Author Archives: garygraves

Marklin 81972 40th Anniversary Set

A few Marklin 81972 sets are still available. And the prices I have seen can’t be beat. If you have been collecting Marklin Z for awhile this set conjures up fond memories for the early years of mini club. The set includes 3 German Federal Railroad (DB) Era III locomotives and one static gold ingot mold: 1 class 89 steam locomotive, 1 class 03 steam locomotive with a tender, and 1 class V 60 diesel locomotive. The 3 locomotives and static model come housed in a glossy carton with wood-grain illustration reminiscent of the first box design for Mini Club, “40 Years of Marklin mini-club” booklet with the story about the mini club along with illustrations, and a numbered certificate. Of course these three locomotives have updated 5 pole motors otherwise they are cut from the same cloth as the early locomotives they are modeled on. In a sense they bridge the old with the new and celebrate the 40 year history of mini club: 1972-2012.

This One Time Series from 2012 is no longer available from Walthers, but I have found it in several stores with very attractive pricing:

AJC Kids has it for $340.65 http://www.ajckids.com/products/Marklin/81972

On Ebay the very reliable fit991 of Gutersloh, Germany has it for $219.99 + $19.00 for shipping http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marklin-Z-81972-Train-Set-with-3-Locos-Limited-Edition-/331750853065?hash=item4d3de449c9:g:yt4AAOSw3ydV6VS~

I highly recommend this set, the running characteristics of all three locos is superb.

Recommended USA Marklin Z Dealers

I decided to compile a list of Marklin Z gauge dealers in the USA that I buy from. To get on this list a dealer has had to pass with flying colors several areas related to the sale of Marklin Z:

Brick and mortar store or online store
Inventory on hand
Knowledge of all things Z not just Marklin
Passion for Z gauge
Trustworthy

Price can be important when a collector is working on assembling a large collection, saving money here and there affords an opportunity to expand a collection in numerous era’s or railroads. But paying a fair price should be embraced, supporting retail train stores helps with the overall hobby of collecting and supporting fine companies such as Marklin, FR, MicroTrains, Archistories, and many others. We all know with a few exceptions the risky business of buying secondhand trains on auction sites. Supporting a dealer whose business is selling trains should be the go to source for railroading. My list is not small, but it is also not big. And if you have a dealer that you like who is not on my list please let me know, helping each other with resources helps us all.

Highly Recommended sold out items

I decided to start an ongoing category on this blog to give other collectors a heads-up on Marklin Z gauge items that are sold out at the factory but still available for discounted or original releases prices. So to that end I will list an item that appears to be still available with particular dealers that I trust, and that I have done business with. And the other criteria is recommending items that I personally own and/or consider “Hot” Marklin Z items that should not be missed.

My first entry is the famous Anhalter Bahnhof Station which is Marklin item number 89200. This building kit was awarded “Model of the Year” in 2003 by Z Club 92. This is a big building true to the prototype which was mostly destroyed in WWII, now just the entry portico is preserved. The kit features plastic parts with cast metal ornamentation just like the prototype. The cast metal statuary are exquisite. I own this kit, and my plan is to properly paint it based on historic photos and create a sensitive interpretation of the outlying city center this once resided in. Lot’s of work ahead but all of it is fun work.

Historic background for this important station nicknamed Berlin’s “Gateway to the South”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Anhalter_Bahnhof

This kit has been extremely hard to come by having been sold out for more than 10 years. Forget about getting a new one on Ebay. For the lucky few Discount Train in FL has 3 new ones available for the discounted retail price of $299.98. At the time of this writing (1/31/16) they had 3 available. This is a company I recommend, I have purchased a number of items from them and not a single transaction had any problems what so ever.

If you build or have built the Anhalter Bahnhof station please send your photos, I will love to post them here with proper credit.

As always I hope this information on this blog is helpful.

Koll Marklin Z catalogs

If you collect Marklin Z regular production or special imprints before 1997 your helpful guides on the journey are the very informative Koll catalogs from 1996 and 1997. Koll published two catalogs for each year: “Marklin SpurZ” and Marklin SpurZ Speczial”. The two Marklin SpurZ catalogs cover regular production items and their variants along with approximate valuations. The “Speczial’s” catalogs cover special imprints produced and printed by Marklin almost completely illustrated and accompanied by edition size, valuation and Koll’s number. The Koll’s number is important in that it identifies year produced and sequence of release that year. Marklin has produced special editions and one time series locomotive and car sets sometimes accompanied by a numbered certificate, special imprints including white box editions are a little different often produced in editions as small as 100 and commissioned privately; they have never been available through the dealer network, collectors of special imprints purchase these cars through secondary market passing from the original owners through dealers and then new collectors. One exception are Hbis style cars with Swiss imprints, they were produced for the Swiss market in an edition size of 300, but they were sometimes then imported to USA dealers without being sold in Switzerland first. Great graphics and rarity have been two reasons to collect Marklin special imprints, but gaining a wider understanding of the companies depicted on these cars adds tremendously to the appreciation of the historical value of collecting Marklin Z.

Notes:

-Special Imprints are also assigned another set of numbers besides Koll, these numbers are known as ‘Miba-Monk’ numbers based on the collection of Gilles Monk of Belgium, they are assigned numbers based on the sequential release dates. There are thousands of special imprints so the work of archiving these very special cars is to be admired.

-Special Imprints also include another subset referred to as ‘Industry Prints’. Industry prints are not covered in the Koll catalogs. Industry Prints were privately printed in Germany by Baur-Druck Bad Waldsee and sold by Schmidt, Germany for distribution in Europe and the United States. *If you have a special imprint car, and it does not have a tiny ‘m’ printed on it then it is an Industry Print.

