I have plans to add Bemo HOm Swiss lines going up to my Swiss Marklin level. Combining Marklin with Bemo narrow gauge seems to me to have great potential. Anyone been down this road or up this grade?

Hi Larry,

I know quite a few people combining Bemo and Märklin for exactly the same reasons. The results of that blend are definately interesting and both systems complement nicely with one another. I personally would go for it, and add some kind of Multiprotokol control center to it (Intellibox, ECoS) to control both systems through one device. (Bemo models are usually equipped with a connector to insert a DCC or Selectrix decoder)

5HorizonsRR was selling some of his BEMO items earlier (posted such on this site). Not sure if his Swiss layout was a combination of BEMO/Marklin. Not knowing BEMO at all, what is the differnce between HOm and HOe?

The difference is the gauge, HOm represents metergauge witch is 12mm in 1:87 HO where as HOe represents approx 75cmgauge witch is 9mm in 1:87 HO.

Philip

Yes... I have also been eyeballing Bemo's superb models with the same objective.

Go for it and keep us posted!

Luís

Yes Larry - me (too).

I've even composed myself a section of "4-rail track", consisting of several Tillig H0/HOm and Erbert Puko items to allow stopping of both the Glacier Express and a SBB IC at the same platform on my layout.

And agreed - Bemo products are the same "pain" for your wallet as those from Märklin, Brawa, etc.

Thanks much for pointing out the pluses and minuses of going with Bemo along with the advice.

My sense is that it goes extremely well with Marklin Swiss. It has much potential and like Marklin, the cost of starter sets are not cheap but advantageous. However, as pointed out above it is another world and not a gift to place under the Christmas tree for anyone. I went from using effortless C track to a starter set that required inserting rails into individual ties; hardly for the faint of heart. While you can use Atlas rail connectors even deciding on what kind of HOm track becomes a project unto itself.

What really interests me is the actual cog set that comes with the one starter set and the loks that have the center gear to grab onto the cog rail. For those interested there is an extremely good "all things Bemo" website on Yahoo. Like your site, they have great reference materials and friendly advice.

I did buy the blue German Krock (part of the 75 year Glacier Express celebration: http://www.bemo-modellba...e/produkterhb/index.htm. I like it a lot but the blue/cream salon coaches (very Rheingold-ish), which are really nice, run about $100 each so I have a short consist of 2 cars!

If you are interested in Swiss narrow gauge I think the Bemo catalogue is spectacular; it is very informative, lavishly colored, shows and discusses the routes of all the Swiss narrow gauge companies. You can use it to start planning an Alpine narrow gauge vacation like I hope to do! Thanks again.

Hi Bart,

not really. Since the two track systems are powered anyways by two different sources, I supply always only the one which is needed for a particular train. For H0/H0e tracks, you could even use the "inner" H0e rail for the H0 pickup shoes.

Hi,

I am presently planning a very (!) short H0e industrial line on my H0 layout, with coal and log cars entering and leaving the gallery tunnel of a coal mine. I have seen some nice Roco stuff, at very reasonable prices.

What I am still looking for is some kind of small hand driven H0e turntable (diameter 5 cm or so) for the crossing of the gallery track and the coal loader track.

Hans Martin