Author Archives: garygraves

Book Review: Greenberg’s Model Railroading with Marklin Z

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Marklin has published several books on Z gauge, they invented the gauge, and their books help to explore the full potential of Z gauge including layout design and practical wiring. Greenberg’s Model Railroading with Marklin Z written by Riley O’Connor is a further explanation of what has been offered by the Marklin books, but it is also written in English. Numerous color illustrations cover layout design, wiring and accessories. A good introductory book for those new to ‘Z’, but not a replacement for the Marklin ‘Layout’ book written only in German it provides good illustrations that somewhat negate the need for English translation. Plus the Marklin layout book give excellent layout designs that can be modified, each includes a complete list of track that is needed for each layout. Having both the Greenberg book and Marklin layout book the ‘Z’ hobbyist will be provided with a good foundation for designing and building a layout.

Book Review: From the Dining Car

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Another James Porterfield book about dining on trains is From the Dining Car, St. Martin’s Press, 2004. Lot’s of recipes for fine dining on special and excursions train trips. More than a revival of meals on railroads of yesterday this volume represents what can be plated for you today with the many fine excursion trains operating today. If you like food and cooking this book will offer many enticing meals to try. Many interested in food often describe a good meal with some memory attached to it, what could be better than combining a good meal with a good train trip. James Porterfield’s books on railroad dining are well written and researched, I highly recommend them to collectors of cookbooks and of course railroaders.

Book Review: Dining by Rail

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Dining by Rail was published in 1993 by St. Martin’s Griffins, its author James D. Porterfield provides his book’s context as “The History and Recipes of America’s Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine.” The first half of the book provides an historical summary of dining on trains, the second half includes recipes from numerous railroads. Unlike hotel chefs the railroad chefs had to contend with cramped quarters that constantly rocked back and forth thereby creating a unique cooking environment, but those chefs performed and performed well creating signature dishes from simple to complex. Through food we can bring these railroads back to life and this cookbook provides some of those recipes. Remember the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad (?) here you will find its old recipes for Chicken Cadillac, Creamed Shrimps and Oysters En Casserole, and Savory Mushroom Dressing. Or the PRR’s Baked Potato Pennsylvania and Pennepicure Pie a light raisin meringue dessert. Even a few recipes for The Reading Lines is included. Great book to check out. Perhaps host a dinner party with your railroad buddies.

International Library of Technology Series

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The International Library of Technology Series of books was published by the International Textbook Company of Scranton, PA at the beginning of the 20th century. The series covered technologies current to 1900, and it also included books on electric and steam train technology. The two books of this series in my collection include: ELECTRIC RAILWAYS and ELECTRIC RAILWAYS: EFFICIENCY TESTS and CONVERTERS, 1905 and 1908 respectively. From the historical perspective of early train technology this series is fun to study, but some understanding of the topic is helpful, they maybe old, but they are highly technical with numerous engravings to support the text. If you volunteer at a trolley museum you will find these books helpful and likewise steam. This is an overlooked series of books that are very reasonably priced, but they are priceless for their historical perspective. Highly recommended.

Book Review: Jane’s “Train Recognition Guide”

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Jane’s Train Recognition Guide, Harper-Collins, 2005 is as the name suggests a “train recognition guide.” With almost 500 pages this small format softbound book is meant to be carried around on train spotting adventures around the world. As an anthology of the world of trains it is very good, it’s scope are current trains from around the world. What it does well it does exceptionally well, each locomotive type is categorized by country with build date, number built, pulling specs, power rating and other technical details reserved for the geek in all of us railroading types. For the trains included this is an exceptional book

Book Review: The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Railways

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Train anthologies are great for casual railroading study. The several types of train anthologies in my collection are trains of the world and recognition guides. The serious railroad library probably contain few anthologies due to the non specialized nature of these books, but they are helpful for certain European and Asian trains that have not made it into specialized publications. The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Railways, Crown Publishers, 1968 is a very good book that seamlessly covers railroading from “Primeval Steam” up to the current technology of 1968. Illustrated with hundreds of photogravure plates with some color illustrations this 500 plus page book is exceptionally good and well written. Every library should include a copy.

Book Review: The Pennsylvania Railroad Volume 1: 1846-1917

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The Pennsylvania Railroad Volume 1: Building an Empire, 1846-1917, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013 chronicles the early formation of the PRR from the mid 19th century until the beginning of a new century. Its author Mr. Albert J. Churella gives insight into the political, cultural and business perspective of America’s great railroad the PRR. More than 900 pages of text with few photos this is the benchmark book covering the first 71 years of the PRR. An interesting insight of the book is that credit for the PRR’s expansion was due in large part to political involvement in state and federal government including where track was laid.  Never a dull moment, this book delivers lively text covering the very rich history of this railroad. As of this writing volume 2 has not been published, it will cover 1917 until 1968. Published in 2013 it is still available on Amazon or your favorite railroad book store.

 

 

An Introduction to Marklin Z American prototypes and rare small batch imprints

Marklin has brought to life American railroading prototypes in small measure if one compares the total entries of European ones: lot’s of F7’s, Mikado’s and GG1’s along with respective rolling stock. The eras portrayed are mid century primarily with a few earlier exceptions. Micro Trains is stronger in the field of American prototypes with their exhaustive survey of various rolling stock each boxed with a well researched and charted description. American prototypes are not a strong category for Marklin Z, but when they release something new like the GG1 it is a superlative example. And the F7 sets or individual ‘A’ units are widely collected in their infinite variety. But one type of a rolling stock example in each category makes life a bit challenging if you collect exclusively Marklin, and you are serious about railroading. Some collectors have opted for trading out couplers so MicroTrains rolling stock and locos can be used with Marklin and vice versa. It is a good trade off, but those of us lucky enough to own the Commodore Vanderbilt are still stuck without a coach set. Other manufacturers are on the scene producing high quality models including but not limited to AZL, and their current collaboration with Marklin  in the production of three variations of the E8 maybe the first of more collaborations, who knows?

