Category Archives: Marklin Export Model

Wichita Falls, TX and a trip to AJCKids.com

Producing stories for magazines throughout the United States, my Wife Anne and I along with our two corgis (Le-le and Rookie) spend much of the time on the road. As luck would have it we found ourselves 2 hours due east of Wichita Falls in the city of Sherman, TX. And a weather delay freed us up for a day trip to visit our friends at AJCKids.

Route 82 connects Sherman, TX and Wichita Falls with a couple of interesting towns along the way including Muenster, Saint Jo and Nocona.

Muenster settled by German Catholics in 1889 was so called after the capital of Westphalia, but the town is not considered a sister city and few speak German according to its wikipedia page. The local grocery store features smoked meats and cheeses from their farms, Fishers Thriftway is a fun stop which includes all the staples and prepared relishes, salsas and pickles. Several antique shops with interesting age old offerings along North Main Street also include the cleverly painted mural on the local mill.

Saint Jo further along the journey is an attractive small town with center square featuring mostly original 19th century architecture of wood and stone. Everything Texas can be found here, but “what is Texas?”, the answer isn’t easy but through sentiments and feelings: specific and unspecific as concerns the mystery of a place.

Last stop before hitting Wichita Falls is Nocona, or I should say famous Nocona. Famous for the last American made baseball glove manufacturer: Nocona Baseball Glove Factory. A large art deco manufacturing building along Route 82 is home to Nocona Baseball Glove Factory as well as Nocona Boots and micro-brewer Nocona Beer who’s “Cut & Bale” blonde is considered very very good by this railroader.

Roads out here head straight for the horizon intersecting lush landscapes of prairie grass, wild flowers, and sweeping oaks. Lush grazing land perhaps the finest in these parts support Texas cattle country, here there are more pick-ups than cars and more western hats than caps. And more cattle than people! No bull!

As we approached Wichita Falls we drove parallel to a waiting eastbound BNSF unit train with a couple hundred loaded coal hoppers. The BNSF Depot in downtown Wichita Falls is a busy hub on the BNSF mainline with long unit trains of petroleum and coal. A few blocks from the Wichita Depot is the Wichita Falls Railroad Museum which can be visited on Saturdays.

Mid-point through a day of adventure includes lunch: let’s hope so! Wichita Falls is home to one of the finest barbecue joints this aficionado has experienced many years in the smoke. And throughout the country to cowboy boot! A must stop in Wichita Falls is Prine’s Barbecue 1209 13th Street in Wichita Falls. Brisket is it! Here it’s served with a peppery slightly vinegar based sauce, famous mustard based potato salad with the consistency of mashed and bright crunchy cole slaw.

Many of my friends in model railroading are already familiar with AJCKids.com, but few may have made the trip to the store. AJCKids is a specialized train store which shares space with the high quality clothing store Annie Jewel & Charlie’s: family owned. The train store has a strong online presence as well as brick and mortar. The train store and its shipping department is located in the back of the building accessed through the larger presence of the clothing store. A large space with a very very large inventory of Marklin and other European model train manufacturers, AJCKids inventory encompasses all gauges currently offered by Marklin which is unusual for a dealer including large Gauge 1 trains and accessories. All inventory is new condition with many items further wrapped in plastic. Shelves are organized according to gauge and accessories displayed on racks. And all related scenery items include trees, ground-cover, building kits and Preiser figures; they have lots and lots of stuff, every model railroader will be happy! The very large selection of in stock Marklin H0 includes accessories too including all the catenary poles and related items.

AJCKids
3401 Kemp Avenue, ste B
Square Shopping Center
Wichita Falls, TX 76308

Worth a trip to the store: Z scale collectors will find numerous in-stock locos, rolling stock, and accessories including “sold out at factory” items; I found the very limited and rare Austrian Export Model from 2004: 88082. Fifteen years after its one time release and limitation as Export Model, 88082 was a very rare and unexpected find. Also in the red case housing some of the Z items in the store includes the out of production Eurofima Set: 87409 and 20 car funnel-flow set: 82530.

selection of Marklin Z at AJCKids: further Z scale items can be found within the store including other locos and accessories

Marklin 88082 (Export Model for Austria 2004): class 1018 painted and lettered for Austrian Federal Railways (OBB)

Siding: inventory at AJCKids also include collectible cars of various yearly releases including Museum cars, Easter and Christmas releases

Engineering Perfection: Marklin E 18 in ‘Z’!

I recently purchased a rare variant of the E 18 electric locomotive in Z by Marklin, it arrived as a used working model, but with a fair amount of dirt and hairs strangling the axles. Cleaning it up included taking it apart and removing the dirt and grime under the hood, but it also included removing excess oil that even found its way under the circuit board. No HOS (hardened oil syndrome) to deal with, but over oiling has its issues including attracting dust and damaging the motor, in this case not much damage occurred to the locomotive.

