Greetings, I am a collector of Marklin Maxi 1/32 tinplate trains. It has been my experience over the past few years that they are really a unique line and really do not fall into a category with any other type of toy train. Tinplate collectors usually only deal with standard or O scales. Garden railroad clubs do not use them because they lack the fine details needed for modeling certain eras or prototypes. Does anyone know of any clubs locally or nationally that focus on these trains? I have a very large collection and would like to share it with others. I live in Denver Colorado. Thank You
I can’t tell you about any clubs or organizations but I always liked the look of Marklin Maxi in the ads they used to run in CTT.
Are they a.c. or d.c.? two rail or three rail, I forget. Are they still being made?
Mike S.
I am curious about Marklin Maxi also. I think I saw a set of Marklins in a house and I thought they were very cool. Kind of Marx 6" car sized but with smaller gauge 3 rail.
Jim H
I have an older (1970’s) Marklin 1 scale 0-6-0 I’ve had for years. Due to the weird power requirements (2-rail AC with DC activated reverse - basically I use a Lionel transformer for power, utilizing the “whistle” button to trip the reverse unit) it has always sat on a shelf. I’ve always wanted some cars to go with it but for one reason or another never found exactly what I wanted.
That being said, Marklin is super high-quality stuff and, although not super-detailed body wise, the valve gear on my loco is stunning.
I, too, have a fair-sized collection of Marklin MAXI (about 22 locomotives and an undetermined amount of rolling stock), and am very satisfied with the products.
I do not know of any national, regional, or local clubs that are specifically devoted to Marklin MAXI, and really don’t have a feel for how much of a market the line developed in the U.S. or elsewhere.
That said, they are beautifully constructed all-metal (mostly) trains that run smooth and quiet as a fine Swiss watch–kink of like a fine Swiss watch when it comes to operation, and even more quiet than most LGB trains, which I long considered about the most quiet of all.
Marklin MAXI trains operate on either DC or AC current–all that’s needed is the simple replacement of a board in the locomotive (the board comes packaged with each locomotive, and is a simple plug-and-play installation). I have operated my MAXI trains in the past with DC on a “regular” Large Scale layout, along with LGB and other trains on LGB track, and I have also operated them on a Marklin-only layout with AC Marklin transformers and Marklin’s very fine 45mm track.
Because they, for the most part, reside in that no-man’s land between toy trains (they are close to Standard Gauge in size, construction, and appearance) and scale models, they may not be appreciated by some folks and probably enjoyed only a limited market in the U.S. I’m not sure if Marklin is still adding to the line in a significant way, but for a few years they were coming out with a lot of stuff on a fairly regular basis.
I had considered selling most of my Marklin Maxi at one point, but the stuff is so well made and so attractive that I changed my mind and will likely have a MAXI layout of some type when I move to a larger residence. Meantime, most of them are safely packed away in their boxes.
By the way: MAXI trains go great with Standard Gauge accessories. Truth is, many of those accessories loo
Marklin Maxi trains are 2 rail AC powered trains. They also include a DC circut board that can be changed out by opening the bottom of the engine and replacing the AC board. They run on 45 mm track which is the same distance between rails as LGB, Aristo Craft, Bachmann, and Large Scale Lionel.
Hello
I am also a have a marklin maxi layout www.trainweb.org/leovardia and my collection consists of about 15 loco’s and 50 wagons and coaches. I also think it is a great product of perfect quality. At the moment it is really cheap to buy in Europe because Marklin has disconnued the Maxi train in favour of the regular gauge one products. A lot of shops are now selling their stocks for 50% or even cheaper.
However the Maxi train was develloped by Gustav Tausch who now owns ETS from the Czech republic. www.ets.cz where they make gauge 0 trains of similar construction, but with driving capacitíes of less quality then Maxi.
I think the Maxi modells run very well, but when you replace the Delta decoder by a high performance decoder 60955 (Märklin) or 77500 Uhlenbrock you get the real top quality.
Greetings
Bert
Hello Bert, I love your website but unfortunately I can not read it. Is there any way of translating it to English? I have been playing with the idea of having a 1/32 racetrack included on my layout. You did a wonderful job. John
Also, could you send me some links to the shops that are selling the maxi trains at 50% or les? John