Robert, excellent presentation, very well explaind, and really will provide additional help on the upgrade of my very old Märklin AC locomoties that I really like. Thanks very much for sharing.
Manuel, Thanks so much for the very kind comments. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or need assistance in getting any of the parts noted in the presentation. I typically have everything in stock.
Very informative video! My Marklin 3065 loco will not move, although the motor spins swell. The gear that engages the 3-coil armature is plastic and has stripped away. Is there a source for new gear parts , preferably brass gears? thatnks.
The plastic gear is still available. I either have it in stock or can get it easily enough. Please e-mail me (rjftrains@aol.com) and I'll be happy to help you get the part.
So when you upgrade to digital are you upgrading from 3 rail AC to 2 rail DCC? Or am I misunderstanding that and there's a 2 rail DC Marklin line as well? I visited a show put on by a local ETE club, EuroWest, this weekend, now unfortunately my kid was dragging me around faster than what allowed me to ask questions, but one vendor said there was a way to upgrade from 3 rail and I didn't quite get his gist. I assume you'd have to do surgery on the locomotives, but even so, would be nice to run some nice quality Euro trains, on my mostly American setup (I don't care about "prototypical" at all)
Mike, thanks for your question. Let's see if I can simplify things here, one step at a time. When you "upgrade" from analog to digital, it has NOTHING to do with 2-rail vs 3-rail. Furthermore, it has NOTHING to do with DCC (well, more on that in a moment). When you take an analog locomotive and add a decoder, you're simply adding electronics that will enable that locomotive to be operated by a digital control unit. In the case of Marklin, that would be a Marklin Mobile or Central Station, or an ESU ECoS controller. If the locomotive was (is) 2-rail, it stays that way, and if it was originally 3-rail, it's still 3-rail after you add the decoder. What TYPE of decoder determines the protocol (or "language") that the controller and decoder use to communicate with each other. Most of today's decoders support all the major protocols, specifically Marklin / Motorola, Marklin "mfx" (ESU calls it "M4") and, yes, DCC. I'm not sure what the vendor you spoke with meant by "upgrading from 3-rail" -- maybe he was just referring to adding a decoder -- it's not clear. But, if I gather correctly that you have a 2-rail layout and want to run digital 2-rail locomotives on it, you would have to START with a 2-rail locomotive and add a decoder. Yes, that MIGHT require some surgery -- but many of the newer analog locomotives come with a socket into which you can just plug a digital decoder -- no wiring, no soldering, just a simple plug-and-play installation. The one caveat to all this is the track itself. You would first want to make sure that whatever locomotive(s) you want to run on your American (your words) setup will work with the type of track you have. Most American layouts have a track "profile" (height of the rails above the roadbed) that accommodates RP25 wheels -- you'll have to dig up some info on that yourself. Most European style locomotives do NOT use RP25 wheel sets. Marklin's line of 2-rail locomotives are manufactured under the TRIX line (which I carry as well). But the TRIX locomotives, as well as those made by other manufacturers of European models, use wheels that work on Code 83 profile of track. In short, you would need to make sure that any locomotives you want to add to your existing 2-rail track will run properly. If all your track was made for American models, I submit that the answer might be "no". OK, that's a very long (but detailed) answer to your short question, but I believe I've covered most of the details you need to proceed. Any more questions? Just e-mail me at RJFtrains@aol.com --- I'll be happy to go 1-on-1 with you that way.
@@robertfrowenfeld5866 Thanks for the very detailed response. So if I want Marklin locos on 2 rail look for the Trix line, ok that sounds good. I do recall seeing Trix locos on some tables, I just thought they happened to be a different manufacturer.
@@Mike__B Nope -- Trix is indeed manufactured by Marklin. Any newer models would already have digital decoders installed and, in the event you get an older model that is not digital, adding a decoder (by plugging it into a socket or re-wiring) should be simple. Let me know if you'd like to purchase anything. Thanks.
From my understanding the ESU Lokprogrammer cannot be used to program the Marklin decoders. Having used the Marklin decoder programming tool it is probably not as easy to follow as the ESU Lokprogrammer but you can achieve the same results. The Marklin website can also be difficult to download sound projects from but they are there.
This is technically correct. The ESU LokProgrammer is better suited for ESU decoders and the Marklin programmer is best for Marklin decoders. The one exception to this might be the first generation of Marklin mfx decoders. These were initially produced by ESU (for Marklin) and -- way back then -- the only way to program these was with the LokProgrammer. That said, the ESU decoders AND LokProgrammer provide more options and offer more features, not to mention ease of programming and decoder customization than Marklin's products.
If you're asking if you can "only" install a magnet and use the existing motor shield/brushes and armature, the answer is "yes". Marklin makes the 3 different magnet styles as Trix products for their older analog (2-rail) and Marklin HAMO locomotives. You should realize that only replacing the field coil with a magnet, while allowing you to now install a digital decoder, will not improve performance. You'll still have the 3-pole armature and you won't achieve the smooth acceleration / braking or running at slow speeds as you will if you use the 60941, 69043 or 60944 kits which replace all the components and, in the process, you get a nice 5-pole armature.
