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Offline cookee_nz  
#1 Posted : 05 October 2014 02:02:20(UTC)
cookee_nz

New Zealand   
Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 3,948
Location: Paremata, Wellington
Hello all,

Ever since I started collecting Marklin catalogues, from time to time one would come my way complete with a price list.

ie a separate full printed price list for that year rather than a catalogue with the prices already printed in it as you might get in Germany or the US. Many of these pricelists are professionally printed and may even have been printed by Marklin on behalf of the importer, this appears to be the case for the 50's ones but they may also have been printed locally using a template supplied by Marklin.

If anyone has any input or knowledge on the printing of these please share.

Anyway I started separating these pricelists into their own folder and slowly the bug caught on. They make quite interesting reading to see how prices have changed etc.

My issue for now is that I have a few which bear no dealer stamp and the currency is not specified which makes it hard to determine if it's an NZ price list or Ozzie (or even somewhere else).

I'm interested in finding out if any of our Australian & NZ members also collect these, or at least have some set aside that could be used for comparison.

Below I'll attach some scans of the front pages which a few of you may recognise. If anyone has the same price list with a dealer stamp that would be great, or if it does not have a dealer stamp but you can be reasonably certain it's an NZ or AU pricelist because you remember where/when you got it etc for validity.

A helpful point would be that if someone has the same year price list but the $ values are different, that may help also to determine which currency it is.

I'm happy to share what I do have with anyone else that may be interested. An ideal aim would be to have these entered into a spreadsheet to make comparison much easier but that's a lot of retyping. I've tried scanning into OCR and then importing but quite honestly, with proof-reading, corrections and editing it's about the same amount of time as just entering them manually.

Anyone with a similar interest?

Confirmed NZ Price lists I have so far are.....

1953 (for the 1952 catalogue) - Yellow paper
1954 for 1953 - Pink
1955 for 1954 - Green
1957 for 1956 - White - H W Clarke Ltd
1965/66 - H W Clarke Ltd
1970 - Blue
1972/73 - Blue
1973/74 - Yellow
1975 (circa, not exactly dated)
1979
1983
1985
1987
1988
1990
1992
1993
1994

If anyone can fill any blanks in the above it would be great. Below are the images for the ones I need to confirm country currency.

They will be full readable size if you save them to your PC but to help, here is the first item (206 - Track Stencil) for each one and price...

1974 - 0206 - $5.10
1975 - 0206 - $6.35
1978 - 0206 - $8.91

But are these $NZ or $AU ????

Cookee
cookee_nz attached the following image(s):
1974-p01.jpg
1975-p01a.jpg
1978-p01.jpg
1978-p02.jpg
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#2 Posted : 05 October 2014 05:37:21(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia



Some down in the bahn empire in boxes. Give me a few days or maybe even weeks & Ill dig them out for you. mainly ones from Searle's in Pitt St when they were there .

Cheers Tom in Oz .
Offline leahcim  
#3 Posted : 06 October 2014 00:17:32(UTC)
leahcim

Australia   
Joined: 12/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 40
Location: QUEENSLAND, BRISBANE
Hi,

I found this one recently.

Marklin Recommended Retail 1995.pdf

regards michael
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Offline xxup  
#4 Posted : 06 October 2014 02:03:47(UTC)
xxup

Australia   
Joined: 15/03/2003(UTC)
Posts: 9,456
Location: Australia
That's amazing - I didn't realise that Tasmania had electricity in 1995.. LOL
Adrian
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#5 Posted : 06 October 2014 03:40:37(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Whack . soap & water & maybe a bit of carbolic acid to wash your mouth out , & then off to the naughty corner with you .


And no I am not a Taswegian .


Cheers Tom in Oz.
Offline Tom Jessop  
#6 Posted : 06 October 2014 03:55:17(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia
See how this goes, Price list 1962/3 from J Searle & Sons, Sydney. This would have been when Email had the Import & distribution for Australia .
Offline Tom Jessop  
#7 Posted : 06 October 2014 04:02:01(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia
See how this goes, Price list 1962/3 from J Searle & Sons, Sydney. This would have been when Email had the Import & distribution for Australia .
File Attachment(s):
marklin price list 1962 3 p106102014.pdf (1,439kb) downloaded 33 time(s).
marklin price list 1962 3 p206102014.pdf (1,492kb) downloaded 29 time(s).
marklin price list 1962 3 p306102014.pdf (1,495kb) downloaded 26 time(s).
marklin price list 1962 3 p406102014.pdf (1,460kb) downloaded 34 time(s).
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#8 Posted : 06 October 2014 05:55:55(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Cookee , Do you want price lists for years where the price remains the same , I realise there may be new items issued for some years where they don't appear on a year list.
I have 62 /3 , 63/4 ,65/6, 67/8 , 68/9 , 1972 ,1975, 1979,1980, 1981,1982,1983,1984,1986, 1992, 2000, 2001 . All of these are Australian .

