Hi Guy's.

Is the RE 800 swiss loco the rarest H0 loco that Marklin made ? The prices are quite high for these.

If so why do you think this is ? .

Is it because they changed to the new RES 800 model with simpler drive mechanism in a short time period ?

Regards Neil.

Hi Neil
My favorite Märklin loco!!!
These are quite rare (more than CCS 800 for instance!) and quite hard to find in a condition like the one on the picture
If the one you have there is original (paint etc.), do take good care, it is a beauty!
The rarity comes from the high original price: few people would be ready to buy these in the 50's: for the same amount of money (or even less!!) they could get and F 800, SK 800 or a G 800 which were so much "bigger".
The same reasoning applies also the TT and TP 800 tank locos.
BTW , the RES is almost as rare if not more!
Also RE 800 are quite complicated and hard to work on: many so-called "repair-men" would give up: once taken apart, it takes some really good skills and patience to put it back together and get it to work properly.
It has helicoïdal gears in the transmission, a special sliding contact for lights reversing and a quite finnicky complicated cardan transmission.
There is very little space and (re-)wiring is a true nightmare...
I got my first one back in the late 1950's from a college buddy who did not know what to do with it (lucky me!!!), with lots of parts missing or broken.
Took me almost 10 years to finally figure out how to get it back together (I was however doing other interesting things at that time.. .!!)
Now I feel really comfortable and have reconditionned quite a number of them since.
Currently , I have two waiting for parts from Ritter with 3 bodies being restaured after being disfigured completely.
One will go into my own collection, the other belongs to a distinguished member of this forum.
It's worth working on these, and the result is rewarding: once operational they will pull 12 348/x coaches like it was nothing
BTW yours is missing the plate that covers the motor winding underneath.
Unfortunately, Ritter ( http://ritter-restaurati...rID=2;usrEmail=;usrPwd=; ) doesn't seem to have these as spares
Hope this helps

I would love to have a RE,- RES 800..I only have a 3014...I can just imagine the gear whine, when running at slow speeds

Hello Jacques in France.
Thanks for your long post regarding this subject, the loco is not mine ( wish it was ) i own an RES 800 which is a nice example and i have just serviced it with new field coil / armature and new brushes, goes nice and smooth !

I hope to get CCS 800 Kroc in the future but hopefully like you i will find one and be lucky or see one cheap in the local ads paper !
I am glad Ritter does parts for them and i find their parts service is very good.

Good luck on your RE restorations.

REgards Neil.