Any Märklin-fans here? Show your circuit!

Holger · 01-07-2015, 12:29 AM

Inspired by the Random Pics thread: show your Märklin installations!

This is our livingroom right now:

As a kid I had a 1x2 meter wooden plate with everything fixed and several circuits.
I had my bed beneath the installation, looking up at the cables. I always had new ideas!

HardDrive · 01-07-2015, 02:43 AM

Not Märklin, but I have a lot of HO gear in boxes. To many hobbies, not enough time.....

Holger · 01-07-2015, 03:37 AM

I would love to extend my collection! ;-)

peppy · 01-07-2015, 08:50 AM

Nice.

Had a Tyco silver streak in HO when I was a kid. Now just 0 guage.

ckelly78z · 01-07-2015, 08:54 AM

I have a complete HO train with alot of track, and switches, and many old style house and building kits that are already assembled, I just haven't had the time or space to set up a 4x8 sheet of plywood and get started.

livi · 01-07-2015, 08:55 AM

Excellent, Holger! Mine is in a pile of boxes in the basement since 1977 or so.

abisel · 01-07-2015, 10:21 AM

I don't have my layout on a board yet. Still planning it using freeware track planning software SCARM: SCARM - Simple Computer Aided Railway Modeller - Freeware program for design of model railroad layouts and track plans

So dig out the old train sets and see what you have. You may find that they are worth a goodly sum of money. I have an old 60's vintage Marklin 3025 3-car commuter worth around $2K.

This web site is helpful to Marklin folks: https://www.marklin-users.net/

Sicklyscott · 01-07-2015, 06:10 PM

When I was a kid in the mid-80's I was CRAZY about trains. It started with my father's vintage Lionel trains. My grandfather stoked the fire with a HO scale setup and before we knew it my dad and I started spending our weekends making train sounds in our basement.

At some point my father's friend's father was moving. He had told my father that he had 5 boxes of old trains he wanted to get rid. My father gave him $500 for the lot (a lot for a social worker in the 80's). We had no idea what we were in for. The 5 boxes were full of old Marklins that utilized a 3rd rail. Many locomotives and cars were from the late '30's with the rest just post war from what I can tell. I remember my father trying to figure out all the wiring for t he switch tracks and signals as all the directions were in German.

At some point in middle school ,y father decided it was time to reclaim his space in the basement and the setup came down. At the end of its days the setup was a 4x8 sheet of plywood with 2 foot extensions on all sides, all built on an old pool table. We had 3 Marklin tracks around the outside followed by a Lionel,setup, HO setup with a turn table, an N gauge, another elevated Lionel track and finally another N gauge on top of one of the tunnels. My father had years into this setup, I don't know how he brought himself to take it down.

I dream of setting up my HO trains in my basement but I have no room for the unfortunately. Every now and then I take my father to a train show, it's almost as if we were back in the basement planning our layout decades ago.

Here are some Polaroids from back in the day:

Untitled by sicklyscott, on Flickr

petrolhead611 · 01-08-2015, 05:21 AM

I have a trunk full of Marklin engines, rolling stock and track from the 1950's. My grandparents bought it for me back then so I dutifully used it when they were around, but I had really wanted a slotcar racing set.

Holger · 01-08-2015, 05:32 AM

Wanna sell it? ;-)

vash · vash's Garage

darn..i was hoping this was a discussion about IKEA!

MÄRKLIG Bowl - IKEA

intakexhaust · intakexhaust's Garage

I used to have many vintage and re-pop tin clockwork cars from Schuco, Distler and Marklin.
Varied in scale but the old Distlers with 3 gear range forward selection and one reverse trans were my faves.

For size and weight, the 1:12 scale, chrome Marklin 300SL is terrific. Irresistible to kids of all ages. To handle it and wind with the big key, let race across a room is a hoot. The open red Benz is also in large scale. I forget but maybe it was Schuco sets that came with the wrench kits. They had 'knock-off' wheel hubs and tiny mallet and rear jack.

Much prefer the early originals but the re-pops are super neat. Some of the Marklin depicted.

These two are large scale wind-up. Battery powered headlamps.

Bill Douglas · 01-08-2015, 01:15 PM

abisel · 01-24-2015, 06:15 AM

playing around to see how it lays out before putting it on a board.

71scgc · 01-24-2015, 06:42 AM

Still some of the greatest trains there is.

A bud of mine still has a Maerklin set from the early '60s. It was seldom played with, and is still in perfect shape, to include the box.

Carter

abisel · 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 71scgc

Still some of the greatest trains there is.

A bud of mine still has a Maerklin set from the early '60s. It was seldom played with, and is still in perfect shape, to include the box.

Carter

Tell your bud to get them out and set them up. The old analog Marklin is something to behold. Depending on what your friend has, they may be worth a healthy sum.

The layout I show is digital (constant AC track voltage carrier with digital signal) and the analogs will run at full speed on a digital layout. Interesting to watch until it derails.

I restored and converted one of the old 60's locomotive to digital.

After frame off restoration:

Holger · 01-26-2015, 12:08 AM

Wow!

abisel · 02-01-2015, 06:48 AM

I modified my layout for a 5x9 area instead of 4x9.

So how do I layout this plan on a board measuring 5x9? Plywood is 4x8, 4x9 or 4x10 but nothing 5x9. Unless I piece together something.

So, I am thinking of using a ping pong table for the layout which measures 5x9. Re-purposing so to speak.

Should work great but I would need to figure out how to divide the track layout in half when the table is separated and folded up for storage. Have to pick areas with minimal track separation and quick reconnect of electrical circuits.

Has anybody ever used a ping pong table (aka table tennis) for a model train layout?

HardDrive · 02-01-2015, 07:11 AM

I notice you guys are all using prefab 'snap track'. When I was a kid, I got it in my head that using that stuff was for amateurs, so I insisted on laying track bed and track manually. I guess I was reading too much Model Railroader magazine at the time. This, of course, took 10x longer, and often lead to poor track conditions in curves. In never finished a layout. If I ever have another go at it, I'll go with prefab track.

abisel · 09:23 AM

Marklin has always used track sections since they began and since it is AC and not DC, it is a 3-rail system.

Comparison of Marklin track:
Left is K-track, center is C-track and right is the old-school, no longer produced, all metal M-track.

There is flex track today in lengths of 3 feet and is for DC systems. The flex track can be bent to make curves and keep its geometry. I am unaware of a 3-rail flex track that an HO scale Marklin can run on.