John-my Crossrail set also arrived and it is a very nice set! These loks are the first that I have bought that have the 'newer' Marklin MFX decoders. These decoders only seem one step above a hobby decoder and I am considering replacing them with ESU LP3.0's.

I am curious as to the thoughts from others on these 'newer' Marklin MFX decoders???

Beautiful locos. But no sound. That's why I didn't consider them.
Are you going to add sound to yours? If so pics please.

added a few pix!

Nice buying John, Pleased that my Gold Helped.

Thanks guys! More coming as the preorder bonanza for 2010 arrives...

Nice photos Lutz.

BTW, the lok is a Am846 (Private operator) and not an Am842 (SBB).

For those who are interested in prototypical accuracy, the Crossrail container trains are usually composed of cars leased from Zug (CH) based AAE and the trains do NOT include cars registered to SBB CFF FFS or SBB Cargo, as modelled by Maerklin and Fleischmann.
The correct cars are available from Roco and can be had with Crossrail or with Ewals (a Crossrail customer) containers. Information about the cars and loks can be found at www.crossrail.ch

There is no need for the comment about the Ae 610. I think that most people are familiar with the discussion about this model and will make up their minds when they see it at retail. For those ordering their models by mail order, they do not have the option to inspect the model beforehand, thus the importance of being aware of any potential issue in advance.

Regards

Mike C

Kimball,

I found your reference to the new livery. This seems to refer only to locomotives leased by Dillon LeJeune Cargo (DLC) from Porterbrook at the moment. The bulletin shows a new logo but does not mention that all locomotives will eventually receive the new logo, although it is possible.

There have been several liveries for Crossrail loks. The first leased 185s were leased from MRCE and were thus black with the Crossrail logo. A second series of 185s were leased from CB Rail and were offwhite with a white and red front. These loks were decorated with either a red Crossrail logo or with the logo of Ewals (185 581), one of Crossrail's client companies. The first series was returned to MRCE and have since been leased to other operators, including CFL Cargo (Luxembourg). At the same time, Crossrail leased a few loks from BTMU (Beacon Rail), now called Allco Rail. The BTMU (Allco) loks have a silver/mauve livery with red and white front.

All liveries of the 185s can be seen at either br146.de or at www.railcolor.net

The 5 Re 436 have been repainted from their earlier RM (EBT/VHB/SMB) colours and special liveries. Presently, several of them have the Crossrail logo applied, with one or two being painted completely in red (no logo).

Crossrail was merged with Belgian Dillon LeJeune Cargo (DLC) and it is appears that a new joint corporate entity is to be introduced. I have not yet seen any new electric loks in a different livery reported on the internet and in discussion forums.
The latest loks leased for operations in Germany, Switzerland and Italy are type 186 and are still painted in the CB Rail livery as mentioned above. It is important to note that Babcock & Brown, an English investment company, holds controlling interest in CB Rail, DLC and Crossrail and their subsidiaries. Mehano used to make a model of the GM Class 66 in HO. I don't know if they released a model in the DLC colors and there certainly won't be a large scale Mehano production of the new Crossrail livery as the company is bankrupt.

Regards

Mike C