Monthly Archives: February 2016

Marklin 89791 last chance

The last chance to get Marklin 89791 is fast approaching, there is no longer reason to wait because Trainz is selling it for the give-away price of $100.99 on Ebay, the listing indicates 4 are available: 2/14/16.

This is a very good and highly recommended set that includes: 1- well painted and detailed farm truck, 2- freight cars for transporting livestock, 1 well designed stucco barn, and loading ramp with movable fencing.

This laser-cut building kit takes time and patience to build. Recommended tools are magnifying goggles, tweezers, and plenty of good bright light as well as glue of course for the glazing application and card stock assembly.

Marklin 89791:

Marklin Z cast metal auto and truck sets

Marklin has produced many vehicles in z to complement rail loads or roadway details in plastic and metal. Plastic kits have come assembled and un-assembled including trucks and autos. The real topic of this post are the way cool cast metal vehicles that have sometimes been featured in freight cars sets as well as on their own. Accurately scaled fine cast metal autos painted and finished with rich detail, they are brilliant vehicles to accessorize your layout. Of the sets of vehicles only Marklin has released three in cast metal: 89020, 89021 and 89022. The Era II 89020 includes 4 autos, 2 delivery vans, 1 Benz truck, and 2 advertising kiosks. The Era III “Economic Miracle” 89021 set includes 7 autos, 1 travel trailer and 2 VW pickup vans. Set 89022 includes 7 autos and 3 vans.

#89020

#89021

#89022

Marklin also produced case vehicles sold with building kits, #89796 “The Plant” and #89791 “Livestock Transport add-on set” are two such examples

#89796

#89791, note this set included a barn made of laser cut cardstock (not pictured), two freight cars for transporting farm animals, farm truck, and cattle loading ramp (not pictured)

Farm truck from #89791 features fine printing on doors and finely painted grill and headlamps

Marklin 89796 + 89797 “The Plant” – Archistories building kits reconsidered

I decided to include the word ‘reconsidered’ in my title for these two Marklin items because both kits have not been available for many years, but I think it is important to mention them here because of their connection to Archistories. The two building kits comprise sets 1 and 2 of Marklin’s “The Plant”: item #’s 89796 and 89797. Marklin lists them as being in the program from 2010- 2013, they were a departure from previous building kits offered by Marklin which were high quality plastic kits of both modern and historic design. Except for a few small companies no manufacturer was offering alternatives to plastic. Kibri, Vollmer, and Faller produced the only European architecture for z, each of the three manufacturers produced very high quality plastic build kits with excellent detail and even lighting masks, and one could further customize with painting and scale accessories. Painting techniques could further bring out the mortar lines in brick work as well as roof tiles, weathering gave these kits a natural look, but I found certain limitations with plastic, transforming this material to something more akin to the prototype was difficult. Then along came Marklin’s “The Plant” building kits which established a new direction for Marklin z gauge accessories. At the time of this writing Marklin has since released or announced the release of the 89792 Hamburg Dammtor Station, 89793 Dammtor arcades and bridges, two small maintenance facilities: 89805 + 89806, 89982 Turntable with roundhouse and administration building, and 82394 brewery building kit. Essentially all the plastic kits listed by Marklin have been phased out. There will always be nostalgia for the original resin and plastic Marklin kits, they were very good to scale and coupled nicely with z trains, but the new card stock kits will open up new possibilities for capturing the essence of real prototypical architecture. At the forefront of this movement is the manufacturer Archistories who have been mentioned numerous times on this blog, it was Archistories who was commissioned by Marklin to produce the kits for “The Plant”. Keeping these kits affordable while at the same time producing very good buildings was achieved successfully, they inspired me to want more. And they have since produced a very good line up of residential and industrial buildings with the architectural sensitivity I have come to expect from Archistories.

A description of “The Plant” is in order:

#89796 includes 1 production hall, 1 heat generation building with smokestack, and 2 heavy duty flat cars with cast metal trucks each painted blue and orange respectively.

#89797 includes management office building, production hall with ‘mansard roof’, factory workshop with ‘saw tooth’ roof, and 1 guard house.

In order to stay within Marklin’s budget for the project Archistories had to restrict incorporating certain elements they employ with kits under their brand name including detailing and partition walls.

In addition to great detail and depth of color laser cut card stock buildings are opaque so interior lighting is easy, entire buildings don’t glow, the light can be successfully directed within an interior.