Z Layout: Design

Designing your first large scale Z layout can be a daunting task, but Marklin offers three excellent products to help: track stencil 0212, layout book 0296 and the track planning game 0232. These three products each in their own way references all tracks and track accessories. The track stencil allows for a straight forward approach, tracks are drawn through a connect the dots kind of exercise. The layout book has been reprinted several times suggesting its longstanding popularity, it starts with an overview of track and accessories followed by numerous very fine ready made layout and module designs. Lastly is 0232 referred to as the Track Planning Game which is a good description for it with lots of plastic parts that fit together like a puzzle. Snap together pieces represent all the different kinds of track, switches and accessories to make up a layout in a 1:2 ratio, simply double the dimensions of the completed assemblage of track to determine how big your layout will be. At the time of this writing all three products are no longer available by Marklin, but each are easy to find on Ebay or dealer old stock.

Z Layout: Notes on Track

Z gauge layouts can be produced with products from numerous companies. As for track there are three popular ones including Micro Trains, Rokuhan and Marklin. Marklin in my opinion is the most realistic, but unlike the other two you will need to add roadbed for realism. Cork roadbed is available from Itty Bitty Lines and most train stores that sell Z have this in stock. You can adjust the color of a cork roadbed with water base paint to match your prototype railroad. Cork roadbed is difficult to lay for curves, but cutting it lengthwise in two parts will allow it to easily manipulate for curves. Track maintenance is essential from time to time from cleaning to dust removal. If you own a Miele vacuum cleaner perhaps consider purchasing the accessory SMC20 Micro Set, it is perfect for removing dust from track and catenary. Use denatured alcohol for cleaning the track. A dirty track can often be the culprit when your loco is not running smoothly.

Marklin Z vintage layout made by Noch

About 20 years ago Marklin commissioned Noch to make two layouts: one for winter and one for summer using the smallest radius available in Z. Noch came up with two detail rich layouts for the smallest space. These are perfect if you live in a cramped NYC apartment like my Wife and I once did. Big on details including 10 people, 5 buildings, 23 trees, wooden bridge, open girder bridge, stream and pond, a phone booth, and even a VW Bug. This summer layout features static grass and rocky landscape features. Electronics are simple and include 3 position toggle for neutral, forward and reverse direction, speed controller, and plug. What you need is a power source for up to 9 volts either with a battery or an AC adapter. I recommend the AC Adapter by Powerline, their version that is labeled ‘Universal’, it features a switch that lets you adjust power from 3V – 12V which is handy for fine tuning the speed controller; mine is set for 6 volts which is perfect. A 9V battery won’t give this level of control. Dimensions: outer diameter is 15 1/2 inches. Originally the layout retailed for close to $600. If you can’t find one of these layouts don’t fear you can make your own out of foam and wire it with the Noch speed controller available for under $90 at ZscaleHobo.com, Frank also sells the Noch StaticMaster for applying static grass.

Marken-Express Train in action on the rails of an early Marklin layout

Kraft Marken-Express cars 1984-1986

In 1984-1986 Marklin released in cooperation with Kraft 11 special imprint cars in Z scale. Nine of the cars were included in printed cardboard sleeves comprising car or cars respectfully along with track or accessories comprising a complete train and layout if you collected them all. The illustrations on the sleeves are fun, they depict the car included hooked up to the other cars in the train in their progression of release. It has taken me many years to collect all of these cars, each features the little printed ‘m’ for Marklin notating a special release car. Two cars that were printed at the same time as the “Marken-Express” cars were ‘Frapan’ and ‘Knack & Back’, these cars differed from the “Marken-Express” releases, they included illustrated Kraft product sleeves. The Marklin style 8615 and 8600 freight cars were used for these two editions.

Here is the list of Marklin Z Kraft cars in order of release with Koll’s numbers:

1. NUR GUTES VERDIENT DEN NAMEN KRAFT + Tomaten-Ketchup: two car set that included a BR 89 loco. Koll’s #84710 (1984). Marken-Express release.

2. Scheibletten Koll’s #84711. Marken-Express release.

3. Mayonnaise Koll’s #84701. Marken-Express release.

4. Miracoli Koll’s #84702. Marken-Express release.

5. KRAFT-VELVETA Koll’s #85702. Marken-Express release.

6. Miracel Whip Koll’s #85703. Marken-Express release.

7. PHILADELPHIA Koll’s #85701. Marken-Express release.

8. FRAPAN Koll’s #85701.

9. Knack & Back Koll’s #85702.

10. jocca Koll’s #86701 Marken-Express release.

Marklin 89791: Livestock Transport add-on set

Marklin 89791 is described as an add-on set for the livestock transport freight set 82523 7-car set. 89791 set includes 2 freight cars + slaughterhouse with loading cart and fencing. This post highlights the building only which is a really nice structure to consider if your layout includes rural farming properties. At this time there are just a couple of laser cut farm structures this being one that I highly recommend, it is easy and fast to assemble with good results. It is called a slaughterhouse, but it can be called a dairy as well. Instead of buying the 7-car 82523 cattle transport set consider a fleet of 82314 “Milch” (milk) cars that are sometimes available on Ebay and turn this barn into a dairy farm. The 82314 car is a must have detail rich tank car with great color and graphics. Stucco has been a much used building material throughout Germany for a very long time, it is durable and easy to maintain making it particularly well suited for barns.

Z Trains Weekly

World of Z scale trains!