I bought a used 5756 crocodile a few years ago that came without its owners manual. I have only been able to find the parts diagram. Does anyone have information on this model they would be willing to share? Also, in particular, will the CS3 operate this model? I had read that some of the early digital models need to have their decoders changed to operate with the current systems.

Thanks in advance for any help

Phil S.

Like Tom implies, there should be no reason why a CS3 should not be able to control an early decoder - I assume the loco supports the MM2 protocol.

There is no electronic version of the 5756 manual that Marklin has released that I've ever found. There are some G1 manuals available at http://www.spur-1-freunde.de/maerklinEteile.html

A friend of mine has nearly every G1 Crocodile released by Marklin bar one, so I will check with him to see if he has a copy of the 5756 manual.

Hi Phil,

Märklin used the #5756 for two versions of the crocodile. Locomotives made 1984-1986 only operate on the Märklin AC-System, locomotives from 1987-1992 can be switched to operate on AC and DC-Systems. Both versions have no decoder and cannot operate on digital-layouts or with the CS3. But the loco can be converted with installing a decoder.

Early (until ~1993) digital 1-gauge models from Märklin only understand DCC 14 and do not operate on MM2 - protocol or other DCC-standards (frequent user error). But they can be operated with the CS3.

Regards

Markus

Thanks everybody for the feedback and especially for the pdf of the manual. I'll have to investigate further whether I have a pre or post 1986 model and if it even has a decoder installed! Phil S.

It is not quite so straight forward as the older decoders are not as easy to use as the more modern ones, the original DCC pre Marklin digital 2 rail digital decoders can't be programmed with modern controllers as they need registries changed rather than CV's edited. The early Marklin 6032 programmer does do it.

A more serious limitation I've discovered is that early decoders can't understand multiprotocol data from controllers where you are running DCC and Marklin Digital decoders on the same track. I have a Gauge 1 Museum silver DR80 which runs on pure Marklin data but adding DCC data to activate the cheap MRC steam sounder stops it running. Later, mid 1990's onwards, decoders are more tolerant. It is an amusing party trick to run modern DCC locos with the first 4 functions from an early 1980's Marklin controller as most people believe the 2 are incompatible, as they would become from the mid 1980's for 30 or so years again. It's probably safe to assume that to run things reliably in a multiprotocol environment decoders from before the mid 1990's upgrade to 6021, 4 function, defined direction "New" Marklin Digital need to be swapped out. But if you can live with the poorer running characteristics the very early pre Motorola decoders may still work, I'm not home for a while to test that. They turn up in early Kof's and T3's if I remember correctly. At least that's where I've encountered them. It is not alway easy to find pre 1990's information beyond the catalogue archives so it can be a difficult to know what is inside or at least what is inside now, even Marklin did issue replacement boards to convert early 2 rail decoders to Motorola format which do sometimes appear on Fleabay to muddy the waters. It is not expensive to fit a large scale decoder without sound but is a cost to bear in mind buying old digital locos if you intend to run them on a layout with more modern stock.

Graham