Hi,
Does anyone know if there are any Marklin dealers in Wiltshire?

Also, I've bought a defective locomotive (eBay!) and been offered a £25 discount to pay for repairs. It was £75, but please don't flame the seller, he seems perfectly genuine. Does anyone in the UK repair them?

I'm inclined to return it, though. It's a HAMO 8398 analogue so not particularly special.

Pete

This is my gripe – but I need to get it off my chest!

About a fortnight ago, I contacted Hobbyco, the UK importer for Marklin. I wanted a list of the Official Marklin Dealers, so that I could ‘go shopping’. Most of all, I wanted to know which was the nearest dealer to Edinburgh. I was promised faithfully that the info would be with me post haste. I was given an email address at Hobbyco and duly sent off a test email so that they could respond. So far, so good.

To date, I still have received nothing from this company. Hobbyco is supposed to be the UK representative for Marklin. Incredibly, they do not even have a website. Surely, no-one can run a successful business in today’s modern world without being online! This is so unprofessional. [:0]

Gauge-Master used to be the official UK representative and they do at least have a website. I found them extremely polite and helpful. However, I found them very slow to deliver, sometimes taking months, a problem which they blamed on Hobbyco. As a customer, I am not interested in where the fault lies in the delivery chain. The fact is, Marklin is expensive and there should never be any unreasonable delay. [:(]

The whole world is in the midst of an economic crisis. I have funds available to further my hobby. Why do these companies adopt such a lackadaisical attitude towards business?

Is it any wonder that the kids of today are not really interested and stick to computer games? It is almost as though this is being run like a cottage industry. No wonder firms are collapsing every single day.

Is anybody else in the UK experiencing this sort of behaviour? I know for certain that if it were my business, I would make sure I did everything to attract and retain customers. I am a firm believer in voting with my feet. I take my business where it is appreciated.

It looks like I may be forced to shop outside the UK unless somebody can dissuade me! Can anyone recommend a quality dealership with competitive pricing in the UK / Europe (bricks or clicks)?

I feel better now - thanks for listening.

Pete,

Apart from those mentioned, you can get Marklin from Ontracks (www.ontracks.co.uk).

They are purely online and don't have a physical shop, as far as I know. Their online shop is quite good, but they don't have much physical stock, so Marklin items will take a few weeks to obtain. I have pre-ordered new items through them in the past and they have always delivered eventually.

Ray

Hi Pete.

For repairs I use the Model Railway Doctor. Cannot remember teh website but phone is 020 8907 7662 (or, possibly, 0181 907 7662), addr. 24 Alicia. Avenue, Kenton, Harrow,. Middlesex. HA3 8HR.

Also, try http://www.traindoctor.co.uk/

Chris.

The Hobby Company was given the Märklin/Trix distributorship in the UK in preference to Gaugemaster, because HobbyCo already distributed LGB, and this was seen by Märklin in Germany as being more successful in the UK than Märklin/Trix.

In my personal opinion, HobbyCo are a waste of space and have no interest in promoting Märklin in the UK. They had a stand at the Warley model railway show at the NEC last November, but were promoting VITrains (one of their other product lines). I had to ask for information about Märklin, and was not at all impressed by the product knowledge shown or that there was any drive to make Märklin a success in the UK.

Märklin has always been a hard sell here, because of its 3-rail tradition and H0 scale when all UK outline models are 00. But when I show my Märklin stuff to British people they are absolutely astounded by the quality and technology which far surpasses anything they would normally see. I am sure it must be possible to make Märklin much more of a success here, but it needs someone with vision and a will to make it happen. HobbyCo is not that company (in my opinion).

Gaugemaster made a much better effort when they had the franchise, but they sell all other makes too, and so even they were not as committed to Märklin as I would have liked.

Like just about all other UK-based Märklin fans, I voted with my feet many years ago, and buy all my stuff in Germany. I have a great relationship with my favourite dealer and get the ideal combination of great service, great prices, first call on any rare or special models, very early receipt of the latest items and no-quibble solutions for any odd problems I may get with models from time to time.