If you are a tried and true collector of Marklin Z American models like me you may already know about the small batch special imprint rolling stock. In coming months I will be including examples of these rare offerings that little information has thus far been known. Hopefully with the help of others in this field of collecting I can shed more light on this topic until then stay tuned and happy railroading!

General Maintenance of the Marklin 88712: BR 406 DB AG or ICE III

Marklin has designed locomotives and train sets with unique properties sometimes custom to a particular model. Whether it is the TEE train sets and its many variants or the ICE 1 or 3, couplers and powered units have been rethought and redesigned. The 88712 was produced in 1999-2005, it is based on the Era V ICE III DB prototype. Two variations of the 88712 include version 1 with 3 pole motor (1999) and version 2 with 5 pole motor (2000-2005). This train set could be supplemented with 4 add-on coaches to make-up a prototypical train set: 87711, 87712, 87713, 87714.

The design of this loco includes a unique power unit located in the middle of the train, the BordRestaurant dining car houses the motor and circuit board, but this car does not receive the power from the tracks instead each coach picks up power that is sent to the middle car thereby driving its two geared trucks. Added efficiency is achieved by the heavy weighted chassis of the dining car giving its wheel sets much needed traction. Couplers used in this set are those created for the 88711 Max Liebermann which are characterized as flat plastic couplers faced on both sides with conductive metal. Couplers are held in place on one end of each car with clips accessed from the underside of car. In order to remove this semi-permanent coupler simply release clip.

Maintaining this ICE train set is easy. The pantograph end of the dining car is gently pried upwards thereby releasing the shell. The capacitor wires maybe soldered to the circuit board thus take great care to avoid breaking any wires. No problem with broken wires, but repair will take a little longer as the wires will need soldering. The trucks do not have electrical contacts so they come apart easily and go back together easily. You may opt to tear down to the gears to remove old oil and crud. I bought mine from a collector who never ran theirs and as a result it was caked with hardened oil (HOS!!!!!) throughout the trucks and gears to the transmissions and even motor. Whenever you buy used Marklin Z expect the worse, you may need to replace brushes at the very least, but you might need to roll up your sleeves and remove crud and old oil.  Not sure if I am a nerd, but I like tear downs and restorations!

If you own or are planning to buy an ICE III it will not disappoint, this is one of the finest Marklin Z’s for running characteristics and design true to the prototype.

 

To Ebay or Not to Ebay? That is the question!

This has happened to us all, we miss out on a Marklin release perhaps due to life’s many complications and distractions. Now the item is “sold out at the factory” and no longer available. For those who see gaps in their collections they would like to fill there is the secondary market, but first check out all the dealers that are on your radar, they may have that train you want behind the counter thus “dealer old stock” can still be found and had.

A few online auctions sites exist online including the site we all know that goes by the name ‘Ebay”. I was inspired to add a post because it occurred to me that much has been addressed by Ebay to curb unhappy buying experiences, but listings for Marklin ‘Z’ that don’t seem to me to be good deals linger. We as buyers need to apply common sense when reviewing items from afar having to base buying decisions on a written description and photos. Here are a couple of pointers based on my experience:

  1. If the seller tells you more about the box than the contents something might be wrong with the loco or train. One recent example was a trainset, the seller went into elaborate detail about the box (whole paragraph) and the only statement about the trainset was that it was ‘fine’ even after asking for specifics. And the single photo did not help either.
  2. ‘New’ is a catch all describing the best possible condition but sometimes it is mixed in with descriptions with phrases like “it appears to be in unused condition.” People who get caught up in the new condition box being checked and not read the text might be in for disappointment.
  3. Closely examine exploded views of photos as part of the description, I have looked at auctions that list an item as ‘new’, but the large viewing photos show 3 years of dust and maybe broken parts. Carefully examine those photos for what they really tell you.
  4. One blurry photo, single word description and ‘no return policy’ these are the auctions to stay away from.
  5. Sometimes a well informed buyer is looking at auctions listed by a misinformed seller. There are a lot of these on Ebay, through no fault of their own sellers maybe selling the collection of a relative or a lot they acquired from who knows where. Marklin knowledge takes years to acquire and bidding on auctions may require applying your experise.
  6. The best buys come from trusted sources that are dealers with Marklin knowledge who base their living on selling Marklin. The worst deals are sometimes sellers who have 10-30 Marklin items who move onto the next thing after selling those. And who you may never buy from again because who needs another tube sock or funny hat. Disclaimer: the latter might yield a really good deal for those with Marklin knowledge. Work out at the gym and hone your Marklin knowledge in your spare time!! Life without risk can be boring!
  7. Lots of photos are better than lots of text! A listing can include up to 12 so carefully look at them all for what they show versus what you want them to show.

Cautionary tale: just as I am writing this post in comes my Wife with a box containing the complete Marklin z Amtrak coach set: 8760- 8765. I bought this from a trusted dealer, and they described them as ‘new’, but what I received are boxes with magic marker writing and coaches with various defects: 1 with a broken truck and 2 missing 3 wheelsets and others with marked roofs! So this nonsense came happen to us all including myself who is trying to help and advised others about buying on Ebay:(

Special note: Ebay offers a “Money Back Guarantee” to protect buyers even for auctions without a return policy, you will have to expend time and energy but you will be protected up to certain limits.