Märklin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

toy

Toy

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Wurttemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys. In some parts of Germany, the company's name is almost synonymous with model railroads. On 11 May 2006 Märklin was taken over by Kingsbridge, a London venture capital company. Märklin filed for bankruptcy on 4 February 2009, but on 5 February 2010 announced a return to profitability.

History

Märklin released its first wind-up train with cars that ran on expandable track in 1891, noting that railroad toys had the potential to follow the common practice of doll houses, in which the initial purchase would be enhanced and expanded with more accessories for years after the initial purchase. To this end, Märklin offered additional rolling stock and track with which to expand its boxed sets.

Märklin is responsible for the creation of several popular model railroad gauges or scale, noteworthy exceptions being N scale

N scale

N scale is a popular model railway scale/track gauge. Depending upon the manufacturer , the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the gauge is . The term N gauge refers to the track dimensions, but in the UK in particular N gauge refers to a 1:148 scale with track gauge modelling...

and Wide gauge

Wide Gauge

Standard Gauge, also known as Wide Gauge, was an early model railway and toy train rail gauge, introduced in the United States in 1906 by Lionel Corporation. As it was a toy standard, rather than a scale modeling standard, the actual scale of Standard Gauge locomotives and rolling stock varied...

. In 1891, Märklin defined gauges 1-5 as standards for toy train

Toy train

A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a pull toy that does not even run on track, or it might be operated by clockwork or a battery...

s and presented them at the Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

Toy Fair. They soon became international standards. Märklin followed with O gauge (by some accounts as early as 1895 or as late as 1901), H0 scale in 1935, and the diminutive Z scale

Z scale

Z scale is one of the smallest commercially available model railway scales with a track gauge of . Z scale trains operate on 0-10 volts direct current and offer the same operating characteristics as all other two-rail, direct-current, analog model railways...

, 1:220, in 1972 — smallest in the world for decades.

Today, Märklin manufactures and markets trains and accessories in Gauge 1, H0 scale, and Z scale

Z scale

. In 1994 Märklin acquired a Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

based model train manufacturer Trix

Trix (company)

Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. In 1935 it began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label...

. Today Trix is another brand of Märklin Holding and covers N-scale and DC-operated H0 scale. Märklin's older trains are considered highly collectible today, and Märklin's current offerings enjoy premium status among hobbyists.

Although Märklin is best known for its trains, from 1914 to 1999, the company produced mechanical construction sets similar to Meccano

Meccano

Meccano is a model construction system comprising re-usable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, with nuts and bolts to connect the pieces. It enables the building of working models and mechanical devices....

and Erector

Erector Set

Erector Set is the trade name of a toy construction set that is popular in the United States.It consists of collections of small metal beams with regular holes for nuts, bolts, screws, and mechanical parts such as pulleys, gears, and small electric motors.The brand name is currently used for...

. Between 1967 and 1982, the company produced a slotcar system called Märklin Sprint. Märklin also produced numerous other toys over the years, including lithographed tinplate toy automobiles and boats.

On 11 May 2006, the company, which had until then been owned by the three families Märklin, Friz and Safft, was sold to the British investment group Kingsbridge Capital, with the support of the employees. The new shareholders plan to restructure the company and make it profitable again. The purchase price was approximately $38 million. At the time, Märklin had approximately $70.5 million in debt, as a result of several years of slumping sales.

In 2007, the company expanded its product offering by buying the remaining assets of the bankrupt firm, Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk, who owned the LGB brand and product line of G scale

G scale

G scale is a scale for model railways, and because of its size and durability, G scale is often used outdoors. Such installations are known as garden railways.-LGB:...

model railways.

On 4 February 2009 Märklin filed for insolvency

Insolvency

Insolvency means the inability to pay one's debts as they fall due. Usually used to refer to a business, insolvency refers to the inability of a company to pay off its debts.Business insolvency is defined in two different ways:...

at the Göppingen municipal court. A year and a day later, on 5 February 2010, Märklin announced a return to profitability.

The Märklin System

The Märklin system is the technique of using a third rail

Third rail (model railroading)

The use of a third rail in model railroading is a technique that is sometimes applied in order to facilitate easier wiring.-Two-rail versus three-rail system:Early toy trains used two metal rail tracks like most real trains...

concealed in the roadbed with only small studs

Stud contact system

The Stud Contact System is a once-obsolete ground-level power supply system for electric trams. Power supply studs were set in the road at intervals and connected to a buried electric cable by switches operated by magnets on the tramcars. Current was collected from the studs by a "skate" or "ski...

protruding through the ties of the track. The two outer rails are connected electrically. This provides the simplified wiring enjoyed by larger gauges—such as for reverse loops—without seriously detracting from the realism of the track because only two of the rails are visible. Because the two outer rails are not electrically isolated from each other, however, some do not consider Märklin's system to be a true three-rail system. However, older sections of 'M-Track' do have an actual conductor rail rather than studs. This older system is compatible with newer trains, although the reduced clearance for the pick-up shoe can sometimes cause running difficulties.

The Märklin system has some incompatibility with other manufacturers' H0 trains. Because the wheels on Märklin's cars are not insulated, it causes shorts if its cars are used on other manufacturers' H0 track without changing the wheels. The profile of the wheels are also different (see also NEM 340). Additionally, for many years Märklin was the only brand that used AC

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

for its H0 scale trains, although in the 60s Fleischmann

Fleischmann (model railroads)

Fleischmann is a German manufacturer of model railway products.Fleischmann was founded in Nuremberg in 1887 by Jean Fleischmann, as a toy company. Their first model train, in O scale, was produced in 1938...

