Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum, and try as i might via the search function i could not come up with any information about broken Marklin engines.

My Situation:
I am attempting to get 2 very old Marklin engines repaired, but i am unshure as to what to do where to go, or even if i have to send the engines back to Germay itself. I am unshure if they are even repairable considering their age. From what i can tell on the models, they date back to before the destruction of the Berlin wall, as there it stamping that the engines were made is West Germany. As well from stories of these trains from my father (the owner) he purchased them while he was in Germany as a young child, as of now he is in his late 50s, so being generous i would estimate their age at something like 20-30 years old.

I suspect that i would need to take the engines to a Marklin dealer perhaps, but yet again i am unshure.

In the end if i can get this scheme to work, they will be a gift to my father who originally purchased them years ago.

Any help, tips, or well... anything... would be met with much apreciation.

as long as these locos weren't abused, bringing them back to running condition if only 20-30 years old (which isn't all that "old" for marklin) shouldn't be a problem. they might just need a cleaning and lubrication, maybe some new brushes for the motor, and some new light bulbs perhaps.
maybe you aren't too far from this place
http://www.euromodeltrains.com/cgi-bin/home.pl

There is one old gentleman that is not an authorized Marklin dealer, yet he is a whiz. He is an older German fellow who had a childhood in the early postwar years in Germany. As a result of his age he is super knowledgeable and experienced about Marklin and of the type problems you might have.


http://www.curthel.com/

You will enjoy talking with him, he has some great stories to tell.

I wasn't aware that Curthel did repairs.

here's another place that is apparently well respected with the west coast marklin crowd
http://www.eisenbahnclinic.com/

Helmut at Curthel is the man! He fixes things asap, stocks parts, and charges a rate so low you that you he is in it for the love not the money. He also has good contacts at the factory- which noone else I know here does. His operation is a benchmark for German efficiency!

Based on personal experience, I will add to the recommendation of Helmut at Curthel in Cheyenne. When I unpacked all my older equipment a few years ago, he was the one I turned to for cleaning up engines that had been idle for over 20 years and he also installed decoders so that I could go to digital. He's knowledgable and he's very nice.
Regards,