I remember that picture in the catalogues ... I think it appeared in a number of publications.

I wonder when the last time you lubricated those stub axles. They are metal on metal which will have a fair drag, and the merest spot of oil will make a very big difference. Just getting a tiny drop on the end of a needle and touching the hole the stub axle rolls in will be more than enough oil.

The cone end axles run in a plastic housing which is much more free running as this tends to be somewhat "self lubricating" in that the surface of the plastic is quite slippery.

I remember that picture in the catalogues ... I think it appeared in a number of publications.

I wonder when the last time you lubricated those stub axles. They are metal on metal which will have a fair drag, and the merest spot of oil will make a very big difference. Just getting a tiny drop on the end of a needle and touching the hole the stub axle rolls in will be more than enough oil.

The cone end axles run in a plastic housing which is much more free running as this tends to be somewhat "self lubricating" in that the surface of the plastic is quite slippery.

I was looking through my 1951 Maerklin catalog and I noticed an interesting drawing on page 41 (also 1950 catalog on page 37) - that of a CCS800 crocodile pulling a long line of freight cars. Here is a cut out clipping from that catalog. (Click on the image to see a larger version)

......

Based on the drawing and the product line-up in 1951 I believe that I have come up with the model numbers for the consist of this freight train. Here is my best guess. Should you have better guesses on some of these please feel free to comment.

1. CCS800 - (SBB crocodile)
   
2. 310 - (green luggage van)
   
3. 312b - (Covered/Closed Goods van with flat roof)
   
4. 325 "Gambrinus" - (Beer van "Gambrinus" with brakesman's cabin, white)
   
5. 320/312b? - (Closed goods wagon)
   
6. 322 - (Covered wagon)
   
7. 311sb (brown open goods wagon with white stones)
   
8. 361G - (Lumber truck (2 x 2 axle platforms))
   
9. 316b - (Closed freight wagon)
   
10. 314E - ("Esso" tank wagon with rectangle logos)
    
11. 324 "Kuhlwagen" - (white refridgerated van)
    
12. 322 - (covered wagon - as in wagon #5?)
    
13. 311Hb - (open goods wagon with plastic logs insert)
    
14. 332 - (4 axle box car with sliding doors)
    
15. 311Kg - (green open goods wagon with coal load)
    
16. 334E - (4 axle "Esso" tank wagon)
    
17. 311kg? - (green open goods wagon with coal load)

A couple of these are just guesses since it's a bit difficult to make out some of the cars, but I think I'm pretty close. Checking my collection I came up with almost all of these (I didn't have a duplicate #322 so I used a #393 instead). I put the train together and gave it a run around my layout. Here's a short video of the entire train.

.........

Conclusion: As powerful as the CCS800 is it does (did) have trouble pulling this 16 car train - especially going up and down grades. The die cast cars are very heavy and because of the "stubby" axles their rolling efficiency is not very good (in comparison with today's "cone" type axles). When going uphill I'll bet that the CCS800 would have struggled since at that time (1950/1951) the croc still didn't have traction tires, which, according to Koll's, only appeared in 1957. My CCS800 has traction tires and still had difficulty. When going downhill I noticed that the weight of the cars pushing against each other caused numerous derailments. So while lovely to look at in the catalog I rather doubt that this train was very viable.

Still a fun experiment and a good learning experience by hunting down these models. Anyone else modelled something from a catalog?

Kurt

....

Jacques my friend. I'm hoping that you meant that I'm missing a 320S with red taillights because unless you created a "one-off" I've never seen or heard of a 322 with taillights.
BTW - If anyone comments about my bridge pillars looking like etched blue foam that hasn't been painted... FYI - I'm modelling a type of blue concrete brick from the 1950's that looks amazingly like blue foam... just a coincidence.

Hey Guys, please avoid quoting entire posts in a thread multiple times, please edit the quote to include only the bit being referred to (which Jacques has done in his last post ). This is part of the general forum guidelines (and normal netiquette)

Other than that, great topic!