maico

The average wage this year in Romania is £598 a month. I don't know what the girls get paid, probably less, but they are hard at work making Roco Fleischmann locos including the motors in-house. Starting a model factory in Europe would most likely be in Hungary (Marklin-Trix factory), Slovenia, Czech republic or Romania who have cheaper skilled workforces. It's common to find German companies having HQ, design and production in Germany but also having plants in EU eastern european countries. If you buy a Miele vacuum for example, it's made in Germany, including the motors, with some other parts coming from eastern europe. If you live in China it's locally made in Dongguan.

The English version of the Marklin-Trix video with CAD and interview with the BR06 model designer is here

Some exciting news for 2022.... https://www.trix.de/en/products/details/article/25060/3966?tx_torrpdb_pi1[backlink]=3966&tx_torrpdb_pi1[brandId]=2&tx_torrpdb_pi1[era]=&tx_torrpdb_pi1[filter]=1&tx_torrpdb_pi1[gaugechoice]=8&tx_torrpdb_pi1[groupchoice]=&tx_torrpdb_pi1[newonly]=0&tx_torrpdb_pi1[noPaging]=1&tx_torrpdb_pi1 =1&tx_torrpdb_pi1[pagesort]=artnrasc&tx_torrpdb_pi1[perpage]=1000&tx_torrpdb_pi1[subgroupchoice]=&cHash=3b70d5564993064cc8ebe604c39f52e0

Just a switched on dealer I think. I've found other websites in the Netherlands selling commercial tools set up the same. I paid 110 euros inc. 9.90 shipping for the items. Gaugemaster wanted £157.

Well, I recently received a parcel from a German dealer with a value including shipping of £110. The dealer deducted German MwSt and shipped by DHL. The PO delivered it and there was no UK Vat applied so it worked out cheaper than when the UK was in the single market and VAT was charged at the source of supply! If the item had been over £135 no doubt the PO would have charged Vat on the whole invoice value and a clearance fee.

Upminster Bridge station on the District line today

Back in the mid 1950s on Peter Schnabel sold BR 06 models using Marklin SK 800 (produced 1939-1959) as donors. The later models were pretty complex with tender drive and I presume a shaft to drive the loco wheels. See the green model bellow.. https://tischbahn.de/sk-800-x2-die-br-06-von-schnabel/

Roco-Fleischmann have a big range and have a warehouse full of spares. Most parts are available gong back years and can be ordered on their website. I've got a DB103 made by Fleischmann in 1977 and some parts are still available! Roco motors are made in-house. Marklin-Trix are a mixed bag with some early coreless motor designs not available. The traditional horse shoe motors have full parts availability going back decades but some recent can motors do not. The exploded pdf parts diagrams are removed from the site at around the 20 year mark.

The weeds had a bit of a field day in later years

Listed as track diagram control panel in the 1991 Fleischmann catalogue. If you want the name for each switch give me the 4 digit part number and I'll look it up.

2 sold, 13 still available

Where are you getting these points from? I filled in my own VAT returns for years and have not heard of any of them. VAT is a tax on sales which is paid by the end consumer, why would it be raised on free gifts or personalised letters? I get magazines in the post from abroad and there are no customs fees.

I don't understand why the publisher would get confused, there is no VAT on printed matter in the UK. They must also be shipping to countries outside the EU.

I asked Marklin Trix why they don't ship to the UK anymore and this was their reply: "Thank you for your letter dated 09 August 2021. Unfortunately, delivery is not possible until we receive the UK tax number. Due to the Brexit, delivery is not possible at the moment. We regret that we cannot send you any other reply. Please stay well. With kind regards Your Märklin customer advisor Frank Mäder" So, they have applied for a UK VAT number and will collect it for HMRC ? I'm a sole trader with a lowish turnover and canceled my VAT registration last month after 29 years. The changes coming in both the UK and EU VAT reporting are too much hassle for the likes of me!

I've normally found it cheaper to buy from German dealers for NOS models, direct or via eBay, rather than UK ones who source from Guagemaster the UK distributor. Some items were cheaper from the Marklin-Trix website. My last purchase last year was for a replacement Portescap Athlonix coreless motor @ 35 euros + a few bits of track with their standard 8 euros shipping rate. That's half the price of the same motor (without flywheel) from UK factors like RS Components!