I’ve run across a fellow who has a cache of old Fleischman and Maerklin HO. “Old,” in this case, is uncertain: they’re two rail trains–even the Marklin track is–with fiber ties and formed, sheet-metal rails (tubular, like Lionel, but with more realistic tie pattern). In addition to locos and both European and US pattern rolling stock, there’s a great deal of trackwork, including switches, accessory activation sections, and modular signals. I’m guessing that we’re talking '50s here, but I cannot be certain from the glances I’ve had.
Virtually EVERYTHING is in superb condition: some of the boxes have never been opened. I took an aluminum, streamlined, US pattern passenger car out of its box for the first time, and it’s gorgeous.
Is there a collector’s group in Europe or, preferably, the US that focuses on these trains? This guy wants to sell out–he inherited them from his dad but has no interest–and there is no one here locally that is into that sort of thing. eBay is an option, of course, but he’d like a better idea of what he’s got, and a specialists’ club would be a quicker source of info and, perhaps, interest than eBay would provide.
First, there are very few HO collecters in the U.S. and most of those are in brass engines and cars (and even that is limited - the last price guide is over 10 years old). There is nothing comparable to the Toy Train Collectors in O, Standard, and S gauges.
Second the Maerklin is probably AC 3 rail, the third “rail” is a series of metal studs in the middle of each tie, the engines have a shoe in the middle to slide over the studs. So it won’t work with other HO trains or track.
No, the Maerklin track is not their stud rail–I am familiar with it, and this stuff has no studs. Too much of it is New-in-Box for it to be some other brand boxed wrongly.
Regarding the Marklin stuff, there a lot of collecters (German) who are willing to pay a lot for mint condition material. This is one of the strange things with Marklin, they are almost an investment because there value increase every year.
When going eBay, it’s worth the try to post on ebay.de Don’t bother posting in the German language. This because they will read and understand it. Do use the article numbers in your add’s because Marklin collecters only think in art.numbers and not in type numbers!