My Opinion on Marklin-TOO EXPENSIVE

[Mr_Alex]

This a opinion from a person who likes Japanese and European model trains, if you are thinking of trying Marklin, I would say make sure you have sufficient finances or savings, the models they make are ok but be prepared when it comes to pricing, the BR45 (37455) that I ordered last year set me back close to a $990 NZD and 46081 at least $370 NZD. If you are looking at playing with Marklin Digital, the Digital Starter sets with two trains + Central Station 2 can cost around $2,000 NZD as well

[kvp]

They are the oldest still existing and certainly one of the most expensive manufacturers. When you make everything in house with outdated technology, this is the result. They tried chinese manufacturing, but nearly went bankrupt because of quality problems and production delays. The result is the company had to move everything back to europe and that didn't help the prices. Compared to japanese manufacturers, they are very expensive, even the non maerklin branded, but maerklin owned brands, like trix and minitrix. However my only great problem with their marketing strategy is the production of exclusive releases with very little production runs. This means only a few people could buy the nicer trains and only at a rather huge price. This discourages people who actually want to run them from starting with maerklin trains and further reduces their market share. Not to mention instead of the company making a nice profit by selling 4xN trains, maerklin sells N trains and then resellers sell them again at a double price, meaning the company gets only 1/3 of the total money and most of their products are still unaccessable for most train fans. It isn't a suprise that recently japanese manufacturers started taking their market share with the same products they make, only better and cheaper. (i'm saying this as a japanese n and european z scale modeller)

[Matteo_IT]

Yes, you are right!

Marklin has two problems:

- too much expensive

- AC alternate current (all the others are in DC)

for this last reason Marklin is a train that works only in his own system... no possible interchange, exept the carriages but you have to pay the spare insulated axes.

In Italy Marklin is still celebrated... for me is not much detailed and too much expensive...

[Densha]

- AC alternate current (all the others are in DC)

for this last reason Marklin is a train that works only in his own system... no possible interchange, exept the carriages but you have to pay the spare insulated axes.

This is not entirely true. Märklin also releases a lot of their models in DC under the Trix brand. But still very expensive.

[Mr_Alex]

I wonder how the Japanese people see Marklin model trains when it comes to pricing, I talked with one Japanese lady on youtube who likes reviewing model trains and tomy trains, she tells me the last thing she would touch or review is a Marklin, this is also from my insider model order last year, take a look at the BR45:

[kvp]

Two questions:

-how much would a Z scale insider BR64 cost?

-could you get one for me? (i don't qualify for the insider program)

[Mr_Alex]

with BR64 past deadline already, I had already sent my order form for the E93 this year's insider model

[Ochanomizu]

They look beautiful.  Other than that, I cannot comment.

[Martijn Meerts]

Depends on the train in question.. Marklin is definitely expensive, but many of their loco's are still all metal rather than all plastic. Their metal models generally look and feel really good, and they run great as well due to the extra weight from the metal frame and housing. Those models are well worth the price.

 

They do however also release more and more models made from plastic, and while I don't mind plastic models at all, somehow a lot of the Marklin plastic models feel rather cheap. I have about 8 or 9 Marklin locomotives, and most of them are excellent models, whereas some others ... Well, let's just say they look nice as a display piece ;)

 

As for the digital starter sets, the more expensive ones include the Central Station 2, which by itself already costs more than half of what a digital starter set costs. The Central Station isn't for everyone though, but I'd expect those who don't want a Central Station in the first place not to be considering buying one of those starter sets anyway.

 

As for the AC comment, many of the more popular European brands have both DC and AC versions of their models available, and like Densha said, Marklin owns Trix these days, and releases most of the AC models as DC under that brand. Running wise, AC actually has a lot of advantages, including better power pickup, and reverse loops aren't an issue at all. The main disadvantage are the center studs, which become terribly visible especially on very detailed layouts ;)

[john_ibw]

I am surprised none have mentioned the track system Marklin uses. Apart from being very expensive, I wont be buying Marklin because I will need a separate layout to run them Marklin trains. 

[john_ibw]

Martijn, i think we posted about the same time :)

[Mr_Alex]

I'd like to know, in Japan, how popular is Marklin in the model railway scene?

