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I fell in love with one Märklin Diesel and now I'm getting back into this hobby after some 45 years
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Offline crockett  
#1 Posted : 18 January 2026 23:16:31(UTC)
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crockett

United States   
Joined: 18/01/2026(UTC)
Posts: 5
Location: Florida
About a week ago I randomly ran into a photo of this 2025 model Märklin NS ES44AC 8101 Heritage Scheme Diesel, and ever since I want this to be my very first piece of a new passion.

I used to own two setups back in the late 70s, as kid, but gaming consoles and the C64 computer soon took over and I never looked back. Until now. These days I rather had enough of the toxic internet, computers being everywhere, and Ai killing a bunch of jobs soon enough.

My house is pretty packed with other hobbies, so there is no room for a classic 8 by 4 setup. What I have in mind, is a wall train track, covering 3 or 4 rooms eventually.

Now, I have seen some wall trains, but my plan will differ. Instead of just running a train on a single track high up, along the ceiling, I want it to be lower, and with periodic "stations" in every room that include a scene with buildings, streets, waterfalls, and a background. More like a train track that goes from one deep shelf to the next one.

Since I fell in love with this ES44AC diesel, H0 and the brand is already dictated. It looks absolutely stunning in my eyes:


UserPostedImage



Are there any good Märklin retailers in the US? I got an eBay offer out of the UK but I'm not sure if shipping is all that good these days with tariffs and all.

Coupled with 6 of these Rapido cars:


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Offline dickinsonj  
#2 Posted : 19 January 2026 00:54:13(UTC)
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dickinsonj

United States   
Joined: 05/12/2008(UTC)
Posts: 1,882
Location: Crozet, Virginia
Welcome back to a great hobby. For me real model trains are so much more fun than any simulation on a computer screen, and I write software for a living!

I have bought from several US dealers, although none are located near enough to shop in persone. My current go to dealer is AJCKids in Texas. They either have or can get pretty much anything that is available and their service is fast, friendly and shipping is reasonable.
Regards,
Jim
I have almost all Märklin and mostly HO, although I do have a small number of Z gauge trains!
So many trains and so little time.
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Offline crockett  
#3 Posted : 19 January 2026 02:14:31(UTC)
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crockett

United States   
Joined: 18/01/2026(UTC)
Posts: 5
Location: Florida
Originally Posted by: dickinsonj Go to Quoted Post
Welcome back to a great hobby. For me real model trains are so much more fun than any simulation on a computer screen, and I write software for a living!

I have bought from several US dealers, although none are located near enough to shop in persone. My current go to dealer is AJCKids in Texas. They either have or can get pretty much anything that is available and their service is fast, friendly and shipping is reasonable.



Thank you. I just sent them an email. Its listed in stock.
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Offline rhfil  
#4 Posted : 19 January 2026 16:25:43(UTC)
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rhfil

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Joined: 05/09/2014(UTC)
Posts: 825
Location: NEW HAMPSHIRE,
If you were a C64 guy you will love the Marklin CS3. I was an Atari 800 guy and still have my original one which continues to be operable. AJC is great and there are a nynber of online sellers in the U.S.. Trainz is also good: https://www.trainz.com/collections/marklin. They also have it in stock. Euro Rail Hobbies is also good: https://www.eurorailhobbies.com/. If I remember correctly there is or was one retailer in Florida or somewhere in the South. The Marklin site lists vendors.
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Offline crockett  
#5 Posted : 19 January 2026 16:49:49(UTC)
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crockett

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Joined: 18/01/2026(UTC)
Posts: 5
Location: Florida
Originally Posted by: rhfil Go to Quoted Post
If you were a C64 guy you will love the Marklin CS3. I was an Atari 800 guy and still have my original one which continues to be operable. AJC is great and there are a nynber of online sellers in the U.S.. Trainz is also good: https://www.trainz.com/collections/marklin. They also have it in stock. Euro Rail Hobbies is also good: https://www.eurorailhobbies.com/. If I remember correctly there is or was one retailer in Florida or somewhere in the South. The Marklin site lists vendors.



I figured that I would want the CS3 and not make any compromises on the functions. That display indeed reminds me of my C64s. I still own my first one too, with floppy drive and cassette deck. Had to build a new power supply and replace a few RAM modules. I also own the test harness and software.

Thanks for the list of dealer - I'll check them out.



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Offline rhfil  
#6 Posted : 19 January 2026 17:15:52(UTC)
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rhfil

United States   
Joined: 05/09/2014(UTC)
Posts: 825
Location: NEW HAMPSHIRE,
I am a steam guy but based on your love of the GE Diesel, which is only one in a group of similar engines in different liveries, you might also check into Jouef ho engines: https://uk.jouef.com/catalogue/trains-train-sets
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Offline crockett  
#7 Posted : 20 January 2026 14:02:52(UTC)
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crockett

United States   
Joined: 18/01/2026(UTC)
Posts: 5
Location: Florida
Originally Posted by: rhfil Go to Quoted Post
I am a steam guy but based on your love of the GE Diesel, which is only one in a group of similar engines in different liveries, you might also check into Jouef ho engines: https://uk.jouef.com/catalogue/trains-train-sets


I'm all set on that specific Märklin NS ES44AC 8101 Heritage Scheme Diesel.

Once I see something I want, I will stick with it.
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Offline xxup  
#8 Posted : 21 January 2026 09:14:16(UTC)
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xxup

Australia   
Joined: 15/03/2003(UTC)
Posts: 9,781
Location: Australia
I started with the VIC 20. An awesome beast with 1K of ram. It was incredible the games that were able to run in that tiny memory space. I seem to remember having a cassette player and a modem to connect to BBSs. Perhaps the modem was only on the C64.

Later, I had the C64 with the floppy drive, and later the Amiga 2000 with the Bridgeboard to run a 8088 PC. Incredible machines well ahead of anything else at the time.

Sorry, I digress - happy times. Blushing
Adrian
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Australia flag by abFlags.com
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Offline crockett  
#9 Posted : 21 January 2026 18:02:29(UTC)
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crockett

United States   
Joined: 18/01/2026(UTC)
Posts: 5
Location: Florida
Originally Posted by: xxup Go to Quoted Post
I started with the VIC 20. An awesome beast with 1K of ram. It was incredible the games that were able to run in that tiny memory space. I seem to remember having a cassette player and a modem to connect to BBSs. Perhaps the modem was only on the C64.

Later, I had the C64 with the floppy drive, and later the Amiga 2000 with the Bridgeboard to run a 8088 PC. Incredible machines well ahead of anything else at the time.

Sorry, I digress - happy times. Blushing



I'd love to go back to the 80s, and never come back.

We used to do things in the outdoors and only come back for a rental movie on VHS, or a game on the C64. These days the world is way to complex and toxic.
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