Welcome Member 1400

Welcome Beverly from Canada as our 1400th member. Of course congrats to all our new members this new year. The little I know, Beverly is skill minitures modeler and I'm sure she and Karin Snyder will have a lot to discuss. Cheers, Jim CCRR:cheer:

Hi Jim! Thank you for the great welcome Wow, I'm the 1,400th member of the board. I feel honoured to be here.

I just won four auctions of special Marklin Z cars from Germany, some of them Christmas cars. I'm sure I'll put something together with them for my granddaughter for next Christmas By no means do I think my layout will just be for Christmas, though I do feel a "toy" theme coming on. Karin's DIZZYland is totally inspirational

Welcome Beverly.

Jeremy

Congratulations Beverly.

Welcome to Beverly and all of our new members, hope you enjoy your time here.


JC

Welcome,

Your skills will help this wonderful hobby greatly. Once again, Welcome.

Your welcomes are wonderful. Here is my original (and only) post to the other board. It introduces me and asks a boat - I, er, mean - a train load of questions... www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=105884

I'm still wondering if I buy Marklin locomotives from Europe if I'll have to convert their electrical parts to run on N. American electricity, or if the N. American power source will properly run foreign locomotives.

I just put together a quick website called That Takes the Cake to document the construction of my diorama.

This week, I was able to find a beautiful (and on sale!) cake plate cover (also know as a cloche) and base so I can now begin moving forward with my original Z scale diorama idea. I'm so excited! Here are photos of the cloche.....


The store tags are still on the cloche...




The cloche compared in size to our 12 cup coffee maker.
The inside dimensions are a hair shorter than 10" in diameter and 7 3/8" high...





You're welcome to visit my blog page for larger versions of these photos.

Beverly, Nice site. Your layout under glass will be great I'm sure. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Maerklin works in N America..but you need a proper transformer.. A North American transformer converts the power from 110 Volts AC to about 10 Volts DC..which goes in the tracks..German transformers converts 220 Volts to about 10 Volts DC..you see its the same going into the tracks. Marklin makes transformers for both N.American and European customers. Do you have a transformer with your trains? Read what it says. Also what kind of electrical plug does it have that goes in the wall socket?
DC volts are also what comes out of a battery, that's why you can run a battery type power pack too. This is kind of basic stuff but old hands take it for granted that everyone knows. I hope this is all correct and if somebody wants to add to this please do.

Thanks for the kind words, Jim It's going to be a slow night tonight. Hopefully I can add some links to the links page.


Kelly,

I don't have a power pack yet. I was thinking of getting one of these Railpower 1300s . The Marklins are really expensive and I'm not sure they're worth the money for the little use I'll be getting out of mine. I know, I know. You folks are going to say once the first set up is done, I'll be eager to do a second and a third and a...... I guess it could happen. But I've already got a lot on my plate with other major projects, so this itty bitty train will very likely be a one and only, unless time constraints and money somehow are no longer issues.

BTW, what do folks think about the power pack I have in mind?

Beverly, as they say down East, what you will have is chemin de fer sous verre. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Beverly, I suggest you get a MRC 1300 modified my MTL. It limits the maximum to 10v, and you can find it at Zscale Monster
www.zscalemonster.com/mrc/

I'm very partial to the Zthek Snail Speed controller:

www.ztrackcenter.com/electronics/

In addition to getting great performance from your loco, the size of this unit seems to be in keeping with your project.

John
www.ztrains.com

Beverly, I to agree with John. The Zthek controller is perfect for your usage. It will make you little loco go smoothly and slowly. And you can put it in you pocket when finished. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Hello Beverly,
Beverly56 wrote:

BTW, what do folks think about the power pack I have in mind?

for a small layout as you have in mind a controller like the one from Lajos will be perfect. You can either use the controller with a wall plug power source or with a battery. In case of a battery you can use a 9V bock or a set of about 6 x 1.5V cells connected. Or you can use accu cells of the same size.

Basically any source of about 9V DC will work. The cheapest way would be a 9V block, a potentiometer and a toggle switch for the direction of running.

The more expensive way would be a transformer like one from Maerklin or MRC or such.

In between are the ZThek controller and there used to be one almost similar from System Jörger from Germany. Both need about 9V DC as input.

On a German website you also can find a controller that uses the AC outlet from the Maerklin transformer as power source, but for a small layout like yours this wouldn't be the best choice, since it needs the AC power source.