This post is not so much inspired by the normal reporting of mini-club locomotive maintenance instead it is one that was inspired by the brilliant engineering and design of the E 18 for mini-club.

Marklin does not apply the same rules and principles when designing a mini-club loco: same motor and chassis different shell, no Marklin designs each locomotive class from the ground up thereby insuring the prototype is accurate in 1:220 scale and operates as flawlessly as we have all come to expect from mini-club operation!

Marklin 88082: rarest E 18 variant from 2004

The E 18 is an example of one such mini-club locomotive design that incorporates unique engineering and casting that is also meant to be taken apart and repaired when the need arises.

Taken apart this locomotive has a lot of parts that work flawlessly in the assembled locomotive including two gears that sit on posts within the frame and two large gears allowed to float on their axles.

above photo: right- small metal gear sits on post within frame as well as a second one not pictured, 2 additional gears one synthetic with two sets of gearing sit posts that are inserted through frame body

above photo: left- drive wheels that float on their axles pictured left are assembled in slots on the motor end of frame, two drive wheels right use thinner gears that are permanently fixed in the center of axles which are thicker than floating axles.

The design concept is simple: gather electricity from the wheels by way of a circuit board, the turning worm gear (transmission) on the motor engages with gearing that engages all the way down to the wheels thereby making all wheels drive wheels except for the pilot wheels.

Note: plastic mini-club loco shells are removed without damage with super thin synthetic guitar picks, do not use metal screwdrivers famously illustrated in the Marklin instruction manuals boxed with the locomotives.

With the shell off the cast wheel details are carefully pulled off, they are simply held onto the frame with posts!

Circuit board is not held under clips as with other locomotives, and one screw is all that is required to hold it in place.

The motor is screwed to the frame with 2 brackets each installed with two screws. Note: if you are at this point in restoration it is advisable to remove the motor and clean the frame under it. It is also a good idea to test the motor out of the frame, inspecting the brushes is also a good idea at this point.

After cleaning all the gears replace in the frame with the two gears on posts first followed by the large gears (2 gears that are designed to float on their axles are installed on the motor side of the frame, thickness of these axles also match the machining on the frame).

Note: use care to prevent bending of the copper leads on sides of frame.

Final steps: clipping on the wheel detail sections and then shell: Voila!!!!!

Variants of the German E 18 in mini-club:

Marklin class E 18 for DB (88080) Era III:

Marklin class 118 for DB (88081) Era IV:

Marklin class 1018 for OBB (88082) Era IV:

Marklin class E 18 42 for OBB (81441: trainset with coaches) Era III:

Siding: no other Z scale loco is designed to be taken fully apart and easily assembled as mini-club: diesel and electrics are easier than steam and non articulated are easier than articulated.

Siding: all class E 18’s are sold out at the factory, but Walthers still has the 81441 trainset available with beautiful green livery and 4 skirted coaches.

Marklin Z: One of the Last Great Collectibles!

Photo: Insider Model 2012: 88010 – BR 001 for DB (no longer available)

Are we collecting or are we acquiring: that is the question. When Marklin Z comes into a collection a bit of railroad history is preserved and a commitment is made by this generation to future generations that hold that Marklin’s history and the greater history of railroading is worth preserving.

Photo: Special Imprint (SMI) 88820: “Swiss Cheese” class Am 4/4 pictured with type Hbis freight car also featuring “Swiss Cheese” paint scheme. (no longer available)

Marklin Z gauge is one of the last great collectibles, it will persevere well into the future, and what has been released thus far since 1972 are limited and rare. Rarity is well liked by collectors of all types, but collecting Marklin mini-club (Z) is truly unique from all other collectibles due to their leadership and innovation in z gauge. There are other companies some small and some large producing z gauge products but Marklin is linked to z gauge by the very fact they invented it in 1972, they continue that history today with innovations including true catenary operation through roof equipped pantographs on their electric locos, realistic working side rods on the steam engines, and numerous diesel loco types including the Russian Ludmillas.

Photo: Export Model for France 2003: 88063 – Reihe 232 TC (no longer available)

Many collected “toys” (only time this word will be used on this blog because railroading is serious business! I’m kidding its loads of fun too!!!) these days are secondary market items from long defunct and beloved companies such as Buddy L from the 20’s. It is exciting to dig around a find some rare item that has not been made for 80-100 years or more, but with Marklin anyone can jump in and start collecting from a company in business since 1859. Buy a mini-club loco today and within a year or two or even a few months it will be out of production and already a collectible. Keeping the condition of your new train pristine is part and parcel to collecting anything, but with Marklin this extends to keeping the box in good condition. Want to run a train on a layout simply select the railroad you want to model and keep the other fine locos and rolling stock on display, displaying is just as much fun as driving those trains.

