Mikado 1, 2 , 3

The Mikado locomotive has been a greatly beloved loco by LGB fans from the start, being created and manufactured in 2001/2 and manufactured and delivered until 2004/6. It is the most challenging design of the LGB locomotives and the loco with the largest wheels and also the heaviest LGB loco. The engine design requires an articulated drive train. This calls for a fully suspended drive with three kardan shafts.

During the very first production series the kardan joints consisted of a star-like brass gear wheel and  a plastic pick-up which would fit this gear wheel. This type of joint was used throughout the whole drive train. The motor carried the brass star wheel connected to a plastic pick-up. At the end of the first axle there was another star-like brass gear wheel being connected to the second axle with a plastic pick-up. At the end of the middle shaft there was yet another plastic pick-up which would connect to the third and last axle that carried the star-like brass gear wheel. Huge worm drives were mounted on the first shaft very close to the motor and on the last shaft driving the first loco axle.

Basically, only the first and last axle of this locomotive were and are actually driven by the motor as the two middle axles are just coasting along, kept in sync only by the side  rods. To manage the mechanical load of the drive train two ball bearings (small = 10mm) were used in close proximity of the worm gears.

During the first series problems arose with the first plastic pick-up that was jointed to the motor: the plastic pick-up was basically pressed on the round axle with no further locking feature. This resulted in the loco to stop moving as the motor kept on running. As a consequence the plastic pick-up was improved to have a square pick-up for the axle. And the axle was altered accordingly to fit the new square pick-up.
Next, the first joint between the motor and the first kardan shaft proved to be the weakest part of the design as the plastic pick-up was not able to handle the torque of the motor and carry the mechanical load. Consequently, the joint between the motor and the first kardan shaft was completely redesigned: the star-like brass wheel on the motor was replaced by a rectangular brass bolt. The kardan shaft got a plastic pick-up shaped to fit the brass bolt.

This new design however had a flaw of its own. As the star like connection provided guidance (in the center line) for the first axle the new design did not. As the first axle tended to wobble this wobbling movement was transported to the other end of the first kardan shaft which was only kept in place by plastic guides within the motor block and its top lid. These plastic guides pretty early on wore out giving the axle more play than designed. Resulting in a  constant rattling noise from the motor block.

The ultimate and last design called for a total rework of the two motor blocks. The first and last kardan shaft were equipped with two ball bearings that now measured 12mm (compared to 10mm, see above). With the first axle being properly guided the rattling noise was completely eliminated giving the whole drive train an exceptionally smooth operation. Production numbers of the first designs vary between 500 and 800. That means that there are a lot of Mikados out there that already do or will produce one of the following failures:

• the engine runs slow or stops while the motor is audibly still working ( the first plastic pick-up turns on the axle)
• the engine simply stops with the motor running with grinding noise ( first plastic pick-up is worn out)
• rattling noise in the drive train ( plastic guides are worn out )

As you know by now: Do Not Fear- Klaus Is Near! In his workshop he reworks Mikado motor blocks, converting axles to the two-ball-bearing design. This is a precision reworking since it requires a computer controlled mill (CNC mill).  Klaus - of course - has and works on a CNC mill in his workshop as well as  (on) a CNC lathe.

A Fall Sampler

Yours Truly is a steady observer of eBay related LGB trains and parts activities. We are also keeping an eye on the German market in Germany and on the English/British market. We have seen quite some interesting changes lately. LGB stock is in "remission" to put it politely. Everything made before 1999 is becoming hard to find. Stock made before 1989 is almost not available anymore neither at auction nor in estate sales here in the United States. Sometimes one wonders were all the LGB stock went  or is kept these days after it was sold all over Europe and the USA for more than 20 years in quite big quantities.

Now, do not turn to wrong conclusions. Locos made after 2000 in China are NOT worthless. A fine example is the Mikado which was created by LGB in 2000-2002 in Germany but then completely manufactured in China. However, some locos were assembled in Germany and stickers on a Mikado loco saying Made in Germany refer to that. All in all some 7000 Mikados were manufactured. Their value has not moved much. They were sold for approx US$ 2,000.00 and they are still worth that much. No new Mikados have been issued since then and it is highly unlikely now that Märklin/LGB will present a "new" Mikado. If getting the collector's bug make sure to take very good care of your box and the Styrofoam cast inside. It makes for 20% of the loco's value. Another good example for rising value is the yellow Capito and the MOB Ge 4/4 III which are increasingly sought after currently.

