Brochure is here.

Video is here.

Wow- this one is a surprise!

For the fans who are interested, I saw the Broadway Limited sample/example in January at a train show it it looks GREAT! Brass hybrid as well, and impressive looking. It will impress on layout or in the display case!

As a marketer I could not think of a more niche or unusual locomotive for Marklin to choose as a surprise US steam offering? Looking at the Broadway Limited pipeline (or their recent production runs) there are certainly a lot of other steam locomotives with mass appeal I'd have chosen instead - the Nickel Plate Road Berkshire #765 which is still in operation as an example.

Could it be that I feel the construction looks more like M in the exploded view?

Southern and Southern Pacific are two different railways.

In today's terms (both are dead RRs) they would be Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific's licensing departments accordingly. UP is notorious for monetizing their portfolio of logos, the others I believe have been historically easier/cheaper about it.

Thankfully I do not collect US outline and so this will give my wallet a break

I'm very interested in this one, but some I would like to clear up some things before ordering:

1. Are the marker lights lit? The manual also does not mention them at all. But the BLI ones are lit so it would be really strange not to implement that feature. I would even like multicolor marker lights like the Piko KM4000 series have. (but for sure those are not available)

2. What clearance does it need? The manual specifies R2 minimum as expected. My layout has R3 as a minimum on the mainline, but I do have (old type) catenary and signals on a part of the layout. Bigboy, Challenger and FEF class 800 pass these with about 1mm clearance on the closest spot (actually Challenger is the closest). What does this loco need, it being so assymmetrical I am afraid the ass of the loco will stick out too much in curves. It would be good if Marklin would publish clearance requirement values for common curves such as Crail R2, R3, R4 and R5, both for the inside and the outside.

yes, the construction seems to be basically the same, if you compare the exploded views. Possibly a BLI model that Marklin has licensed?

The broadway limited website says minimum 18" (457mm, slightly more than marklin R2) radius.

That is assuming the Marklin version has no modifications to turn tighter. It very well may be different though due to Marklin's tighter axle gap spec, RP25 vs NEM wheel specs etc....

Marklin R2 I'm sure is ok based on that and the manual. But boiler clearance is a good question...

1. The marker lights are not lit on the Märklin model as well as on the SP version of the BLI model. Only the SF and B&M versions of the BLI model have lit marker lights, but only the SP one does not. I asked several owners of the BLI SP version model and all told me that the marker lights don´t work, and to make it worse, even the numberboard light doesn´t work on the BLI SP version. Somebody told me that the reason why the B&M and SF version marker lights work and the SP version marker lights not, is because the marker lights of the B&M and SF versions are positioned higher up on the Coffin feedwater heater, while on the SP version, the marker lights are positioned lower on the sides, which makes it harder to reach for wiring the cables to it. On the B&M and SF versions, the wiring is easier because the marker lights can be reached from inside the smokebox, while on the SP version, the marker lights are so exposed on the lower sides of the Coffin feedwater heater, that it would be impossible to install working lights inside them without externally visible cables reaching to them. So that´s why the marker lights on the SP version don´t work. BUT: Interestingly the numberboards of the SP version are in the exact same position like the marker lights of the B&M and SF versions, so it´s very weird why BLI didn´t at least manage to light the numberboards on the SP version when they couldn´t already light the marker lights. It would have been a nice compensation. But sadly the SP version of the BLI model doesn´t neither have lit marker lights nor lit numberboards. But in contrast to BLI, the Märklin model not only has lit numberboards but also firebox flickering, which are two things the BLI model doesn´t have. So the Märklin model is definetly an upgrade from the BLI models because it offers to lighting-features more. And at least the firebox flickering and lit numberboards are nice compensation for the not working marker lights.
2. An user in another forum saw the very first model at the Märklin museum operating through R1 curves without any problems, so it looks like the models can even (unofficially) handle R1 curves. So you can be sure that it will definetly be able to handle R2 curves very well, as it is officially stated.

Did anyone see the Marklin 37983 2-8-4 Berkshire surprise locomotive for 2026? Looks like Marklin and Broadway Limited Imports are teaming up again? It looks really nice I put in for a reservation along with the freight car set and the caboose. I'm curious as to anyone else's thoughts.
https://www.marklin.com/...ts/details/article/37983

There is no team work.
There is no information in Märklin homepage about US model as cooperation with BLI.

It’s the same, except Märklin changed the details of the wheels and coupling rods.