Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan 
I couldn't work out if the coach livery is fantasy - well I had only a quick look at the brochure so didn't read the coach descriptions in depth. Job for Saturday.
Here is what my research has taught me so far:
The coach livery is fine and correct. Whole trains consisting of coaches in this livery run all over Europe. Germany, Austria, Denmark and probably more. Usually pulled by locomotives from a variety of operators (MRCE, HGK, RailPool and more). Some even by the DB as regional trains on some occasions.
Unfortunately, the coach types are probably not correct - unless the text in the brochure is wrong. Please, correct me if I am wrong, but this is what I have managed to find out:
The type Bm is correctly owned by the Euro-Express company, unfortunately it is not the coach type depicted in the brochure. The number of windows, 14, is correct, but the roofing is wrong. The prototype has what is called "Steildach", meaning that there is no beveled roof at the end of the coach. Also, the company actually only own 3 and not 4 Bm's as mentioned in the brochure. So at least one coach will come with a fictive number. Unless, of course, the text in the brochure is wrong - or the company website is wrong - which might also be the case.
The Am coach may be correct. I have not been able to find any actual pictures of _that_ particular type, but it may be in their fleet. Keep in mind that Euro-Express' coach fleet is made up of lots of different second hand coach types, meaning that they may own different types that are all called Am. Unfortunately, all the pictures of Euro-Express Am's I have found depicts 13 windows.
Another funny observation: Euro-Express own 12 coaches of the type Am, which also makes Märklin's choice of using more Bm's than actually in existence, when there are more than enough Am's to choose from, a bit of a weird one. Looking at the photos on the Märklin website, it could look like the two coaches in the Märklin fan set is actually called "Bcm" which would kind of make it better.
Even though it _may be_ a wrong coach type (12 windows instead of 13), I would still have gone the route where I did not have to invent a fictive coach number. With Euro-Express models I would also get a closer match regarding my model (the Am's does look more like the prototype than the Bm's). Most people would never have noticed the missing window.
Märklin could also have gone for coaches of the type "ABüm 225" (actually there is one on page 17 in the same brochure). That model has 13 windows and looks very much like the real Euro-Express Am. Since the ABüm 225 is an AB coach (second- and first class) half the windows has lesser spacing between them. Still, it would be a better looking match. Also, the space difference between half the windows can be really difficult to see, especially because everything length wise on a Märklin UIC-X coach is wrong anyway. IMO.
The Train Stories restaurant coach seems to be correct. It does indeed look like their type WG 002. Here you can only judge from actual pictures of the coach. If you look at the Euro-Express website there is a drawing of the coach's floor plan, but that drawing is not to scale, and - very unusual - it is also wrong. It does not depict the correct number of windows that their actual prototype has. The drawing is clearly made for potential customers looking for a particular service - and (obviously) not railway enthusiasts doing research. You cannot use that drawing to judge the model.
I might order the restaurant coach, but I will have to look more into the other coaches to see if it is worth it. There is the possibility that the product description is wrong, I hope that might be the case, but I highly doubt it. We will see. I do not mind that coaches are some what of a "close match", but I do mind when distinctive features (like a non-beveled roof) is not there. It is a clearly visible mistake. For all I care, they could have named all the coaches Am and they would still have had a better model.
Time will tell. Looking at previous models, Märklin has the actual models to make a more correct Euro-Express train, but it seems like, for now at least, that they have chosen to make an incorrect one. I really hate to say it, but some how, I am not surprised.
When you _can actually_ do a better job, then why don't you? I can't think of any reasons.
The set is Era VI. There is also the possibility that Euro-Express has just bought all these coaches, but nobody have noticed or taken pictures of them yet. Unlikely, but it may be the case. So there is that to hope for as well...