Your Famous Klaus is doing more and more appraisals and valuations these days and it is a joy to come across stock that is very well kept and dates back to 1979. Cars, long time the foster child of the LGB collector and resale market have become quite valuable if made before 1998. We have also seen some freight cars that went from being sold for US 25.00 a few years ago to an asking price of Euro 250.00 (equals roughly US$ 300.00-330.00). Here, again, it is important to have the matching box and the additional parts like coupler & spring to maintain full value.

One word from Yours Truly right out of the "Master's" workshop: please watch when giving your loco/tender to a mechanic somewhere out there. Obviously a lot of well meaning folks cannot distinguish left from right once cables are removed from their plug/stocko connector. To prevent short circuits, no sound, and other "phenomena" take a photo before you start dismantling any cables. That way the reconnecting will be a safer bet and less expensive.

And on a similar note: contrary to general opinion additional traction tires can cause harm. So can additional weight put into a loco to "improve" traction. With that you change the load on the motor which then sends an "overload signal" to the decoder and will make the loco stop. In addition it will overload the plastic gear wheels mechanically thus leading to their early demise. The motor being run in overload will heat up and will eventually heat up the worm drive which will eat the plastics gear wheel even more effectively. So, to improve traction first, last, and foremost check  for well laid, even, and clean tracks. -  And in case the damage is done call Klaus. He stocks  German made Bühler motors and all kinds of gear wheels to keep your LGB trains running.

What it's Worth - evaluating an Original LGB loco

Klaus had a clinic at the St. Charles NGRC 2012 about evaluating your LGB loco. Unfortunately, not a lot of LGB'lers could come or did know about it. So- for all of you who are  interested in this subject, please find a "rerun" of the clinic contents below starting with a little historical review:
LGB started as Lehmann Patentwerk in Berlin Germany in 1881.They manufactured tin toys. If you click on the link below, you can see some of the toys they made

 www.antique-tintoys.com

The original price of a toy was around 1.00 REM, which equals US$ 20.00 in present spending power. Today's auction prices range from EUR 900 to 1,200 (US $ 1,200 to US $ 1,500).

 

After WWII, the Lehmann family was dispossessed in the Russian sector of Berlin, fled and found a new home in Nuremberg. In 1950 a cousin of the Lehmann family opened a tin toy factory in Nuremberg. His sons, Eberhard and Wolfgang Richter, took over  in 1958. Then in 1968 the first LGB train was presented at the Nuremberg Toy Fair: loco #2 of the Austrian STLB railroad nicknamed “Stainz” (2010). Click on the link below for a nice look at the Original Loco

www.salzwiesenbahn.de/html/dampflok__nummer_zwei_.html

 

After the Stainz loco proved to be a huge success these locos were, in historical order for LGB manufactured next: the  "2060" Schoema Diesel, in 1971 the "2030" series, in 1974 the "2080" Harz, in 1977 the "2090" Diesel Köf and in 1983 work started on the "2018/ 2019" Mogul. That same year, your "Famous Klaus" joined the LGB team. Starting in 1968 all locomotives were numbered under the basic system:   2 0 x x
“2” for engines
“0” for series 0 – 9
“xx” last two digits define the loco type.---A "2019" equals a “Mogul” coal fired
4-digit numbers were used until 1992 being extended by a letter in the 1980s. 5-digit numbers were introduced 1993. Unfortunately, LGB left their own numbering system quite often.

