I received some Marklin cars recently, well, at a train show last weekend a fellow just walked up to me and handed me a bunch of cars for free, thank you very much! They are short older Era Marklin cars. Two of them have issues running on my Rokuhan test oval. One runs along with a "shimmy". It is a box car with silver metal wheels, one axle at each end, and the wheels spin freely. But the shimmy is very noticeable at certain speeds. The other car looks like a caboose, I guess, really short. It has Black wheels and one axle at each end. It jus likes to jump the track. It will go along for a while and then I'll realize it has got sideways. One set of wheels off track. I'm guessing the axles may be bent or the spacing of the wheels incorrect. The silver wheels are obviously metal but the black ones could be plastic. I noticed that some cars are much heavier than others, I don't know if they can all "play well together". Right now the only engine I have is a Markln 5 pole Austrian 2-8-2 steam engine. I noticed that when it is pulling just a few cars the driving wheels are getting traction or rather they look like they are turning at the right speed. But when I connect all 9 cars that I have acquired the engines wheels are are spinning madly while the train itself is moving slower, so there is a lack of traction. Is this normal or due to draggy cars or just a limitation of the engine? Thanks!
Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you at the show, but I wasn't able to get to Pleasanton until Sunday afternoon. From your description, it sounds like you may have a couple of cars that require a bit of work. The 2-8-2 should be able to easily pull 9 cars without slippage. However it would be good to confirm the track is oil free. Wipe a clean white paper towel along the rails and check that you don't pick up any oil. If you need to clean the tracks, I like to use electronics grade alcohol wipes (available at the big electronics store in Concord or Fremont). Be careful with alcohol as it can damage the paint on rolling stock. As for your two problem cars. It is useful to be able to confirm the wheel gage (space between the wheels). You might want to purchase the Z &Nn3 coupler height gauge produced by Micro-Trains (988 00 032). While the coupler height part of the gauge is of no value to you with Märklin couplers, it has several slots that allows you to confirm the proper wheel and rail spacing. I use one to check all rolling stock I acquire, new and especially used. Last time I checked, the train store in Lodi had one. As for the car with the black wheels, I'm concerned that the wheels may be the wrong ones for the car. Märklin wheel sets are generally shiny metal, MTL wheels are generally plastic black or brown. You can have problems as you describe using the wrong wheels for a car. You can tell the difference by the axle ends. You may also want to consider lubricating the wheels on your cars. Use a TINY drop of oil where the axle meets the frame. Wipe off any excess with a cotton swab. I like using Labelle 108 oil. Hope this helps, Mark
Thanks Mark, will comply. Jeff helped me find a bottle of Labelle 108 at the show. I'll have to do a little research on those black wheels... If the shimmy continues after all this I'll suspect a bent axle. Can Marklin wheels and axles be replaced? I imagine so. That is great that we have a train store in Lodi, I belong to a vineyard (M2) there and good friends also. My wife would be willing to visit anytime
Mark: 1st gen Märklin rolling stock used plastic wheels. The metal shaft is press-fit on to the plastic wheels and this connection is prone to slipping and changing the gauge. Eric: 700810 wheels are replacement Märklin metal wheels. Email sent earlier covering traction.
Frank: I was aware of the 1st gen wheels, just never owned any so I consider them rare. The train store in Lodi is across from the Amtrak station on Sacramento St. and around the corner from a number of good places to eat. I frequently make an afternoon out of a visit: lunch, train store and train spotting. While the track is UP (and well travelled), they lease access to BNSF, Stockton and Terminal Eastern (STE), Central California Traction (CCT) and of course Amtrak. The store has a good selection of Z, dealing in MTL, AZL & Rokuhan (sorry no Märklin). Closer to home (for you) there is a train store in Concord off Solano Way, north of Hwy 4. I haven't been there since they changed hands. Mark
You should not have to lubricate the wheels. if they freely roll, then they should be good. Between slippery track or more likely over lubricated locos or small radii track (145mm), these can be prime sources. Cut up pieces of cotton T-shirts, couple drops of alcohol and run under the slipping loco wheels. Trickier on a steamer. Roll the rolling stock over a long T strip.
I ordered a package of Marklin steel wheels. It looks like the axle is just a snap fit into the "C" clip on the chassis centerline. Can I simply pop out the axle with a small jewelers screwdriver or something like that and press the new axle in to snap it in place? I cant really tell if anything is going on at the ends of the axle outside the wheels.
I got my Marklin replacement steel wheels from Zscalehobo and installed them today after work (yeah I'm working extra to pay for my trains!). I weighed the old plastic wheels and new steel wheels on my gram scale and that was definitely the difference in the weight of the cars. A pair of steel wheels weighs 0.9 g and plastic 0.2. It is quite noticeable when you hold them. And the steel ones roll further on the track and hold the track better. Swapping them was super easy with pointy needle nose pliers and I checked that there was no debris (because Frank told me to look out for that). It was fun working at Zscale! The car I had wobbles with had steel wheels but both of them were bent. I can't imagine how they got bent without damaging the car but rolling them on a flat surface clearly showed the axle ends were not spinning on axis. Weird. All of the cars I received had plastic wheels so I'll be getting 7 more for my two other cars, plastic wheels are not acceptable anymore. Thanks!
