Category Archives: Marklin Z

Archistories American Prototype: 101181 “Goldtree Station”

If it is possible to visit a late 19th century western United States town built by gold perhaps this station in its small dimensions satisfies that goal. Measuring 5 inches in length x 2 1/2 inches in overall width x 2 inches in height the “Goldtree Station” by Archistories is the fictional hub and gatekeeper for the outside world, it greeted new comers with grand dreams of making it rich and goods to keep a decidedly inhospitable landscape habitable.

This year marks the important anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad: 150 years East and West coasts joined by rails at Promontory Point, Utah. And a good time to consider modeling a western gold rush community in Z starting with this nice building exclusively sold by ZScaleHobo.com. And Marklin’s “Bumble Bee” locomotive and its passenger set from a few years back are a good train set for this station.

A fairly simple to build kit featuring partition walls which aid in realistic lighting effects, filigree parts which add realism to platform supports, and a mix of building materials including terracotta roof tiles and wood construction.

Goldtree station signage is laser cut with an appropriate American style font of the 19th century.

Railroads grew quickly after completion of the Transcontinental Railroad as did towns throughout the United States. Station and depot types changed too thus small stations with attached freight depots largely disappeared in the teens and 20’s, they were replaced by masonry structures supporting a network of hubs as people and goods were transported all over the United States. Towns who’s singular purpose supported the gold rush either grew independent of it or largely ceased to exist.

Note: exclusive worldwide dealer for this item is Zscalehobo.com

Construction notes: the ingenious feature of this Archistories kit are snap-in window frames and glazing, pre-cut glazing snap into place with gentle pressure followed by window frames, filigree timber sections are finally glued in place and permanently seal windows. Open freight doors are possible but interior detailing will need to be designed by the builder. *use glue sparingly and use great patience with light paper parts which cannot be realigned after gluing, plus snap-in window frames are prone to easy breakage, fraying and distortion.

Another important construction note: Part F10 is a delicate filigree part comprising the main entrance framework, after removing this part from the part sheet two more tabs need to be removed from either side of door frame: brackets should be flush to the structure. In my interpretation of this building it was missed thus reflected in the photos. A second important point is to install the 4 brackets (Part H4) for freight room before attaching roof.

Marklin 88035- Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad 2-6-0 “Mogul” locomotive featuring brass construction (2004-2006)

Marklin 81772: DB “Light Freight Train”

Just now arriving at dealers in very limited quantities is the Marklin train set 81772 for the MHI Program, it is another version of the V36 diesel locomotive in Z. Each release thus far has included modifications to the original prototype built as a solution for moving goods with less detection than steam trains during the war years.

Based on the Era IV V236 prototype of the German Federal Railroad (DB) featuring a roof cupola this train set includes interesting farm themed loads: hay bales, tractor and trailer.

Referred to as a “Nurnberg” roof cupola this modification relocates the operators’ controls and seat to the top of the cab thus allowing full 360 degree views.

Type low side Klm 441 cars make up the train set and include tall stakes that can be installed. The interesting car type with metal sides and no hand brakes was released a year ago with and without hay bale loads. Hay bale load is molded composition and painted to reflect the color of natural hay. Tractor and trailer are wonderfully detailed including painted grill on tractor and rolling rubber tires. This set includes the very best tractor ever released for Z gauge.

Marklin 81772 + Archistories 111181 (Makeshift Tower) + MBZ R16066 (Field Barn)

New generation motor powers the loco which features leading and trailing LED’s. Locomotive runs smooth due to excellent weight and motive power.

A great collection of rural farmsteads are available in laser-cut kits by Marklin, Archistories, MBZ and Faller. MBZ’s “Granary” is one such rural building associated with grain and feed storage with very striking design.

Marklin 88001: Museum Edition Class 80 Steam Locomotive

The recent release 88001 steam locomotive continues Marklin’s limited release Museum locomotive series this time based on the class 80 steam locomotive in Bochum-Dahlhausen Museum’s collection.

