current information as at 2008-02-13:

Serial number appeared in the earlu 1980s
1987 using white or silver.
1996 orange was used.
2006 it's green

xxxxx.. = Mechanical Reversing Relais
Vxxxx.. = pre Electronic Relais
Exxxx.. = Electronic Relais
Rxxxx.. = 5 star propulsion Regelung(Fünf-Sterne-Technik)
Dxxxx. = Digital High performance propulsion uncontrolled
Hxxxx.. = Digital High performance propulsion controlled
Mxxxx.. = Delta (Mehrzugsbetrieb)
Sxxxx.. = C-Sinus-Motor (non exclusive some have H)

xxxxxx = figure next to letter. First digit is lat digit of year of production



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original post
Guus showed a nice table in the thread showing what the prefix of loco serial numbers mean
in https://www.marklin-user...ault.aspx?g=posts&t=9304

The table is:
Numbers on Märklin Chassis:
xxxxx.. = Mechanical Reversing Relais
Vxxxx.. = pre Electronic Relais
Exxxx.. = Electronic Relais
Rxxxx.. = 5 star propulsion ?
Dxxxx. = Digital High performance propulsion uncontrolled
Hxxxx.. = Digital High performance propulsion controlled
Mxxxx.. = Delta
Sxxxx.. = C-Sinus-Motor

xxxxxx = figure next to letter. First digit is year of production

When we work out for sure what R means I will edit this initial post...

I think this is a useful topic in its own right and I want to know when Märklin first started placing serial numbers on locos...?

The colour indicates the decade of production - don't remember which colour means which years.

Edit: Here I found the following information:
Serial number includes last digit of production year beginning in 1987 using white letters.
After 1996 orange was used.
After 2006 it's green (IIRC, the forum article reads "blue").

Thank you Tom and Guus for "digging up" this information.

The V letter is a little mysterious: why doesn't it appear in the list of Koll's catalogue?
And, what is the meaning of pre-electronic relais? Isn't it the same as mechanical relais (no letter)????

There are two kind of electronic inversions: the earlier ones have a mechanical relay electronically assisted: I have them in 3312, 3325... The second type is a completely electronic (I have it in 3315). But all these have the E code.

Pietro

Yes,according to information I found the use of a sticker with a production number on the chassis dates back to 1981.

Kind regards
Guus

Hi Guus.
This doesn't seem correct.
My 3315 that had a completely electronic circuit (before receiving the lokpilot ) has the code E0005282. The 3312, with the mechanical relay, has the E47947, while for what you write should have V

Pietro

Thank you Guus. Now the meaning of V letter is clear.

I've got an idea about colours: I checked all my locos built in last 80s-early 90s (fortunately, I don't have so many ). Their code is sometimes white, but sometimes silver!

In particular:

3312: E47947 silver... should be 1984 as you said
3315: E0005282 silver... 1990
3334.1: E1023486 silver... I'm sure it has been built in 1991 and this matches with the 1 digit.
3320: E2145895 this is white, and also the font is different! 1992()
3351: M4042970 white as the previsous one: 1994
3373: M4014484 white!

I suppose that from early 80s to 1992 letters were silver, and from 1992 to 1995 they were white... is it reasonable?

edit: I found my 101 (bought on ebay... a strange loco with 37397 body but a C-sine motor) has code S0042965... WHITE! [:0] while I expected an orange one for sure .... these numbers hide so many meanings...

Regards
Pietro

My oldest locomotives with serial numbers are from 1982.
A Br 86 from the 2854 Mannesmann set (285536) and a Br 260 3065 (243355).

I have seen somewhere that the serial numbers were introduced in 1980.