Hi David,

These trains are not that easy to find, and always go for a high price.

If you can afford it, and you can't find a cheaper one, then I would say go for it!

I have see some on ebay price up to 999 Euro.

Go for it at good price.

Koll 2009 - 630 euro.

Koll 2011 not in until April 2011.

Enjoy your new purchase, David. Nice set!

Cheers,
Ranjit

Thanks Ranjit and Darren!

This has been a known issue with the Maerklin model of the TEE Edelweiss since the 1960s. When we were young, I got a 3050 Ae 6/6 and my brother got the 3071 RAm Edelweiss for our birthdays. The 3071 had a small insert made of black construction paper (or similar) that was inserted between the bulb and the body of the pilot coach. A similar insert also existed for the motor unit. This black insert was required to limit the amount of light that shone through the plastic body of these two units. The body of the motor unit and pilot coach had been moulded in light coloured plastic. The red part of the shell was painted red on the exterior surface. As a result, the plastic itself did not block the light from shining through. I remember seeing an older 3070 on a layout and noted that it did not have the same issue. The plastic was a darker material and this probably prevented the light from leaking through.

This flaw was not corrected in the Northlander model that was released in 1978. That model had blue where the TEE had red and had yellow where the TEE had beige. The yellow paint did not block light from shining through. The problem still existed on the pilot coach of the 1998 37500 Set.

One solution would be to paint the inside of the nose of the pilot coach black or blue. This can be done relatively easily, but you have to ensure that the job is properly done, so that the blackened surface is not silhouetted against the outer shell by light leaking around the edges. It is easier to adjust on more recent digital models with ESU or similar decoders, as the intensity of the lights can be dimmed so that the lights shine but they do not cause a glow through the shell.

My brother still has the 3071. I have the more recent 3471 and have not noticed the problem on that model. Most often, I am using my more recent RailTop/LSM 1:87 model, so the 3471 spends most of it's time in the box these days.

Getting back to the Northlander/RAm, I never saw the trainset up close. I was in Switzerland from July 1971 to July 1972. The famous accident of the TEE Bavaria occurred in February of that year, so the only route that the trainset operated on while I was there was the Edelweiss to Amsterdam. On our trip to Paris, we took the TEE Arbalete, which was made up of SNCF Mistral (56) coaches. The return trip was on the Cisalpin (RAe TEE) via Lausanne. In all of my trips through Zuerich HB that year, I was never there at the time that the trainset was in Station.
I do remember seeing the trainset in Toronto in 1978. As we were riding the elevator down from the CN Tower, I saw the trainset heading east towards Union Station from Bathurst Street. A few years later, the original power units were replaced by modified FP7s. I did see a trainset one more time, stationed just outside Union Station as I arrived in Toronto on a train from Montreal years later.

Regards

Mike C

Edited by user 06 March 2017 18:18:23(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

See here: http://nl.wikipedia.org/.../Stichting_TEE_Nederland
or google Northlander Zwolle
They are trying to rebuild an original set however a motor car has to be built new since there is no one. They apparently already have some suited motors.