Although there must have been rumors in the German model railroad press, the introduction of Z-Scale would prove to be a surprise to the world. The previous Märklin catalogs had given no hint of what was to come.

     The fledgling Märklin mini-club line would start with four locomotives, all German prototypes:

Image courtesy of Märklin

     By American standards, the choice of two steam locomotives was a bit odd. In America, steam locomotives were largely removed from the Class 1 railroad scene by the early 1950’s, with Norfolk & Western scrapping its steam engines in 1958. Yet, in Germany, steam continued in service until 1976.  The bright red running gear of these locomotives had a real purpose, serving to make metal fractures easily visible to locomotive inspectors. The V60 diesel (upper right) was another German classic; its Maybach diesel sang true, but the spoked wheels and side rods are pure steam locomotive. Likewise, the Class 218 was another commonly found locomotive in the German railroad scene, rounding out a nice group of engines.

     There were freight and passenger cars, all German prototypes:

     The mini-club passenger car range was also modest in the early days.  A two-axle branchline coach was available in green and in red. There were four mainline passenger cars, a 1^st Class coach, a 2^nd Class coach, a diner and a baggage car. These cars were available in either 1950’s Deutsche Bundesbahn livery or in a contemporary DB scheme for the early 1970’s.

     The core of every model train program is the starter set, a single package which contains all of the elements necessary to get started in model railroading.  The first two Märklin mini-club starter sets had most of the elements necessary to start, save the power supply (transformer).

Image courtesy of Märklin

     The fact that the starter sets did not come with a transformer initially, would later prove to be a problem, especially in the American market.  Potential buyers discovered that the transformer necessary to operate the mini-club trains cost almost as much as the small starter set itself.  Märklin mini-club trains operate on 8 volts direct current (DC) while other trains use 12 - 18 volts DC. Many purchasers in the American market chose to use a less expensive DC pack and eventually the tiny 8800 steam engine would burn out when the throttle was turned up just a bit too high.  Also, the 8800 especially needed routine lubrication (every 20 hours of service) and eventually this was also result in locomotive failure.  The power problem was addressed several years later when the starter sets came with an appropriate transformer and later brochures illustrated proper lubrication technique.

     The early starter sets were packaged in the “clamshell” style packaging:

     The starter set packaging was innovative, since it could be opened in a dealer’s showcase so that it displayed the contents of the set along with advertising graphics oriented toward the target market for mini-club.

     In addition to the track which came with the starter set, additional track pieces were available. There were three radii of curved track, a variety straight tracks, track switches and specialty tracks:

Images courtesy of Märklin

     No range of German model railroad products would be complete without signals to be used in conjunction with model train operation.  The Märklin mini-club line was no exception:

Image courtesy of Märklin

     The 8939 Color Light Signal was the foundation of this automated approach to automation.  A discussion of the German philosophy of model train operation is here.  Note that several of the operating and insulating tracks were initially 110 mm in length; several pieces would later be offered in 55 mm length, starting around 1980. The switches utilized control boxes from the Märklin H0 product line.

     Because Märklin mini-club was new, it was necessary to provide everything necessary for the construction of a complete model railroad. In these early days, this new size train was not even yet called Z-Scale; a discussion of the structures is here.

Image courtesy of Märklin

     Also briefly available were two printed toporamas, available both as simple decorated mats and in completed form:

Image courtesy of Märklin

     The completed layouts were available in 1972 only; it has always been my belief that these two complete layouts were manufactured because of a concern that Z-Scale might be too small for the general model railroader.  This thinking was also based upon the fact that mini-club was brand new and such completed railroads would get this new size train into as many hands as possible.  In any case, these two toporamas were discontinued in 1974, and replaced by the 8930.

Image courtesy of Märklin

     The 8930 was introduced in 1975 and continued in production until the late 1980’s. It was a sheet of heavy paper which was lithographed with track rights of way, a pond, roads and foundation pads for structures. It was further enhanced with flock material representing grassy areas.  The fact that it continued in production for so long indicates that it was a popular item.  The 8930 toporama was designed to enhance the SETTT track layout.

     So, the 1972 introduction of Märklin mini-club offered enough items to whet the appetites of model railroaders. Of course, there would be much more to come......

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Page last updated 01/22/2006

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