German 2002 from Elser in Goppingen.

One Australian from I think either 2005 or 06 .

I also have a 1996 price list from Train Trader [ original owner] with second hand price listing for what he had in stock. Also a possible 2007 issue of the same guys second hand items after the original business had been sold to the current owners which goes for about 16 pages A4 size but with a lot of space between lines .

There maybe be a few more in some other boxes down stairs but after 3 house moves in the same number of years it may take some time finding if I still have them .


Cheers Tom in Oz . Current Spring temperature is about 31 c here & enjoying it heaps .



Offline leahcim  
#9 Posted : 06 October 2014 06:01:42(UTC)
leahcim

Australia   
Joined: 12/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 40
Location: QUEENSLAND, BRISBANE
Originally Posted by: Tom Jessop Go to Quoted Post
See how this goes, Price list 1962/3 from J Searle & Sons, Sydney. This would have been when Email had the Import & distribution for Australia .


Yeah and they (Email) were glad to get out of it too I heard. A lot of stock went "missing" when they were the importer. I've had a long association with that company. First when my father had to have a shop to get an account to sell marklin and then later as a white goods repairer. Today electrolux owns what remains of the original email brands and I'm a sucker for still working in the industry.

regards
michael
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#10 Posted : 06 October 2014 06:39:47(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


It would be interesting to know why Email picked the distribution in Oz considering it would have been one of their smallest divisions of the company . After Email, I believe it went to Australian Model Craft in Waitara, Sydney some where between 1975 & 1979 . I don't have catalogs or price lists between those years . Rumor had it that the owner of AMC did a runner [tax dept & bank asking questions ] & spent some time at a lovely motel somewhere . Then Nathan's trains obtained the rights & still have them up to present .


Cheers Tom in Oz.
Offline Tom Jessop  
#11 Posted : 06 October 2014 07:13:31(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Train Trader : Was started by a German immigrant to Australia in the late 80's / early 90's. From what I saw in his shop ,he imported a lot of second hand items form Germany , probably estate items mainly ] & developed a thriving business for "M" devotees . He itemised his stock & sent out lists probably 4 times a year to customers on his mailing list . He obtained a lot of sought after models which had never seen the shores of Australia in previous years . Below I have attached a 1996 price list for his Summer sale [Christmas for us down under ]. 28 pages of stock he had on hand ranging from track to 800 series loco's . I may have stuffed the uploading around as the original is on double sided pages & I am still learning how our new printer/scanner works so please be patient , after all we who live down under have to work upside down to the rest of the world. Opps just realised this wont work on Quick reply ,I will attach the booklet in the next reply .

Tom in Oz
Offline Tom Jessop  
#12 Posted : 06 October 2014 07:14:34(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Train Trader sale book from 1996
File Attachment(s):
Train Trader 9606102014.pdf (10,525kb) downloaded 37 time(s).
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Offline leahcim  
#13 Posted : 06 October 2014 07:15:36(UTC)
leahcim

Australia   
Joined: 12/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 40
Location: QUEENSLAND, BRISBANE
Tom, when you mention about the owner of the Australian Model Craft (which I'm sure I must have some more old price lists from still) spending time at a motel for misunderstandings about money. I heard it was for something different but needless to say it was an extended vacation for poor old Bill. His wife handled the business while he was "away" and he continued it for a little while when he returned. I'm a little hazy about time now but I'm pretty sure we were still buying from them up to about '96.
However either marklin found out about his "vacation" or his sales were too poor so they then took exclusive rights away from him and allowed Nathan's Trains to take over.
At the time I was told it was a new parallel import policy from marklin in that anyone able to place a large enough order with them could be an importer as well.
But I never heard of anyone else doing this so could be just rumor. I tend towards somebody who had something to gain either financially or out of spite told Marklin about Bill's holiday.
I only met with Noel once I think from Nathan's by that time I was buying the stuff (as a hobbyist now not a dealer) from ets in Germany and then I had a big break from it.