I haven't found where one particular decoder works any better than another if being controlled with an analog transformer. Of course, if you're just going to run it with an analog transformer, there's not need for a decoder in the first place. But, if you're planning to run it both analog and digital, then my answer is simply (again) there's no reason to pick one decoder over another, AS LONG AS the decoder supports analog (and in the case of Marklin, AC) operation. Any Marklin or ESU decoder will suffice for this purpose.
@@robertfrowenfeld5866 I have to give you some context about this. Marklin trains are scarce to find where I live and recently bought a locomotive with the decoder missing. I run an analog setup and now can't decide on what to do. For instance looking at this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GxcM1h3dNhw.html kinda cool to run with sound on analog.
@@sunnysworkshop Well, most of my experience is with ESU decoders. They run in analog mode just fine but -- to your question -- you CAN program these so the sounds will run in analog mode. So, if your intent is to run analog AND have sound, then I suggest you consider the ESU LokSound decoders (which I can sell you if you'd like).
@@robertfrowenfeld5866 Sorry for the late reply, unfortunately customs here is a big problem. We can't even buy anything overseas. Now there is an earthquake on top of it.
Excelente explicação, tinha dúvidas ,qual decoders utilizar nas minha máquinas AC antigas pois os novos decoders e a própria Marklin não explica o que pode utilizar aliás são discriminatórios , não respondem a quem não fala inglês ou alemão.
Obrigado pelo retorno apesar de ter passado um ano. Abandonei os decoders Marklin , minhas máquinas são antigas e todas Ac, uso a central 6021, então comecei a comprar os decoders Argentinos custam mais baratos e fazem a mesma coisa que preciso pras minhas máquinas . Os decoders Marklin são muito frágeis já tive que trocar vários pois uso transformadores fortes dos antigos. Então e jogar dinheiro fora usar os Marklin . E os que vem dentro do Kit start set, sai uma porcaria e aí da por cima com motor latinha descartável . Então só compro e uso máquinas antigas.
I have recently obtained a Hamo 8347 heavy goods engine 44 originally purchased late 1960 early 70, I have no documentation, instructions or exploded view of the item, can you please advise me where I can obtain this information | have not had any success via the internet and no response from Marklin Hamo. Thank you
Sure, happy to oblige. While this model does indeed have two motors, you would simply use a single decoder. Even the "regular" Marklin mLD/3 or ESU LokPilot should be able to handle the current draw since these aren't unusually heavy locomotives. Just put the single decoder in one unit (the one with the pickup shoe) and run wires between them to the other unit. There are already wires (I don't recall how many) going between them. You really would only need 4 wires: 2 for the motor and 2 for the rear light. If you can squeeze in a fifth wire, I would attach an additional ground wire to the motor shield of the rear unit -- you can't have too many grounds! Yes, Marklin uses thicker wires than really necessary, but I'm sure you can route 4 or 5 wires between the two units if you use the thin wire ESU offers. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@robertfrowenfeld5866 Thank you, you cleared it up for me. I also have two 3000 mini steams I want to convert to a double as well. Your video is extremely helpful. 💪
@@sunnysworkshop One more thing... Whether you are converting the 3346 or doing the same sort of thing with your 3000's, as you suggest, remember that you will have to wire the "rear" locomotive's motor backwards. That's because (since they are back-to-back) one will always be running in the opposite direction as the other. So, once you get the locomotive WITH the decoder running in the forward direction, note the wires on the motor (blue / green for Marklin, gray / orange for DCC), you'll need to reverse these on the other unit.
@@robertfrowenfeld5866 One last silly question, do you think it is possible to convert a V200 to two motors? I saw this video and got really interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IXDvc2qxK7Y.html
@@sunnysworkshop The short answer is "no". I'm not sure why you would even want to -- I mean, this is a very powerful locomotive with the one motor it has. The front part of the frame doesn't have the proper size / shape opening for another motor. I suppose that you could modify it to accept another, but then you'd be faced with the problem of where to put the pickup shoe. I'd just leave this one alone. But I'd like to know how that guy filmed that video -- it does look cool.
@@jamestownsend26625706 is a 1-Scale locomotive. This doesn't have a pickup shoe in the conventional sense. Please e-mail me (rjftrains@aol.com) and I'll see what I can do for you.
Most Marklin dealers and authorized Marklin service providers should have access to this. It was (and still is) a good reference for many of the locomotives produced around the time period the CD was first made available. These days, Marklin's web site has nearly all of these exploded views available. If you're looking for a particular locomotive in particular, let me know and I'll try and help.
Hello Robert, just happened to find this video, and liked it a lot. We talked earlier about converting an older TEE, and I finally got it to run by getting a transformer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DiUAFL-Lqcw.html. I was not happy with the driving / directional switching performance, and will convert it to digital with the kit I already bought. Looking forward to future conversations.