[Davo Dentetsu]

I think if we were to search through most nation's native model railway scene, you would find a wide scale of entry level and premium products.  Marklin happens to be in the very privileged position of being one of the most well-known names of not only throughout the world, but also through time.  A lot of the esteemed older modellers would rate it very highly because of such a great engineering standard back in the day when that wasn't the norm.

I doubt it will be as strong as it used to be when the next generation (what the heck am I talking about, I'm only bloody 29!  T_T ) keep the model railway tradition going, because we are used to very high standards in many of the rolling stock available.

[Mr_Alex]

Marklin's rolling stock range has been very disappointing for the last few years, lack of Era 1-4 coaches and it got to the point where I had to buy fleischmann carriages so my BR39 could haul a decent Era 2 Prussian clerestory train

[ToniBabelony]

AFAIK, Märklin isn't very popular here in Japan. It's more a very expensive curiosity than a serious modelling brand. Yes, there are people who work with Märklin as their main system, but those are few. Very few.

 

If Japanese go for H0, they will go for Kato or Tomix most of the time. More hardcore modellers go for H0j (12mm track) or 1/80 size H0 (16.5mm). Very popular is also H0e (9mm) for micro layouts and modelling narrow gauge (±765mm) lines.

[Mr_Alex]

I have been looking at moving to Japan once I complete my Bachelor in Information Technology Double Major (Software Engineer + Programming) and get a job with a Japanese IT Software Engineering or Programming firm, now question marks fly in my head if I should move to Japanese model railroading or stay with Marklin and also what begs the question is are there any model train shops in Japan that service or repair Marklin too

[ToniBabelony]

High-end shops like Tenshodo, IMON, and so on do repair and sell Märklin trains (new and 2nd hand) IIRC, but don't expect a good price. It's maybe a good idea to bring Märklin stuff anyway, sell it here and switch to Japanese models. xD

[Mr_Alex]

Good idea, my Olympic Wurttemberg C (34112) costed me at least $200 NZD to have sound chips and new MFX style chips put in the tender pricewise, it seems Kato and Tomix beats Marklin's inflated prices

Edited April 29, 2014 by Mr_Alex

[westfalen]

As the old saying goes, 'when in Rome...'.

 

Of course Japanese HO is not as cheap, relatively speaking, as Japanese N gauge either because there is just not that much of a market for HO there in general compared to N gauge.  My Tramway C12 cost almost $500 AUD which is why I'm just thinking along the lines of a country branch line terminus.

[Mr_Alex]

I am also curious in regards with model railway exhibitions in Japan, has there been any presence of Marklin in either Gauge 1 or HO or Z?

[Mr_Alex]

Also I'll be letting the JNS members know, Marklin usually have a Summer New Items range but this year its been delayed for more than a fortnight too

[Welshbloke]

There's a trick to Marklin, and that's to keep an eye on ebay listings and in model shops.

 

As it's a weird 3-rail AC system most sellers don't have a clue, so you find things listed cheaply with "unable to test" in the description.

 

Using this trick I've managed to bag a Wurttemburg T.18 for £30 (needed some cleaning and adjustment, but came with a load-regulated digital decoder and permanent magnet), and a Br.216 which someone had converted to Marklin digital for £25.

 

Yes, new models are stupidly expensive, and they don't seem willing or able to understand that catering to rich old people is a losing game if you don't also sell to the younger and less wealthy (why are they going to want to buy your stuff in fifty years time if they don't have nostalgic memories of their childhood train set?) Plus they seem to have a few wobbles with detail errors and build quality, which is why most of my collection are from the '80s or '90s. They've kept the same tooling for many years in some cases, so you can upgrade your older loco with new couplers, pantographs, convert it to digital with an ESU kit (much cheaper than Marklin, and just as good) and end up with something that looks very close to the latest offering for not a lot of money.

 

The sad part? The number of twenty year old models I've bought used which have evidently barely turned a wheel in that time. I run them all. Limited editions or rarities just get even more careful handling, wheels, pickup sliders and motor brushes can be replaced.

[ozman2009]

What you say relates to HO - my experience is with Z scale, and it sounds much the same. I also have two Tenshodo Z scale locos (D51 and C62), and they're superb little machines. On Marklin track, and with Marklin power packs, they run much better than comparable Marklin locos, especially at lower throttle settings.

 

Having said all that, the Rokuhan Z scale diesel locos seem to be a bit too light, and struggle to pull trains up a 2% grade. Comparable Marklin locos have no such trouble.