Klaus and Yours Truly have spent the last years - thanks to the wonderful and time consuming work and help by Klaus Baumann - to complete year-by-year listings for LGB American locos. Now we can actually tell by the loco number (best from the original LGB box) when she was made, where she was made, how many were manufactured and when and taking into account the condition of the loco, what is the loco's worth and value. To evaluate the condition we look at these characteristics:

•Year of manufacturing: Before 1999; manufactured in Germany. 2000 until 2006: manufactured in China and 2009 until today; New Märklin/LGB. Next we look at these conditions:

•Marks of wear: dirt, smear, color fading

•Marks of tear: scratches, aged surface, broken decorative parts, missing decorative parts,

•Worn operational parts: power shoes + carbon brushes, wheels, axles, motor block housing (bearings), gear wheels, motors, cables, couplers, sound boards

•Broken operational parts: motors, body parts, smokers, sound board

•Original packaging and additional parts: condition --

To summarize we evaluate the loco according to

•Year manufactured

•Country of Origin

•Volume manufactured

•Demand and popularity today --- see example below

•Restorability

•Willingness to respect the value --- see also example below

•eBay… --- should not be used to evaluate the true value of your loco

•Insurance and Certification --- may be needed in places were natural disasters happen more often

Following are two examples of evaluating a Forney. One is an old German made type, quite valuable actually but you would not see that mirrored on eBay. The other Forney is a beloved Wild West type with values asked for on eBay that range way above its actual value for insurance and replacement.

Example: mint condition 20252 Forney LG&B (Lake George & Boulder) #25
Manufactured 1995
In Germany
Assembled in Germany
Volume produced 1,991, very low volume (!)
Sales price in 1995: DM 765.00 to 850.00  (approx.$ 950)

Value today: (adjusted for inflation and cost of living)
Insurance value: US$1,200.00
Achievable market value : US$ 650.00 to 800.00
Consolidated (future) collector’s market: US$ 1,400.00+ incr.

 

2nd Example: mint condition 24251 Forney Wild West
Manufactured 2005
In China
Assembled in China
Volume produced 650, extreme low volume (!)
Sales price in 2005: US$ 475.00 – 525.00

Value today: (adjusted for inflation and cost of living)
Insurance value: US$ 500.00
Achievable market value : US$ 475.00 
Consolidated (future) collector’s market: US$ 475.00 + incr.

(note: asking price on eBay in mid August was 650.00 for a little less than mint condition with 2 days to go and 8 bids already posted.)

Contact us for any further information you would like to see here or valuations you'd like to receive on your LGB train collection.

Back from Chicago NGRC

Yours Truly and your Famous Klaus have just returned from the 2012 NGRC in St. Charles near Chicago. We had the pleasure to stay with a friend and enjoy his beautiful layout. He was on the Open House Tour List as well and had 2 Open Houses to accommodate all the interest in his layout. The weather was great and everybody had a lot of fun. Contact us if you want to know more about it or want some pictures. Shown above is the water feature  layout part, displaying 3 water features alltogether. Below is "bridges and mountainous terrain".The layout streches alongside the terrace of the house and alongside the added garage, approx 30 yards (rough estimate).

The convention itself drew little interest. In case you remember Denver in 2009, cut the Vendor's Hall attendance by 60 % - for vendors and for attendants/visitors- and you can see the picture. The booth for Märklin/LGB was small and they showed no merchandise to purchase from the booth. Piko's booth was mostly unattended so no information was available anyway. Train-Li with Axel Tillman had a great big booth/showplace but had only track material displayed. A bit sad since he usually has a great variety of spare parts and stuff to offer. USA Trains did not attend. Bachmann's booth was a corner/head-on booth with a focus on kids' toy train (?????). Yours Truly didn't get their concept and obviously others didn't either- but that is just a very personal opinion. Kidman Tree Farm had a great booth/stand showing all his merchandise, was well representing his spare parts and his wonderful bonsai plants for layout gardening in addition to the best loco offerings on the show. And that was it for most of the part. Overall LGB locos and cars were sparsely offered.  Even though it is Yours Truly innerst conviction that the whole LGB market will turn into a collector's market in a very few or couple of years from now - it seems that has already started. And with that said, our future blogs will focus more and more on valuation and value development of LGB locos.

Meanwhile on the spare parts side we learned that Märklin/LGB will not furnish (as in after market spare parts provider) all new locos and mostly none of the old locos with all required spare parts. They will choose at will what will be offered. Also, Bühler has decided to manufacture their motors in China. In addition a new provider does offer similar motors made in China for LGB locos. In case you like to run Original German made motors in your LGB locos, contact Klaus. We have plenty in stock due to the fact that we could lay our hands on a truly big stock of German made Bühler motors last year.


Also NEW: Klaus will start in September to buy/purchase from you damaged/broken/half-burned/flooded or otherwise completely "kaput" LGB locos. We will have more information on that right here as well as on our web site.

Mix Multiple Manufacturers in Your LGB Engine

The problem: a pulsed smoker and a sound decoder only work in unison pulse if the sound decoder was made by the same manufacturer as the pulsed smoker.

The Task: to combine different manufacturers in pulsed smoker and sound decoder – so you can choose from different manufacturers for the best fitting sound for your loco and for the best working smoker – no matter who makes which one.

The Solution: Klaus has created a board that makes the pulsed smoker from ANY manufacturer compatible with ANY soundboard/decoder on the market. With Klaus Mix-Multi Board any pulsed smoker will work in perfect unison pulse with any sound decoder. No more nerve-racking steam sound whereas the smoker delivers ½ a minute later. No more “Arrrgh--- I bought this smoker a year ago and forgot who made it, now I have this fine, fine sound from a completely different company.” All done with-- Now you can combine any sound decoder with any pulsed smoker out there. Buy the product that best fits your needs, your purse and your LGB loco – no matter who makes them. Stop worrying to be forced to stay with one manufacturer for all times just so the products are compatible in your LGB engine. Now you call Klaus or send him your loco and the Mix-Multi Board will take care of it.

What it takes: each board is a custom made board by Klaus for your individual decoder-smoker manufacturer situation. Board price is approx. US$ 50.00. Klaus likes to install the board himself into your loco to ensure absolute proper function of sound and chuffs. After all- you want to improve the value of your LGB loco, especially if your LGB engine was made before 1999 (becoming a collector’s item …!).

What to do next: Look at your pulsed smoker unit and jot down the manufacturer name, the item name and the Voltage, then look at your sound decoder and get the manufacturer and version # from that sound decoder. Then look at your LGB engine and jot down the LGB number from your LGB original box in case you still have that. Then call Klaus at 770-886-6670 and provide the data you jotted down. This gives Klaus a very good idea of the work scope involved. Klaus will then give you advice for the next steps.

Twitter - Facebook- Linkedin -- to be or not to be

Yes - Klaus is doing fine. His eyesight is wonderful and his workshop is really humming!!! Yours Truly has also been busy collecting more and more historic data about Old Original LGB locos in preparation of  "Famous Klaus" clinics at the Chicago 2012 NGRC. One clinic, on Saturday, August 18, 2012 will be about the value of your personal LGB loco and how LGB train collections change/evolve in value over time.
In the past we have repeatedly stressed that eBay.com  is not necessarily a good site to tell you properly about the true value of your LGB engine. We have, however observed that asking prices on eBay for LGB Moguls and other fine OLD LGB locos have been increasing. Yours Truly has also noticed that asking prices for high-end priced LGB engines such as the  Orient Express sets, the Asters or similar, are gaining on eBay and getting closer to their values as collectors items. Those are very good signs for the evolving collector's market for Old LGB engines made before 1999.

Spare parts supply for original LGB locos whether mechanical parts, motors, gadgets or decorative parts will stay sparse and some may be hard or impossible to come by. That is sad for very old analog locos where the oldest  soundboards will come to their life's end and just give up. There are no replacements of that kind anymore. However- some German suppliers like Uhlenbrock have taken note and are manufacturing soundboards that can be installed and run in very old LGB locos without being operated in digital mode.
Your Famous Klaus spends quite a fair amount of time searching for and purchasing old and oldest LGB spare parts and looking for adequate, re-engineered parts that he will utilize for his restorations, repairs and installations. If all fails, Klaus then will re-manufacture the part in his workshop - if you want him to.
Why - you may ask- isn't there a better supply of spare parts? Like there used to be? Motors for 59.00 dollars? 10 bulbs for 5 dollars and so on? You might still find some of these items being sold to you for the old prices. Grab them!! The truth is, in a market where (in a defined term) 400 engines are sold compared to 4,000 or more 25 years ago, spare parts are not manufactured in 10,000'er bins but in 500. That volume has the term "not profitable" written all over it with the consequence that they are not made anymore or prices go up steeply. The LGB market has been declining for years now. From a factory with 150 employees and more in their heyday, 3 (!) of the original crew have survived all the changes.

