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Offline Harryv40  
#1 Posted : 13 April 2019 10:57:31(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Hello everyone

I have always wanted a Swiss Am4/4 loco for my layout, I have worried about buying secondhand, because these would have to come from Europe and if problems arrive posting etc could be a problem.

Anyway I found a Marklin 3384 from a dealer on eBay in Germany, a bit concerned because it is supposed to be new and it was only £132.

So I need some advice about if I should service it before use, what problems I may face because of its Delta digital control with my FX, MFX locos and mobile station2.

Any general advice would be great.

Many thanks
Harry
Offline RayF  
#2 Posted : 13 April 2019 11:05:33(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,838
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
Hi Harry,

Delta locos tend to sell on eBay for much lower prices than more current digital models, so "only £132" actually sounds a bit high to me. However if the loco is in very good condition then all is well!

You will have to register the loco manually on the MS2 from the database. Check the setting of the DIP switches to see if the address has been changed from the default.

When you try to run it, if the lights come on but the loco does not move or is very sluggish you may need to take the motor apart, clear out any solidified oil with some solvent, and then apply new oil sparingly to the motor bearings and the wheel bearings.

Good luck!
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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Offline Harryv40  
#3 Posted : 13 April 2019 11:18:25(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Originally Posted by: RayF Go to Quoted Post
Hi Harry,

Delta locos tend to sell on eBay for much lower prices than more current digital models, so "only £132" actually sounds a bit high to me. However if the loco is in very good condition then all is well!

You will have to register the loco manually on the MS2 from the database. Check the setting of the DIP switches to see if the address has been changed from the default.

When you try to run it, if the lights come on but the loco does not move or is very sluggish you may need to take the motor apart, clear out any solidified oil with some solvent, and then apply new oil sparingly to the motor bearings and the wheel bearings.

Good luck!


Hi Ray
Thanks for the advice, it was sold to me as brand new never out of the box, but I will wait and see!

Kind Regards
Harry
Offline Rwill  
#4 Posted : 13 April 2019 14:45:27(UTC)
Rwill

United Kingdom   
Joined: 04/05/2015(UTC)
Posts: 777
Location: England, London
Couple of years ago I purchased from Ebay from a guy in Belgium who I deal with quite often a "new and unused" 3384 converted with an MSD decoder for about 180 Euros. I like you awaited with baited breath to see if I had bought a donkey and was pleasantly surprised and happy. Ok so we don't have swiss lighting but a clever person could probably add that and my lok is one of my favourites and happily trundles round my layout pulling freight consists it would never see in "real life"
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Offline 5HorizonsRR  
#5 Posted : 13 April 2019 18:20:19(UTC)
5HorizonsRR

United States   
Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC)
Posts: 2,862
Location: CA, USA
I have this locomotive- its great. A simple service jsut for a safety check and you should be fine. I converted mine with a lokpilot + ESU magnet kit and it runs like a dream now. (not that it was bad before, but the delta locos leave a little to be desired in my opinion)
SBB Era 2-5
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Offline Harryv40  
#6 Posted : 14 April 2019 08:21:20(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Originally Posted by: Rwill Go to Quoted Post
Couple of years ago I purchased from Ebay from a guy in Belgium who I deal with quite often a "new and unused" 3384 converted with an MSD decoder for about 180 Euros. I like you awaited with baited breath to see if I had bought a donkey and was pleasantly surprised and happy. Ok so we don't have swiss lighting but a clever person could probably add that and my lok is one of my favourites and happily trundles round my layout pulling freight consists it would never see in "real life"


I had been looking at this loco for a few days worried it was a trick before I paid my money I will have to wait and see
Harry
Offline Harryv40  
#7 Posted : 14 April 2019 08:24:09(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Originally Posted by: 5HorizonsRR Go to Quoted Post
I have this locomotive- its great. A simple service jsut for a safety check and you should be fine. I converted mine with a lokpilot + ESU magnet kit and it runs like a dream now. (not that it was bad before, but the delta locos leave a little to be desired in my opinion)


I hope so!
I would worry if I did the conversion you described, I tend to be a bit ham fisted with things like that!
Harry
Offline Harryv40  
#8 Posted : 15 April 2019 11:34:15(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Hi Everyone
My new Marklin 3384 arrived this morning and I was pleasantly surprised!

