For those of you in the U.S., Ravensburger has posted the 2019 catalog to Issuu and it contains the BRIO lineup for the coming year. Unsurprisingly, a number of products set for release in Europe won’t make it to this side of the ocean. The U.S. already has the #33887 Lift & Load Warehouse Set and it appears we’ll also see the #33860 2019 Special Edition train. But…there’s not much else on the list. Most of your 2019 product purchases will have to come from overseas.

An interesting new accessory for BRIO is the #33981 Large Mountain and Valley Rail Pack. This is not showing up in any of the English-language catalogs for 2019, but it’s available for sale on Amazon in the UK and Germany.

There’s never really been a practical way to get more than two of these Stacking Track Supports at a time from BRIO. This expansion pack gives you four of them plus four of the boulder supports, but it’s an odd way to do it. It also includes six ramps and eight large curves, which don’t really build anything useful on their own. Based on the box photo, which shows configurations that you can’t actually run a train over because there’s not enough clearance, BRIO isn’t sure what to do with it, either. You’re probably better off just buying two packs of the #33253 Stacking Track Supports for less than half the price (total).

This is a photo of most of the BRIO Network lineup. My collection of accessories and vehicles is reasonably complete thanks in part to the Network Educational Set, a non-catalog starter set that BRIO probably used to help clear old inventory. This set shipped with the equivalent of:

• Two 33294 Track Packs
• 33286 EMO’s Transporter
• 33289 Turner’s Tunnel
• 33290 DEX’s Search Pod
• 33292 Bernie’s Flashing Diode
• 33293 Attacker and Viruses

Over the years, I was able to find and add:

• 33285 EMO’s Mail Hub
• 33287 Mailbox and EMO
• 33297 and 33298 Networkers’ Mail Pack 1 and 2
• 33779 Virus Transporter Unit
• 33780 Rapid Response Unit (this is a battery engine)

The Network product database has a full listing of all the Network products. Many of these have overlapping contents (particularly figures and vehicles) so to get a complete “set” of accessories you don’t technically need everything—unless a boxed set of everything is what you want, of course.

From the photo, you can see a couple of significant issues with the Network lineup in general. The biggest one is the painted track: it looks nice and fits the theme, but there just isn’t enough of it because each track pack only came with 6xE, 2xN, and one each of A, A1, A2, A3, U, V, L, and M. Even two track packs aren’t enough to incorporate all the accessories into a continuous track loop, and the limited track options limits flexibility. The second issue is that it’s just big. The mail hub in particular is a very large, elevated piece with two cross tracks. Incorporating this and it’s ramp tracks into a layout takes more space, and more space means even more track. I had to supplement a number of “regular” track to make the layout above.

From some of the other accessories shown in the 2007 catalog insert, it’s obvious that Network was meant to be a whole playscape and not just vehicles on tracks. Some of these accessories such as 33777 and 33787 may not have been released, while others were incorporated into starter sets like the 33057 network play table (shown in the 2008 insert).

Network was a definite oddity. It was BRIO’s attempt to build a unique, character-based toy line. The figures had names, each with their own personalities, and the accessories included games, general toys, and even videos, but it never really took off. The technology was limited, and the products were expensive for what were essentially blinking lights and low-bit-rate sounds.

Like The Sky Train lineup, Network eventually found popularity as collector items that it never had as children’s toys.

Collect BRIO long enough and you’ll eventually come across an item that can’t be found in  catalogs. These are the last frontier of collecting because you don’t know what you don’t know.

This phenomenon of non-catalog items isn’t unique to BRIO. Typically, they come about because of a specialized market—a starter set produced for a particular retailer, for instance—or a late-year bundle intended to package up excess stock (some toy collectors call these “Frankenstein sets”, as they are a mishmash of repurposed parts). Since they aren’t intended for wide release or a long shelf life, it’s impractical to go back and add them to catalogs even in the digital age: the product must still be photographed and the catalog layout must be updated.

Non-catalog items sometimes include unique parts, and it’s these sets that are the most coveted. For example, look at BRIO starter set #33142.

This set does not, to my knowledge, have a name. It was probably a 1989 or 1990 set based on the suspension bridge, cargo ship, and plastic container pods.

The yellow container pods in this set are nearly identical to the backs of the ambulance in 1988’s Hospital Set, shown on the right, just in yellow and with a metal disc added on top (though you can see the ring for the disc insert in the ambulance part).

The “loads” are simple, beechwood blocks.

There is some parts re-use going on here, but what’s most interesting of course is those yellow pods as they are unique to this set. BRIO didn’t re-use parts to make these pods: they re-used a mold. Making the metal casting for the plastic mold was probably a significant expense, and this let them get more life out of it.