The advantage of all those controllers are that they allow a much better control of slower speeds then the original transformer from Maerklin.

About another topic you asked on trainboard, but since I'm answering here anyway...

The numbering system of Maerklin does follow a certain logic. The 4 digit numbers are the older ones, but for certain items there was never a reason to change to 5 digit numbers. Those 5 digit numbers are for newer items, mostly rolling stock. For engines this mostly means that they have a newer version of the motor installed (3 pole changed to 5 pole). But all engines will run from the same power source.

Here's a small compilation of the system.

everything starting with a 8 is only for Z-scale. Other items like tools, switch boxes, cables and plugs that can be used in different scales starts with a 7.

81xx(x) start sets, track sets and some train sets
82xx(x) mostly freight cars and freight car sets
85xx(x) track sections
86xx(x) mostly freight cars and freight car sets
87xx(x) mostly passenger cars and passenger car sets
88xx(x) mostly all kind of engines: steam, diesel and electric and some trains
89xx(x) accessories like track end bumpers, catenary wire and masts, ramps, pillars, buildings, turn tables and much more.

There are some exceptions as in the 8817 which is only a car, but it has lights installed.

There isn't really a connection to a era or size of a car or engine from the item number.

Then there are the numbers 98xx(x) and 99xx(x). Those show different special occasion items. Included here are also some glas tank cars like the 98044. Currently there are 7 different glas tank cars in that size.

For most of the item numbers you can get a picture at the lokshop . That's a vendor in Germany.

For a small layout like yours any small engine like the 8805 or 88051, the 8816 or 8831 or the 8864(1), 88642 and 8865 would work great. Even most of the 2-6-0 engines would work, but for anything longer I would recommend a test run. Besides: on smaller radii a longer engine or longer car doesn't look so good.

For passenger cars the 8700 or the 8750 - 8752 would be usable. For freight cars all the small tank cars and some other short cars are perfect.

Most of those items you can find at least on the well know auction site.

I hope this helps you along for your idea. An please post pictures as you move on.

Thank you all for the advice on the ZThek power pack. It sounds like the one for me to go with. I like that it is small and that it will do well making my train run slowly around such a short track.

ULie,

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation of the Marklin numbering system as well as for the website. I'll add it to my links page.

The locomotive I won off eBay and now have in our dining room is from the 8188 Starlight Express Fun Set. I believe it was manufactured in the late 1980s, but please correct me if I'm incorrect. It's a short locomotive like the 8864, even shorter than the caboose that comes with the set, and definitely shorter than the Christmas cars I've bought. I've seen a video of what looks like an 8864 going around a very tight radius track. I think this video is great because the locomotive being taken apart looks very much like our 8818 locomotive, except for colour.

Hello Beverly,
Beverly56 wrote:

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation of the Marklin numbering system...

Just remember that this is only a short compilation of the numbering system. A full list of everything made for Z-scale by Maerklin you can find at Joris Ilegems from Belgium. I don't onw the catalogue CD yet, but if somethings not in there, then it didn't excist anyway...
The problem is that Maerklin also made a lot of promotional sets and cars that didn't always follow the logic in those numbers. Depending on if you could buy it somewhere or if it was made just for a special occasion or customer. If you want your own set, then you can order it from Maerklin. Only you have to order at least 100 sets at once...
...but Maerklin will paint and print in any color you want.
For the Starlight Express set you mentioned I just found different numbers:

8188 and S016 and then 8636...

well it must be hard to be a collector who want's to at least knew all items...

The locomotive I won off eBay and now have in our dining room is from the 8188 Starlight Express Fun Set. I believe it was manufactured in the late 1980s, but please correct me if I'm incorrect.

This set is from 1988, and it was a promotional series to the musical Starlight Express. There were three different promotional sets available. One each with a steam, a diesel and an electric engine.

It's a short locomotive like the 8864...

The 8864 and the 8805 and all their sisters in different paints or years of making are the smallest that Maerklin has to offer. It is written in the description of this layout (scroll all the way down) that even a BR89 which is the 8805 can run on it, but probably with the middle axle off the track. I haven't seen the 8805 running on it, but I've seen the layout with the engine shown on the website running on it. I doubt that you can make a layout any smaller then that and still run a engine on it...

Thanks ULie for the link to the Joris Ilegems site - very useful indeed!