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Offline Tom Jessop  
#14 Posted : 06 October 2014 07:29:43(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia
There were so many rumor's getting around about that it would be hard to discern which was correct but I heard my version from a few people in the industry at the time . I see his office address was at 100 Pacific Highway & very interestingly the same address for Mansfield Hobbies who produced a lot of Ozzy Brass & plastic models for the Ozzy market , he also had a large stock of "M" on show & quite often mentioned he could get almost any item needed at a little notice . Amazing what you can find on Google earth when looking for things

Tom in Oz


MMMM David Mansfield was down at ground level & Bill ???? was upstairs . was it Sylvester ?

Just as well there are not too many ozzys on this forum ,I could have stirred up a hornets nest now.

Edited by user 07 October 2014 22:37:21(UTC)  | Reason: Corrected first name of Mansfield to David

Offline Tom Jessop  
#15 Posted : 06 October 2014 07:34:43(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Train Trader 1996 Part 2
File Attachment(s):
Train Trader 96 #206102014.pdf (10,836kb) downloaded 35 time(s).
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Offline xxup  
#16 Posted : 06 October 2014 08:11:09(UTC)
xxup

Australia   
Joined: 15/03/2003(UTC)
Posts: 9,456
Location: Australia
Originally Posted by: Tom Jessop Go to Quoted Post
... Just as well there are not too many ozzys on this forum ,I could have stirred up a hornets nest now.


When I last did the forum stats at the end of 2007, there was 65 active members.. I am betting it is double that now.. I must try and work out a way to do the stats again..
Adrian
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Offline PJMärklin  
#17 Posted : 06 October 2014 08:35:29(UTC)
PJMärklin

Australia   
Joined: 04/12/2013(UTC)
Posts: 2,206
Location: Hobart, Australia
Originally Posted by: xxup Go to Quoted Post
That's amazing - I didn't realise that Tasmania had electricity in 1995.. LOL


And we talk about provocation !! (just kidding)

I will have you know that Tasmania had the first electric city lights in the country, they were in Launceston and powered by the first hydro generator !!


Regards,

PJ
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Offline kiwiAlan  
#18 Posted : 06 October 2014 10:26:46(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: Tom Jessop Go to Quoted Post


It would be interesting to know why Email picked the distribution in Oz considering it would have been one of their smallest divisions of the company . After Email, I believe it went to Australian Model Craft in Waitara, Sydney some where between 1975 & 1979 . I don't have catalogs or price lists between those years . Rumor had it that the owner of AMC did a runner [tax dept & bank asking questions ] & spent some time at a lovely motel somewhere . Then Nathan's trains obtained the rights & still have them up to present .


Cheers Tom in Oz.


Email may have picked up the distributorship when they bought out H & W Clarke in the 1960s, who were the New Zealand distributors. My father serviced marklin items for H&W Clarke when I was a small boy, which is how I got into marklin.

Alan

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Offline cookee_nz  
#19 Posted : 07 October 2014 04:02:08(UTC)
cookee_nz

New Zealand   
Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 3,948
Location: Paremata, Wellington
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: Tom Jessop Go to Quoted Post


It would be interesting to know why Email picked the distribution in Oz considering it would have been one of their smallest divisions of the company . After Email, I believe it went to Australian Model Craft in Waitara, Sydney some where between 1975 & 1979 . I don't have catalogs or price lists between those years . Rumor had it that the owner of AMC did a runner [tax dept & bank asking questions ] & spent some time at a lovely motel somewhere . Then Nathan's trains obtained the rights & still have them up to present .


Cheers Tom in Oz.


Email may have picked up the distributorship when they bought out H & W Clarke in the 1960s, who were the New Zealand distributors. My father serviced marklin items for H&W Clarke when I was a small boy, which is how I got into marklin.

Alan



This is correct, I have a 1983 NZ pricelist on EMail letterhead, when they were located at 46 Cable St and when Hank Edwards was running that division. My latest pricelist from HW Clarke is 1965/66.

