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Märklin

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Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (stylized as ma̋rklín ) ( MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys. In some parts of Germany and in Sweden, the company's name is almost synonymous with model railways.

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40-443: Märklin was founded by Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin  [ de ] in 1859. After his death in 1866, early in the company's life, his wife Caroline Märklin lead the business until 1888. Eugen Märklin  [ de ] and Karl Märklin  [ de ] took over the company from her, and Märklin released its first wind-up train with carriages that ran on standardised track in 1891, noting that railway toys had

80-461: A third rail or an overhead wire . The full circuit is completed by track rails . For main line railways with their protected lines overhead lines and third rails are not a problem. Tramways operate in cities. This means that the third rail system is not really practical. It has been used, protection being offered to other road users by placing it in a central groove . Even so, the ingress of dirt and water can cause problems. An alternative solution

120-592: A live stud during construction of the Torquay Tramways . Each tram car was then fitted with a bell connected to a special contact arm to warn the driver if a stud remained live after it had passed. The conductor of the tram then had to reset the crank using an insulated mallet. During the Board of Trade inspection of the tramway four such studs were detected during about 8 miles (13 km) of tests. There were also frequent problems with trams being stopped when

160-527: A magnet on the vehicle, but a few used a purely mechanical system. Systems in use in the early part of the 20th century included the Lorain, Dolter, and GB surface-contact systems, which were all magnetically operated, and the Robrow surface-contact system, which was mechanical. In practice the technology of the time could be erratic. This meant studs did not make contact when activated, or studs remained live after

200-431: A passing tram attracted this crank which then moved to make contact between the conductor cable and stud; once the tram moved away the crank dropped away and the stud was no longer connected to the cable. A long skate was suspended beneath each tramcar which was magnetised by electro-magnets and so both operated the cranks and collected the current that both moved the tram car and powered the electro-magnets. A small battery

240-424: A rare limited edition from 1991, two locomotives, steam locomotive Series TЭ-5293 (Märklin ref. 34159), a second version of the same Cold War military reserve steam locomotive TЭ-3915 (Märklin ref. 37159) and two SŽD car goods wagon sets (Märklin ref. 47897 and ref. 47899). The largest segment of product range and sales is nominal size H0, with a scale of 1:87 and an H0 track. Märklin introduced it in 1935, about half

280-589: A slotcar system called Märklin Sprint. Märklin also produced numerous other toys over the years, including lithographed tinplate toy automobiles and boats. From 1909 until well into the 1950s they sold a range of alcohol-burning model steam engines . These were very educational toys, and could be linked to dynamos to provide lighting. In the late 1990s and Märklin purchased the assets of Trix in January 1997, thus adding N gauge to their scale lineup. On 11 May 2006,

320-575: A stud failed to be made live when needed. The network covered 6.79 miles (10.93 km) and opened in stages during 1907 and 1908. On 27 January 1910 a snow storm stopped all the trams as they couldn't make contact with the studs. It was converted to overhead collection in 1911 shortly before it was extended to Paignton where the town council had refused to allow the Dolter system to be used. A short Dolter system also opened in 1907 in Hastings along

360-532: A version of the system (known as the Märklin system) for their HO gauge range. Peco Products make studding for their 00 / H0 track range. Part nos SL-17 for track and SL-18 for turnouts . Modern use of the system is largely restricted to garden railways where it has the advantage of being compatible with unmodified live steam locomotives. While it is possible to insulate model live steam locomotives so that they can operate on two rail electrified track, it

400-553: A year later than Trix, and today it is the most common size worldwide. The company is market leader in H0 in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), having a market-share of approximately 50 per cent. So, in the area of H0 tracks, there are two categories of similar size - the track system with two conductors, produced by multiple companies on the one side, the middle-conductor track system dominated by Märklin on

440-399: Is an obsolete ground-level power supply system for electric trams . Power supply studs were set in the road at intervals and connected to a buried electric cable by switches operated by magnets on the tramcars. Current was collected from the studs by a "skate" or " ski collector " under the tramcar. The system was popular for a while in the early 1900s but soon fell out of favour because of

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480-467: Is compatible with newer trains, although the reduced clearance for the pick-up shoe can sometimes cause running difficulties. The Märklin system has some incompatibility with other manufacturers' H0 trains. Because the wheels on Märklin's cars are not insulated, it causes shorts if its cars are used on other manufacturers' H0 track without changing the wheels. The profile of the wheels are also different (see also NEM 340). Additionally, for many years Märklin

520-503: Is difficult and trouble prone especially where the model is likely to come into contact with water. While the obvious use is on railway power collection, the system also has applications wherever electrical energy needs to be transferred from a static source to moving user, or vice versa. The Brown Surface Contact System was manufactured by Lorain. The Diatto stud system was the most common in France , with over 20,000 studs in use. It

