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LEGO is a Danish toy company best known for its line of interconnecting plastic bricks. The company adopted the name LEGO in 1934, a portmanteau formed from the Danish phrase "leg godt", meaning "play well". Until 1949, the LEGO company primarily produced wooden toys, though modern LEGO toys are made from plastic.

LEGO's product was not always the superior system of high-quality plastic building bricks that it is today. It had self-effacing beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a poor carpenter from Billund, Denmark. His innovative family-owned business would one day grow into one of the most well respected toy companies in the world.

BEGINNINGS:

In 1916, Christiansen opened a woodworking shop in Billund, and earned his living by constructing houses and furniture for farmers in the region, with the help of a small staff of apprentices. His workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire, lit by his two young sons, ignited some wood shavings. Fearless, Ole Kirk took the calamity as an opportunity to construct a larger workshop, and worked towards getting bigger his business even further; however, the Great Depression would soon have an impact on his livelihood. In finding ways to minimize production costs, Ole Kirk began producing miniature versions of his products as design aids. It was these miniature stepladders and ironing boards that inspired him to begin producing toys.

Ole Kirk's shop started making wooden pull toys, piggy banks, cars and trucks. He enjoyed a modest amount of success, but families were poor and often unable to manage to pay for such toys. Farmers in the area sometimes traded food in exchange for his toys; Ole Kirk found he had to continue producing practical furniture in addition to toys in order to stay in business. In the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of activity, until its sudden fall down. Once again, Ole Kirk turned disadvantage to his favor, turning the disused yo-yo parts into wheels for a toy truck. His son Godtfred began working for him, and taking an active role in the company.

It was in 1934 that the company name LEGO was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well." Some claim that "LEGO" means "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin, although this is a rather liberal translation of a verb form that would normally translate as "I read" or "I gather".

When plastic came into extensive use, Ole Kirk kept with the times and began producing plastic toys. One of the first modular toys to be produced was a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled. It wasn't until 1949 that the interlocking plastic bricks, which made the company well-known, were developed. These "Automatic Binding Bricks", manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; the ground-breaking concept, however, was that these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together, but not so tightly that they couldn't be pulled apart. In 1953, the bricks were given a new name: “LEGO Mursten” , or "LEGO Bricks."

The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of LEGO's shipments were returned, following poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never substitute wooden ones. Despite such criticism, however, the Kirk Christiansens persevered. By 1954, Godtfred had become the junior managing director of LEGO. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the massive potential in LEGO bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not very adaptable. It wasn't until 1958 that the modern-day brick design was developed. The bricks were improved with hollow tubes in the underside of the brick. This added support in the base, enabling much better locking ability and improved flexibility. That same year, Ole Kirk Christiansen died, and Godtfred inherited leadership of the company.

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The popularity of these train sets can be attributed to several factors. One factor is that toy trains can be assembled and constructed. Children or adults who like to tinker with things and to construct objects make these trains very popular among them. This also helps young kids develop their minds, creativity, and critical thinking abilities.

Parents also love to buy trains for their children because it helps them teach their kids the importance of being patient, working hard, and making progress. It is very effective because trains need a long time to be assembled but after working hard, children are able to enjoy the results of their efforts.

Some children's trains also come in colourful designs and interesting sounds that suit children of different gender and ages. For instance, they feature large colourful parts which are safe and attractive to the eyes for the very young children. They can build and construct the trains and they can also disassemble them quite easily without parents worrying of hurting themselves. Toy trains are not only boys' toys but girls can also enjoy them as well. Train sets for girls usually come in bright girly colours and have girly designs like flowers or hearts and girl dolls.

Adults also like to collect toy trains such as wooden trains or the popular model Hornby trains. Wooden trains are popular because of their simplicity while Hornby trains are famous for their intricate designs and details. Hornby trains are made of state of the art metals and high quality clockwork machines. These are considered as collectibles and are sold to collectors in online shops or toy collectible shops.

For train collectors, their pastime sometimes does not have an explanation. They just feel that exhilarating rush when another train set was added to their growing collection. Just seeing them is enough.

It is also a fun toy because children can have a role playing activity as travellers and passengers which will make them develop their social skills and interaction with other children. It will also develop their imagination since they will make up places for their trains' destinations and they will imagine scenes where the trains will pass.

It is really a fact that toy trains are very important part of everyone's childhood memories. Even adults who consider themselves young-at-heart love to receive train sets for Christmas. Not only this, but trains can also teach children so many valuable lessons and virtue without them knowing it and without you making so much effort. This is the reason why little boys and girls and even adults love to have or collect toy train sets. It cannot be denied that toy trains have become an integral part of one's childhood.

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