By now collectors of FR Freudenreich of Germany should be aware of Harald Freudenreich’s new company: Atelier Barkvieren (AB). The only significant change has been logo and rebranding: articles continue to be presented in custom acrylic boxes with new logo ‘AB’ in red versus FR’s former blue logo. The recent release electric locomotive for NSB as Class EL-16 is evidence of Harald’s continued high level of design/craftsmanship/execution in Z gauge.
Locomotive could be ordered analogue or digital, I ordered mine as analogue. As with most locos produced by Harald Freudenreich this one is no different exhibiting substantial weight for pulling long trains. Further this loco has a maintenance free motor which he has installed in locos for years prior to Marklin’s current practice.
This is a lovely loco with very bright red paint scheme and yellow snowplows. Paint scheme is distinctive as it is used by the NSB Railway (Norwegian State Railways). The former company FR produced another electric loco for NSB as Class EL-18 (47.198.10) in an edition of 30. This loco included a modified Class 460 Marklin shell repainted and lettered, it included a snowplow that required separate installation by collector following small modification to shell. Surprisingly Marklin never produced this loco in Z although one was produced for HO, perhaps a future release is in the making?
Performance of this loco is exceptional of course with 4 operating lights activated for direction of travel, but trailing lights are not included. The loco I ordered is non-digital, it is robust, but motor noise is noticeable perhaps due to my basic test track installed directly on plastic table, cork or foam roadbed will certainly deaden the sound. Not sure if the digital version includes sound, and I don’t know if it features a VELMO decoder. My train collection is mostly for display thus opting for the analogue version of this loco made sense for me. I have digital FR locos and a few Marklin ones too, and they provide an experience running trains on par with their HO ccounterparts with surprisingly loud and defined sound features.
Detailing includes numerous add-on parts including mirrors that are silvered. Roof equipment is well detailed and pantographs are item specific and scaled accurate unlike the more generic Marklin pantos.
Paired with the earlier release freight set: 47.819.02- Norges Statsbaner AS (Norwegian State Railways-NSB) “Motortransport” 4 car set with two pairs of permanently coupled type Hccrrs autotransportwagens privately owned and lettered for Auto Transport Service A.s. Drammen. Four car set includes 2 pairs locked together with drawbar and vestibules.
