Märklin

It's being reported elsewhere that a UK investment group have purchased Märklin, the latter having been in some financial difficulty for a little while.

John.

Reply to
John Turner
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This has been on the cards for some time, in so far as the British investment grou has been attempting to take over Marklin, but has thus far been unable to get the approval of all 22 family shareholders. A unanimous decisions was required, and the last 3 members agreed to sell earlier this week.

Reply to
John Ruddy

You might note that this is not so much a takeover, more a rescue, if the deal had not gone through the banks would have foreclosed and liquidated the assets. It will be interesting to see if the new management can revitalise it. Keith

Reply to
Keith

I think they will go down the route of shifting production to China, not producing models which have limited appeal etc. Marklin are at the position that Hornby were about 10 years ago, with the extra problem of a slack domestic market.

Reply to
John Ruddy

"John Ruddy" wrote

Agreed, although I suspect they have a slightly stronger product base than Hornby had ten years ago.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

Aside from price, IMO the single biggest obstacle to maintaining and improving market share was Marklin's insistence in 3-rail AC propulsion, plus their decision to go their own way with DCC. They created a captive market for their line, but it's a market that is shrinking as people nowadays generally prefer the model trains built to international standards. IOW, Marklin has become a niche market for people who like their "system". There is also the problem that older models were often kept in the catalog long past their best-before date, their die work superseded by both Marklin's newer products and their competitors' lines. Anecdotal evidence: my Austrian cousin used to swear by Marklin. Now he swears at them - if he pays attention to them at all.

IMO, the new owners have their work cut out for them.

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

I should explain that under German law a company can remain under family control even after they have sold most of its shares. The same is true in Holland. There was an proposal to outlaw this practice across the EU but the German government vetoed it.

(kim)

Reply to
kim

I am thinking they are more in the position Hornby-Dublo was 40 years ago.

(kim)

Reply to
kim

It must be said that stud contact is by far the best reliability/appearance compromise, both on H0 and 0. I've operated Marklin layouts at exhibitions and gone all day without 'crane shunting', while neighbouring two-rail layouts were constantly swearing, prodding and track cleaning.

In the last version of plastic stud track I've seen, studs were invisible 2' away. Of course, if you must take pictures from very close up, studs will become visible, but then all the plastic rolling stock will just look like plastic lumps, anyway.

Reply to
Tim Christian

Now you are being unfair to Märklin. They have improved a lot over the last

20 years, their motors and transmission are so much better now than in the mid-eighties. Marklin have always been regarded as solid, dependable quality products, slightly out of date technically, but easily repaired and well built. That has changed somewhat the last 20 years, their products have more faults, are much more complicated and now cannot be repaired by an untrained but well equipped person. (3 sizes of screwdriver, a set of hex keys 2-5 mm and a puller for 2 mm axles plus a soldering iron) Märklin has called themselves the market leader for years, but they are only that in Germany.

Now, if they would just make wheelsets with the RP25 / S4.2 contour for their wagons...

regards, Søren

Reply to
Søren Monies

Not really. Hornby-Dublo were also three-rail, die-cast metal models. The new owners had no interest in either and asset-stripped the company leaving only its name. I suspect the new owners of Marklin will do exactly the same ie: start producing injection-moulded plastic locos for two-rail use only.

(kim)

Reply to
kim

*Slightly* out of date technically?
Reply to
Erik Olsen

"Søren Monies" wrote

I'd echo that for Fleischmann too!

John.

Reply to
John Turner

"kim" wrote

But die-cast has become part of the modern manufacturing process once more, with Bachmann utilising this for some loco bodies or footplates in some instances.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

Tim Christian wrote: [...]Stud contact (was)

Interesting point. I've not noticed any problems with 2-rail in any scale larger than Z at any of the Toronto train shows I've visited in the last ten years or so. Maybe the clean, non-smoking venue has something to do with that. The continuous cleaning action of the slider over the studs would certainly improve matters, and having two rails for the ground path makes loss of contact very unlikely.

As for track cleaning: some the "common sense" ways of doing that actually make things worse.

HTH

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

Broadway Limited Industries (BLI) is also offering diecast. I expect the use of diecast to increase as quality continues to improve.

I saw the Trix version of the GG-1 electric loco last fall. it has a diecast body. Gorgeous loco, beautiful crisp detail, excellent paint job, and AFAICT perfect proportions. But pricey: about 30% more than the BLI GG-1.

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

Hey! I was just being polite! :-)

-Søren

Reply to
Søren Monies

Well John, don't wish too hard, because it might come true... Fleischmann now delivers their wagons with wheelsets where at least the flange is minimum NEM height: approx 0.8 mm. One of those is the "Pershing" type bogie van for the WW 1 french railways. Roco of course, have had RP 25 wheels for years...

regards, Søren

Reply to
Søren Monies

Søren, please check your references: Minimum flange height acc. to NEM for 16.5 mm gauge is not 0.8 mm.

As I read

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flange height D can be made as small as 0.5*Dmax, this is 0.6 mm, a little less than NMRA RP25.

Reply to
Erik Olsen

Sorry, you are right, I did not check my references. I haven't even seen the new Fleischmann wheels but only rely on what the german language magazines tell me in their Nuremberg Toy Fair reports. And that is that Fleischmann will market wagons with their "new low profile flanges" which was reported as being 0,8 mm high. (For example stock number 5733 in their catalogue)

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-Søren

Reply to
Søren Monies

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