I would love to see a good distributor and dealer network in the UK, but recent events have seen Märklin going in exactly the wrong direction. (Märklin knows my opinion on this!).

Here's hoping that someone in Göppingen will read some of these comments and take some action!

Nigel

Thanks, Ashley, but I think I'll just send it back and spend the money on something new and working. It cost me £75 and I've been offered a £25 refund, but I just can't be bothered with the hassle, to be honest - it's his problem, not mine.

I live in north Wiltshire (near Swindon)

Thanks again for the offer, though.
Pete

The mildenhall location all you have to do is call brian and go and see all the lovely stock he has I go all the time.

Is there an up-to-date [2023] list of UK Marklin dealers?

I have almost as much Marklin as Gaugemaster and their prices are way to high. No other dealers in the UK have any stock and they would have to buy from Gaugemaster I buy all my stuff from Germany and MSL are very good. Take care on EBay which can be ok but can also leave you with faulty goods.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I've bought a couple of things from MSL (I'm guessing you mean Model Shop Lippe).
I too find them good and currently have a Regio DMU on order with them.
But it'd be nice to have somewhere here in the UK where p&p would be quite a bit cheaper :-)

Hmm, wonder where WE can meet him. It would be interesting to get him to come to the Stammtisch next Sept. to see what enthusiasts do.

What is this 'Stammtisch' that you speak of?

i find it hard to buy and as result switched from c track to second hand m track of e bay and other than this is amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk...770&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

it will not help people but the train man on the market has turned up some real gem's

as for importing i got £75 customs charge on loco was not happy about that

hess

You can buy C track from Germany and they do not charge VAT so you save 19%. When it arrives here you will pay our VAT at 20%. You will have a delivery charge in the UK which I think is £12.
Why would you want to go from C track to second hand M track. Running on C track is better and is the way to go for the future. If you go for M you will always have to buy second hand and there will be no new additions to the track.
Control and track are the most important when starting a layout with more expensive locos etc coming later.
Marklin is expensive and that will not change and Germany is the cheapest source.

I hope we’ll get a heads up with his itinerary and then see if we can meet.

A video channel relating to hobbies and models in general just did a review of a UK model shop which stocks quantity of Märklin and Trix.
A model shop (Inside Line Models) in Thornton -Cleveleys , just north of Blackpool - accessible by tram.
https://insidelinemodels.com/

To see the video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuqjlJKok-A
The Märklin and Trix starts around 4:00.

Kimball

Interesting to see a UK shop stocking some Marklin, so as I'm the opposite side of the country to Blackpool, I had a look at their online shop.
I picked something I was particularly interested in (point motors) and compared the price with MSL.
£23.39 for Inside Line Models and £14.25 for MSL. So that's a £9 difference per motor.

So then I checked the point decoders. £34.19 for ILM and £23.39 for MSL, a difference of about £11.

I know where I'm going to shop :-)

Looked at that a while back but they dont stock Marklin but like some list a lot of manufactuers and again have almost nothing. They will need to buy from Gaugemaster.
There are several shops that say they sell Marklin but have no stock and again would have to buy from Gaugemaster who also hold very little.
Best to buy from Germany which anyway will be considerably cheaper.
Roco in the UK is slightly better but not for three rail.

Not quite. By post if the value of the parcel is less than £135 there is no VAT in the UK, and German VAT would have been deducted. So with some careful shopping good results can be achieved.
HMRC is quite helpful in that it publishes the exchange rate to be used during a month to calculate the £ equivalent of a Euro amount for VAT purposes.

He does it as a sideline to being a white goods service and sales shop, but has been an active promoter of the product at shows, especially shows with a strong European theme. However because it is a sideline to another business the web site has never been any good. He also stocks Brawa and other lines as well.

Looked again at nthis site but cant see anything from Marklin. Says some Trix but only a few. I doubt they can buy from Marklin but would need to use Gaugemaster. If anybody can show me their list of Marklin in stock for sale I would be happy to buy if the price is not too bad.

Hi Dave,

There is an official Märklin "Stammtisch" for the UK: https://maerklininsider.uk/