Only a year later in 1984 he was still in the same building but was then operating as "Edmac Agencies Ltd", a partnership arrangement with Bruce MacMillan of Smiths Cycles in Lower Hutt. That agreement disolved and my next distributor marked price list is in 1990 as "Edwards Hobbies & Toys" by which time he had relocated to Frederick St.

Plenty of gaps to be filled here in this timeline if anyone can add anything?

Regards

Steve
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
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Offline Bryan  
#20 Posted : 07 October 2014 09:27:22(UTC)
Bryan

Australia   
Joined: 08/09/2010(UTC)
Posts: 209
Location: Bowral, NSW, Australia
Hi All

Just a couple of points on the NSW Marklin agents.
While Bill Silvestor was 'On Holiday' his wife, Glenn Eden and Henry Hoffman?? looked after the agency until his return. Henry was the second owner of Train Trader for a while when it was located at Narrabeen. Also Asquith Model Railways which was further north on the pacific Hwy stocked a lot of Maklin at one stage. The owner said Bill (Agents) kept a lot of stock on display in his shop. I expect this stopped when Nathan's were given the Marklin agency. Asquith Model Railways has long gone as well.

Cheers
Bryan
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#21 Posted : 07 October 2014 10:22:33(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Looks like a book could be written about the history of "M" in Oz . I will try & contact a few people who may know more & report back . Was the shop at Asquith co joined with one at Hornsby down behind the Bowling Alley , I remember that they were advertising "M" only a few years ago before the shop closed .


Cheers, Tom in Oz

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Offline kiwiAlan  
#22 Posted : 07 October 2014 10:49:50(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: cookee_nz Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post


Email may have picked up the distributorship when they bought out H & W Clarke in the 1960s, who were the New Zealand distributors. My father serviced marklin items for H&W Clarke when I was a small boy, which is how I got into marklin.

Alan



This is correct, I have a 1983 NZ pricelist on EMail letterhead, when they were located at 46 Cable St and when Hank Edwards was running that division. My latest pricelist from HW Clarke is 1965/66.

Only a year later in 1984 he was still in the same building but was then operating as "Edmac Agencies Ltd", a partnership arrangement with Bruce MacMillan of Smiths Cycles in Lower Hutt. That agreement disolved and my next distributor marked price list is in 1990 as "Edwards Hobbies & Toys" by which time he had relocated to Frederick St.

Plenty of gaps to be filled here in this timeline if anyone can add anything?

Regards

Steve


That sounds about right to me, although that is in a period when I didn't have a lot to do with model railways. Simultaneous with Hank Edwards being the official importer Trains and Hobbies in Auckland were secondary importing by purchasing items people ordered through shops in Germany. Then when Hank committed suicide Trains and Hobbies made the only decent offer for the existing stock and took over the official distributorship.

Later Trains and Hobbies seemed to loose sight of what they were doing, as they were part of a family trust that also had other interests which seemed to become the major interest and Marklin just lost contact with them. Trains and Hobbies was later sold to Merv Smith Trains in Auckland, but Marklin had transferred the official distributorship to Mr Ferrara (sp?) in Wellington who had been secondary importing but never held much stock. This didn't seem to work well at all AIUI.

I believe the official distributor is now Toottoot in Christchurch, or have I got that wrong?

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Offline cookee_nz  
#23 Posted : 07 October 2014 11:37:09(UTC)
cookee_nz

New Zealand   
Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 3,948
Location: Paremata, Wellington
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: cookee_nz Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post


Email may have picked up the distributorship when they bought out H & W Clarke in the 1960s, who were the New Zealand distributors. My father serviced marklin items for H&W Clarke when I was a small boy, which is how I got into marklin.

Alan



This is correct, I have a 1983 NZ pricelist on EMail letterhead, when they were located at 46 Cable St and when Hank Edwards was running that division. My latest pricelist from HW Clarke is 1965/66.

Only a year later in 1984 he was still in the same building but was then operating as "Edmac Agencies Ltd", a partnership arrangement with Bruce MacMillan of Smiths Cycles in Lower Hutt. That agreement disolved and my next distributor marked price list is in 1990 as "Edwards Hobbies & Toys" by which time he had relocated to Frederick St.

Plenty of gaps to be filled here in this timeline if anyone can add anything?

Regards

Steve


That sounds about right to me, although that is in a period when I didn't have a lot to do with model railways. Simultaneous with Hank Edwards being the official importer Trains and Hobbies in Auckland were secondary importing by purchasing items people ordered through shops in Germany. Then when Hank committed suicide Trains and Hobbies made the only decent offer for the existing stock and took over the official distributorship.

