byron Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Please remember that German operating practice can be very different from what we know in the UK. I model epoch 3, and to British eyes some things seem very lax strange. Enjoy your first steps, German modelling is very rewarding indeed. Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
byron Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Ooops - nearly forgot. First thing you need to do is consider which coupling standard you are going to use. The default is loop and hook,but go for something better. Roco and Fleischmann do neat repacements. I use Fleischmann (avaiable in packs of 50 - enough for your first loco purchase ref. number 386515) these give very good close coupling, and it is easy for the "hand on high" to lift a vehicle out of the train formation if needed. Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted September 24, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 24, 2014 Please remember that German operating practice can be very different from what we know in the UK. I model epoch 3, and to British eyes some things seem very lax strange. Enjoy your first steps, German modelling is very rewarding indeed. Mike Mike, I just became curious which practices struck you as most odd when compared to those in the UK. I'm asking just to get an outside perspective on something I'm essentially taking for granted! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubber duck Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Thanks John for the concise, detailed and expensive sounding list, You just made my wallet groan! it would seem I cant go far wrong with any of the manufactures of the German system... A big Thanks to all the other posters with snippets of help and advice, Good to be in such knowledgeable hands. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Ooops - nearly forgot. First thing you need to do is consider which coupling standard you are going to use. The default is loop and hook,but go for something better. Roco and Fleischmann do neat repacements. I use Fleischmann (avaiable in packs of 50 - enough for your first loco purchase ref. number 386515) these give very good close coupling, and it is easy for the "hand on high" to lift a vehicle out of the train formation if needed. Mike To expand on that a bit. The loop and hook type is available in the UK from Bachmann. They describe them as DMU couplings. The Roco type is available from Hornby and is used on some of their coaches. It's a slightly different length so OK on wagons but needs to be checked on coaches. Same problem exists with UK stock. I went for the Roco on the grounds that I started with their locos and the couplings were supplied with some coaches. At that time Fleischmann had various types of fitting that required different couplings. As mentioned on other threads you need a rigid coupling when running long trains of coaches with close coupling. Roco type works very well in this use, but I have no experience of Fleischmann. Some Liliput steam locos are quite old and have various errors caused by the re use of parts. The BR 52 has the cab from the BR 42 for example. I think I have that the right way round. Not too apparent by itself but put one alongside a Gutzold model and the error hits you. Some older models also vary in scale length. Correct section but shortened. Some thing like 1-100 instead of 1-87 rings a bell. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfsboy Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Re Marklin .I went to Vlissingen in Holland in the eighties and they had a very good model shop plastered with Marklin ,paint ,posters models ,et al .I asked why no Hornby and was told that Marklin did not allow it .If he stocked Hornby then all the freebies from Marklin would stop .No idea if it still happens but we were in the EU and they were supposed to have laws against it .When I mentioned this to the friendly shop owner he just shrugged .i will comment no further but you can probably read my mind but it did contain the words including effin and cheek. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil_S_Wood Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Just to add a little bit to what's been said above as John and others have summed up the brands well, the ESU locos I got were very good. Nicely packaged with an extensive colour booklet about the prototype. Nicely detailed and good twin speaker sound with a capacitor for continuous running on dirty track. They're dear but I would recommend the diesels. The diesel smoke feature isn't particularly realistic but you don't have to use it. I haven't got one of the electrics so can't comment. Couplers, Brawa are my brand of choice but their couplers are the worst. If you do buy Brawa change the couplers for Roco, Trix or Fleischmann ones. Cheers Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
byron Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Mike, I just became curious which practices struck you as most odd when compared to those in the UK. I'm asking just to get an outside perspective on something I'm essentially taking for granted! Signalling - or lack of it in some places - struck me as very different. I am busy this weekend, but will post a few examples early next week. It was the 1970's so some things will have changed. Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Märklin still do this: some time ago they introduced the "Märklin Store". Replace the brand name with Apple and you know where they got their ideas from As a number of shop owners defied Märklin's wishes and continue to trade non-Märklin brands, they've quickly realised that they weren't as dominant as Apple is (was), and backed down with a "Shop-in-shop" concept. The owner had to dedicate a portion of his shop to Märklin and had to prominently display their range. There was also a minimum turnover requirement of Märklin stuff to qualify for either concept. A fair number of leading (large) shop owners never took the bait As for Hornby: it may be the dominant brand in the UK, but the non-conformant scale means they're pretty much sidelined over on the Continent. Hornby IS fairly big in Europe but with the Jouef, Rivarossi, Lima, Electrotren and Arnold (TT & N) brands that they bought some years ago. I'm not sure what they're doing with the Lima brand which now only seems to include starter sets I notice from their website that they now seem to be rebranding themselves as Hornby France, Hornby Italia, Hornby Deutschland and Hornby Espagne, including those very long standing brands but no longer leading with them. I don't know whether that means there is some consolidation going on or if they've decided to move towards a Europe wide Hornby brand. Hornby Acho used to be a major brand in France though that dates from when Hornby was part of Meccano so was quite a long time ago and I'm not aware of a strong Hornby brand anywhere else in mainland Europe. The different brands did lead to anomalies such as some very tasty French Autorails that had also been sold to RENFE being under the Spanish Electrotren brand rather than Jouef. Maerklin's AC system still being around always struck me as a bit odd- almost as it Hornby Dublo was still going based on three rail but improved to use stud contact and incompatible with everything else. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubber duck Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Thanks guys, some really good insightful information provided re the workings of the German Rail system, I realise its way off my original post of model power supply etc, But its all very fascinating none the less, Maybe we should just turn this thread into a general information/ question sort of thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Hi guys, As requested with seemingly most folks approval, I've just moved the signalling discussion into a new topic here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/90909-german-railway-signalling/ Hope that's okay with everyone! Cheers, John. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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