Joined: 20/12/2013(UTC) Posts: 141 Location: Houston
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Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA
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Joined: 20/12/2013(UTC) Posts: 141 Location: Houston
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Thanks for reply..they seem to have quite a wide range of American locomotives..how does the quality compare with Marklin?
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 1 user liked this useful post by grahame
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Joined: 20/12/2013(UTC) Posts: 141 Location: Houston
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Joined: 23/11/2007(UTC) Posts: 1,828 Location: Sydney, Australia
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Hi Grahame and welcome to this forum. In my opinion before you go off buying this or that loco, you really need to decide what prototype you want to model - eg German/Swiss/Austrian etc on the one hand or US on the other. Marklin only make variations on the F7, whereas makers like American Z Line make a much wider variety (eg that GP38).
Also, do you want to go down the DCC path? Marklin Z scale locos are not made DC ready, whereas US makers (eg AZL) make theirs that way from the start. And to answer your earlier question, the two coupling systems are quite incompatible. |
Gary Z Scale "Never let the prototype get in the way of a good layout" |
 1 user liked this useful post by ozzman
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Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,778 Location: New Zealand
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Originally Posted by: ozzman  Marklin Z scale locos are not made DC ready......... Don't you mean DCC ready? The one Z Gauge Marklin loco I have (V60) runs on DC, and I assume all the others do. Originally Posted by: ozzman  And to answer your earlier question, the two coupling systems are quite incompatible. That would only be a problem if you wanted to run AZL rolling stock with Marklin locos and AZL locos with Marklin rolling stock. If you kept the trains brand specific, you still should be able to run them together on the same layout, assuming you were running the layout on DC only (or had decoders in the Marklin locos).
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 1 user liked this useful post by Bigdaddynz
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Joined: 23/11/2007(UTC) Posts: 1,828 Location: Sydney, Australia
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Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz  Originally Posted by: ozzman  Marklin Z scale locos are not made DC ready......... Don't you mean DCC ready? The one Z Gauge Marklin loco I have (V60) runs on DC, and I assume all the others do. Ah yes, of course. Good pickup there By the way, that ESSO wagon is a typical European tank wagon. It's your railway, and you can run whatever you like with whatever you like, but be aware that you'd be running a Euro tank wagon with a US loco. |
Gary Z Scale "Never let the prototype get in the way of a good layout" |
 1 user liked this useful post by ozzman
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Joined: 20/12/2013(UTC) Posts: 141 Location: Houston
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"By the way, that ESSO wagon is a typical European tank wagon. "
True indeed.. I agree. Have not bought anything..just thinking....right now everything is European-German..with DB89.
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Joined: 20/12/2013(UTC) Posts: 141 Location: Houston
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Is American Z knuckle coupler compatible with Micro Trains Z scale knuckle coupler?
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Joined: 21/06/2014(UTC) Posts: 36 Location: Chesapeake, Va.
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Originally Posted by: grahame  I bought an AZL GP38-2 Norfolk Southern and I love it. It has a lot of detail for such a tiny train. But the train doesn't go as fast as a Marklin. Not nearly as fast. But it runs very smooth and is heavy and has good traction. I guess it's a give and take.
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Joined: 25/11/2005(UTC) Posts: 124 Location: Dublin, OH
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Hey guys, I am the distributor for AZL and a LONG time Marklin Z enthusiast. AZL is definitely taking the lead on North American Z scale rolling stock and locomotives. They have quite the portfolio with even more coming.
Yes, you can use the AZL couplers with MTL couplers and Full Throttle couplers. The only difference is that the MTL couplers are Magne-Matic. No other couplers in Z scale work that way.
Using a conversion car is a great way to intermix Marklin equipment with AZL cars.
As for quality, let me mention the differences in AZL locomotives. I assume we all know the quality of Marklin's locomotives. Here is what differs AZL products: Coreless or can motors, dual flywheels, DCC ready, traction tires, many add-on details (depending on loco) and additional weight for better traction. As mentioned prior in this thread, the locos do not run as fast as Marklin. This is by design. AZL is trying to achieve more prototypical speeds.
Also take note that Marklin and AZL are not partners. AZL is producing for Marklin the upcoming E8 run. The Marklin offering will include Marklin style couplers. AZL will also release E8s, but with their traditional AutoLatch couplers.
If you getting started in AZL, try out one of their GP38s. This is their entry level locomotive. You also can't go wrong with the new SD70 series and GP7s. New versions are currently being released monthly.
Rob Kluz |
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 1 user liked this useful post by ztrack
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