Later Trains and Hobbies seemed to loose sight of what they were doing, as they were part of a family trust that also had other interests which seemed to become the major interest and Marklin just lost contact with them. Trains and Hobbies was later sold to Merv Smith Trains in Auckland, but Marklin had transferred the official distributorship to Mr Ferrara (sp?) in Wellington who had been secondary importing but never held much stock. This didn't seem to work well at all AIUI.

I believe the official distributor is now Toottoot in Christchurch, or have I got that wrong?



Hi Alan,

It was quite a saga during that time, and sad for the sudden loss of Hank. I always found him to be pleasant to deal with, plus he was Patron of The Märklin Model Railway Club for many years.

The bit about Train & Hobbies is largely accurate . It is true that Ian Barrett was already active in Marklin, but at that time he was operating under the banner "The Digital Experience" - if I recall, he did not start "Trains and Hobbies Ltd" until he had actually purchased Hank's former business and agencies including Faller, Preiser and possibly a few others.

Ian meant well but the declining market and his other business interests simply meant too much dilution of his resources. He got off to a good start, employing a dedicated Sales Representative and holding a rather enjoyable dedicated Marklin Expo in the old Auckland Railway Station (which our club attended).

Around the same time, Marklin opened up their ability for ordering direct from the factory and the first person I was aware of to become involved in this way was Peter Mathers from Te Awamutu (Pirongia to be exact) operating as "The Eisenbahn Depot" which was structured more as a kind of Marklin 'Buyers Club' . I met Peter, he was a nice friendly guy but ran into some issues along the way although I understand this is all long behind him now because I see him active on the auction sites with items here and there and his feedback it very good.

Philip Fedorenko is the Gent you are thinking of in Wellington from Advanced TV in Newlands with a story similar to Ian's actually. Again a nice guy with excellent knowledge and good intentions, but I suspect insufficient local interest to make the hobby business self-supporting without impacting on his primary business. And as anyone who has tried it will know, running a model agency, particularly one as fickle as Marklin is very demanding - delays from the factory, handling warranty issues etc. It's hard to justify it as a part-time thing and very time-consuming, but not profitable enough to put everything else aside.

It would probably be a winner for a retired or semi-retired person and especially so for anyone who can add the all important 'point of difference' and I believe this is where Toot Toot has gained a lot of ground - good old-fashioned family service from Dion & Bryan, stock in the showroom (yes, a showroom!!), and a high level of technical support and knowledge in Marklin generally, and Digital in particular.

The impact of the Internet and the ease of international buying goes as far back as when Hank passed away and has been a challenge for every retail trader since.

The few times I've been to Merv Smith Hobbies I've been underwhelmed by the stock availability and they are barely on the radar but it has been some years since I last ventured into Newmarket - perhaps it's improved?.

Interesting topic and apologies if any of my own recollections are off the mark, any corrections are graciously received.

Cookee
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
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Offline Bigdaddynz  
#24 Posted : 07 October 2014 11:41:36(UTC)
Bigdaddynz

New Zealand   
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 18,661
Location: New Zealand
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post
Email may have picked up the distributorship when they bought out H & W Clarke in the 1960s, who were the New Zealand distributors. My father serviced marklin items for H&W Clarke when I was a small boy, which is how I got into marklin.


Interesting! My cousin worked for Email Industries when they were based in Cable St in Wellington, and that is how I got into Marklin. My cousin was able to get items at staff rates for her brothers, and she got a 3122 starter set and a 30va transformer for me. I think the set was $40 and the transformer $20. That would have been about 1971. I still have the set and the transformer.
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#25 Posted : 07 October 2014 11:44:22(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia
Train Trader : Just made a phone call to a friend & he told me that Henry Hoffman was the first owner & Peter ??? the second . When Peter brought the business he moved shop further down the street for some reason & eventually sold to Brent & Nick who moved to Pymble .


Email factory badge appears on my price lists from ???? up to 1974 & then 1979 for Marklin Distributors till 1986 , I then have a gap till when Nathan's took over.


Before Email it looks like all the price lists were printed by "M" , I have up to 1972 all printed in Germany in both the old & new currency for the particular years .

He also mentioned what had induced the extended holiday regarding Bill S. which I would prefer to keep to my self.

