Dear Merklin Users,
I am looking for someone who knows Marklin HO train history for Era I, II and III locomotives.

For example, I wish to understand the historic and developmental design relationship between the following locomotives:

Article No. 37069 - EP 3/6, K.Bay.Sts.B. Era |
Article No. 37073 - BR 78 100 (T 18) DRG Era I| (The ajckids website says this a K.Bay.Sts.B loco with the Original version having a steam heat boiler for passenger trains and Road number 20104, like Article No. 37069)
Article No. 3092 S 3/6.3673 Era I
Article No. 3093 BR 18.478 Era I

Thank you for helping me delve deeper into locomotive history and design of Maerklin HO locomotives.

Best,
Sally

Thomas Hornung is a respected German author/editor who has written on this sort of subject.
Some of his books are translated to English.
A search of eBay or bookshops may reveal some assistance.

Kimball

The State Railways (Länderbahn) were integrated into the German Reichsbahn starting in 1920. In 1924, this was changed into the German Reichsbahn Gesellschaft (DRG), which was titularly private, albeit 100% owned by the State. In 1937, it was reorganized and fully brought back under the State. In 1938, the Bundesbahn Österreich was integrated into this entity. In 1945, the BBÖ reemerged as a separate Austrian railway. The former Reichsbahn was divided into two operations, one in the US, UK and French zones and a second one in the Russian zone. In 1949, the eastern operation continued to use the name Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) and the western operation became the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB).

Locomotives that had begun their lives as Bavarian, Prussian or other State traction could be found throughout the network over the years. After the war, some units found themselves on different sides of the Iron Curtain and others were either taken out of the country as reparations or simply found themselves in other countries as the Nazi forces retreated. With each transfer of company or operator, the locomotives often received new designations or class numbers.

The Bavarian S 3/6 became the BR 18 after the Bavarian State Railways became part of the DR/DRG.
The BR 78 is a former Prussian locomotive (not Bavarian)
3092 is an earlier (analog) model of a Bavarian S 3/6
3093 is an earlier (analog) model of a BR18 with DB markings (1950s/60s)

I could not find much in English, but this is a start: https://en.wikipedia.org...m_locomotives_of_Germany

In German, there is much more, including a number of books: https://de.wikipedia.org...andener_Dampflokomotiven

Regards

Mike C