“The Plant”: #89796 + #89797 building kits with accessories.

electic generation building with smokestack from 89796

production hall from 89796

administration building from 89797, note: center facade has variations in window design

production hall from 89796

factory workshop with ‘saw tooth’ roof from 89797

factory workshop with ‘mansard’ roof from 89797

guard house from 89797

2 heavy duty flat cars with truck loads, note: freight cars and trucks were delivered in an unnumbered standard Marklin plastic box

IBM Starter Set

Starter sets for Marklin Z have been released in a variety of formats each includes track, train and transformer, and they have been released as regular production and special imprints. Special imprint starter sets are not released anymore, but in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s they were released in small editions that included a special imprint freight car sometimes combined with a special imprint locomotive. The “IBM” starter set is one such example, it included the ‘8615’ type car with the special imprinting of “Eye-Bee-M” designed by Paul Rand in 1981. This colorful imprint against a black ground was accompanied by a printed tag and pin each with same imprinting. This starter set includes a European mini-club transformer, small oval of track, BR 89 locomotive, and an brown 8610 freight car. The special imprinting of the “Eye-Bee-M” car includes the printed ‘m’ denoting Marklin special imprinting. This set was produced in 1995 in an edition size of 300, its Koll’s #95701. The car was featured on the cover of “Koll’s Spezial Katalog-1997”.

Gotthard Tunnel Switzerland – opens June 1, 2016

The 35 mile Gotthard railway tunnel in Switzerland is projected to open June 1st of this year. Construction for the tunnel began in 1996 thus making this a 20 year project to complete. Two videos document the unique challenges and the techniques to overcome those challenges:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaTN_R1b00I

Archistories Roundhouse versus Marklin 89982

First let me say I have a bias for Archistories products, I have built them all and they are well designed buildings loaded with detail and historically accurate. I have a bit of a face-off between Archistories ARC-112121 Roundhouse in one corner and Marklin recently released 89982 which includes the turntable with 5 pole motor, transformer, turntable control, 2 building kits in the other corner plus you get 6 block sections of track . There is no knock out punch here which one you choose is personal preference, but I would like to point out some interesting reasons and options that might sway a choice toward Archistories. Archistories Roundhouse ARC-112121 is expandable with ARC-113121 Roundhouse Stalls: before you finish the building of ARC-112121 you add stalls in pairs. The Marklin set is a 6 stall roundhouse, they have not released an accessories building kit to expand the original roundhouse. 4,6,8,12,18 stalls the roundhouse prototype in Europe and the United States came in all sizes so choosing the Marklin could be a good choice if you want to model a more modern roundhouse versus the earlier Prussian roundhouse offered by Archistories. If you choose the Archistories Roundhouse here is a solution to add a turntable: Marklin offers a 5 pole motor upgrade for the early turntable 8998, that motor goes by part number 211914. Walthers currently has this in stock for retail $49.99, Trainz on Ebay is also selling them for the same price. Ordering through your local dealer might save you some money. The motor upgrade is easy to do, I will be following up with a step-by-step for this in the next week.

Price comparison:

Archistories Roundhouse with 6 stalls and Marklin Turntable w/5 pole motor: Archistories ARC-112121 + ARC-113121= $113.52, used/new vintage Marklin 8998 turntable= $150 (average Ebay price), and Marklin 211914 5-pole motor for $49.99= $313.51

Marklin 89982 is listed at Walters for $549MSRP- retail train shops are selling for the discounted price of $449. This option includes 6 block sections of track, transformer and an additional building feature.

I made the choice for option 1 Archistories because I like the architecture of the roundhouse better.

www.zscalemonster.com

Online store zscalemonster is the go to place for numerous brands and products no one else sells in the United States. If you are looking for digital z Anthony has it, if you are looking for quality layout scenery Anthony has it, and if you are looking for Full Throttle/AZL/Rokuhan Anthony has that too. Plus lots of other z specialist items. He is also the official USA distributor for the finest building kits: Archistories!

Ron Ruddell’s new book “Riding the Bell….”

Ron Ruddell’s new book “Riding the Bell Lehigh Valley Transit’s Liberty Bell Route” took 10 years to research until being published in 2015. 264 pages of text and photos this is the book to own concerning the “Liberty Bell Limited” written from the perspective one who know’s the regional railroad in PA and also one who was a passenger on the original rails. And Ron is a certified streetcar operator at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine, he even operates the only preserved Liberty Bell Trolley during the Spring and Fall.

Side note: the Seashore Trolley Museum is the world’s oldest and largest museum dedicated to trolleys from around the world. If you have ever looked in a book about trolleys and have been dazzled by early examples of trolleys at this museum you can see them in person. If is operated by a dedicated army of volunteers and Ron’s brother was the one to spearhead the restoration of its Liberty Bell trolley.

Back to the book: Ron’s Books in New York State has some copies left, it seems to be selling like hot cakes, maybe a good book to add to your collection while it is still available.

