Hi, for many years now, with brief try outs of both Piko hobby locos , Brawa and Esu. I have finally found to my personal taste of an easy rival to Marklin. Piko have done an excellent work on this heavy Belgium shunter. It is a series 73 and used all over the Belgium network.
To get down to the tech side of things? And this really surprised me. It is equipped with MFX!! And sound as well. Probably the best I have out of my current collection, and easily the best horn sound I’ve heard on any model. It has a very nice eco to the short blast. The sounds are plentiful, but it has no station announcements. But does have flange squeal which can be turned on and off at will.
The running side of things!! Well all I can say is it’s excellent for a diesel shunter and as a model.
Detail wise it’s got plenty, the body is crisp with railings and some details separately applied and neatly printed yellow strips along its body with no overspray. The wheels are particularly nice. They are just as the original with the characteristic holes in the wheel weights. The details on the chassis are very good but sturdy, which in my view the right way. As some makes are far to fine, to be used as models you need to pick off the track regularly.
The head and tail lights are neat but a little to bright. It also boast close coupling sockets. And unlike the hobby locos I had in the past, also takes Marklin close couplers without issues with the buffer heights.
The cab detail is only up to the window but does have some control details. I need to add a driver👍
It has a sprung axle at one end but no rubber tyres.
And finally it has buffer beam details to add.
I’ve done a little weathering, as these locos never seem to be clean.
Well Marklin!! You need to take a look at what Piko are doing now?
I’ve already ordered anther class of Belgium electric from them which is an expert model as well. I will do a right up with this as well.
Please have a look at it on YouTube. I’ve had a little fun with the style of the film. As my layout is now set in the late 70s, so the colour film suits it🤪

Indeed. Marklin do need to keep there game up. I have noticed mother Marklin have not been keeping up with producing country specific models? Apart from Switzerland. There are some gaping holes in the Belgium market. Such as a series 51 diesel or a series 26 electric. I now don’t mind if Piko do any of these 🤪👍😁

Hi Dan,

Perfect for your layout. Piko are certainly giving Marklin a run for their money, I've always been very pleased with Piko and would place them second to Marklin in my opinion and preference.

IanC

No. But I do not know for sure which locos are still made in Germany.
I'm not sure if any H0 gauge locos are still made in Germany, but some G gauge locos definitely are.

Both Piko and Märklin had zincpest problems in this century because the die cast stuff was not made in Germany.

I only order MRR items if I'm willing to pay the price for items made in China, Vietnam, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, or other low-wage countries.

Piko have their own factory in China and they deliver on time and their QA is quite good.
(Off-topic side note: Märklin have to rely on Chinese sub-contractors - expected delivery dates mean nothing and QA is a difficult topic.)

Piko communicates openly that they have a factory in China. But still I am not sure if all H0 is made in China or if some items are still made in Sonneberg.

I have also started purchasing Piko locos and rolling stock, the quality and performance is excellent, also the price is much lower on the hobby models.

So that is what they mean buy this GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN STUFF?

Thanks, gene