I was at a local hobby shop here in the USA the other day doing some shopping and the vast majority of the store was devoted to 2 rail DC. It was either Z,N, HO or G scale with the only 3 rail trains and track being O scale Lionel trains. Having never been overseas and thus never been to a hobby shop in Europe I was curious to know if the reverse is true? As a result of what I assume is Marklin's dominance in Europe are most hobby shops geared toward 3 rail HO? Or do you have a 50/50 split or is 2 rail DC just as dominant in Europe.

And for those not in North America or Europe what is the dominant type of model train system in your part of the World.

Chris

Well...it depends if what company like Marklin are ready to do business in several states in the world.
Mostley has to do about world wars too.
It toke Germany many years to been trusted which you can start to trust by doing business togehter with.
Here in Sweden we have about 50/50.
Under 60 and to 80 Marklin did dominated market in Sweden.
But today 2 rail did reached against Marklin just thanks of technology inside of digitalsystem.

Hi,
Interesting question, Chris.

Nev has explained the state of play here in Australia.

Regards train hobby shops in total then, of about 100 currently in Australia, only 3 sell Marklin. That sort of tells the story.

Historically, Marklin tried hard in Australia in the 1950s, by appointing as their agents, one of the major electrical goods distributors/wholesalers/manufacturers, a company called EMAIL. They made and sold washing machines, fridges, toasters etc. etc. And I believe they did a reasonable job.

But Australian firms were encouraged to buy "British", so Hornby and Triang got a foothold in the model train market. That 2 rail introduction set the stage for what is now an overwhelming majority of 2 railers in the hobby here. To a lesser extent, some American made trains were sold here (Varney, Athearn etc), but never in a systematic way like Hornby, or even Marklin. Fleischmann, who were a cheaper alternative to both Marklin and Hornby, did well with their HO tinplate sets with the 80 class tank. That influenced the 2 rail v 3 rail market as well.

regards
Kimball

Hi, Chris,

Some figures about Märklin's market shares can be found here:
https://www.marklin-user...-Updates.aspx#post264895

Only very few MRR shops in Germany do not sell Märklin 3 rail.

These days, Marklin treats Australia as a backwater... only 4 deliveries (ish) per year, and they take ages to reply to all emails... and by the time we have the catalogues, the models are sold out I waited 1.5 years for a loco from them out here, and then they said it was out of production..... Still buy it though!

Regards the Australian market, I find it quite interesting that toy/model trains are sold mainly in specialist train hobby shops.

When I was a boy in the 1950s, the local department or general toy store had Hornby Dublo and Fleischmann, and then Triang (which morphed into Hornby later anyway). These brands promoted the rise of 2 rail. Hornby Dublo did so to their own detriment, as they were originally 3 rail.

So why haven't we seen the My World series in department and toy stores here in Australia for say $160? They are so promoteable, and so well designed and made. I am sure they would appeal to the mass toy market far better than the "branded" Smoky Mountain Express GP35, with Lollipop box cars, and cheap DC controller.

regards
Kimball

Western Canada is of course much like the United States in selection of brands and such. The local hobby shop here carries Walthers selection and so Marklin is available by order but at higher prices. Most other hobby shops here are much the same with Bachmann, Altas, Lionel and such we do see LGB though as it is a recognized brand like Lionel. The big exception though is Eurorailhobbies in Langley British Columbia which has a great selection of Marklin and is responsible for getting me started. I am planning a trip in early July to visit my wife's parents who live about 30 minutes from there so I will have to stop in of course.

In Argentina, Märklin is highly appreciated but considered expensive (which is true whe comparing with other brands)
Trying to be objective, I made a small search through our local internet auction portal (www.mercadolibre.com.ar) and 14% of the results under model trains contain the word Märklin. This figure fits very close to the worldwide average depicted by Tom in his post and Lima is the most publicized.
Following are the results of this search excluding those with less than 1%. Others with no brand totalize almost 30%, includes ads of tools, scenery, etc.
Lima 31%
Märklin 13%
Athearn 4%
Hornby 3%
Lionel 3%
Roco 2%
Fleischmann 1%
Bachman 1%
Rivarossi 1%
Faller 1%
Atlas 1%
Kato 1%
Vollmer 1%
Trix 1%
Jouef 1%
Minitrix 1%
Electrotren 1%
Liliput 1%

Regards
Alberto

Darren, I visited Eurorailhobbies when I was up in BC earlier this year. I had a case of sensory overload when I walked in their shop. They have an incredible inventory of all things related to Euro railroading, but are a little off the beaten path as they are located in the rural area outside of Langley. I purchased a wonderful Brekina Porsche 911. After that I took the family for dim sum in the town of Langley!

Well, I'd say it's 50/50 today here in Sweden - just as Goofy also judges it.

In my childhood during the 60's it was more like "model trains = Märklin", even if Fleischmann also existed, but the majority of items available were Märklin.
Every department store toy/hobby section had Märklin as well as toy stores, hardware stores - Even tobacconists had a few wagons and tracks for sale...
The same went for Faller kits and Airfix models... That era began to die out in the late 60's and early 70's here... But Märklin was still the most credible brand.

Nowadays many are doing 2R as "prototypical" layout building, but when I worked as a guide one day at the HMJF club many visitors began to talk about Märklin
trains instead of the great showroom layout... This was due to the fact that they had a Märklin layout at home, or Märklin stuff stored in the attic since their childhood.

Somewhere in the 80's-90's US prototype modeling became very popular, and thus 2R and "more like the prototype" gained an audience. This also spread to
the European/National model enthusiasts and 2R became "the only way" to be a "serious" hobby railroader...

So I'd say the current "scene" is 2R here, but most have a Märklin set/layout up and running or stored away at home too...


All I can say is - keep on wiping those 2R tracks, boys - and keep on thinking about loop problems with current switching, turnout polarity and such... Totally "unknown" problems for us in the Märklin camp... I'd say that M is a lot easier to operate and play, with a lot less basic "infrastructural" issues... Have to admit that a nice 2R layout looks "better", but seems to be less practical since you need "the Hand of God" more often than on a M layout, even though that HMJF layout has a cleaning train running around all the time - it still needs "divine intervention" now and then during display hours... So for "home users", Märklin is the way to go... No need to worry about the model accuracy either, it has been "good enough" since the Big Boy first came out...

While the Australian market is certainly not a priority to them the reason for your complain has a lot more to do with importers wanting to keep shipping costs down by having everything sent by ship which means at least 3+months travelling time and the shippment only leaves when there is enough stuff ready to makle it worth it. On top of that any limited edition models would be ordered very early before they are produced which means if you place an order for something the dealer did not order initially in what they guess they can sell then you have no chance of ever getting it locally. Big importers don't make any money from mobilising several people to bring one of two engines, the orders have to be in the order of several 10 of thousands of dollars and that's also the reason they only have limited deliveries. It can be a very tough business and many things are quite out of your control.

There is one important aspect: most customers prefer buying trains they know from the local train station. So, no wonder that France and Italy are DC markets, too. Märklin's choice of French and Italian models has always been very limited. Even Piko's French product line is nearly DC-only, allthough most of Piko's German stuff is available for AC.

AC is dominant in a few parts of Europe - such like Western Germany (except Bavaria), Switzerland and the Netherlands. These are "AC strongholds". From Switzerland, you also have Hag, which is basicly a 3-rail AC brand (allthough the models are also available for DC). Modeling a DB or SBB layout in AC, you will find nearly the complete rolling stock you need, for 3-rail AC - either from Märklin, or from other firms as an AC version.

Compared to this, Eastern Germany is still widely "AC-free", TT gauge and H0 2-rail DC are the dominating systems. Eastern German railfans still stick to their Reichsbahn, a field of models mostly uncovered by Märklin. Märklin even did't make a DR version of their BR 52, which was one of the most common steam locos in Eastern Germany (postwar Eastern German DR should not be confused with the prewar DRG).

Bavaria is, in many aspects, more similar to Austria than to Western Germany, and like Austria, it's mostly a DC market. Note that some of the most important European DC manufacturers were - or still are - from Bavaria and Austria - Fleischmann and Trix from Nuremberg, Roco from Salzburg, Liliput from Vienna. There were also other firms offering DC products in other gauges like H0 - Arnold N gauge, or LGB. Fleischmann, as well, has been - is still is - a notable N gauge manufacturer.

Regards,
Florian

Chris,

Who and where is the new train store you are talking about? Is it in Santa Rosa or Marin County?
I remember a M* store North of you in Redwood Valley but don't know if it is still there, it was just off 101.
They ran an advertisement in Model Railroader magazine in the 80s.
Now I remember in SF there is Chan's Trains & Franciscan Hobbies.

Rob

I can verify that railroad hobbies in Roseville has a dozen z scale items.
Nothing in HO.
Just checked it out 2 months ago.

I have been trying to visit every authorized dealer in California according to the Maerklin website.
Scatching ones off the list with no Maerklin items.
Most want to be mail order through Walthers.

Pat