560-436: Is to use studs. All the systems have a switch in the stud and a means to switch on the stud only while it is covered by the moving vehicle. As at least one stud must be covered by the collector at all times a long collector is used. The length has to be slightly greater than the maximum distance between any two studs. This collector is known as a skate or ski collector . This type of electrical power collector needs to move in

600-714: The Leipzig Toy Fair. They soon became international standards. Märklin followed with 0 gauge (by some accounts as early as 1895 or as late as 1901), H0 scale in 1935, and the diminutive Z scale , 1:220, in 1972  — smallest in the world for decades  — under the name Mini-Club (the scale of Z was assigned after the product line was introduced). Mini-Club was developed as Märklin's answer to Arnold Rapido's introduction of N gauge . Today, Märklin manufactures and markets trains and accessories in Gauge 1 , H0 scale , and Z scale . In 1994 Märklin acquired

640-475: The Nuremberg based model train manufacturer Trix producing DC-operated H0 and N scale . Märklin's older trains are considered highly collectible, and Märklin's current offerings enjoy premium status among hobbyists. Although Märklin is best known for its trains, from 1914 to 1999, the company produced mechanical construction sets similar to Meccano and Erector . Between 1967 and 1982, the company produced

680-673: The Ticket to Ride board game series, released in 2006, was named Märklin in their honour. In 2010 Märklin announced the release of its sixth model of the Russian Railways, the Russian Velaro SAPSAN high speed train. The model is based upon the DB ICE 3MF model which began to be sold in 2008. The first SŽD railways Russian HO models was a Transsiberian 100 ЛеТ Транссибирской ( 100 Let Transsibirskoy ) tanker wagon,

720-467: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try

760-570: The Golden Age of American trains), and various other model trains from around the world. In January 2005, the Märklin museum in Göppingen , Germany , was burgled and more than 100 pieces, with an estimated value of more than 1 million Euros, were stolen. The items, which included one-of-a-kind prototypes along with pieces that dated back to 1891, were recovered in March 2005. The third game in

800-508: The catalogue number. The last set of numeric digits in the print run number indicates the month and year that the item was printed. The last group of letters identifies the printer. Koll's Preiskatalog issued by Joachim Koll in German lists all 00/H0 models and provides price estimates. Märklin's products are mainly German ( DB ) model trains. However, Märklin also produces Swiss ( SBB ), Dutch ( NS ), American (various independent railways from

840-468: The company, which had until then been owned by the three families Märklin, Friz and Safft, was sold to the British investment group Kingsbridge Capital , with the support of the employees. The purchase price was approximately $ 38 million. At the time, Märklin had approximately $ 70.5 million in debt, as a result of several years of slumping sales. In 2007, the company expanded its product offering by buying

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880-431: The famous Union Pacific Big Boy model, among many others. The Märklin toy company systematically included a print run number on almost all printed material, including the boxes in which their products shipped. These print run numbers indicate the printer and also the month and year of printing. This is useful for dating an item that is known to be associated with some printed material. The second group of digits indicates

920-523: The first digital Z locomotives were announced in the late 1990s, the plans were cancelled rapidly due to heat dissipation problems in small locomotives. This digital control system was later developed into DCC ( Digital Command Control ). Märklin's digital system for 3 rail track is not directly compatible with DCC ( Digital Command Control ) although the systems are electrically compatible and many controllers can work both systems. Today Märklin offers DCC compatible locomotives for its 2-rail DC Trix brand. Over

960-466: The managing director Stefan Löbich left Märklin. During the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic, Märklin saw an upswing in sales, leading to shortages of parts such as rails, and even found they had to hire new employees and apprentices to meet the demand. The Märklin system is the technique of using a third rail concealed in the roadbed with only small studs protruding through the ties of the track. The two outer rails are connected electrically. This provides

1000-1340: The other. Also, in this area Märklin is the only company to offer a complete assortment of goods - the range in this track size consists of a huge variety of rolling stock, tracks, analog as well as digital control systems, trolley systems and other accessory parts. Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm M%C3%A4rklin From Misplaced Pages, the 💕 Look for Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

1040-520: The potential to follow the common practice of doll's houses, in which the initial purchase would be enhanced and expanded with more accessories for years after the initial purchase. To this end, Märklin offered additional rolling stock and track with which to expand its boxed sets. Märklin is responsible for the creation of several popular model railway gauges or scale, noteworthy exceptions being N scale and Wide gauge . In 1891, Märklin defined gauges 1-5 as standards for toy trains and presented them at

