Hello Marklin friends,

Today I decided to rebuild some ST 800 locomotives and cars. When I took the shell off one locomotive I realized it needed some rewiring because the soldering had loosened in some places so wires were everywhere so I decided to make just one operational loco and leave the other for later.

Hit a few problems along the way for the one "operational" loco. First try I put it all together and there was an obvious short in the circuit. I found it it was coming from the rear vestibule and noticed the insulation on the wire had come off and was touching the bare metal. You can see I put a small piece of tape around the wire and this fixed the problem. Also one of the middle vestibule's trucks was broken so I had to replace it and also find some original wheels. I found the wheels in my spare parts collection, but didn't have any original trucks so I had to compromise with Ritter's. The Ritter ones of course would not fit with the original Marklin one so I had to replace both. No surprise Ritter incorrectly threaded the trucks at the point where they connect with the vestibule shell (this location is actually not supposed to be threaded because the shell is threaded!). This makes it very difficult to screw one screw into two pieces of metal with two threads!!!

Anyway the results were good and the loco is running and reversing perfectly and almost all original (I'll find original trucks later). So now I have a 4-Piece ST 800 locomotive which was one of the last versions Marklin produced.

Enjoy the photos....












Regards,

Paul

Hello Paul
Good job!
Instead of tape (that will eventually come off...) try using some shrink tubing (available at FRY's) of a little bigger diameter, slide it over the wire and shrink it.
It's neater and it will last a very long time

Agreed! But in this case you could simply have drilled out the threads of the Ritter parts! (a 2mm drill is all you need!)




Cheers

Hi Manuel,

I didn't mean to say I think Ritter is incompitent, I have just not been very impressed with their cast metal reproductions. Almost all parts I see from them are not cast out of a Zinc alloy as they should be - their metal is so malleable it can be bent with your fingers. Also other subtle differences which might have been purposely included to differentiate from originals.

On the other hand, Ritter does some of the best repaintings I have seen andI think they are very good with this. Their machine stamped tinplate parts are also top quality.

Paul

Paul, love the topic and nice to see the old lok together again. I also love the sound of the gears as it moves. Takes me back to childhood. thanks, Thom

Yes, Marklin is of incredible quality. Unfortunately many of the locos from the "red box" era (up to about 1953) suffer from Zincpest and so the metal is not very strong.

Paul

Hi John,

Yes, it is a very good suggestion from both of you. Normally I would have done so but it seems always I work with the tools I have at hand. And this time I did the restoration at my computer desk and only had tape! I am planning soon a complete reworking of the entire locomotive again to tidy up the wiring and make sure all the coach lights are working.

Paul

Just out of interest Paul, did you also strip and clean the Jacob's trucks? - I have 2/6 of an ST800, (ie body from one end, chassis from the other, nothing from the middle) but I did clean up what I had.

I found stripping the trucks to be very easy and very enjoyable - they are just so precisely machined it was a joy to work on them. Cleaned all the old grease out of the gears, cleaned the body halves and reassemble/relube, they work like a dream.

One of these days I'll find a Croc at a price my wallet will stand and get into one of those. My kind of fun. Love those intricate mechanicals.

Cheers

Steve

Nice work!!! I spend a lot of time rebuilding older, pre-war vintage Lionel and American Flyer trains. There's just something nice about seeing a train that old still proving it can keep up with the younger crowd This love of the older stuff has caused me to begin collecting more of those Maerklin items that were around when I was growing up. (I love the newer digitally-equipped items for sure, but I'll always have a warm space in my heart for those analog items that somehow just seem to run -- and sound -- better on tubular steel M-track: as a friend told me once, "You don't have to program 'em... you just play with 'em!")

Hello,

How many bogie side trucks do you need? I have some extra originals as well as reproductions. The RITTER ones might be okay, but they certainly have to be modified (machined) before they fit as originals.

The Version 1 is certainly worth finding good original parts for.

Best regards,

Paul

Hi, CCS800KrokHunter3, I need four boggie side for the cars (I bought the train without them) I think they had zincpest (the wheels have it) but still runs well, and they aren't difficult to get. The other parts are free of zincpest and the box is in excellent condition, well I have the original manuals in German and French, they were printed in 1949.

Hi, steventrain, thank you.