Housed in a wooden box the locomotive comes with a numbered certificate with stated limitation of 499. Locomotive features photo-grey paint scheme with operating number 80 030.

The class 80 locomotive is a tank locomotive: coal bunker is behind the cab with water tanks welded to the sides. The model features the new generation brush-less motor and finely detailed running gear. Locomotive features metal construction with fine detailing, glazed cab windows and LED lights.

Marklin 88001 leading train of 8661 cars variously lettered SMI’s

Built in the late 1920’s for switching/shunting work, class 80 030 was built by Hohenzollern, its service life extended nearly 50 years retiring as an industrial switcher for the coal mining industry.

Marklin 88001, Marklin 8661 SMI cars variously lettered, and Archistories “Makeshift Yard Tower (111181)”

Marklin 88001 leading train of Marklin SMI 8661 car types produced in 1996

Marklin MSI 8661 car type: 4 from 1996

Collecting Marklin MSI’s is a slow enterprise requiring patience, they are available every once in awhile or maybe not, this year I added a few more 8661 car types to my collection with advertising for firms that sell/sold building products, mineral water and carbolic acid. German and other European advertising has often been displayed on these cars which are privately commissioned with the assistance of Marklin designers. Identifying these cars is easy, they display ‘m’ on both sides which signifies Marklin.

Several reference numbers identify these cars including Marklin’s catalog number, Koll’s (collector books) and Miba/Monk (Miba and Gilles Monk).

KERN HOLZBAU- 8661.006, Koll’s #96703, Miba/Monk #970, produced in 1996, edition: 100

Rommenholler Kohlensaure- 8661.016, Miba/Monk #1022, produced in 1996

Remstal-Sprudel- 8661.018, Miba/Monk #1024, produced in 1996

Remstal-Quelle- 8661.020, Miba/Monk #1042, produced in 1996

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

Marklin 88040 + 88041: class 42.09 Franco Crosti locomotives

The German class 42.09 steam locomotive from era III was realized in 2005 as another interesting Marklin Z featuring the Franco-Crosti modification of a class 52 locomotive, a collaboration between two Italians included a system modification which made use of exhaust steam as well as exhaust gases incorporating a main boiler and secondary boiler to effectively utilize more of the energy produced by the BR 52. A second boiler/smoke gas pre-heater below the firebox was thus coupled with a chimneys attached to each side of the boiler, this system modification would be identified as Franco-Crosti boiler.

Attilio Franco and Dr. Piero Crosti designed the first such boiler nearly 20 years before class 42.09 was built . Modification to the wartime class 52 locomotive by Henschel in 1952 resulted in reclassification due to increased axle-weight resulting from the added 2 ton weight of modification.

Referred to as economisers (Abgasvorwarmer) the Franco-Crosti modification of 2 class 52 locos had a relatively brief service life of less than 10 years, but another 31 class 50’s were rebuilt by Henschel with Franco-Crosti boilers by the end of the 50’s.

Marklin’s release in 2005 of the 88041 was preceded by another Franco-Crosti locomotive (88040) for Insider Members in 2003. Painted in photo-grey for Henschel’s builder photographs 88040 with operating number 42 9000 is based on prototype retired in 1959 (Bingerbruck, Germany).

Painted and lettered for German Federal Railroad (DB) Marklin’s 88041 includes Wagner smoke deflectors and tub-style tender with operating number 42 9001 thus based on prototype built in 1952 and retired in 1960 (Oberlahnstein).

Siding: more than 7000 class 52 locomotives were built during World War II by 13 manufacturers throughout Europe

Marklin 81191: Commuter Service Train Set

The German commuter train set modeled in Z is based on an Era III prototype with class 78 steam locomotive for the German Federal Railroad (DB).

Marklin train set 81191 includes 4 coaches and a tank locomotive. Released in 2011 the set was in the regular production until 2013 thus rare but not as rare as limited releases.

The 4-6-4 tank locomotive class 78 included with this set includes the fine running 5 pole motor and predates improvements to current highly detailed running gears incorporated into steam locomotives of current generation Marklin Z’s, but this locomotive is handsome nonetheless and features finely detailed metal casting and nickel add-on parts including whistle and bell.

