I have a friend that is looking in to buying a HO Marklin Starter set. Doing some quick checking it appears that their stuff is not compatable with other stuff on the market. Appearently they have their own type of a 3 rail set up and a special DCC just called Digital. Has thier product line always been this way. The reason he wants to go with Marklin is beacause their father in law has a bunch of Marklin stuff he bought over 30 years ago in Germany. What can everybody tell me about their line… Is their new stuff the same as the old etc…
Right on all accounts. It is 3 rail, AC powered and not compatible with anything else. Because the wheels are not insulated from one another the cars cannot be run on 2 rail.
As for the HO 3-rail, I believe that other German manufacturers have some HO 3-rail locos too, and if so they would be compatible for non-digital running. But Marklin has NO two-rail.
The European manufacturers have in general gone with proprietary digital systems even for standard two-rail DC. But although I am no DCC expert, I don’t believe that DCC is compatible with 3-rail AC locomotives, so a proprietary system is all that is available; for the two-rail, you can always replace the digital controller.
Marklin equipment has traditionally been mechanically very reliable and has been considered a premium brand although their older stuff rather noisy. Cosmetically, short on detail compared with modern competition. Several years ago there was a very messy control battle between 23 (that’s right, 23) competing heirs. Ended up with a bankruptcy from which the company has only recently emerged (i.e. the nasty fight between the heirs resulted ultimately in them getting almost nothing). The new owners quickly introduced lower-priced introductory sets although continue to produce costly higher-end items (sort of like Proto 1K versus 2K).
Were I your friend, and if his Dad’s stuff is in good condition, I would sell it and go with conventional two-rail DC.
Märklin has it’s own system with a center stud contact strip in the middle of the track and it runs on AC. Many engines are made entirely of zinc so they are heavy and sturdy. Some people lament that it has less detail than plastic engines but it’s more difficult to do detail in zinc. Personally I love these diecast engines, they’ll pull anything and will probably outlast me.
Märklin has its own digital system that is not compatible with DCC. There are control systems on the market that can both run DCC and Märklin digital, like the Intellibox.
Märklin is big in Europe and many other manufacturers (Roco, Fleischmann, etc) make 3-rail AC trains for use with Märklin.
The recent Märklin trains are not comparable to the stuff they made 30 years ago. New track system (no more ugly metal track), new catenary system, much more detail. It’s like comparing modern Atlas master engines or BLI to 1970’s Athearn blue box.
Most new engines are standard equipped with digital decoders and the higher-end engines have many extra features and come with sound boards.
In general the quality is very high.
However, European trains are generally much more expensive than US brands and on top of that you pay for all the extra costs because they have to be imported. You can buy several US engines for the price of one Märklin engine. And you cannot combine it with 2-rail material.
Also, European railroads are heavily centered on passenger trains. The colorful consists of long-distance and commuter trains are great to operate but if that is not your cup of tea than you’d probably better look for something else.
So for practical reasons I would advise against it, unless you like European style railroads and are determined and willing to spend a lot more.