Here is the description of the book on Ron’s Books website:

Ron Ruddell 264 Pages hardcover

In the newest Central Electric Railfans’ Association publication, author Ron Ruddell chronicles the history of Lehigh Valley Transit’s famed Liberty Bell Route interurban that ran between Philadelphia and Allentown. Known for its scenic line through southeastern Pennsylvania, LVT operated a fascinating variety of equipment from stately heavyweight interurbans to secondhand lightweight high-speed cars acquired from Ohio and Indiana. Portions of the line meandered alongside local roads or over city streets while other sections operated on private right-of-way with catenary and block signals on fast competitive schedules. A cut above many interurbans, the LVT even operated deluxe club car service on selected runs. Noted transit historian George Hilton called the LVT’s Liberty Bell Route the last “pure” interurban as it owed its existence exclusively to passenger traffic or express carried in interurban freight equipment. The reader will learn about the Liberty Bell Route’s development, operations, colorful equipment, and also about the people whose dedication and effort managed to keep the line in operation until 1951.

Romeo1

Gerhard Solomon’s 16mm views along the Liberty Bell route

1947-1951 an Allentown clock and watch repairman by the name Gerhard Salomon documented the final years of Lehigh Transit’s “Liberty Bell Limited” in 16mm, he captured its entire run from downtown Allentown to Philadelphia’s 69th Street Terminal. Gerhard was a volunteer of Rockhill Trolley Museum, in Rockhill Furnace, PA. Rockhill Trolley Museum has released three video collections of Mr. Salomon’s 16mm films which beautifully capture the final years of the beloved trolley system in Lehigh Valley, PA including the tragic removal of track.

Videos can be ordered from The Rockhill Trolley Museum with all proceeds benefiting the operation of the museum:

http://www.rockhilltrolley.org/store/easton-line-1947-1949

http://www.rockhilltrolley.org/store/round-trip-liberty-bell-limited

http://www.rockhilltrolley.org/store/city-lines-lehigh-valley-transit-company-1947-1951

Trolleys enjoyed widespread popularity in small and large towns throughout the United States, post WWII trolleys suffered because of the transition from electric to gas powered public transportation, it was reasoned that buses were cheaper to operate and maintain. GM purchased trolley lines throughout the United States, they swiftly removed tracks and infrastructure, and their buses replaced the trolleys. When the Liberty Bell Limited was shut down in 1951 Lehigh Valley, PA lost some of its soul as I have gathered from speaking with members of the community from that era.

Only one trolley has survived the scrapyard, it is car #1030 built in 1931 by the American Car and Foundry Co. Today car #1030 is part of the important collection of international trolley cars at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME: https://www.trolleymuseum.org/collection/philadelphia/162

As a tribute to Mr. Gerhard Salomon attached is his obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mcall/obituary.aspx?n=gerhard-salomon&pid=99889423

Marklin mini-club Dealer Display

Back when Marklin mini-club was the hippest thing since the hula hoop in the great old USA, dealers needed a way to display mini club in a proper display suiting these truly unique and beautiful trains. The big ones in Germany came up with a solution for USA dealers. And it was not an inexpensive solution, dealers had to shell out bags of cash for these newly designed cases featuring 4 shelves: 1 base shelf plus 3 heavy glass shelves. The “Marklin __________z” logo was silkscreened in red over a storage area in the bottom of the case. Access to the contents of the case was through sliding doors on the reverse side which kept the overly curious out of the treasure chest. Also neat about the display were mirrors laminated to the sliding doors which allowed increased visibility to trains on display. Need I say more, these are great solutions for displaying a large collection of Marklin mini-club. Two downsides: 1. they are hard to come by 2. access from the back of display limits where it can be placed

These are also very heavy!!!!

My solution to both: ask dealers if they may want to sell these displays and keep an eye out of Ebay (you never know), for the passionate and inveterate collector you will need to transport these cases by going and picking-up yourself; I own three, and I drove to each business and home to pick-up in person: Georgia once and Wisconsin twice.

According to one seller in Wisconsin who had been a Marklin dealer years ago many of these cases were damaged in shipping from Germany, Marklin USA told him at the time only 27 survived. Like many things that are rare they do eventually turn up, my last one was new still in its original shipping crate.

The solution for home display is a table that can be accessed on both sides or even a custom made rolling cart would be ideal.

Dimensions: 36 inches (length) x 18 inches (height) x 9 inches in depth

Price: $150 – $450

I know two dealers who still have these, they are not selling them, but they might in the future. If you think this would be something you could use just let me know and I will point you in the right direction.

Z Trains Weekly

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