I was recently in Germany and purchased a Marklin engine. I was just told that they filed for bankruptcy. What does that mean to long term collecting and setups? It was sugested by this moderator that my next purchase should be the expensive digital control unit 60213. Anyone know where I can get the best deal on one? what else will I need beyound that. I have ordered C5 series track. Thanks for any help.

Hello NHMike,
what´s right Märklin is bankrupt.
But in the German New you find the Word "Insolvens". Märklin still procude and there is a Insolvensmanager who trys to get Märklin back to the normal.

I personaly hope märklin come back to normal.

See ya´
Thomo

I honestly think it's difficult to bring Märklin back to buisness. They have 50.000.000 euro (ca. 64.000.000 US-$) debts. A possible solution would be to sell LGB. But I think they'll find some way back 'cause there are to many people using Märklin system.

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Greetings, Jack.

Hi Mike,
Welcome to the forum!

As I said in my email, please specify what you want to do next:
1 - play on the carpet
2 - build staionary layout
3 - build modules
4 - what ever?

We can help you a lot better, if we know what you're up to.
In general - to reply to the above points - one could say

0 - you need a means to control that loco you have. According to the item no. you gave me, it is equipped with a mfx-decoder.
Anybody of you Märklin - guys out there know which controller is suitable for this decoder, apart from the new CS2-controller (60213)?

1 - buy track
2 - make plan, then build it
3 - same as 2

Sounds a bit harsh, I know, but making plans first could save a big chunk of money otherwise spent to correct mistakes ( and I talk from a hard learned lesson ) due to not planning what you want to do

FYI: Here is a link to the description of the digital controller.

Take care,
Erhard

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US-Modules in N eMail: erhard(at)minirails(dot)de

Thank Erhard,
No I don't want to play on the carpet. I want to slowly build a nice stationary train setup. I am very new at it and will seek out as much advice as I can find. I currently own the engine I mentioned and I believe it's reffered to as C5 series track. I want a digital control unit, but before I invest nearly $800.00, I want to be sure it's what I need. I believe I will need to purchase a transformer as well?? So what else will I need if I have track, a digital control uinit and a trasformer? I also need a bit of patients as well. Thanks again.

Mike

Hi Mike,
For a stationary layout, you should first determine the space you have available for it. The next step would be to find out a layout theme you'd like to build.

I, for instance, model the B&O mainline between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC in the south, as well as Frederick in the west. Since H0 is a bit too large to do this, I model in N-scale.

So what you need would be a nice layout plan that fits your available space. It seems hard to find one, especially if you model a foreign country railroad but world wide net offers many research resources. A good head start is Wikipedia.

To stress your patience a bit further, I suggest you grab a folding rule and measure the space you have available. Then draw up a layout room in 1/87 scale and pencil in the measured dimensions for the layout. Make a couple of foto copies as you will most probably need them in this "scribbling" process. If anything fails, use a computer scetching program, draw in the available space and upload it as a picture to this forum asking for proposals.

Just as a hint: The type of engine you have dates back to times when Germany was divided into kingdoms and states. Your engine was registered with the Prussian Railways (an era we call "Sate Railroads" at this side of the pond.) The time period would be somewhere between 1875 to 1920. According to the Märklin database, the model you have, was a limited edition and is no longer produced. Year of production was 2006. These engines are hard to find nowadays.

I think, this leaves you with a bit of work to do

Erhard

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US-Modules in N eMail: erhard(at)minirails(dot)de

If I go out and splurge on the digital contorl unit 60231, will I need a transformer or is the 60231 everything I need?