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Offline cookee_nz  
#1 Posted : 12 April 2019 03:40:34(UTC)
cookee_nz

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

I've got a quantity of very old Märklin 0-gauge (3-rail) track that I'm trying to identify and match to when it was made etc.

I've referenced all my catalogues from the 20's through 50's when 0 was withdrawn and although there is some information, the illustrations don't really help much with specific identification.

My catalogues from 1935 are predominantly H0 with a small section for 0 but there might be 0-specific catalogues that may help more - I may even have them but while I'm still searching through them I figured it was worth asking here if there are any M. 0-gauge guru's among us?

There is some indication on the tracks already stamped in the ties.

Straights are stamped D 12, the full straights are 320mm & 1/2 straight 160mm but the stamping for both is the same on the ties.

Some full-straights have 7 ties, some have only three

The half-straights are either 4 ties, or just 2.

Curves are stamped either A 8, or A 12, each number being the number to make a circle with 12 being the larger outer radius.

The full curves have either 7 ties or 3, but all my half curves have 4 ties.

So obviously there was a change in production over the decades, what I'd like is a resource that illustrates the various track through the years so I can identify them accurately.

I imagine like all things M. there are identifying details if you know exactly where to look and what you are looking for. They do appear to be very similar otherwise, same type of rails, same ties etc.

At a guess, I'd suggest more ties means earlier production and fewer ties may mean around or from war-time when materials were more scarce? - or perhaps fewer ties was early production and more were added for stability/reliability, or perhaps they produced an 'economy' version with fewer ties alongside the more appealing full-tie sections?

So many questions.

I'll try to add some images once I have them cleaned and sorted out.

I did find this site already - www.alte-spur-0.de - but it's a bit hard to find anything specific about track, even with the translation.

I'm sure there's other enthusiast information sites for Spur 0 ?

Appreciate any help.

Cookee
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by cookee_nz
Offline kamstutz  
#2 Posted : 12 April 2019 04:16:17(UTC)
kamstutz

United States   
Joined: 27/03/2015(UTC)
Posts: 192
Location: Orlando, FL
Originally Posted by: cookee_nz Go to Quoted Post

... Märklin 0-gauge (3-rail) track that I'm trying to identify and match to when it was made etc.

Cookee - Paul wrote a blog post on the evolution of Marklin track on his website here at this link: https://marklinstop.com/2018/01/marklins-00ho-track-system-1935-present/
He doesn't get into too much detail with track for 0-gauge, but I suspect that he might be able to provide some insight or even an update to his blog post now that he has concentrated on the larger scales and has had more contact recently with the 0-gauge ecosystem.

Kurt
thanks 2 users liked this useful post by kamstutz
Offline Markus Schild  
#3 Posted : 12 April 2019 08:42:09(UTC)
Markus Schild

Germany   
Joined: 14/01/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,802
Location: Wurttemberg
Hi Cookee,

Generally not only the curves are stamped with the radius, but also the straight tracks. A straight - track "12" is intended to use with- and fits the geometry of "12" - curves where 12 tracks make a circle. A straight track "8" fits the geometry of the "8"- circle. There are also "6" - tracks, but they are rare.

The usual track was the track with 3 ties. The track with 7 ties was named "PROGRESS"* and was the luxury version of the track.

Generally a straight track is a "D" - track and curved track is a "A" track. In very early times there were also "B" and "C" tracks with different connectors. "A" and "D" - tracks have 2 pins on one side and 1 pin on the other. Straight "B" and "C" have either three pins on both sides or no pins. Same for curves "E" and "F".

A combination of the "6", "8" and "12" series was not planned and is only shown in very few track-plans. The geometry was not compatible like the usual combination 5100/5200 we know from H0.

Two pages from the catalogue 1935 with the track for electric trains.

ma1935-s25 (Gross).jpg

ma1935-s24 (Gross).jpg

Regards

Markus

*That German character "ß" is read as "S" and can be also be written "ss".
thanks 3 users liked this useful post by Markus Schild
Offline cookee_nz  
#4 Posted : 12 April 2019 12:00:35(UTC)
cookee_nz

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

Generally not only the curves are stamped with the radius, but also the straight tracks. A straight - track "12" is intended to use with- and fits the geometry of "12" - curves where 12 tracks make a circle. A straight track "8" fits the geometry of the "8"- circle. There are also "6" - tracks, but they are rare.

The usual track was the track with 3 ties. The track with 7 ties was named "PROGRESS"* and was the luxury version of the track.

Generally a straight track is a "D" - track and curved track is a "A" track. In very early times there were also "B" and "C" tracks with different connectors. "A" and "D" - tracks have 2 pins on one side and 1 pin on the other. Straight "B" and "C" have either three pins on both sides or no pins. Same for curves "E" and "F".

A combination of the "6", "8" and "12" series was not planned and is only shown in very few track-plans. The geometry was not compatible like the usual combination 5100/5200 we know from H0.

Two pages from the catalogue 1935 with the track for electric trains.

(snip)

Regards

Markus

*That German character "ß" is read as "S" and can be also be written "ss".


Thanks Markus, that's really helpful info. I have seen those pages in my catalogue but I did not understand the distinction with the 'Progress' track. And it appears there's an even more advanced version? - with even more ties?

So from what I can tell, the track was not really changed much at all during production and there's no easy way to determine manufacture date for a piece of track?

That's fine, it makes no actual difference but I'm thinking of selling it all and any information I can add to my description should help. I'll just guess that it probably dates circa 1930's and I won't be too far off BigGrin

Cheers
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
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