoned entirely: it was merely shrunk down into little inserts that were placed in (neary) every retail package, a practice that continues to this day.

Of course, all of this is just observation and guesswork, and a theory that conveniently fits the information at hand. But just because something isn’t seen on eBay, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If you know of a full catalog from the years 1992 to 2000, I’d sure like to hear from you.

I do not know if BRIO prints physical catalog books anymore—they still print the fold outs that are inserted into retail packages—but you can view digital versions of their full catalogs from 2010 and on at Issuu. They have Wooden Railway catalogs for 2010 through 2013, and general retail/toy catalogs (which include the Wooden Railway system) for 2012 through 2014. I have created a stack of these catalogs which you might find easier to peruse than the full BRIO feed:

View BRIO catalogs from 2010 through today.