The loco from what I can tell is brand new and never been run, the dip switches were still set to analog and the skid was unmarked.

When I first ran it, it sounded awful, like a load of loose nuts and bolts, with a smell to match, so I oiled the wheels and tried to oil the engine. After a few laps of my layout it's started to sound better, it takes some getting use to the delta engine sound and the lights only showing when it's running, but for the price I paid its wonderful!

Now for some advice,
How do I get to properly oil the motor?
How easy will it be to convert it to MFX and will it improve the running greatly?

At present I have it upright and letting the oil soak in.

Regards
Harry
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Offline twmarklinfan  
#9 Posted : 15 April 2019 14:13:46(UTC)
twmarklinfan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 08/05/2015(UTC)
Posts: 359
Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom
Hi Harry.

Sounds like you’ve got a really nice model.

Oiling - please take care it’s very easy to over oil and negatively affect performance as the oil spreads over the motor preventing the flow of electricity. In the box should be the instructions showing the lubrication points, the quantity and frequency.

Lubrication points,
The axles as you have identified.
The motor, with the body off on one side of the motor you will see a black shield and you should see where the two brushes are. Between them you will see a silver coloured shaft protruding. One drop where it enters the shaft should do, on the other side of the motor the same shaft protrudes, again one drop.
Quantity
1 or 2 drops max.
Frequency
About every 40 running hours.

There are two things to do to improve performance
Installation of the high efficiency motor kit
Upgrade to MFX (and sound if you want)
Then she will run perfectly, the joy is there is a lot of room inside to fit all the bits so a good one to cut your teeth on.

Adrian
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Offline Harryv40  
#10 Posted : 15 April 2019 15:24:17(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Hi Adrian
Many thanks for the advice on lubrication, the only thing I found weird was that the booklet covers several models and I cannot found the engine lubrication point.

Regarding conversion to a better motor how difficult would it be and which kit would I need?

Many thanks
Harry
Offline twmarklinfan  
#11 Posted : 18 April 2019 20:49:28(UTC)
twmarklinfan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 08/05/2015(UTC)
Posts: 359
Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom
Harry,

Sorry to be so long coming back. Somewhere I have a list showing which conversion kit for particular models. Unfortunately it’s filed in a very secure place. The motor kit is either 60941 or 60943, I think it is probably 60941. After that you have a choice of various decoders, 60976, 60986 if you want sound or 60973 for no sound.

The conversion is not difficult, mainly soldering. Your loco has lots of room in the body to fit the bits in

Good luck
Adrian
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Offline Harryv40  
#12 Posted : 19 April 2019 00:14:08(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Originally Posted by: twmarklinfan Go to Quoted Post
Harry,

Sorry to be so long coming back. Somewhere I have a list showing which conversion kit for particular models. Unfortunately it’s filed in a very secure place. The motor kit is either 60941 or 60943, I think it is probably 60941. After that you have a choice of various decoders, 60976, 60986 if you want sound or 60973 for no sound.

The conversion is not difficult, mainly soldering. Your loco has lots of room in the body to fit the bits in

Good luck
Adrian


Many thanks Adrian
I will start looking around for the kits, but my soldering skills are zero!, so i will look on YouTube for some videos that will show me how to proceed.