Asquith Hobbies only had 2 nd hand "M" for sale & the owner apparently was rather a person who would only sell some things to his mates . He moved shop to Hornsby in the later years under a new name & but with the same rules as in the old shop . I believe he may have passed on & the shop is now closed.

Tom in Oz
Offline cookee_nz  
#26 Posted : 07 October 2014 11:45:39(UTC)
cookee_nz

New Zealand   
Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 3,948
Location: Paremata, Wellington
Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post
Email may have picked up the distributorship when they bought out H & W Clarke in the 1960s, who were the New Zealand distributors. My father serviced marklin items for H&W Clarke when I was a small boy, which is how I got into marklin.


Interesting! My cousin worked for Email Industries when they were based in Cable St in Wellington, and that is how I got into Marklin. My cousin was able to get items at staff rates for her brothers, and she got a 3122 starter set and a 30va transformer for me. I think the set was $40 and the transformer $20. That would have been about 1971.


Small world eh? - I too had a High School chum who worked there, he was an electronics & video technician in their Sony division - I remember him showing me the (then) brand-new Sony Walkman which had just come out, at the time considered cutting-edge in portable music, a very compact Cassette player - and nowadays who could possibly imagine a mechanical mp3 player?? Woot

Steve
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
Offline Bigdaddynz  
#27 Posted : 07 October 2014 11:50:53(UTC)
Bigdaddynz

New Zealand   
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 18,661
Location: New Zealand
Originally Posted by: cookee_nz Go to Quoted Post
The few times I've been to Merv Smith Hobbies I've been underwhelmed by the stock availability and they are barely on the radar but it has been some years since I last ventured into Newmarket - perhaps it's improved?


No it hasn't Cookee. I was up in Auckland a month ago, and went into Merv Smith Hobbies. They are still in the same building in Newmarket, but have moved out of the ground floor shop and gone downstairs into the basement in an area about half the size of the previous shop. Their stock of Marklin is now next to nothing, just a few bits of short pieces of track, a small amount of rolling stock (2 or 3 pieces) and not much else. I picked up a book on Mini Club (German text) for about $10, but nothing else. Clearly the business has gone downhill, and they are obviously getting out of Marklin. There wasn't much in the way of Faller kits there either.
Offline kiwiAlan  
#28 Posted : 07 October 2014 12:17:53(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: cookee_nz Go to Quoted Post
The few times I've been to Merv Smith Hobbies I've been underwhelmed by the stock availability and they are barely on the radar but it has been some years since I last ventured into Newmarket - perhaps it's improved?


No it hasn't Cookee. I was up in Auckland a month ago, and went into Merv Smith Hobbies. They are still in the same building in Newmarket, but have moved out of the ground floor shop and gone downstairs into the basement in an area about half the size of the previous shop. Their stock of Marklin is now next to nothing, just a few bits of short pieces of track, a small amount of rolling stock (2 or 3 pieces) and not much else. I picked up a book on Mini Club (German text) for about $10, but nothing else. Clearly the business has gone downhill, and they are obviously getting out of Marklin. There wasn't much in the way of Faller kits there either.


I don't think they ever did more than buy up the Trains & Hobbies stock as far as marklin and the other T&H distributorships went.

Offline leahcim  
#29 Posted : 07 October 2014 23:35:37(UTC)
leahcim

Australia   
Joined: 12/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 40
Location: QUEENSLAND, BRISBANE
Originally Posted by: Bryan Go to Quoted Post
Hi All

Just a couple of points on the NSW Marklin agents.
While Bill Silvestor was 'On Holiday' his wife, Glenn Eden and Henry Hoffman?? looked after the agency until his return. Henry was the second owner of Train Trader for a while when it was located at Narrabeen. Also Asquith Model Railways which was further north on the pacific Hwy stocked a lot of Maklin at one stage. The owner said Bill (Agents) kept a lot of stock on display in his shop. I expect this stopped when Nathan's were given the Marklin agency. Asquith Model Railways has long gone as well.