Photo: Marklin Magazin Edition 88953: BR 74 with lettering and Prussian Blue paint scheme for Marklin Magazin (still in production). Note: 1st locomotive release for the “Marklin Magazin” editions.

For collectors Marklin Z new releases are limited and rare falling into several categories: MHI Releases, Special Imprinted Editions, Export Models, Insider Models, Museum Editions, Marklin Magazine Editions, and general releases. Marklin Handlers Initiative includes releases only available to dealers that subscribe to the MHI program, this subscription includes ordering everything Marklin releases, MHI’s are One Time Series. Export Models are limited to distribution in the given country the release represents thus Swiss Export Models are distributed to Swiss dealers in a One Time Series. Insider Models are available only to Insider Members who maintain year long membership in the insider Club for about $100/ year with many benefits. Museum Editions are car sets inspired by companies with ties to Goppingen, Germany the home of Marklin’s headquarters. Usually housed in a specially printed tin box museum editions include a freight car and sometimes a cast metal truck or van. Marklin Magazin Editions are distributed in the United States by Walthers, these One Time Series freight cars usually depict a new car type, they are always painted Prussian Blue with Marklin Magazin insignia, and sometimes the car designs are inspired by the magazine’s printing production including one car that included a load of reams of printing paper. General Releases are those cars and locos that are announced by Marklin and commonly distributed throughout the world, but aside from the perception of wide distribution these items are still very limited and rare with popular releases selling out fast. Of the categories so described Special Imprints and Export Models are the most difficult to collect with secondary market dealers being the only source for these with the exception of direct purchase from German dealers including those with listings on Ebay.

Photo: Marklin MHI release (2016) 88216: BR 212 (diesel) for DB AG (out of production: still available)

Photo: Marklin regular release (2013) 88998: BR 38 Era III (former Prussian P8) passenger loco with tub style tender (no longer available). Note: BR 38’s have been in the Marklin mini-club program for years including trainsets, but the 88998 was the first generation of this loco type with highly detailed side rods and running equipment. This is one of favorite mini-club locos, it is a real pleasure to watch pulling Prussian coaches its action on the rails is melodic.

Part of the fun of collecting Marklin Z is rarity, this singular aspect of this hobby is underscored by small productions of one time series in multiple categories: Marklin Z the readymade collectible!

Marklin V100’s + BR 212’s

V100 locomotives took a little while before appearing in the Marklin roster, but Marklin listened to collectors and designed a beautiful cast metal locomotive that they have produced in many versions to widespread popularity. This collection reflects many but not all versions, they always seem to sell out fast with never enough to go around. Examples can also be found in passenger train sets.

from top:

88690 – German Federal Railroad (DB) class 212 diesel hydraulic locomotive in turquoise and cream paint scheme
88691 – Deustche Bahn AG (DB AG) class 212 locomotive lettered for DB Cargo
88692 – Sersa AG class Am847 ( former class 212) locomotive privately owned by Sersa AG, Zurich, One Time Series 2002
88694 – SECO/DG class 133-05 locomotive privately owned by French construction firm SECO/DG, used for construction of channel tunnel, One Time Series, Export Model for France
88698 – German Federal Railroad (DB) class V100.20 in crimson red paint scheme, One Time Series 2011
88699 – Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) class 212 locomotive in ocean blue and ivory paint scheme with current DB logo

7. 88219.1 – German Federal Railways (DB AG) class 213 in current traffic red paint scheme, One Time Series 2014. Version #1 with locomotive operating numbers printed below DB logo on locomotive end

8. 88219.2 – German Federal Railways (DB AG) class 213 in current traffic red paint scheme, One Time Series 2014. Version #2 without locomotive operating numbers printed below DB logo on locomotive end

9. 88216 – German Federal Railways (DB AG) class 212 in orient red paint scheme of the Deutsche Bahn AG. Prototype from 1994-1995. Operating number 212 041-8. Features large ‘DB’ logo. One Time Series MHI Release.

Siding: Marklin z V100’s are beautifully designed and easy to maintain, shell is held on by tension through a snug fit, careful pulling on each end will pop it off for under the hood service.

Siding: FR currently offers a two car K3 box car set that goes perfectly with the Sersa loco 88692.

Siding: Not pictured: 88693 class V100.2 in crimson red and 88695 BR 212 lettered for H.F. Wiebe Industrial, both are rare and highly sought after.

Z-Modellbau: Locomotives

Z-Modellbau locomotives are the smallest working z gauge locomotives today. And they run perfectly despite their small size and relative weight. How do they do it? Precision engineering and manufacturing are evident when you have one of these superb locomotives in your hand. Z-Modellbau also produces models of prototypes not covered fully by Marklin including operating shunting locos for NS.