The good news in that? If you have Old LGB trains dating from before 1999 - you have collectors items on your hand. If you are a diehard LGB fan wanting to increase your collection your answer lies in estate sales. There are many now and Klaus knows who is reliable. And of course, Märklin/LGB manufactures again. In small numbers. Most Forums, newsletters and what not will tell you about them. Which brings me back to the headline.

Klaus wants me to tell you: he doesn't twitter. He is not on Facebook. No Linkedin, no MySpace, no forums. Nope, none. He appreciates deeply when you think of him and invite him. But no- thank you. He will not do it. And there is one simple reason - Klaus wants to spent his (workshop) time on YOUR engines. Period. Whether it is repairing, or restoring, or installing or making parts or evaluating - and sometimes recruiting parts for your engines. That's it. And when the workshop day is done, Klaus will sometimes tell Yours Truly little stories from his workshop.......and -after a while -you get to read them here!

Happy Easter (Eggs)

Yours Truly needs to vent. About decoder installation by some out there. Folks, a decoder is not a light bulb. Really. A decoder is  an electronic device. To put it on the lowest level. So, if you install one you need to know how it works and what its general "characteristics" are, so you don't "screw" things up. So here's a little reminder of the general types of decoders out there and their basic installation requirements:

Phoenix sound decoder: it is solely a sound decoder producing an excellent sound. But it requires an additional driving decoder to operate a loco digitally. Here's the catch: the Phoenix sound decoder covers the same CV range as most driving  decoders do. So, while programming e.g. the driving decoder you would be programming the sound decoder at the very same time, too. Unless: (like a knowledgeable installer will do) one provides 2 switches to separate the decoders - for future programming. Otherwise, you guessed it, you program the driving decoder while you actually only want to program the sound decoder. Or vice versa. Fortunately, Phoenix is going to move their CV range to be separated from the driving decoder CV values.

Uhlenbrock Intellisound: like the Phoenix is a pure sound decoder that requires a driving decoder. The CV's for the Intellisound decoder are set separately from any driving decoder following NMRA standard. The Intellisound decoder is plugged into the driving decoder via SUSI bus connection. Uhlenbrock has a great sound library and provides really good sound.(see our price list for further detail)

ESU Loksound decoder:sound and driving decoder on one board and their functions are separated by the set-up of the decoder, namely the sound decoder CV's are separated from the CV's of the driving decoder. The sound library is growing plus you can load your own sound into the decoder. The sound decoder characteristics are VERY good.

Lenz : makes driving decoders, only. Has excellent slow speed operation , by the way.

Your Famous Klaus supplies all of the above decoders and installs them for you - naturally according to the old German LGB standards. He says, Uhlenbrock and Lenz driving decoders are very fine decoders which make for easy installation due to their SUSI bus. Klaus is currently testing new/updated (sound)decoders that were announced at the Toy Fair. We will have the results on our web page in April/May. You already do find our product/price list on our website at www.traincraftbyklaus.com

Massoth XLS + LS sound decoder: sound and driving decoder on one board and their functions are separated by the set-up of the decoder, namely the sound decoder CV's are separated from the CV's of the driving decoder. S decoder is plugged into the driving decoder via SUSI bus connection. The driving decoder(s) lack performance in slow speed operation. The sound library focuses on European sounds. The sound performance is good.

On another subject.
We have been asked in the past to open an opportunity/place where LGB locos would be sold with Klaus' stamp of approval (for condition) and value estimate on it. Friends and fans, we are not there yet and are still thinking about it. A few days ago we received a call from a longtime LGB fan whose life changed within the last year to where he has to sell his LGB collection. As you can imagine he is going through some hard times right now. He didn't ask for any help but Klaus and Yours Truly felt he deserved it anyway. He has a Mikado LGB # 23872 that comes in the original LGB box with Original old LGB sound. It was altered to allow operation on track and on battery drive.  Please see if any of you who operate on track and battery power as well would like to place an order with the gentleman. You should email Klaus and we will, without any further ado, forward your email to that gentleman. Thank you for your kind support!