Hi all I have recently purchased a Marklin 7286 turntable at a thrift store for I think a reasonable price $130 Canadian
are these very easy to install I am only using DC and not interested in DCC etc it's still in the box and have not even read the instructions yet
.Thanks in advance

Hi Guardman (a first name would be so much better)

Here a French Märklin fan using this 7286 turntable since 2013.

First, how does it looks?


What is fitted on my TT?
- additional to the 7286, plenty of access tracks
- a DSD2010 digital decoder driven by a PC and Rocrail
- a sound module
- 4 luminous signals
- cabin lighting and flashing light.

User's manual
7286 user's manual

Installation
Because the TT is a bit flimsy, it is key to install it on a thick base (25 mm recommended by Märklin) with a 340 diameter hole. This may look like an overkill but it is NOT (I installed mine on a 10 mm plywood base and it turned out to be too thin.
Because the TT is a plastic disk on which the access tracks clipse into and because the TT is supposed to be supported by all access track and the "concrete" ring. It turned out to be not enough I strongly recommend to support the TT from undersneath otherwise, sooner or later, the pitt bottom will "collapse" (sink a little) resulting in additional friction (sometimes burning the motor) and the bridge ending to be lower than access tracks by 1 mm or more)

Parts, etc
As you know the TT was produced by Fleischmann and also in 3 rails version (6652) Now there is a rerun under n°665201. You may not care much but this is important for spares and access tracks

Product
Fleischmann 665201
Access tracks 665301

The TT is normally very silent. If yours is noisy (older production runs) you may want to replace the motor / gears unit
Here is how it looks when brand new



Cheers
Jean

Hi Peter

Well, not exactly. The Märklin 7286 is the 3 rails version and it is designed and produced by Fleischmann.
It is a 3 rails in the full sense: you may run 2 rails locos: the rotating bridge has 3 separate contacts for each "rail" allowing you any combination.
Here is the assignment of each rotating contact


Each access rail has 3 contacts to connect with the 3 rails on the bridge

Cheers
Jean