Okay group, here is a quick trivia quiz. In the 1980s, Marklin was quite good with product placement in movies. Can you name two movies from the 1980s that had a scene in them that featured Z scale? Strangely enough, I watched both of these movies in the past few days! Rob
One was Christmas Vacation when they go to the mall in Chicago. And the other was the Home Alone II, when they are in NYC at the toy store (FAO Schwartz).
Very good, you definitely have 1 of the 2 I watched this weekend. Yes, in Christmas Vacation, there is a scene of a Marklin German passenger train running on a Noch layout. I can't remember the scene in Home Alone II, but I would not be surprised. FAO Schwartz really pushed these sets which is a good clue on the other movie I am referring too. Any one care to guess. No suggest is to small or too LARGE… Rob
From your clues, I would say the other movie with a Marklin Z scale train would be "BIG" with Tom Hanks.
'Big' it is!! I actually forgot about it. But in the movie Tom Hanks character plays a Toy Company executive and in one scene he is sitting behind a Noch Z scale layout running a US Z freight train. I am pretty sure there is one more movie but I am racking my head to remember it. It seems like any movie with an FAO Schwartz tie in had a Z scale train in it. FAO Schwartz actually sold their own branded Z scale sets that came with an FAO Schwartz container car. Rob