Søren's Model Railway Pages

This year my two eras, era V and VI, receives a lot of attention from the manufacturers. This is great, I now have something to choose from. I normally go for the mainstream models that you would see if you went down to a station or freight yard, but I also tend to buy specialties like Era V museum models of steamers and stuff.

Roco

72750 Class 218 diesel locomotive from DB AG. Completely new tooling. Just one moment... WOOHOOO! Finally! I have been waiting for this to happen. Until now we have only seen sad cheap looking, start-set versions of this locomotive. Märklin and Trix have had really cool models, but not in era V livery. The model is delivered with PluX decoder plug and LED lighting. Unfortunately no picture is currently available, so here is one of my own. It is from Ulm Hbf in the summer 2010.

62709 Class 185.2 electric locomotive from DB AG. This is a Scandinavian version of the DB class 185.2 in traffic red livery, but with the grey sides stating "DB Schenker in association with Green Cargo". The locomotive runs from Sweden through Denmark and into Germany. Perfect for my collection, which is very roughly "North Germany"-themed.

 

62403 Class 111 electric locomotive from DB AG. Roco is also releasing new model of class 111. Also a good locomotive, which I own a few of already. This one has got a new number, of course. Unfortunately no picture is available, but here is one of my other class 111 with coaches. The number on the new locomotive will be 111 066-7.

64071 Set with 3 Silberlinge. The set contains two coaches and a driving trailer coach. This is very similar to a set I already own, but with DB Regio logos and different running numbers.

45369 Expansion coach for the Silberlinge set. An extra coach is available as an expansion for the Silberlinge set. This is a standard 2nd class coach.

62945 Class 204 diesel locomotive from DB Bahnbau. An all-round locomotive for rail maintenance purposes and transporting material and other rail-related stuff. I think such a locomotive would do good in my collection. I have a weakness for the old DDR locomotives.

Trix

22972 Class 701 diesel locmotive from DB AG. This is a very welcome era V version of the overhead wire maintenance car. A little locomotive based on the famous VT 98 railbus. It is fairly priced and without all the fancy features of the first release. I do not mind, as I am only looking for a model. There are some differences besides the paintjob. Trix has changed the pantograph to an Einholm power pickup. Otherwise the model looks the same. I will most certainly consider this one. Guys, please, if you buy this one, remember it runs on diesel! It is an "overhead wire maintenance car" the pantograph is for testing purposes.

22235 Class 218 diesel locomotive from DB AG. This model is based on the Märklin model of the same class. The model is highly detailed and with warm-white LED lighting. The model comes with a 21-pin decoder socket. Hopefully some day Trix will start releasing versions with the PluX plug instead. The model comes with a center motor and all four axles powered through cardan shifts. Thumbs up, Trix! This must be the year of the class 218. I do not know yet, but I am almost sure that Roco wins my money on the class 218 question. Because of the PluX decoder plug. I am sorry Trix, but that's what happens.

22154 Class 150 electric locomotive from DB AG. This model was in the new items 2009 as well, but got cancelled due to the financial problems with the Märklin company. The model is really great looking and very detailed. It has a center engine with four axles powered through a cardan shaft. I have thought about buying this model when it was first announced, since it is really cool. Unfortunately it comes with a built-in decoder of unknown origin and the massive looking automatic couplers from Märklin. I can live with this, but I will have to test it before buying it. If I get a chance to put my hands on it, I will take it for a test.

Otherwise there are not really anything besides locomotives in the Trix new items brochure. They have started to produce some new start sets, which I think is a good idea. The era V start set contains a Metronom train from the Hamburg area. The locomotive is not the previously released hobby model, but the really cool model based on the excellent class 185.2 model. It has warm white LED and all axles powered. The coaches are the standard Märklin 1:100 double decker coaches from the Hobby program. The driving trailer coach is of the wrong kind. Metronom never used this coach. I think the set is a bit boring, as I would much rather start out with a freight train set.

PIKO

75656 Driving trailer coach, karlsruhe kopf from DB AG. PIKO is releasing a set of era V silberlinge. The same as the ones Roco releases, but PIKO comes with a different driving trailer coach (karlsruhe kopf). This model is very interesting as it has not been available in exact 1:87 scale for a while. I might go for it.

 

Märklin

48026 freight car set. Märklin releases quite a few era V and VI models. Although I run two-rail I always look in the Märklin new items brochure for interesting models. One of them is this swiss freight car set. I think it looks really cool and I have a few of the same cars in my collection already. Remember that your Märklin dealer will change the AC wheels with DC wheels for free!

37011 Class 110.3 from DB AG. A mid Era V model of the well known TEE locomotive. Nothing special except for the colour, TEE livery, but with DB AG logo. I find these models interesting.

Märklin Mobile Station App

This year Märklin has developed an app for the iPhone. This app turns your iPhone (or iPod Touch) into a true Mobile Station! This is really, really cool and something every Märklin modeller with an iPhone would want. For only 5 € you can get a wireless controller for your Central Station based layout. Really nice. It does not say so in the brochure, but since it remotes the Central Station, I would bet it works with DCC as well. Thumbs up for this one Märklin!

In general Märklin is very good at releasing era V and VI stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of this is hobby stuff with yellow LEDs and low performance engines.

Happy modelling!

PS: Märklin, if you read this, get rid of the yellow LEDs!

PS: Roco, if you read this, please create a 1:87 version of the ICE 1, 2 or 3 (I don't care, just pick one and go with it)

Photos: Roco, Trix, Märklin, PIKO, Søren M. Andersen and Søren Jacob Lauritsen