37945 T44 Heavy Diesel Locomotive Green Cargo

Hello everyone, I figured I'd write a review on this loco that I bought around christmas 2021. It worked flawlessly for a year, then broke down around christmas 2022. The lights and sound worked, but the loco wouldn't move, and the motor was dead silent. I took it back to the dealer where I bought it, and they sent it back to Göppingen under the warranty. Notes in german indicate that they replaced the engine, tested it for function, and some months later I got it back, it has worked without issues since.

Anyhow, let's talk a bit about the T44.

Prototype Information
The T44 series of locomotives were built in 123 units by Nohab in Sweden between 1968 and 1987. They were diesel electric locos powered by two-stroke V12 engines from General Motors, with 625 cubic inches of displacement per cylinder (about 10,6 litres). This engine produced around 1670 horsepower. They are still in service today, having undergone engine replacements to german turbocharged four-stroke engines between 2009 and 2011, which provided the locomotives with more power, lower fuel consumption as well as lower emissions.

Märklin's 37945 is based on T44 with road number 369 (pictured below in 2003), built in 1980 with the reference year being 2004, meaning the Märklin's model is emulating the old detroit two-stroke engine, and not the more modern replacement.


Märklin's Model
In 2009, Märklin released 37940, their first T44, orange with road number 376, with the reference year being 1991 (important because this was before the creation of Green Cargo, meaning it carries the old State Railways logo instead, otherwise aesthetically similar to this one). The model was produced to celebrate Märklin's 70 year anniversary on the swedish market. It had no sound functions, an mfx decoder and a C-sinus motor. These days it is rather sought after, and fetch quite high prices. Since then, three other T44s have been released (that I know of) apart from the one this review is about, a blue collectors model with a wooden case in 2010 (37941), a red one in 2015 (37942) and a green one in 2016 (37943).

The model that I have however, is the 37945, released in 2020/2021. It cost around 380 euros new, and featured an mfx+ decoder with extensive sound functions and Telex couplers front and rear.

Appearance

The loco features the typically 70s orange colour that was widely used by the swedish state railways from the 60s onwards. The details are nicely crafted with the locomotive body and lettering being especially detailed. Obviously these being heavy diesel locomotives, the examples found in real life are always dirty, rusty and generally worn down, which Märklin's model is not. No attempts were made at weathering it, which I think is completely fine. Given my temporary layout and the rest of my rolling stock, the "new" look works better than a weathered one would, although it would be cool if Märklin released a factory-weathered T44 in the future.



Running Characteristics
The loco has very quiet and smooth running characteristics. This was my first modern Märklin loco, the two others are a DELTA diesel loco from 2004 and the other a wooden electric loco from 1988. I was thoroughly impressed by how smooth it was, and how slow I could run it when I first tried it. I still am every time I run it. It has a flywheel and has 4 wheels powered through cardan shafts.


Features
The sounds on the loco are well made, balanced and not too sharp. It has a very nice, deep, diesel idle sound, and using the horn on it is slightly addicting

The lights are also fun to play around with, it features four warm-white LEDs and a red one at each end. It can be run with only two of the white lights on, all of them but dimmed or just the red light in the direction it isn't travelling in.

Telex couplers are new to me, and work very well with most of my rolling stock, bar the ones that are really old.

Sidetrack: C-track
Quick apprecitiation for the C-track from me. I received my first set as a christmas gift at 5 years old in 2005, along with some extension sets shortly after. The track has been taken apart and put together hundreds of times since, and A LOT by clumsy child hands. It has been dropped, stepped on and used extensively, and it still just works! I still use a lot of the track that is now 18 years old, and it clicks together beautifully still. C-track alone is enough for me to not consider other manufacturers although I know some may disagree.

Here is a picture showing the difference between C-track packaging in 2005 and 2022:


Conclusion
Märklin's T44 is a very nice loco, and I can thoroughly recommend it. It looks nice, runs smoothly and features extensive digital features.



If I had to give it some criticism, it would be the slightly too light shade of grey used for the bottom third of the locomotive, given a slightly darker shade of grey I believe would have been a small improvement.

The general feel of the loco is one of quality. The weight is there, with about 75% of the body being constructed of metal as well as the frame, and the details are fascinating to inspect.

Overall, it's a 5/5 for me! Thanks for reading!

I seem to have missed the part where I said that was the case. I did mention that metal increases the weight of the model, and higher weight does contribute to a general feeling of high quality. At least I am personally of the opinion that two equal models, one weighing 10 grams and the other weighing 100 grams, the heavier model will feel like a more expensive, exclusive model.

The rings around the lights is a fair point, I didn’t notice that before. It would definitely have been better off if they just left those unpainted, like on the pre-production model.

Thank you! Means a lot as this is my first review