, HAG, Röwa, Roco

Roco

Roco, based in Salzburg, Austria, is a manufacturer of model railway equipment.-History:The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in H0 scale and the...

and others started producing trains for the Märklin system. Some people convert Märklin locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s to DC

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...

for use on DC layouts, and by buying HAMO, Märklin had begun offering a line of DC locomotives as well, first under the name of HAMO and, after buying Trix

Trix (company)

Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. In 1935 it began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label...

, under that name.

Märklin System is the brand name for Märklin's new version of proprietary Märklin Digital

Märklin Digital

Märklin Digital was among the earlier digital model railway control systems. It consisted of a full system including locomotive decoders , central control , a computer interface , turnout decoders , digital relays and s88 feedback modules...

train control system for H0-scale and 1-scale model trains introduced in 2004. Like Märklin Digital it is used for controlling trains and accessories digitally. The difference is that it has more available addresses, programmable decoders and a feedback-function from the mfx-decoders that helps the control unit identify the locomotives.

Märklin Digital

Märklin was among the first model railway companies to introduce a digital train-control system. The Märklin Digital

Märklin Digital

system for Märklin's 3-rail AC train layouts was introduced in 1984 using Motorola-based chips. A few years later the system developed jointly by Märklin, Lenz GmbH and Arnold GmbH was introduced for 2-rail DC locomotives. The system was used by Arnold in their N scale locomotives. While the first digital Z locomotives were announced in the late 1990s, the plans were cancelled rapidly due to heat dissipation problems in small locomotives. This digital control system was later developed into DCC (Digital Command Control

Digital Command Control

Digital Command Control is a standard for a system to operate model railways digitally. When equipped with Digital Command Control, locomotives on the same electrical section of track can be independently controlled....

). Märklin's digital system for 3 rail track is not directly compatible with DCC (Digital Command Control

Digital Command Control

) although the systems are electrically compatible and many controllers can work both systems. Today Märklin offers DCC compatible locomotives for its 2-rail DC Trix brand.

Märklin k83

The Märklin k83 is one of the components of the Märklin Digital

Märklin Digital

system for controlling model trains.

The Märklin k83 module allows 4 electromagnetic articles to be switched to either 'red' or 'green'. These are used for setting turnouts, signals etc.

The address of each module is set by a DIP switch

DIP switch

DIP switches are manual electric switches that are packaged in a group in a standard dual in-line package...

inside the housing.

The current that is produced is momentary—just long enough to switch the electromagnet in the item from one state to the other. Permanent switching of a continuous current is handled by a separate module—the Märklin-60840 or k84.

Märklin k84

The Märklin k84 is one of the components of the Märklin Digital

Märklin Digital

system for controlling model trains.

The Märklin k84 module is essentially 4 digital relays, each with 2 mutually-exclusive outputs. These modules are used for switching current on and off. The address of each module is set by a DIP switch

DIP switch

DIP switches are manual electric switches that are packaged in a group in a standard dual in-line package...

inside the housing.

The current that is produced is continuous. Momentary switching for the purposes of switching electromagnetic devices is handled by a separate module—the Märklin-60830 or k83.

Products and collectibles

Over the years, the Märklin marque became valuable to model train collectors, some of the very early models fetching impressive prices on auction. In January 2005, the Märklin museum in Göppingen

Göppingen

Göppingen is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. It is situated at the bottom of the Hohenstaufen mountain, in the valley of the river Fils....

, Germany

Germany

, was burgled and more than 100 pieces, with an estimated value of more than 1 million Euros, were stolen. The items, which included one-of-a-kind prototypes along with pieces that dated back to 1891, were recovered in March 2005.

The range of products is extensive, and collectors also pay attention to packaging that were used for the products. Collectors also look for rare and hard to find models, such as the SBB Crocodile model, the AMTRAK ICE model, the Western Pacific 'California Zephyr' model, and the famous Union Pacific Big Boy model, among many others.

Märklin's products are mainly German (DB

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

) model trains. However, Märklin also produces Swiss (SBB), Dutch (NS

Nederlandse Spoorwegen

Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...

), American (various independent railroads from the Golden Age of American trains), and various other model trains from around the world.

In 2010 Märklin announced the release of its first ever model of the Russian Railways, the Russian Velaro SAPSAN

Sapsan

Sapsan is a gauge high speed train in Russia. The design is part of the Siemens Velaro family....

high speed train. The model is based upon the DB ICE 3MF model which began to be sold in 2008.

The Märklin toy company systematically included a print run number on almost all their printed material, including the boxes in which their products shipped. These print run numbers indicate the printer and also the month and year of printing. This is useful for dating an item that is known to be associated with some printed material. The second group of digits indicates the catalogue number. The last set of numeric digits in the print run number indicates the month and year that the item was printed. The last group of letters identifies the printer.

The third game in the Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride (board game)

Ticket to Ride is a railway-themed German-style board game designed by Alan R. Moon and published in 2004 by Days of Wonder. The game is also known as Zug um Zug , Les Aventuriers du Rail , Aventureros al Tren , Wsiąść do pociągu , and Menolippu .The game won the 2004 Spiel des Jahres, the Origins...

board game series, released in 2006, was named in their honour.

External links

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