Hi David,

I have a few Piko coaches and I can confirm they are very good value. If you get any problems running through turnouts the correct profile wheel-sets are readily available and quite cheap.

I would recommend you try out one of the Piko locos. The electrics and diesels in the "Expert" range are better than the the Marklin Hobby type locos and run very well. I have several and I'm happy with them.

Yes I meant the AC wheels. Some wagons will run OK with the DC wheels but you might get problems at turnouts. With the AC wheels they are good runners.

Thank you. Other than Marklin I have mainly bought Brawa and always change the wheel sets if not A/C.
I am happy with the Piko coaches and good to see others are also pleased with the brand.

What gets me when manufacturers like Piko and Roco produce locos, there is provision for extra headlights like high beam but Led's/resistors haven't been installed but otherwise I'm also happy with Piko electric locos (2) they look alright haven't had them running so far. I hope I haven't made a mistake by buying DC locos and therefore may have problems with going over turnouts.

John

Once again Tom nails it, he is spot on about the wheels here. As I said earlier, all of my Piko rolling stock I have swapped out the DC for Piko AC wheels, and the three Piko loco's that I have were AC to begin with, again no problems whatsoever with any of them.

I don't think anyone buying Piko will be disappointed with the product, as I said earlier some of their newer tank cars have some excellent detail to them, but I am a strong advocate of swapping out the wheels for AC

EXACTLY! And we both know which specific tank cars here. Fortunately here in the US I've been able to get them at around $40 USD, which is consistent with similar Marklin 4 axle models, but again, lacking the detail these specific Piko cars have.

Piko have the Hobby range, the mid-price Expert range, and the high-end Classic range.
Models from the Expert range are becoming more detailed - at increasing prices.
They try to make what their customers want. The budgets of the customers are limited, so to some extend they compete with Märklin, but also with Roco, Fleischmann, Liliput, Rivarossi and others.

would say Piko locos are ok but changing rubber tyres is a nightmare, like all other brands all you do undo 1 or a couple screws and you get to the axles and exchange the tires, not with Piko, you have to take the whole loco apart, remove the bogie and than you can get access to the wheels, reassembling it all again, you have to make sure the contacts are within the wheel flanges, make sure your cardan rod is in the right place, than you have to clip the plastic part from the top of the bogie to secure the bottom half, than put all the circuit board back together and your job is done, 18th century technology., also the traction tyres are very thin not like the norm of other manufacturers., if you have retired and you've got plenty of time and your frustration level doesn't reach boiling point you should be ok., I BOUGHT QUITE A FEW Piko locos and they are ok and worth their money, go for the expert model, you get a better motor, and your couplings are retractable (KKK) and you may get lights which aren't bulbs but LED's, I've converted all mine with markerlights as well.

John

I hear you, and I quite agree!

I have a nice Piko E41. The tires kept falling off, and finally I lost one of them. (probably still lying somewhere on the track).
In desperation I fitted some "normal" tires from either Roco or Märklin, and even it doesn´t look quite right, the loco now runs perfectly!!!

The problem with complete disassembly just to change tires, I have experienced with the Märklin E150. (The first version they ever made, the one with compact rückel-sinus motor)