I just ordered a last 47404 and managed to find an older 4796 to complete my Hupac train. I now have the 47403, 47423 and a 47404, so this brings the total length of the train to 6 cars. I have the matching Liliput coach in Hupac livery and will run the train with my 36852 BLS Re 485. For trucks, I purchased a number of trucks by AWM, Rietze and Herpa, representing Dutch, Belgian, German, Swiss and Italian truck companies, which is what I would expect to find on a ROLA train from Freiburg/Weil am Rhein to Novara.
The 47416 and 47417 come with low quality trucks, most of which are Swiss companies. As I stated above, most ROLA trains contain international and not Swiss trucks, because the trucks are travelling through Switzerland and not stopping along the way.
As you have the 47416/47417 cars, you may still be able to find the Liliput RAlpin coach to go with it. The matching lok would be a BLS Re 485 (36852) or Re 465 (37461 or 39606). I guess you could also use one of the Angel Train loks leased to BLS Cargo as well.
I am waiting for the improved version of the Hupac Compartment coach from LSM and maybe also the older RAlpin version. The newer model converted from the Bcm couchette coaches of the Eurofima series might come from Roco or ACME or even LSM in the future.
My latest 47404 has an issue where the axles pop out of one of the bogies. I am trying to get a replacement bogie, but have yet to get good news from Maerklin or the dealer.

Regards

Mike C

Edited by user 26 December 2012 07:23:08(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

If you have any of the following models, 4740, 4741, 4742, 4743, 4796, 4797, 47403, 47404, 47423 or 47415, then you likely have spare parts including the buffer bar and the coupling adapter, as each item came with at least one of each. This will allow you to temporarily operate your 47416 until you can add the 47417 with the end pieces to complete the consist. The Ralpin livery is very similar to the most recent Hupac livery, so the pieces from the 47404 should be fully interchangeable with the new models.

The part should also be available separately under 363660 for the coupling adapter and the buffer part can be found from time to time on ebay:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/M...RSATZTEILE-/221163779457
German (DB) version

You would have to check with Maerklin for the part number for the grey Hupac or RAlpin version.

Regards

Mike C

Thanks for the reviews.

The trucks included with these sets are very similar to those in the 47415 (DB ROLA) set that Marklin produced back in 2008. The biggest difference is that the ROLA cars and trucks were packaged separately and many dealers split up the sets. Thus, it goes all the way back to 2008 when Marklin decided to include less detailed trucks with these sets.

I purchased a couple of the 47417 cars in order to have two ROLA cars with the new RAILPIN logo on them, but didn't need additional ROLA cars.

I do have a set (2 cars) of the 4796 ROLA (Hupac gray) cars that I would part with. These include the buffer bars and couplers. Say $60 plus shipping. Send me a PM.

I also have a set (2 cars) of the 4797 ROLA cars (OBB brown) and would also sell at $60 for the set. These also include the buffer bars and couplers. Again, send a PM, if interested.

John-sorry, I don't have any of the Italian ROLA cars.

Hi all,

I wanted to make a bid for a 47415 set (8 cars/trucks) on ebay, but reading this I'm in doubt.

Rinus

Mike,

I think at 189 euro I'd have been a moderately happier customer, but I'm scared to buy much of anything in Germany at this point. The warranty return shipping is getting expensive...

As a side note, I just noticed my 37867 blue arrow is missing the OeBB and destination board markings on one side? It looks like the loco just never went through the last step of the painting process. Back to lokshop it goes...

(see pic)

Mike- you are dead right here. I stopped buying Marklin from Germany about a year or two ago. Too many problems. Out of complete irony, the blue arrow is the one sole Marklin item I didn't buy in the US this year, as Lokshop had the crazy pre-order discount and I needed to order a big lot of sommerfeldt catenary from them anyways. Full marks to Lokshop for their customer service though- they have been great.

Also ironic is the blue arrow is one of three new Marklin locos I've bought in the last ~18 months, and 2 of the 3 have had problems. (this one visual, the second one electronic) I'm an optimist, but this has me disappointed. The last few locomotives of any make I've had the dealers test in advance before shipping. for what its worth I've bought 5 Rocos and 3 Rivarossi's in the same time frame with zero problems, I'm not sure why Marklin can't get their quality control together?

I've just arrived back from holiday and opened up my latest parcel that contained the balance of my 2012 Marklin purchases. This included the RAlpin Rolling Road sets 47416 and 47417.

Although I was "lucky" to have also purchased the 47417 extension set so my consist was complete - however I could have easily used spare buffer beams out of my other Hupac depressed floor wagons if I hadn't done so. I too think that Marklin is more than slightly remiss / mean / short-sighted in not including the appropriate beams in the 47416 set as well

I have closely inspected the 6 wagons (in total) and agree the associated truck / trailer units are VERY poor. Not only is there no real variation (other than livery) the level of detail is extremely low and certainly not anywhere near the standard of my personally preferred Herpa models. Further more the fact that the tractor units are gloss painted metal and the trailers are matt printed plastic means that the there is a major visual variation between the two items. I'm also concerned that the additional weight of the metal tractor unit might give higher levels of wear and noise in operation.

I do note Mike's comment regarding Rolling Road trains in Switzerland and the expected loads - perhaps the Marklin models might be limited to background layout decoration only

However the final disappointment was the brake wheels on the wagons - of the 12 wheels (2 each side) ... 4 of them were broken and obviously done so during assembly not shipping. Seeing as Marklin don't include any spares I will have to source replacements somehow

Unfortunately such "minor" problems - broken handrails, missing detail items, tampo printing issues etc seem to be all that common these days. I can only suggest that Marklin buck up their quality control checks and review the common problems as delivered to customers.

Edited by user 21 January 2013 11:49:59(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified