Marklin declares bankruptcy

It's official, and what a sad day after 150 years. Apparently the company has sought protection from creditors in provisions under German law that are similar to US law. What happens now is anyone's guess - any potential buyers for the company, or parts of it, are themselves in financially tight situations with this world economic recession going on. We must just wait and see...

Again? I tought that was some time ago and they were now bought by some other company.

Unfortunately it is official

www.thelocal.de/money/20090204-17203.html

www.thewhistlepost.com/forums/g-scale/9726-marklin-files-insolvency-bankruptcy.html

TerryH

Doesn't look good. Wait and see, nothing more we can do.

Havoc wrote:

Again? I tought that was some time ago and they were now bought by some other company.

About two years ago the company was bought by a British investment company called Kingsbridge (I think). For whatever reasons (let's stay away from the blame game) the arrangement didn't work.

You know people are calling me up to tell me this. It's shocked everyone over here. It's like the news the Kaiser abdicated.
I recently bought a book I was going to give to my son, that was a book on what you need to know to be a man. It's like a boyscout manual for adults, kind of like stuff you find in Maxim (some too adult so I will hold off till he is older)_
Anyway in the book it says a real man don't play with trains, but if he does it has to be a Maerklin and it has got to be a crocodile. The company is a big cultural icon in this country.

A very sad day indeed !

Rowan wrote:

A very sad day indeed !

Well, it may be that there are chances for a brighter view of the future:

It seems to me that the timing about Maerklins insolvenzy wasn't so unplanned at all. Here:

Offenbar erste Interessenten für Märklin

is a message that the attorney who's currently in charge already has potential buyers for Maerklin. It is said that they comes from Frankfurt and from Northern Germany.
The first thing the insolvency administrator Michael Pluta did was to fire all those consultants currently "working" for Maerklin. The costs for those in the last 3 years is said has been up to 40 Million Euros. Alone in the last year those costs were about 13 Million Euro, which stand for half of the loss Maerklin made that year... "You get tears in your eyes" Mr. Pluta is quoted...

Having reached to this in this short time looks somehow preplanned to me...

At the toyfare in Nuremberg Maerklin of course was the main topic , but they also showed a special item in Z, which already found its way to EBay:

Storchenbein

it is a Z-scale version of the famous Storchenbein Lokomotive, which was also stolen back in 2005 from the Maerklin museum , and which also was the first model railroad locomotive from Maerklin back in 1891.

Well, we will see what happens in the next few weeks...

The first thing the insolvency administrator Michael Pluta did was to fire all those consultants currently "working" for Maerklin. The costs for those in the last 3 years is said has been up to 40 Million Euros. Alone in the last year those costs were about 13 Million Euro, which stand for half of the loss Maerklin made that year... "You get tears in your eyes" Mr. Pluta is quoted...

Having reached to this in this short time looks somehow preplanned to me...

Someone with experience in these kind of cases knows where to look. And that "consultants" are an enormous cost with discutable gain this isn't really a surprise to anyone that has worked in an industry where consultants are plenty. (disclosure: I have been a "consultant" at times) So getting rid of all of them is more or less standard practise in such cases. It also means that the books are well kept but then this is Germany.

www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a.zCq7jdllsU

Off topic, but I like to say that Bloomberg web site is a very informative site.

TerryH

Friends, something jogged my memory and went back to the Archieves. Here is a posting I wrote one year ago: 2008,02,04

When Marklin sold the company to a Euro conglomerate a while ago I predicted that that was the beginning of the end for Marklin Z. Last week this prediction is a step closer with the Marklin company deciding to use Walthers as their sole US distributor. Marklin Z is just a tiny part of the company. There is no new 2008 US Z issue this year. So you US Euro modelers better buy it now. I doubt Marklin will be in Z in two years. This of course goes for their US Z line as well. I hope I'm way wrong on this but I don't see it any other way. Many of us have Marklin steamers as the price for a loco from US sources can be well over $1500. If you are on a budget and into steam, buy now. There's plenty of locos for sale now. Later??? I really feel bad for our European friends who for the most part model Euro railroads. What do you think about Marklin's policies these days? Cheers, Jim CCRR

Nothing makes me sadder than realizing how close I was to this day back then. Cheers, Jim CCRR:(

See, I think the new Marklin stuff has been so expensive that for me functionally it is anyway as if it was no longer produced: eBay is the best/only option.

Well, I guess I have collectors items now hehe

Well, I went to the shop to see if I could still order a few things I really wanted. I was surprised at how small the Z part of the catalogue was. Hardly a single page of electric locs. Ebay has been an option since Maerklin stopped making epoch IV stuff in Z. But it isn't very interesting as you often pay more for postage than the item.

Gee, just when I finally pulled out my collection of track and started building a layout. Are there other manufactures whom make drop-in replacements for Marklin sectional turnouts? I would hate to find myself short one or two and no longer be able to purchase them.

First, Marklin is continuing operations as normal for right now. We don't expect their to be disruptions in obtaining track and products. We are following developments closely, but so far Marklin is still producing.

Yes, the sectional turnouts from Micro-Trains are made to the same dimensions as Marklin. Also, Peter Wright makes turnouts to match the Marklin geometry.

The MTL sectional track line is following the same dimensions as the Marklin line. This makes swapping out track easier. The MTL track is ballasted so a little work will be required to mix and match. Marklin does have a more complete sectional track line. MTL will be expanding the line this year.

In the January/February issue of Ztrack, we will be publishing a track buyers guide. This will include a table showing the Marklin track sections with corresponding MTL track sections. We include part numbers for reference.

Rob

Great! I will be watching my mailbox.

Thanks