Today, I picked up my Maerklin 37320 Re 10/10 Set and my new ACME 55033 Treno Notte Night Train Set at my US Office.

I got home just in time to watch the Montreal Canadiens eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the NHL Hockey Eastern Division Semi Finals. WooHoo.
As soon as the game was over, I came into my home office to inspect my new items.
I was very impressed with the packing job that Schweickhardt did on my 37320. The Set was packaged inside a box that was wrapped in bubblepack and then placed in a larger shipping carton. The box looked to be in good shape when it was delivered.
Unfortunately, when I opened the actual box and removed the Re 6/6 from the box, I immediately noticed that on the motor end of the lok, a small antenna on the roof had broken off.
It looks like the lok shifted in it's box during shipment. There were two cardboard inserts set into the ends of the styrofoam. One was loose and the other was bent and the styrofoam was a little pushed in. This allowed the lok to shift and likely caused the antenna to shear off.
I sent off a quick note to Simone at ETS and I hope to hear back from them soon.
I then opened the second item. Upon inspection, I noticed that the handrail of the sleeper in the Night Train Set was not sitting right. It was bent to the right and broken at one point.
The side of the coach on the top of the box (with no padding under the cardboard box top) had apparently either shifted or been pressed against the coach, either during shipping to the dealer or in delivery to me. I wrote another quick note and then decided to put the boxes away and will await a response from the dealers tomorrow.
I was in a great mood, but discovering that both items that I had ordered were damaged and not in their desired condition has sapped a lot of the enthusiasm out of me.
Why can't the companies find a way to make packaging that can withstand shipping? If ACME would have made the package with deeper styrofoam and a cover so that the box top wasn't pressing directly against the items, or if Maerklin could design a packaging that is more reliable than either the plastic inserts or foam reinforced with cardboard, there would be no need for this post.

I don't like the idea of returning either Set because of one small plastic piece. If I was more skilled, I could probably remove the broken part and insert a replacement, but I am afraid of damaging the paint or other part of the models if I try to fix it myself. I already had a similar problem with my 37546 RABe EC and am waiting for ETS to send a new antenna for that one.

Any suggestions on how these companies could improve their packaging so that this type of problem occurs less frequently? I would much rather report on how thrilled I am and how nice the item looks in my collection or in my display.

Regards

Mike C

I'm quite happy they way Roco wrap their locos.
there is'nt any movement at all and they fit tied into the styrofoam.

When I've shipped Märklin locos overseas, I've stuffed styrofoam around the loco so it had less room to move.

With Roco you fit the handrails afterwards.

John

Hi!

I did have trouble with that sort of packaging. But normally they are safe if there's enough filling material around the Roco box.

Some Roco locos come inside black foam (not styrofoam). This foam stuff is flexible and allows the loco to move around. I've head more trouble with this kind of packaging.

IMHO the typical Märklin PET packaging is better than the Roco styrofoam packaging.
Too bad that it didn't work for Mike's locomotive.

One of the problems with marklins fine detail is that it is very fragile, wile it makes me sick when something breaks if it is not very bad I try to live with it or fix it.
For instance I had gotten the Porsche transporter set and I didn't get it out of the package without breaking a handrail.

Some antennas on E-loks seems to be particularly fragile.. had the same problem quite a few months ago. The box looks intact, but antenna had come off.

Funnily enough, I've received a supposedly more fragile Marklin steamer in a box that was almost completely crushed - yet the lok survives without a scratch or missing pieces..

Roco has packed locos into a black foam cushion but also wrapped the loco itself with a clear loco imprint mould with a cover sleeve. US Y3, (2' 4' 4' 2') and the same method is used for the tender.

Box with black foam insert.


Faom cover


moulded inserts with sleeves


open mould insert


closed mould insert (with sleeve)





John