Hi All,
Remember the topic on the starterset with the big wheeled V60 sold by Aldi?
Well,i found two more on Ebay.Deutschland today:
29105 with a big wheeled BR89 steamloco at Euro 80.-,
29108 with a big wheeled V60 at Euro 70.-!
These sets cannot be found on the site of Maerklin in Germany.
Whilst searching,i found set 29800 with V80 (not V60) diesel with some freightcars at Euro 170.-,have not seen this combination before.
It would seem the big wheeled versions are sold under the Euro 100.- mark,if you just pay a little extra,you get the proper stuff,such as:
29130 Europa set with BR185 Railion electric loco at Euro 115.-,or set 29161 with new version of the BR74 at Euro 119.-!
The latter is the winner if you ask me.
If you do not like big wheels,there are yet some other options:29230 with proper version of BR89 at Euro 130.-,or 29185 with BR89 at Euro 90.- only.
Funny that M does not wanna talk about big wheels on their internetsite,there seems to be a hidden market for startersets M is not very proud of,it seems.

Thanks Tom,but the sets are sold in cartons bearing the Marklin name and logo,it does not sound right to me when M does not wanna know about those products!
Imagine VW would be selling cars at the backdoor of the factory,would that not be a bit strange?

There were Volkswagen cars with an Audi sign a few decades ago.

These startersets have the Märklin sign and make use of the Märklin name.
You can also order a freight car with your logo on it from Märklin. It will have the Märklin logo on the box, but doesn't show in the Märklin database. They don't sell it, they don't support it.

Märklin surely could include them in the database, but you wouldn't be able to get them from (all) authorized Märklin dealers. So this would also lead to some confusion.

I would go for the Thomas set or 29105 if you are into these big wheels loks... for one thing, they have moving siderods to excite the kids!

Otherwise sets like 29130, 29135, 29161, or 29185 will be the only proper "cheap" starter sets to begin with if you are more into a proper "model rail roading". Many dealers sell these sets at price level of equal to what Aldi is offering with the "ugly" set.

Despite the similarly low cost loks packed into these sets; generally the design is pretty realistic and quite well done. They are sure to held their own even if they were ran in beautiful layouts like Miniatur Wunderland.

The "big wheelies" would stand out like the a black sheep in the middle of flock of whites.