Included in the set are 3 coaches and baggage car: 1- type PW3PR 3-axle baggage coach, 1- type C3PR04 3-axle compartment coach without brakeman’s cab, 3rd class, 1- type BC3PR03 3- axle compartment coach without brakeman’s cab, 2nd/3rd class, and 1- type C3PR04 3- axle compartment coach with brakeman’s cab, 3rd class.

On the heels of this post is the recent release 87040, it varies with cars of set 81191 featuring similar baggage car and 1 three-axle coach, and it includes 2 two-axle coaches. Paint scheme and era are the same and a loco to go with this set is the upcoming release 88031: class 24 with tender.

The added bonus of interior details of the new coach set 87040 bring to life more realism with Era III railroading.

Compartment coaches of this type were repainted and lettered from earlier era, they featured compartments accessed from exterior doors. Relatively short in length these coaches were designed to be boarded quickly and featured running boards full length of car.

Siding: German steam locomotives with painted red frames are a distinctive feature, but the purpose of red paint was to better detect stress fractures during routine inspections.

Royal Wurttemberg (K.W.St.E) T 9 tank locomotive: Marklin 88952

The 2005 release of the Marklin T 9 tank locomotive painted and lettered for the Royal Wurttemberg State Railroad (K.W.St.E) featured a 5 pole motor and it was the first of its type for this railway produced in the mini-club line-up.

The 88952 produced in 2005 as a “one time series” celebrated “200 Years of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg.”

The Era I locomotive is appropriately coupled with Wurttemberg coaches: 80105, 8700, 8701, and 8739. Marklin’s recent release 5 coach set is also a very good choice: 87009.

Coach 8739 trails the T 9 with destination boards for Boll-Goppingen, its operating number E4 2733 was produced by Marklin from 1989-1998. Eleven years in production does not make this coach particularly rare, but this open corridor coach has been popular with modelers of early trains. Check out the next section detailing the relationship between this coach and locomotive.

Following years of innovation by modelers of Z one such development proved invaluable: marrying coaches with short locomotives. Locomotives of short length and weight have proven to be less than rewarding to operate on the mini-club layouts with turnouts and crossovers with their slight dip in power, short locos are challenged to pass freely through these track features, but one creative minded individual came up with a solution: wiring the axles of a coach to the leads of the locomotive thereby extending the length of the locomotive. In this case the 88952 with 3 powered axles has been extended with 2 additional axles. Wiring the coach involves some soldering and drilling with micro bits, but it is overall a fairly straightforward and easy repair the second time around, the first time should be counted as a learning curve. Adding an LED light panel at the same time is just a little more work. In this example a draw-bar was installed thus permanently coupling the loco and coach together. Performance for this type of locomotive is improved greatly.

Here are photos of the electrical upgrade:

UP + SP E8’s: joint collaboration Marklin/AZL

Marklin 88626 (only 46 prototypes were produced of the E8 ‘B’ unit)

The post war General Motors E8 diesel locomotive was built by their Electro Motive Division (EMD) in Illinois, it boasted a power reserve of 2250 hp for passenger service. Some units remained in service into the late 70’s pulling freight trains. Significantly longer than the F7 with significantly fewer produced than the latter, the E8 was designed with 2 – 6 axle trucks with 450 ‘A’ units produced versus more than 2000 F7 ‘A’ units.

Several prototypes were modeled in Z for the PRR, UP and SP railroads as a joint venture between Marklin and AZL, but aside from Marklin trucks/couplers and box the collaboration seems limited in scope with majority partnering coming from AZL.

Crisp graphics and accurate paint schemes plus detailed shells and trucks are equaled by what’s inside: heavy ballasting and robust brush-less motor.

