A Report from the Toy Fair in Germany

The  International Toy Fair Nuremberg, Germany, ended Tuesday Feb 5. The LGB world was eagerly awaiting any news from Märklin/LGB about the new owner and any - hopefully - good news for new products and the abysmal spare parts market. Well, the word is out, or not, or never. Yours Truly is not really kidding. The news turned into no news. Simba-Dickie, the new owner wasn't so sure after all if they still wanted to go on with the take-over. A new date for further information about that subject is set for March. We will keep you posted.

Meanwhile back on the ranch at Märklin headquarters the decision stood NOT to provide any further spare parts for the LGB program.

No further LGB products are scheduled for the American market.

The LGB New Items 2013 catalog is available here: ( click on www.lgb.de/de/produkte.html )
on that page click on the left photo  for narrow gauge locos, cars, and sets and on the middle photo for standard gauge items. You can use your Google translator or email Yours Truly with questions. There are no  US  locomotives available from LGB (exception see below). The catalog notes them as "manufacturing ceased". Out of 13 new narrow gauge locos none is available at this point. The only available US loco(s) is/(are) an F 7 A and B unit 330 and an F 7 A unit 333. It seems that many locos presented in 2011-2012 as new items were not available for the longest time and are now marked as "manufacturing ceased". Seems they never ever manufactured them in the first place? Strange policy...Yours truly wonders what will happen with the "New Items 2013" ?

The Toy Fair itself did not provide any head turning news to begin with. There was not a real focus on electronic toys nor on old-time, traditional toys either. The market seemed to be in a holding pattern/waiting-for-Godot-mode. No breakthroughs in decoder technology for model trains, nor in control systems nor in fine collector's models. Nada.

A lot of Asian "visitors" were noticed. Did they come to check out new technology (that wasn't there)  or did they want to buy for their own ever growing toy demand? No word on that either.

So, where do we LGB fans go from here? Straight to eBay?  Yours Truly has an observing eye on eBay UK (United Kingdom), Germany and USA and sometimes Italy. Prices for LGB locos in good to mint condition are going up while volume offered is going down. Spare parts offers are going down, in volume while prices go up.

Are there any good news to be had?? YES ! Your Famous Klaus aka TrainCraft is now offering:

 Estate Management. 

What is that - you're asking? We help everybody and anybody who wants to sell or buy LGB trains made before 2006 with our own database. We advise you on your loco (you want) to sell regarding value and possible restoring/repairs to increase the value of your item, we inform you about demand,  we appraise the value for resale and we list you- the collector- for engines you want to add to your collection. Any loco or car that passes through Traincraft will receive a certificate stating clearly the year it was made (complete LGB # from Original LGB box required, or else Klaus will estimate), the precise technical current state and condition, the collector's value and the currently viable market price. Klaus charges a very reasonable fee for his service which will depend on the number of stock he manages for you. For further information please email Klaus at klaus@traincraftbyklaus.com or call at 770-886-6670. Our web page will have complete information about this new service by next week.

 French Mikado (!) -- SOLD !!

Super"food" for super engines or how to run 24/7 for a very long time

We're talking about dynamic stress, applied load, impact, forces. There are quite a few LGB operators out there who run their locos literally 24/7 or 18/7 or 12/5 . Yours truly is talking about true workhorse locomotives in toy shops, botanical gardens, children's hospitals, real estate offices, restaurants, museums just to name a few..............The engines are operated for at least 8-10 consecutive hours every day. Imagine the wear and tear on those locos!

Where the problem starts:The plastic housing of the locomotive makes/is the bearings for the axles. The plastic contains glass particles to enforce the strength and stiffness of the housing. During the operation the axles work themselves into the plastic resulting in a widening of the plastic bearing. In the end the locomotive axles start wobbling in the way too large (axle) opening of the housing. The plastic gear wheel on the axle of the locomotive will not be defined in its position anymore resulting in excessive wear on the plastic gear wheel.
"Quick fixes":Once problems arise with the plastic gear wheel one might tend to exchange the plastic gear wheel. However, this would be a short lived fix as the gear wheel will wear out pretty fast, again. The regular problem fix would be an exchange of the motor block housing. In case of a daily, continuous operation   the engine will end up with a worn out motor block housing soon, again.

The professional Solution: This calls for the  installation of a different kind of bearing, e.g. ball bearings, roller bearings or sintered bronze bearings, to enforce the motor block housing to a degree withstanding the continuous impacts. However this kind of installation requires a massive re-work of the axle/ motor block design including these activities: remove the loco wheels from the axle, put the new bearings in position on the axle and re-install the loco wheels with the correct quartering in case of a steam loco. The  position of the former bearing in the motor block needs to be widened to accommodate the new bearing. This work step requires exact industrial precision since the position of the bearing is crucial for the smooth operation of the gear work in the motor block .(Please do not try this at home- not even if your wife is not home ) .

Precision manufactured bronze bearing

                       Klaus' Professional Solution:                Your Famous Klaus took a different approach by developing and manufacturing a specific sintered bronze bearing. This bronze bearing is C-shaped and provides an easy change of the axle while taking care of the 'bearing-job' as well as enabling the axle to position itself precisely. This may be applied to all LGB engines.  Even for those engines where the motor block is very worn out and would need an exchange motor block which is not available any more. Even in this situation the bronze bearing treatment can be applied and will save many a historic and valuable LGB locos.

The finished product

The Result: Super"food" for super operating locos! Take note:your general average LGB loco, made in Germany, is constructed to run for 800 to 1200 hours in her lifetime no matter if she runs literally 24/7 or 2 hours on Christmas morning. That translates into just 125 days at 8 hrs of continuous operation per day. Klaus gives you 5800 hours of continuous operation!! Which equals 5 - 8 times the life span of your engine.
Price: US$ 95.00 for the bronze bearing treatment plus installation workshop hours according to locomotive type. For further information call Klaus at 770-886-6670 or email at klaus@traincraftbyklaus.com

A Note About Wear and Tear: to fight wear and tear on mechanical components regularly calls for grease. Grease is needed within the motor block starting from the worm gear of the motor through an intermediate gear if present down to the plastic driving gear wheel on the axle. Few people are aware of the fact that metal loco wheels and power shoes need to be greased as well. Putting some lubrication on the tracks will double the life expectancy of loco wheels and power shoes instantly. Once the nickel plating on the wheels is gone the rest of the brass wheel will disappear even faster. So do yourself a big favor and add a little grease  e.g. "W D 40", on to the track. Klaus recommends to spray about one (1) foot of the track about every 150 feet once a week. The wheels of the train will carry the lubricant around the layout.

What the Forney did...

The Complaint: Klaus  had a dear longtime customer complain about his LGB Forney (27251). In DCC (digital) operation this Forney, the customer said, changed speed without reason. All in a sudden it went faster. All in a sudden it went slower. The Forney had a sound decoder installed and the speed change of the loco was easy to detect with the chuffs going faster or slower.

First Suspicion:Klaus' customer suspected the decoder might have a malfunction. Especially since the decoder was an older model.  -- The Forney was shipped to Klaus' workshop

Workbench Test: Klaus put the Forney on the test bench in analog mode (DC). Klaus wanted to clearly measure the Amperage that the loco was drawing. First there was nothing, then after 10 minutes of operation the Amperage began to shift and jump. With the changing Amperage the RPMs of the motor changed as well. Then Klaus switched to DCC (digital) operation and found the same shift and jumps in RPM speed.

