rick
New Member
Posts: 19
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Post by rick on Apr 28, 2021 7:10:32 GMT -5
Hi
I'm a newbie to USA Z scale and I've just purchased two AZL loco's; an #8107 and an NS #1065.
Purchased from a supplier in Germany who is also fitting them with Digitrax decoders.
Looking forward to them arriving hopefully by the weekend.
I'm new to z this year but already have a small layout operational and a dozen Marklin loco's.
I've purchased from Marklin direct and a couple of German websites, plus a few used on Ebay with varying success.
It will be interesting to compare the AZL loco's with those of Marklin.
The price is fairly similar here in the EU once sales taxes are added.
I love the American loco vibe, with 3 or 4 loco's pulling a crazy number of wagons. We have nothing like that here in Europe.
I've purchased 2 each of Marklin's Union Pacific and Pennsylvanian loco's to try and get a similar 'feel' on my layout with each pair hauling a dozen or so trucks.
My wife can't understand why I would need two of the same loco :-)
Rick
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Post by ugeesta on Apr 28, 2021 7:53:01 GMT -5
Welcome to the Z addiction. You will find that pulling 20 wagons with 2-3 AZL locomotives is more fun than trying to pull 8 wagons with a sinks Marklin Loco. Ever since discovering AZL, all my Marklin stock remains in storage. Someday I’ll bring them out again......
Congrats on joining the AZL group.
Watch the forum for new releases at the beginning and mid month. Some new items go fast so if you see something you like, contact Anthony at Z Scale Monster Train, Jeff at Z Scale.com or Frank at Z Scale Hobo to place your order as some items sell out fast. There are other suppliers but these three are top sellers. Don’t forget to set a little money aside every week to fund your new habit, er hobby.
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Post by markm on Apr 28, 2021 8:00:46 GMT -5
Rick,
Welcome to Z scale.
It’s a little hard to discuss the various locomotives without using the prototype model numbers. Also this may be a conversation best fielded by the European members of the group, but here’s some of my thoughts. Märklin announced a few years ago that they were “de emphasizing” their U.S. product line. That said, the most recent new locomotive models, the E8 and GP38-2, were produced in association with AZL and are essentially AZL locomotives customized to Märklin standards. You’ll find that they run well with low power consumption and little maintenance. Other Märklin models such as the F7 and steam locomotives, are 1980s/90s design. I find they run well but are noisy and require a fair amount of maintenance, typical of locomotives designed in that era.
As far as rolling stock, both AZL and Micro-trains produce prototypically accurate models that run well. The Märklin units also run well, but are frequently less accurate to the prototypes due to conforming to Märklin’s system standards, such as 145mm radius curves.
I’ve been doing Z since the mid-80s, first Märklin then mostly MTL and AZL for the past 20 years or so, and found it the be an enjoyable and challenging experience.
Mark
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Post by husafreak on May 5, 2021 21:05:01 GMT -5
Hi Rick! FWIW Rick has been very active on the Marklin Forum so I am very happy to see him here on Trainboard. The Marklin Forum has really picked up in the last year but Trainboard is a busy place and obviously if you are going to try the AZL and MTL brands this is where it is at (plus the AZL Forum). I would like to mention that if you start buying a lot of cars for your mile long North American train that the MTL cars have plastic wheels which you may, or may not like. The MTL cars are beautiful but I have been putting "Will's Wheels" by Full Throttle on mine.
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Post by zscalehobo on May 5, 2021 23:05:29 GMT -5
. Märklin announced a few years ago that they were “de emphasizing” their U.S. product line. Mark Where was this announcement published and who said it? |
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Post by markm on May 6, 2021 9:21:24 GMT -5
Frank,
I can tell you when better than where and who. It was after Märklin filed for insolvency, 2010. A local train store (Sacramento) had all their Z (Märklin) in the 50% off bin. When I asked why, the owner showed me a trade journal describing the Märklin reorganization as using the term "de emphasizing" American Z (not MR). The owner read this as "Z scale is dead." Of course I didn't disagree with him until after I had bought everything I wanted from the 50% off bin. As a final note, Märklin i still around, but the train store isn't.
While I may have missed something, from observation it seems "de emphasizing" remains to be true. While they continue to introduce U.S. rolling stock, I don't see Märklin producing new American body styles like they did in the late 80s and into the 90s. At the same time they definitely continue with new products in the European line.
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Post by zscalehobo on May 6, 2021 9:25:33 GMT -5
Thanks, Mark. I have my own personal theories (mainly that there is a 2+ man operation putting out TONS of USA stuff in Z) but have not heard anything official - on or off the record.
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