Model Train Journal

Not much happening on the layout; I've been working on a few things, selling a bunch of stuff. The project piles have accumulated to unsustainable levels.

Despite vows to halt purchases, this little prewar Marklin set found its way to me a couple weeks back. Once I verified whether it was AC or DC (it's AC), we got it on the track:



Marklin draws a bit more voltage than the typical prewar American 3-rail, so I needed a decent-sized pack. The outer loop has an MTH Z-1000 pack assigned, so the Marklin was zooming.

That's a great looking set. How do you determine if it runs on AC or DC?

RBH29 wrote:That's a great looking set. How do you determine if it runs on AC or DC?

Thanks. I had been talking with Ray Ellen over at Vienna Station about looking for a small electric set for the Christmas display, and he suggested this one. I had read somewhere that some prewar Marklin stuff ran on DC, so I didn't want to put it on the layout and mess it up. A fellow tin-plater told me that if the there were lightning-arrow markings on the boiler, it was almost certainly 20-volt AC. This one has the markings on the boiler on each side of the stack. Presumably, if it was DC and I applied AC power, it would just sit there and jerk around a bit. It ran fine on AC, although it requires a bit more power being 20-volt.



It would be interesting to know the history of these things; in this case, if this set was one made my Marklin for the U. S. market, or if it was sold in Germany during the run-up to WWII, then found its way to America subsequently.

If only our old trains could talk.

Whoa! You guys have the other trade tower up. Nice work!

Terrific photos, Ben...thanks for that. The Twin Towers model looks really great, as does the GE power plant.

Sometimes late at night, I catch a rerun of Barney Miller...that opening panorama of the NYC skyline and the Towers is tough to see. I never thought they were architecturally stunning in form, but certainly iconic given the history of their construction. It can be a bit jarring to reflect on it.