z-bahn: SBB passenger coaches

Z-bahn type EWII coaches from the late 60’s and 70’s are works of art, they help complete another area of z scale railroading. Coach sets were delivered in foam lined hinged aluminum boxes as elegant as the coaches themselves. Z-bahn was the first to model this type of Swiss coach in z, but they were also the first to produce interior details and seating. Marklin finally produced a perfect loco for this era of Swiss railroading with the 88590 class Re 4/4 II general purpose loco in green paint scheme. Earlier Marklin SBB locos in green paint scheme are also suitable, but the Re 4/4 was more common.

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from top:

  1. z-bahn #30120 – Swiss Federal Railroad (SBB) class EWII two car set: 1- 2nd class coach and 1- 1st class coach with “Komfort” stripe.
  2. z-bahn #30050 – Swiss Federal Railroad (SBB) class EWII five car set: 1- 1st class coach with “Komfort” stripe, 3- 2nd class coaches with “Komfort” stripe, and 1- baggage car. *Top right and lower left picture.

Marklin MSI’s: railbuses

Railbuses in Germany actually look like buses and a few other countries do too. The “Economic Miracle” in Germany occurred during the 1950’s, and the class VT 98 railbus was part of this history. Marklin added this railcar to the line-up with the first one being released in 1988 as item #8112 “Chiemgau Bahn” and then the special imprint “McDonald’s” also in 1988. Versions abound but for this topic of discussion the focus is on special imprints which like the first two releases (8112) are also in part regional railbuses.

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  1. 88701 – German Federal Railroad (DB) class 798 railbus lettered for “McDonald’s voll in Fahrt.” Sold as a starter set with track and transformer. Edition size: 1000. Koll’s #88701. Released 1988.
  2. 88817 – Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) class 798 railbus and class 998 trailer lettered for RAG. Special imprint collaboration between Railex and Z Club International. Koll’s #91702. Edition size: 3000. *Originally sold unpowered.
  3. 88164 – Prignitzer Eisenbaum GmbH class 798 railbus and class 998 trailer lettered for Prignitzer Eisenbaum GmbH regional rail line Berlin. One Time Series 2001. Produced in collaboration between Marklin and Eurotrain/idee+spiel cooperative.
  4. 88165 – Elbe-Weser GmbH (EVB) class 798 railbus and class 998 trailer lettered for EVB the Lower Saxony German regional rail line. One Time Series 2002. Produced in collaboration between Marklin and Eurotrain/idee+spiel cooperative.

Siding: 88164 + 88165 were only available to German Dealers that were members of the Eurotrain/idee+spiel cooperative.

 

Railex: Auto Transport BLS

The BLS operates an auto and people mover through the Lotschberg Tunnel connecting Kandersteg and Goppenstein. Passengers drive their own cars onto the rail cars which they occupy for the brief trip through the Lotschberg Tunnel. A quick and efficient means for travel in Switzerland are the many tunnels that have been well engineered and maintained. Railex was up for a challenge with this car set that features all metal construction with filigree metal roof supports and numerous details that are true to the prototype. Features a simple coupling system compatible with Marklin that allows distance adjustments between cars.

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Railex – Autotransportzug der BLS,  5 car freight set for transporting lite vehicles through the Lotschberg Tunnel: “Kandersteg – Goppenstein.” Full metal construction with numerous separately applied parts.

 

Railex: 19th century German MOW

Railex not only produced some superb 19th century German steam locomotive, they also produced rolling stock to go with them. The Railex “Work” train comprises 5 cars for the maintenance of way train set. More cars can be added by 5 are the number of car types. The Railex locomotive that pulls the work train is K.Bay.STS.B Vils C II. The “Vils” in green/black/gray color scheme is most appropriate. Some of the cool features of these cars is the full metal construction, filigree spoke wheels, crisp lettering, and interesting car types. Hard and dangerous work was in place for a day on the work train, and workplace accidents abound from steam, gas, and saws to name just a few. The impregnation wagon was probably prone to explosion along with scalding temperatures. Railroading has never been the safe affair especially in the 19th century.

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from top:

  1. K.Bay.STS.B Arbeitswagen Der K.Bay.STS.B. Type “X”: low side car with steam engine load.
  2. K.Bay.STS.B Niederbordwagen mit Kreissage: low side car with heavy duty table saw load.
  3. K.Bay.STS.B Leuchtgaswagen: tank car for lighting gas.
  4. K.Bay.STS.B Fahr Schwellenimpragnieranstalt mit Dampfmaschine: sleeper impregnation wagon with steam compressor.
  5. K.Bay.STS.B Schienenwagen Type Ssm-Wagen Nr. 4 rungenwagen: stake wagon with brakeman’s cab.
  6. K.Bay.STS.B Schienenwagen Type Ssm-Wagen Nr. 4 rungenwagen: stake wagon with brakeman’s cab.

 

Railex + Z Club ’92: Maintenance of Way

Railex and Z Club ’92 have collaborated on a number of z items two of which can be categorized and MOW (Maintenance of Way) cars. Cars 9335 + 9340 are early MOW cars employing cast metal parts.