1080-461: The purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for the first character; please check alternative capitalizations and consider adding a redirect here to the correct title. If the page has been deleted, check the deletion log , and see Why was the page I created deleted? Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Friedrich_Wilhelm_Märklin " Stud contact system The stud contact system

1120-573: The remaining assets of the bankrupt firm, Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk , who owned the LGB brand and product line of G scale model railways. On 4 February 2009 Märklin filed for insolvency at the Göppingen municipal court. A year and a day later, on 5 February 2010, Märklin announced a return to profitability. In 2013 Märklin was acquired by the Simba Dickie Group . On July 22, 2013

1160-426: The seafront to connect two sections of a network that otherwise used overhead collection. It lasted until 1913. For the next eight years the trams that worked along Hastings sea front were fitted with a small motor to enable them to move between the two sections of overhead wire, but in 1921 wires were provided along the section. The Mexborough & Swinton Tramway used the Dolter system from 1907 until 1908 when it

1200-437: The simplified wiring enjoyed by larger gauges—such as for reverse loops—without seriously detracting from the realism of the track because only two of the rails are visible. Because the two outer rails are not electrically isolated from each other, however, some do not consider Märklin's system to be a true three-rail system. However, older sections of 'M-Track' do have an actual conductor rail rather than studs. This older system

1240-406: The skate/ski with the stud. The stud contact system or surface contact system was used with some tramway systems. It is used especially where an overhead system would be obtrusive. As the studs would be on open roads rather than special track, methods have to be adopted to ensure that they are only live when under a vehicle. Early systems used mechanical switches. Most use magnetic activation from

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1280-411: The unreliability of the magnetic switches, largely due to friction and rapid corrosion affecting its cast iron moving components. Power supply studs are the fixed contact elements of a stud/skate or stud/ski collector electrical connection system. They are used when a moving element needs to be in electrical contact with a static element. The main advantage of the system is the self-cleaning facility of

1320-480: The use of a stud supply system with a skate/ski collector has certain practical advantages. The system is inherently self-cleaning. While the track may not be perfect, with both rails acting as the return part of the system in parallel electrical pick-up problems are substantially reduced. While the system was generally confined to the larger gauges ( O gauge and above) the Märklin company has for many years used

1360-470: The vehicle had passed over. Consequently, the systems tended to be replaced with either overhead systems or continuous-contact sub-surface systems. Most electric railway systems take the power from an external generator . This means the electricity has to be collected while the locomotive is moving. In this context a locomotive refers to any electric vehicle on a railway track or tramway track . Generally electric locomotives collect power through

1400-417: The vertical plane to allow for natural differences in the height of the power supply studs. It is used on some full size tramway systems where there is a need for overhead wires not to be used, usually in areas of scenic value. The stud contact system is also used on model railway systems (e.g. Märklin ) as the center line of studs is less obtrusive than a single central rail. For outdoor model railway systems

1440-610: The years, the Märklin marque became valuable to model train collectors, some of the very early models fetching impressive prices at auction. The range of products is extensive, and collectors also pay attention to the packaging that was used for the products. Collectors also look for rare and hard to find models, such as the SBB Crocodile model, the AMTRAK ICE model, the Western Pacific 'California Zephyr' model, and

1480-460: Was among the early model railway companies to introduce a digital train-control system. The Märklin Digital system for Märklin's 3-rail AC train layouts was introduced in 1984 using Motorola microchips . A few years later the system developed jointly by Märklin, Lenz GmbH and Arnold GmbH was introduced for 2-rail DC locomotives. The system was used by Arnold in their N scale locomotives. While

1520-506: Was carried to charge the electro-magnets should the power be interrupted. The negative return current passed through the rails. The town council of Torquay did not want their seaside resort disfigured by the poles and overhead wires of a conventional electric tramway and so invited the Dolter Electric Traction Company to construct a tramway using their stud-contact system. A horse was killed after it stepped on

1560-523: Was invented by an Italian, Alfredo Diatto of Turin and was first installed in Tours in 1899, followed by four of the Paris tramway companies in 1900. For the Dolter system a conductor cable was laid in a trench between the rails. At 9-foot (2.7 m) intervals a box was fitted between the rails that contained a stud (which protruded about 1 inch (25 mm) above the road) and a bell crank . A magnet on

1600-412: Was the only brand that used AC for its H0 scale trains, although in the 60s Fleischmann , HAG, Röwa, Roco and others started producing trains for the Märklin system. Some people convert Märklin locomotives to DC for use on DC layouts, and by buying HAMO, Märklin had begun offering a line of DC locomotives as well, first under the name of HAMO and, after buying Trix , under that name. Märklin

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