Hello friends, after some months MEB have published the report about our layout exposed at the fair
here the pdf:
https://www.marklinfan.it/documenti/meb2023.pdfTranslation:
The Märklinfan Club Italia was officially born in 2005 when a small group of passionate Italian "Märklinists" who met each other through internet forums decided to build the first modular layout with the Italian Märklin system.
After an initial organizational meeting, it was decided to adopt the head profile in accordance with the standards of the American association ETE, from which we differ in the adoption of the C track instead of the K track and in the design of the junction flanges.
The layout was born with regulations that provide for a European-style fantasy landscape to be able to use our German, Swiss, Austrian and other nationality models produced by Märklin.
The members participating in the project live in different cities and each of us builds his own module independently, then we periodically meet at modeling expos or in private Stammtisch meetings.
First meeting
https://www.marklinfan.net/mf18_giugno.htmThe first exhibition with finished modules took place in 2007 at the Verona fair without a particular theme, but only to see our models finally circulate and demonstrate to the Italian public that even with the Märklin system it was possible to create a realistic model, this because the stereotype of passionate Italian Märkin was only seen with a double oval layout in M track very far from the representation of reality.
https://www.marklinfan.net/model_expo_2007.htmSubsequently, the exhibitions had themes defined as "The Great International Trains" "175 years of the German railways" "Emigrant trains" and others.
Then, to give space to the tradition, in addition to the digital layout in C, the "Plastico modulare Vintage" project was joined, which was immediately successful and was also exhibited in Göppingen in 2013
https://www.marklinfan.net/goeppingen2013.htmIn 2015 the Club finally found a physical location near the city of Piacenza and the layout modules was assembled and used periodically for six years without the need of travels and transfers until 2021, when unfortunately the owner of the structure that hosted us passed away.
In many of us, however, the desire to see even our most beautiful Italian trains circulating on our layout remained, and three of us therefore created the first modules in the Italian style. Regarding the Italian models, as you know, the Märklin production is almost non-existent and we had to work a lot to adapt models of other brands to our system which we consider the best.
The trains you saw at IMA are Märklin, Roco, Rivarossi, Lima, Acme, OsKar, Liliput, Piko, all converted to our system by installing the socket shoe and a digital decoder.
The debut of this layout parts with Italian-style catenary and signaling took place in Genoa in 2013, then it remained in storage and only in 2022 in Friedrichshafen, after an expansion of the scenography in the front part, was it finally made known to the public international.
The model does not reproduce an existing stretch of railway, but fantasy scenographies inspired by the typical Italian landscape, furthermore the modular construction made independently by the various partners obviously has differences in finishes which make it very varied. To give a uniformity to the landscape on the occasion of IMA 2022, the modules were assembled together and equipped with a front scenography part of about 29cm made entirely by a single model maker in order to give continuity and uniformity to the landscape.
Today, April 2023, some of these modules are no longer there and other parts of the H0 sets are under construction. There are also four 1 scale enthusiasts in the club and a modular scale model in 1:32 is under construction which we hope to be able to exhibit at one of the next IMA.
In addition, last but not least, some Vintage modules are permanently mounted and can be visited every Saturday at the Arma di Taggia Railway Museum on the Ligurian coast, so we invite tourists present this summer to visit us, you can find the address and information on this page:
https://www.marklinfan.net/mnt_taggia.htmWell, all Club members thank all IMA 2022 visitors again for the compliments received and we look forward to meeting you for the next edition.
Alberto Pedrini