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from top:

  1. Railex/Z Club ’92 #88609 – Royal Wurttemberg State Railways (K.W.St.E.) type low rise car with Epoch 1 crane. Released 1993. One Time Series for members of Z Club International.
  2. Railex/Z Club ’92 #88623 – Royal Wurttemberg State Railways (K.W.St.E.) type low rise car with track maintenance equipment and tools. Released 1988. One Time Series for members of Z Club International.

Railex: Maintenance of Way

Maintenance of way rail vehicles comprise all equipment that performs some type of track maintenance. In the 19th century a weighted tender fitted with a plow and lanterns was used for snow removal. Advancements in snow removal have been made in a variety of ways for the past 150 years, Railex’s Epoche 1 snow plow looks a bit primitive by today’s dedicated snow plow locos and snow blower locos.

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Railex – K.Bay.STS.B. type weighted tender with fitted plow. Epoch 1.

 

Siding: For modern snowplow locos take a look at FR’s SJ Tc/DLL snowplow loco.

 

Railex: Locomotives

Railex locomotives are not known as good runners primarily because they don’t have motors! Pure mechanical master pieces made of brass with working side rods. A company with very little web presence also makes some of the finest “Z” items, but it is challenging to find them anywhere for sale except of course online. Not having a motor is no problem, that solution was cleverly found with “ghost’ locomotives which are coaches or box cars modified with motor and transmission. These locos chug right along with a little help from a big brother. Thus far 19th century German steam has only been modeled by Railex who also make early era rolling stock and coaches. Every Railex item is identified with their logo, but build quality is also a signature identifier. Take a close look and you will also see the engineer peering from around the cab.

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from top:

  1. Railex – K.Bay.STS.B B VI Kreittmayr steam locomotive with peat burner and tender.    Epoch I. Working life 1869-? Beige color scheme. Loco used for Ludwig II royal trains. Operating number 425.
  2. Railex – K.Bay.STS.B Tristan B VI. Epoch I – 1865 version. Working life 1865-1912 (scrapped). Beige color scheme. Operating number 316.
  3. Railex – K.Bay.STS.B Vils C II Bavarian freight loco with tender type C n2 3T class CII, named Vils. Epoch I. Maximum speed: 45km/h. Working life: 1867-1900. Green/black/gray color scheme. Operating number 362.

*Siding: Railex items come packed in a black box with gold foil label. 19th century German steam locomotives have often been compared to toy trains in appearance. Or vice versa!

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.

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Z-Modellbau – Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS (Dutch State Railways) class SIK shunting locomotive, full metal construction with coreless motor.

Siding: Marklin has produced several car sets for NS including 82376, 82522, and 86304, all were Marklin “Export” models for the Netherlands.

 

FR Locomotives: Switzerland

Switzerland is home to many exciting railway adventures. And many model railroaders gravitate toward modeling Swiss prototypes and scenic byways. FR’s first foray in Swiss z locomotion was modifying Marklin locos, one such example is the class Ae 3/6 electric. Not a great runner out of the box, FR redesigned it with an FR custom circuit board and motor with a flywheel. In order to allow the flywheel to spin freely window glazings had to be removed on that end of the loco. But another very interesting loco for Switzerland was designed and built from tip to toe by FR for the railway Rorschach Heiden Bergbahn, the model is entirely constructed of metal with separately applied details, and the first model of a cog railway prototype in ‘Z’ scale. It also incorporates the new technology of coreless motors.

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Marklin 8851 loco modified by FR with upgraded FR circuit board and motor with flywheel. The brass flywheel can be seen in photo #3. I purchased this second hand, it was missing all the glazing. Later I found a shell with complete glazing, and I was able to file the bottom edge of glazing, with very careful positioning I was able to keep all glazing intact. The running characteristics are very good with the FR modifications.

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FR – Rorschach Heiden Bergbahn (RHB) class Fzeh2/4 cog railway locomotive privately owned and lettered for RHB in Epoch 2 paint scheme.

*Siding: FR recommends teflon based oil instead of Marklin oil for its locos available from Hightech Modellbahnen.

FR Locomotives: NSB

The first and only NSB locomotive to grace z scale is the EL-18 produced in partial kit form by FR. FR delivered this loco with the shell painted and lettered, it was up to the new owner to make modifications in order to install the snowplows. What is an NSB locomotive without snowplows, and these are very well cast metal plows painted yellow. The modification of the FR EL-18: 1. remove shell 2. trim and level bottom edges of shell either end 3. spot/retouch paint if defects arise from leveling 4. using only epoxy attach each snowplow and hold in place until epoxy has become permanent (plastic glues will melt the shell making for poor results) 5. set shell aside after assembly of both plows are completed 6. chassis: remove both trucks 7. truck modification: trim each just behind coupler (couplers need to removed to allow shell with plows to be installed) 8. holding truck together make a very small pilot hole into the outer edge of truck which will be held together with a screw 9. install screws in each truck, epoxy maybe applied to screw head it is at all loose.

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FR #47.198.10 – Norges Statsbaner AS (Norwegian State Railways) NSB, class EL-18 electric locomotive with snowplows. Edition size: 30.

Siding: FR’s NSB EL-18 is based on the Marklin SBB 460 locomotive series which is another very successful series by Marklin. And a great performance loco in ‘Z’. The prototype is also similar to the SBB 460 with modifications, it has proven itself as highly successful locomotive for Norway being used to haul freight and passenger coaches.