Cheers
Bryan


That jogged my memory Bryan. I think it was Glynn rather than Glenn Eden and I'm wracking my brain as to Bill's wife's name. I think it was Tess? Who I think was his second wife if I remember correctly.
As for Henry Hoffman, never heard of him sorry. Are you sure he was involved with Australian Modelcraft?

regards
michael



Offline leahcim  
#30 Posted : 07 October 2014 23:39:47(UTC)
leahcim

Australia   
Joined: 12/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 40
Location: QUEENSLAND, BRISBANE
Originally Posted by: Tom Jessop Go to Quoted Post
Train Trader : Just made a phone call to a friend & he told me that Henry Hoffman was the first owner & Peter ??? the second . When Peter brought the business he moved shop further down the street for some reason & eventually sold to Brent & Nick who moved to Pymble .

He also mentioned what had induced the extended holiday regarding Bill S. which I would prefer to keep to my self.



Tom in Oz



That seems to confirm what I heard Tom and is also why I decided to keep it to myself.

michael

Offline Bigdaddynz  
#31 Posted : 08 October 2014 00:15:18(UTC)
Bigdaddynz

New Zealand   
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 18,661
Location: New Zealand
Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Go to Quoted Post
I don't think they ever did more than buy up the Trains & Hobbies stock as far as marklin and the other T&H distributorships went.


I don't think they brought it all, as one of our club members has been selling some of Ian Barrett's left over stock on his behalf. I think it has all now been sold.
Offline Tom Jessop  
#32 Posted : 08 October 2014 23:02:05(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Found these scans on RMweb.co.uk

http://www.mobakataloge....el_hersteller=Startseite

http://www.toymarkt.de/RocoGeschichte.html

RMweb is a interesting site catering for many varied rail related info worldwide

Tom in Oz
Offline Bryan  
#33 Posted : 09 October 2014 04:27:22(UTC)
Bryan

Australia   
Joined: 08/09/2010(UTC)
Posts: 209
Location: Bowral, NSW, Australia
Hi All

Just one point on Train Trader, there was one owner before Henry Hoffman. I cannot remember his name (Barker???), however he lived at Avalon on the northern Sydney beaches. From memory Train Trader started in the Sydney at Pitt St and moved to Narrabeen later. Also when Bill S. had the Marklin agency it was AMC. AMC was the main importer of Peco products and is where the business was, especially the flexible track. The company Southern Model Supplies seem to be the Peco agents now.

Cheers
Bryan
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#34 Posted : 09 October 2014 10:33:25(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia


Any thought on the Pitt st address or even building name ? I spent many a day walking the streets of Sydney CBD fixing phones in those days so may be able to work out where .

Cheers Tom in Oz
Offline Bigdaddynz  
#35 Posted : 23 April 2023 22:02:50(UTC)
Bigdaddynz

New Zealand   
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 18,661
Location: New Zealand
Originally Posted by: cookee_nz Go to Quoted Post
...Bruce MacMillan of Smiths Cycles in Lower Hutt.


Came across this photo of Smith's Cycles not long ago.

Bruce lived across the road from us in High Street in his later years, probably during his retirement.

SmithsCycles.JPG

Edited by user 24 April 2023 16:42:02(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

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Offline Gmac  
#36 Posted : 24 April 2023 09:34:28(UTC)
Gmac

New Zealand   
Joined: 24/04/2021(UTC)
Posts: 11
Location: Wellington.
Great photo Dave. Reflections in the window, CF Bedford, first introduced 1969, Triumph 2000 MK2 introduced 1969 and possibly an HT or HG Holden Kingswood introduced 1969 and 1971 respectively. Does that date that photo about right?


Cheers Graham.
Offline marklinist5999  
#37 Posted : 24 April 2023 13:48:52(UTC)
marklinist5999

United States   
Joined: 10/02/2021(UTC)
Posts: 3,070
Location: Michigan, Troy
1978 prices, 5those sure were the best of times! The middle class had just peaked in standard of living and income/cost of living ratios. My GM financial reports production numbers even refelct accordingly. Peak years for Holden were 76, 77, 78.
Offline Bigdaddynz  
#38 Posted : 24 April 2023 16:43:37(UTC)
Bigdaddynz

New Zealand   
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 18,661
Location: New Zealand
Originally Posted by: Gmac Go to Quoted Post
Great photo Dave. Reflections in the window, CF Bedford, first introduced 1969, Triumph 2000 MK2 introduced 1969 and possibly an HT or HG Holden Kingswood introduced 1969 and 1971 respectively. Does that date that photo about right?


Yes, one of my first thoughts upon seeing this photo - looks to be the 1970's.

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