Category Archives: Sold Out at the Factory

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.

SBB Freight Car with construction load: FR’s 41.332.01

An older release FR freight car painted and lettered for the SBB is this type Xs low side gondola with separately applied brakeman’s wheel with load of new construction roof trusses.

All FR’s releases which are rare; they are either stated limited editions or open editions, but the latter editions are not indefinitely available. This one I purchased from a dealer, but current FR items can be purchased directly from FR’s website.

Careful research and study begins the process of new items by Harald Freudenreich followed by design and manufacturing. Each car or loco is handcrafted with numerous add-on parts and prototypical paint schemes.

This car with load of roof trusses is comprised of 5 prototypical scale trusses and provides an interesting freight load.

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:

Marklin: 88135 newest ‘Ludmilla’ diesel

After reunification in Germany the class of diesel locomotives nicknamed ‘Ludmilla’ were reclassified BR 232 by Deautsche Bahn (DB AG) with their former life as BR 132’s of the East German railway system (DR- Deutsche Reichsbahn: 1949-1993) built starting in 1968 by the firm Voroshilovgrad (Russia).

This heavy weight freight locomotive is still in widespread use within Germany and Poland with 400 operating units. It is a beautiful and particularly impressive locomotive with two cabs and a length of 68′ 3 3/4″. More than 700 locomotives were built between 1973-1982 with 3000 hp motors and operating speed 75 mph. Other class ‘Ludmillas’ were soon retired after German reunification, but the class 232’s are still in use today nearing 50 year service record.

Marklin’s recent 2018 release of 88135 is painted and lettered for DB/Railion (Era V), it is now designated as ‘sold out’ at the factory. 88135 is the latest release in the series which includes: 88131 (2009), 88132 (2014), 88133 (2013), 88134 (2016), and 88135 (2018). Plus sets: 81450 and 81451.

Note: Marklin 88131 is based on the BR 234: rebuilt 232 with bogies allowing an increase in the operating speed (87 mph)

Note: Marklin 88134 is based on the East German DR’s BR 132 with representative paint scheme from 1982

Note: Marklin set 81451 features the class 233 ‘Tiger’ (Ludmilla), this trainset is still available. A very nice and interesting H0 scale version of the Tiger (Ludmilla) includes the very latest cold steam technology and in digital operation can be controlled to simulate engine start-up idling (minimum exhaust), running operation (medium exhaust), and maximum exhaust, it is found under item #36431

81450 (2009/2010)

81451 (2017/2018)

88131 (2009) MHI Release

88132 (2014)

88133 (2013)

88134 (2016)

88135 (2018)

A common feature shared among all models in this class are LED headlamps and trailing lights, cab interiors suggested in white relief, superb running performance even at low speeds, excellent pulling power and varying roof equipment details specific to the prototype. A truly outstanding series of Marklin Z locomotives.

Siding: ‘BR’ designation preceding locomotive classification number is an abbreviation for the German word Baureihe which means class thus BR or class refers to locomotive classification

Siding: Archistories building kit ARC-114111 “Gantry Crane” is seen depicted in the background with Marklin 88135, it is a fine detailed kit with swiveling platform. It is available from zScalemonster.com and zScalehobo.com.

Lighting Unit for SJ Talsvagn: FR accessory upgrade

Scandinavian railroads are almost exclusively represented in Z by Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik (FR) which also includes Swiss and German prototypes. And less frequently PKP (Poland) and FS (Italy). Almost a year ago after many years in the plan and design stage the 1960 Talsvagn coach was released by FR in its first version with 2 “two car” sets with 1990’s paint scheme (blue with red stripe). Since this release there has been 6 more releases with early brown paint scheme (1960’s-90) and current NetRail paint scheme. Built into the design of each 1960 Talsvagn coach is the ability to retrofit a custom light panel manufactured in Germany by Passmann (Unna, Germany) and sold by FR as an accessory for this coach type. First a list of Talsvagn coaches thus far released.

FR’s releases are sometimes limited to a stated number while others are open editions, but all FR items should be considered rare as each is produced in small batches. The following is a list of 1960 Talsvagn coaches thus far:

46.220.02: open release (available to order)

46.220.12: open release (available to order)

46.220.42: limited to 25 total

46.220.52: limited to 25 total

46.221.02: open release (available to order)

46.221.11: open release (available to order)

46.221.42: limited to 25 total

46.221.52: limited to 25 total

Accessory lighting panel FR article #FR-TV #PA-512 is an LED light panel designed specifically for the 1960 Talsvagn coach, it is a flicker free lighting panel comprised of numerous LED’s which evenly illuminate in realistic terms. It is another outstanding accessory available from FR. Installation is easy (3/5) for those that have decent soldering skills. Instructions are included but lack English text which is not an issue at all because there are nearly 20 very good photographic illustrations.

I have a few notes to add to the included instructions that might be helpful for others retrofitting their coaches:

1. wheel sets pick-up the electricity from the track to power the light panel, each truck is connected with a wire to soldering points at each end of LED circuit board, insulated wheels should be located to one side of truck and this orientation should be carried out in the opposite position for other truck thus each truck’s pair of insulated wheel sets connect with different rails

2. whisker pick-ups should be carefully bent at 30 degree angle, 1.3mm brass bolt (kit includes 2) secures brass electrical pick-up to truck (FR accessory socket wrench 46.221.91 is designed for this bolt size), carefully reinstall wheel sets in aforementioned orientation. NOTE: before screwing bolt in place double check the pre-drilled hole goes all the way through truck housing otherwise the bolt will snap off!!!!!

3. one wire is included which should be cut in half or cut to length, before proceeding tin each end of wire (use of a little water soluble flux is advised), solder end of each wire to bolt protruding from truck with a little flux (touching soldering iron to bolt is better than wire to prevent melting of insulation (solder follows heat thus it is advisable to touch the thing you want to solder versus the wire, tinning the wire expedites the joining making it faster and easier)

4. reattach trucks into chassis with wire through pre-drilled hole, solder wires to solder points on circuit board, test LED panel before affixing to roof! Note: before soldering check orientation of circuit board with interior detailing, capacitors should fit snugly within compartment at end of car

5. roof attaches to circuit board with preinstalled double stick tape, but before installing double check middle clip on roof aligns with panel between window panes versus window otherwise the clip will be seen through the window and it will look terrible. Note: if a mistake is made with roof misalignment after LED panel is installed it will be very difficult to correct so double check/double check!!!! before gluing LED panel to roof!

Special Note: FR’s accessory light panel for the 1960 Talsvagn is easy to install with excellent instructions provided in a step by step format. Please do not deviate from the step by step instructions: all soldering should be quick and take place away from contact with plastic parts that melt thus do not install circuit board to roof panel before soldering wires to circuit board. And do not attempt to solder wire onto truck’s bolt after truck is reinstalled in coach body. All soldering takes place when trucks are separated from coach and circuit board is unattached to roof panel. Tinning wire before soldering makes things a lot easier as it allows for the wire to instantly grab the thing being soldered with minimal heat exchange.

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