Marklin layout from the early 1980s

[Darius43]

Some pictures of my childhood (well -teenage years) layout - now long gone.

Cheers

Darius

[connollystn]

@Darius43 - Thanks for uploading those pictures. Would say that there weren't too many guys your age [at that time] in Britain who had as good of a model railway layout. Was in my 20s when I discovered there was something out there other than Hornby, Lima and the likes. Do you recall how the Marklin models compared to their British counterparts?

[Darius43]

The Markin locos and stock were very detailed, well made and robust - much better than contemporary Hornby and Lima models.  Being a 16V AC centre stud contact system, two rail DC UK locos were incompatible and obtaining Marklin stock in the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s was almost impossible.  Added to that was the price of the locos - well over double that of a typical Hornby loco at the time.

Things improved a bit when a shop called Mega Models opened in London (Rathbone Place off Oxford Street) that stocked Markin and I was slowly able to obtain more track and a couple of locos.  I was also able to adapt Lima wagons as their “UK” range contained several continental prototypes with spurious UK liveries.  Visits to Leisure World in North Queen Street, Belfast helped in this respect - they also had a limited stock of Pola and Faller building kits.  Other buildings I scratch built from card and thin plywood based on pictures in a Vollmer catalogue that I found at a model railway exhibition.

Cheers

Darius

[Broithe]

47 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

obtaining Marklin stock in the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s was almost impossible.  Added to that was the price of the locos - well over double that of a typical Hornby loco at the time.

In my circles, although model railways were generally much less prevalent than in the general population, due to the annual migrations of RAF life, the likelihood of being in Germany for a while led to continental stuff having a much higher profile - although, Marklin products were generally associated with officers' kids.

[connollystn]

@Darius43 - Thanks very much for responding to my query. I used to hear that continental European model railways were more expensive than Hornby et al but, that was with good reason. Never understood why Marklin stuck with the AC system - does it have an advantage over DC? Had a Marklin Hamo E19 locomotive at one time, sort of regret getting rid of it but, always try not to accumulate items if I'm not going to run them.

[Darius43]

I my opinion the Marklin 16V AC system is somewhat limiting in what you can run and what sort of track you can run it on.  Reverse loops are not an issue electronically though.  On the whole I prefer 2 rail DC/DCC.  

This is compared to the 1980s Marklin system.  I think they now have a sort of DCC system with decoders and sound.

Cheers

Darius

[Horsetan]

On 27/1/2023 at 5:50 PM, Darius43 said:

I my opinion the Marklin 16V AC system is somewhat limiting in what you can run and what sort of track you can run it on.  Reverse loops are not an issue electronically though.  On the whole I prefer 2 rail DC/DCC.  

This is compared to the 1980s Marklin system.  I think they now have a sort of DCC system with decoders and sound.

Cheers

Darius

Märklin were a bit like the German equivalent of Hornby-Dublo/Wrenn. Because they prioritised robustness over almost anything, their chassis design was stuck in the 1970s, with not very realistic driving wheels on steam stock, plus quite massive flanges.

It's only in recent years that they've started to move away - somewhat grudgingly - from coarse standards. Also, other manufacturers such as Roco do make some of their locomotives and stock available for AC compatibility, and these are noticeably finer in the chassis department.

[Mayner]

6 hours ago, Horsetan said:

Märklin were a bit like the German equivalent of Hornby-Dublo/Wrenn. Because they prioritised robustness over almost anything, their chassis design was stuck in the 1970s, with not very realistic driving wheels on steam stock, plus quite massive flanges.

It's only in recent years that they've started to move away - somewhat grudgingly - from coarse standards. Also, other manufacturers such as Roco do make some of their locomotives and stock available for AC compatibility, and these are noticeably finer in the chassis department.

When I joined the Model Railway Society of Ireland in the early 70 there were basically two main groups of members, those that ran British proprietary rtr (Triang-Hornby, Wrenn/Hornby Dublo, British Trix) and Continental brands Fleischmann, Liliput and Märklin, there were a handful of members perhaps 3-4 scratch/kit builders who built their own models (mainly British outline O or OO gauge).

The main attraction of the Continental brands appear to have being their build quality, robust  construction and reliable construction compared with Triang-Hornby price was not an issue. The McGowan brothers did a nice business directly importing Continental brands and operated a 'savings scheme" where customers could place what we now describe as a Pre-Order and pay for a loco or stock on installments to be delivered 6-12 months later.

In the United States O Gauge is still primarily 3 Rail Coarse Scale with some models sold at mouth watering prices https://www.trainworld.com/mth-20-3849-1-o-scale-premier-j-1-2-10-4-steam-engine-w-proto-sound-3-0-hi-rail-wheels-pennsylvania-cab-no-6474.html possibly aimed at a collectors market.

The appeal of Märklin and American O appear to be tied up with high resale/investment value and an extremely robust 'toy train" as opposed to their appeal as a scale model.

[WRENNEIRE]

Check out Stephen Haskins Marklin thread, I know him from back when we were both Wrenn collectors and then he went to the dark side!