Diagnosis: Pursuing fault finding by elimination, Klaus had to find out: was it a decoder fault or was it a mechanical fault? For that he separated the decoder from the gearbox. He then connected the gearbox to an analog power source (like a transformer with an analog outlet). The same jumps and shifts occurred. So- without the decoder being connected but the same error occurring it was clear- Klaus had a mechanical problem at hand.
Diagnosis II: Next Klaus dissembled the motor block and took out the motor. He connected the motor to an analog power source. The motor was running normal - at first. Then (here , your Famous Klaus" gut feeling comes into play ) when the motor was running at 10 Volt Klaus changed polarity ( rotating direction ). At that, the Amperage jumped to 1.2 Amps and immediately afterwards fell to the normal value of 0.2 Amps. Klaus could repeat this effect.  - The culprit was the motor.

Why did it happen? Possibly carbon brushes made of weak material had polluted the collector inside the motor. (The collector distributes the power evenly to the coils). Since the new Buehler motors feature a full shell, the carbon brushes inside could not be exchanged.

The Solution: Klaus installed a new motor, re-assembled the engine with sound decoder and the Forney is operating just fine!

Your Next Step: Call Klaus and ship your LGB engine to him to have all your LGB locos running like a charm!

LGB fun in the New Year

Happy New Year to all LGB friends out there. Yours Truly got the flu over the Holidays and your Famous Klaus was busy getting me back on track. Fortunately it hit me after Klaus had finalized the work on your engines in his workshop. So, here we go again refreshed with all the news fit to print....

Klaus' video clip: Klaus has posted a video clip on You Tube so you can get a glimpse of how MUCH he loves the new ESU sound decoders he is utilizing now for LGB locos. Yours Truly was fearing that his workshop walls would suffer serious damage after all the swearing, hissing and fussing about the "other" German decoder(s) from the past that had more and more faults and caused more and more troubles installing them properly according to Klaus' quality expectations. Your Famous Klaus truly believes in keeping the Old German Quality Standard for LGB alive while at the same time providing the very best functioning accessory available to keep your LGB trains running. But as they say- take a look for yourself. A pic is worth a thousand words.
The link is:

http://youtu.be/UxQg1gTbk8U

Or go to You Tube and in the search box put in: F 7 slow op  - then hit enter. Then click on the video. It is a 2 minute video clip and may take a few minutes to load into your computer/ device. For any additional questions email Klaus at klaus@traincraftbyklaus.com or simply call him.

Märklin/LGB sold: Märklin/LGB has been sold again - you have probably heard that already. The new owner is the Simba-Dickie Group in Germany. They manufacture children toys for kids under or around 5 years old. We will wait and see how this will impact the LGB situation for the USA. It is unclear when the new owner will take over Märklin/LGB in 2013. It will probably influence the train stock available this year for the US market. Then again, most of what you want is already only available on eBay or at estate sales. The parts and spare parts situation will also remain scarce - to say the least.

EBay: Upfront one note -  PIKO is NOT (!!!!) LGB ! No matter how often you may read PIKO - LGB, it is PIKO - not made by LGB. And is has NOT the value of an LGB car or loco. Do NOT mix up the Original LGB Shell tank car, valued currently at about US$ 300.00 with the PIKO Shell tank car currently offered for approx US$ 80.00-90.00 Same goes for the Hasseröder beer car. Though it is valued  slightly higher on the European market than on the US market, it is only valuable if and when made by LGB.

EBay LGB offers are -continuously-  priced according to collector's value ( as of Jan 02, 2013). Yours Truly found a slight overpricing in specialty car offers and an under-pricing for Uintahs and F7 A and B units. Surprisingly low is the number of offers for locos (roughly 360) and the variety offered. I have not seen any Mallets, U-series, Ruegen or Harz locos for quite a while. There is one MOB on offer right now and even for a very good price, almost half of its true value. Buyer's tip: when considering an eBay LGB loco purchase try to see if a picture of the power shoes and the wheels is available and take a close look. If they are looking worn or used, that will tell you that the loco had quite some operating use.

ebay and elsewhere

Yours Truly is fascinated. This summer you could hear whispers through the grapevine how much the new deliveries from LGB Europe were guaranteed to arrive " very shortly". There was so much anticipation that the LGB (market) would continue to offer new locos and cars - after all, the new Märklin/LGB catalog was promising quite a lot - that offers on eBay simply halted for a while. Prices stagnated and there was not much movement in selling locos. Then, by end of summer, activity increased. More offers, more sales, and prices were showing interesting shifts. Some were priced according to their market value, some where completely overpriced and some where pure bargains.