Taking a look inside these locomotives reveal several unique design features of AZL versus Marklin including a heavily ballasted two-part frame. Holding the frame together are 3 pairs of phillips head screws which all but conceals the motor and transmission except for the circuit board which rests on top.

partial disassembly of E8 ‘A’ unit with showing skirting replacement part and extra truck included with loco

Servicing either of the trucks requires popping off the fuel tank thus revealing the middle set of screws: loosen only. Service one truck at a time by removing its designated pair of screws followed by gently prying the frame apart thereby allowing the truck to pop out. Repeat for other truck and test on track before reattaching fuel tank cover and shell.

one end of frame slightly pried apart allowing removal of truck, worm gear and pick-ups run length of frame

fuel tank and truck removed from frame, truck is held in frame within the recess in frame’s casting, two sides of frame secured with screws closes the space around top of truck frame thus securing in place

1 traction tire per truck and 2 powered axles per truck

locomotives come with Marklin couplers installed which can be replaced with provided skirting, also included is an extra truck, photo shows location of 3 screws per each side of frame

circuit board and LED light panel at one end are visible without shell, photo shows correct gap between two frame sides, drive mechanism is held within frame

Note: AZL gearing is comprised of nylon gears versus Marklin machined metal gearing, and AZL factory lubrication is grease versus oil.

brass worm gear and plastic skirting mount at frame end, frame is pried apart to allow truck removal

A full disassembly of the chassis and motor entails removing all 6 screws that hold the frame together with all components smartly fitted within. It should be noted that proper assembly of the frame leaves a consistent gap between the two sides: two frame sides do not touch. Transmission is properly fitted with plastic intermediary part positioned with prong ends down and engaged with holes in frame. Parts comprising motor and transmission must be seated properly for reassembly of frame, it is very important not to force these parts together.

truck gearing is permanently installed versus the take apart nature of Marklin trucks

inside and outside view of frame sides: worm gears held in place with nylon guides seated prong side down in designated holes

Inside view of the frame sides reveals a straightforward design concept

underside of frame shows normal gap between frame sides

The 3 ‘A’ units come equipped with prototypical skirting to replace the Marklin coupler which is simply installed following removal of shell, un-clipping coupler and spring, and sliding new skirting part with prong ends into frame recepticle.

LED light panel sits in slot with skirting bracket held in place with pressure from frame sides

skirting bracket is a two outlet plug which accepts the 2 prongs from the replacement skirting part, coupler is held in place with a removable metal clip otherwise the coupler includes the Marklin style coupler and spring, LED light panel is seen at the top of the frame assembly held in place with a designated slot

unique removable metal clip system for the coupler otherwise a normal Marklin set-up

Pulling power is further improved with traction tires which in combination with the heavy cast metal frame evenly distributed across the wheels ensure smooth operation. No need at all for adding extra weight to these locos!

Roof equipment varies between the prototypes thus the models reflect prototypical accuracy.

roof equipment varies between the locomotives

Very impressive locomotives from the stand point of aesthetics and performance unfortunately the installed Marklin couplers do not allow use of the only appropriate coaches produced by AZL. Maybe coaches are in development?

Siding: Marklin 88629 (PRR) is the fourth locomotive in this series

Marklin Insider Model 2018: BR 01 (88012) Locomotive

Marklin’s Insider Model for 2018 is based on the 1957 BR 01 express locomotive of the German Federal Railroad (DB). The particularly attractive locomotive featuring steel blue paint scheme is released as an important anniversary model celebrating 25 Years of the Insider Club.

Locomotive features the new generation motor thus a maintenance free brush-less type still requiring infrequent light oiling of moving parts only.

Warning stripes are realized on locomotive’s pair of buffers. Tender too!

Locomotive can be seen passing Marklin’s new station 89703.

Hand-painted boiler bands in silver.

A specially designed wood presentation box is included with the locomotive featuring its design on the lid.

Siding: some dealers have suggested having extra 88012’s available this year for non members of the Insider Club, but joining the Club is easy and comes with numerous perks including yearly catalog, Insider News Magazine, Marklin Magazin, “A Year in Marklin” (DVD), invitation to order Insider Models, and the free Insider Club car in choice of gauge.

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