Regards
Harry
Offline river6109  
#13 Posted : 19 April 2019 04:51:57(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,635
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
Harry, oiling is a good idea but it depends on the amount you add, its ok to put a drop of oil on your cogwheels but when it comes to the motor you have to be careful you could do more harm in future by ruining the brushes and the armature itself.
when buying a conversion kit, they only cost about Euro 23.00 and no more on ebay. if you like a slow running loco than the 60944 conversion set is sui9table, for a decoders I would stick to a Märklin version as you use MS 2. good luck with your conversion

John
https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
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Offline Harryv40  
#14 Posted : 19 April 2019 07:54:47(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Hi John
Many thanks for the advice. I will look around for the kit.

Kind Regards
Harry
Offline twmarklinfan  
#15 Posted : 19 April 2019 09:53:15(UTC)
twmarklinfan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 08/05/2015(UTC)
Posts: 359
Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom
Harry

Check out Modellbahn Shop Lippe. Their prices are pretty competitive. The motor upgrade at about €23 and the decoder about €81. Shipping on orders over €100 is €3.90 to the UK. Also if you drop them an e Mail I am sure they can advise the correct motor upgrade kit for your loco.
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Offline Harryv40  
#16 Posted : 20 April 2019 07:40:40(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Adrian
Many thanks for the advice about lippe, I may just upgrade the loco engine, only 81euros for the decoder would start to make the loco very expensive.
It only cost 120 Euros plus postage.

Harry
Offline RayF  
#17 Posted : 20 April 2019 20:53:52(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,838
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
Originally Posted by: Harryv40 Go to Quoted Post
Adrian
Many thanks for the advice about lippe, I may just upgrade the loco engine, only 81euros for the decoder would start to make the loco very expensive.
It only cost 120 Euros plus postage.

Harry


Hi Harry,

Be aware that once you upgrade the motor to a 5 pole high efficiency one (6094x kit) then you will need a decoder to make it work. To keep the cost down you can use one of the non-sound versions which cost less than £30. The total cost of the upgrade would then come to around £60.

If the loco has a DCM motor, however, you can go for the even cheaper option of using a 60760 kit, which for around £30 brings both motor kit and decoder.

I believe your loco is actually fitted with the DCM motor, as can be seen in the Exploded diagram for it.

https://static.maerklin....dcab8718de1434541961.pdf
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by RayF
Offline Harryv40  
#18 Posted : 21 April 2019 19:27:43(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Many thanks Ray,

I was starting to worry about the cost of upgrading the loco.

At present I am just enjoying it, a bit noisy when starting to move for a second or two, then off it goes. It does travel well around the layout and appears to improve with running, I expect that caused by sitting in a box for twenty years.

The bonus of course it’s build like you would expect a Marklin, solid metal and weighs a ton!

The upgrading will wait for now, I would worry about my soldering skills and I am afraid I ruin it.

I hope you and your family are enjoying Easter in Gib!

Kind Regards
Harry
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Offline RayF  
#19 Posted : 21 April 2019 20:02:10(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,838
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
Originally Posted by: Harryv40 Go to Quoted Post
Many thanks Ray,

I was starting to worry about the cost of upgrading the loco.

At present I am just enjoying it, a bit noisy when starting to move for a second or two, then off it goes. It does travel well around the layout and appears to improve with running, I expect that caused by sitting in a box for twenty years.

The bonus of course it’s build like you would expect a Marklin, solid metal and weighs a ton!

The upgrading will wait for now, I would worry about my soldering skills and I am afraid I ruin it.

I hope you and your family are enjoying Easter in Gib!

Kind Regards
Harry


Thanks Harry,

Actually we're having a rubbish spring. Alternating between Easterly gales and rain, with the temperatures running a few degrees lower than average. You're having much better weather in UK for the last few weeks!

Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
Offline Harryv40  
#20 Posted : 21 April 2019 22:30:52(UTC)
Harryv40

United Kingdom   
Joined: 07/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 242
Location: Wilshire
Ray
Our weather has been very good for the time of year.. my oldest daughter is home for Easter from University, yesterday we spent the day in Weymouth.
But it's all change from Wednesday, back to normal wind and rain!!

Regards
Harry
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