Now we are 4 weeks away from Christmas and eBay shows a complete different face. Boy - have prices gone up!!! Somebody listens to the pros. A lot of really vintage LGB locos are offered and the prices are representing their collector's value. Moguls are still a little bit underpriced. But at the same time, the newer Moguls will never catch up as much in price as those made between 1983 and 1990. Plus, a theoretical collector's value does not necessarily coincide with current market demand. Vintage (passenger) cars have suddenly found their true collector's value as have the older F7 units and manufactured-in-small-volume locos ( under 600 ). Estate sales seem to increase which is mirroring the sad truth that longtime LGB fans/collectors have passed away. After all, when you started this hobby in your mid 50's in the 1980's and carried it on, by now more than 30 years have passed---you do the math... And no, there will be no more young people and children to join into the hobby (in big numbers) -- too expensive, too outdated, too sophisticated, too much discipline required in operating these fine trains. Plus the fact that it is becoming harder and harder to continue the hobby when no new merchandise is offered and spare parts can only be found at your "Famous Klaus" or by going on a scavenger hunt.

The signs are clear: LGB trains ARE collectors items. Let me stress that one more time: LGB trains !!! are collector's items when manufactured before 2006. And NO (!) , my dear friends out there in the G-Scale world, a Hartland loco, no matter how nicely it was made - is NOT an LGB loco. Don't even try that comparison on eBay as a seller.......

Don't quote me literally on " no new merchandise".  LGB did ship some new locos and cars. Focus on "some":  of 67 LGB locos offered by Walthers (the exclusive LGB distributor in the USA) only 21 are in stock. And what did Yours Truly mean by "too outdated"? Children and young people theses days are growing up in a digitalized world with instant everything by I-Phone,I-Pad, PC, Laptop, e-book, note book, Xbox, you name it. To digitalize a hobby whose Original Archetypes became successful due to the invention of the steam machine is an anachronism already. Figures that there are live steam operators in this hobby. But: once you started - go all the way. And it is with still a year to spare until we will see fully "I-Phone/Pad" operated digital systems for your train layouts. It is the future and it will be cheaper than ever before to control your (LGB) locos. Yours truly does not expect Märklin to be the trailblazer for this new digital operating system... there will be others who are already warming up in the starting blocks. Needless to say that only completely modernized decoders will fit those "new" systems. In anticipation of one of the next blogs' contents: Your Famous Klaus has already switched to this new generation of decoders (ESU+ Lenz) and is installing them into LGB locos as we speak. Fine technology already prepared for the (near) future - something  that has been missed (out) by some other German decoder makers.

Back to the growing collector's market for LGB: older and old locos are coming onto the market with price requests that show the growing scarcity of the brand as well as the growing education of the sellers. That said, as of this week the buyers' side has not bowed to these new price levels. In the price range from US$ 4,000.00 to 2,000.00 (representing roughly 25 locos or loco sets) no visible bids were made. And it didn't get much livelier in the category from US$ 2,000.00 to 1,000.00 either.

To all of you dear followers and readers out there: in case you want to know excactly what your LGB train collection is worth, item by item - call Klaus. He does appraisals and valuations (and Yours Truly is helping him a bit) and issues certificates. And when you start to set up your LGB layout for this Holiday Season treat your LGB locos and cars especially nice this year. They might finance your future Christmas(es) to come.... Happy Thanksgiving y'all

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.