On separate pages:

Märklin 3420 Box

This is a sort of BOXCAB locomotive and, even rarer, a PNEUMATIC BOXCAB (an air box?)!

Esslingen Maschinen Fabrik started building it in 1924 and V 32 001 was finally delivered in 1929; they used a 1,000HP MAN 6-cylinder submarine diesel motor to run a 2-cylinder air compressor at about 100psi which, in turn, powered a standard steam-type engine with 27½" x 27½" cylinders by air heated to 350°C (662°F).  The 5' 3" (63") wheels had about 1,200-hp with which to work.

Aha!  Idly skimming through the "New for 1999" brochure yet again, I had noticed on page 10 that most singular silver radiator (the rear one) of the Esslingen one-off loco staring out at me.  This time, the engine appears to be painted blue* and is numbered V 120 001; it is part of the 37203 Diesel Forefathers set.  The write-up accompanying on page 11 states that the design was based on a Prussian State Railroad concept, that that V 32 001 was started in 1927 (instead of 1924), and that, after tests in 1929, it was shipped off to South Germany where it was used on an experimental basis for five years as number V 120 001 (wonder why?), and further that the project was halted because it offered no advantage over conventional steam.

* - Odd; the Insider 1999 info. on the Märklin Website shows all three "Diesel Forefathers" engines painted silver.  ???

Further, looking again at the old 1995 catalog photo of 3420/3720, I noticed that the cylinders are not jacketed; sure enough, close examination of the prototype photo in Nock (and my photos of a 3420) confirms that.  Not using steam, there was no need to insulate the cylinders and thus to jacket the insulation thereon.  However, if you are very nearsighted or use a magnifier, you will see that the #88065 cylinders ARE jacketed (from the #8806 model, most likely); oh, well, one can't have everything.

You know, come to think of it, that's a pretty stupid drive system - reciprocating internal combustion to rotary motion to reciprocating compressor to compressed gas to reciprocating pneumatic to rotary motion!  But what a great loco to model!

Actually, I found out on 02 Nov 98 that all those panels along the upper left side which I had shown solid on my model "photo" are in fact windows.  On the Märklin 3420 HO model, there is a shaded line drawing {see below} behind them purporting to show the huge diesel engine that drove the air compressor.  The right side is almost blank (shades of the Shays), curving inward at the top.  The front (cylinder end) radiator is the water cooler and the narrower radiator at the back is the piston circulating oil cooler.

(10 Mar 01 photo by and © Copyright 2001 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail image on left - click on picture for much larger image.]

{Compare this photo with my photofake, above, and reproduced alongside at right,
and a free full vial of Z-scale microbes to whoever first notices the classic model
RR photographic gaffe of which I am guilty on the #88065 and flatly refuse to rectify.}

[So far, no one's taken me up on this!]

Z Scale Page 5 but had moved them again, here, when they disappeared; here are the left side, left front, left rear, right side, reshot, and the right rear (new):

(03 Jan 04 photos by and © Copyright 2004 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
{Missing - reshot (1 to be reshot)}

Note the incorrectly jacketed cylinders as explained above.  Note also the "Shay-like" asymmetry; the left side has those windows while the right is blank.

Now, I hate letting a detail get away and, through the great courtesy of Märklin (New Berlin and Göppingen), I am able to present here for the benefit of all owners of the #88065, the image of the diesel motor (left) and generator (right) that appears inside the HO V 32/120 models.  It is marked for both 1" (25.4mm) in HO and 0.3959" (10.056mm) in Z so that you can print it out in the correct size to fit inside your #88065.  Be sure to print it on fine-grain paper; you may wish to remove the window strip, thin it, and repolish it (or at least just polish it dead flat) so the image shows through better.  Then mount it on the left side of the model motor, being sure ot does not interfere with the body shell mounting lugs or the screw.

(Image courtesy of Märklin - reproduced and dimensioned by S. Berliner, III - 02 Jun 01)
{Missing - must find or reshoot}

The lower fold line, just below the top of the image, is how the card fits in the HO model and the diamond is a not a projection but a hole to clear the HO body mounting screw.  I hope to give more details of this modification after I figure out just how I am going to do the job.

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For Z-scale construction articles (but NOT this one), see my Z Scale Articles Page.

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YET MORE Z

(added to that on the preceding page)

Well, now!  Harald Freudenreich keeps on amazing me!  Here's a little cog railway boxcab electric loco he whipped up for the recent Göppingen (home of Märklin) show; it's on a modified ALCo-GE-IR chassis, drives on the outer axles, and may yet have (possibly-) working cog wheels on them.  It's the Swiss RHB (Rorschach Heiden Bergbahn*) Class DZeh2/4 and here is the model on display at the show:

(Image Apr-May 01 by H. Freudenreich - all rights reserved)
{Missing - must replace}

* - NOT the Rhätische Bahn (RhB),  The RHB is a 7 km (4.4 mi.) long standard gauge rack railway connecting Rorschach harbour (on the Bodensee ) with the Heiden health resort about 400 m (1,312') higher up, while the RhB is a 1000 mm (39") narrow gauge network in the center of Switzerland.

[Rorschach - doesn't that have a blot on its reputation?
Also - UPPER and lower case in reporting marks?]

And that just filled the preceeding page; so I had to put up this new one and move it!  I no sooner did that than the profusion of FR material prompted me to create a separate Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik page; on doing so, I soon discovered I had too much for one page and had to create a Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik continuation page 1!

And there's a real treat in store next!  In fact (27 Nov 01), there are several treats a'comin'!

This isn't the big treat, yet, but it IS pretty neat!  Harald has just (28 Oct 01) released a new hopper body style, the 31' Fishbelly type:

(Image 28 Oct 01 by H. Freudenreich - all rights reserved)

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Talk about amazing!  It seems to be real; someone sent me these pictures of the Heckl Kleinserien KDL (klein Diesel Lok - small diesel loco) in Z, no less!  It is offered for 2002 in generic red and green and in DB red and black.  These were the DB's smallest locos and ran from their introduction in 1953 into the mid-80s.

(unprovenanced photos of Heckl KDL in Z)

The model has all sorts of fine detail added - couplers, grab irons, railings, etc.  If that thing had a motor in it, let alone a flywheel, then "this I gotta see!", but, alas, it is only an accessory item (for looks, not for operation), however elegant.

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BEDT #14 in Z

(moved from Z page 5 on 31 May 01 and continued)

One of my oldest Z projects, still unstarted, is the old Adam Scull/ISM ALCo tank switcher body for the Märklin #8805 0-6-0T; I am going to make it into a reasonably accurate (if somewhat oversized) model of BEDT (Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal) 1920 Porter 0-6-0T #14.  "All" it requires (which is partly why I never even started the job), is that the bell be removed and the tank be extended almost all the way to the stack and the bell reinstalled on the tank top above where it had been.  Th-th-that's all, folks!  Well, here's that old casting, which I bought from Adam back ca. 1982 or so, with a "slightly" modified #8800* for comparison:

(Photos by and © 2001 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Well, I'd no sooner dug the casting out to send these pix to a friend than I was sent this picture of a brand new Westmodel release, announced at the recent (Feb 01) Nürnberg Toy Fair:

This is so finely detailed that I wondered if it isn't soldered, etched, sheet brass, rather than a lead die casting.  Aspen's and Westmodel's ads confirm that it IS brass, after all.

However, I shall stick to my old casting.  To make it into a vague semblance of the BEDT #14, as I noted, the bell (such as it is) has to be removed, the saddle tank extended forward almost to the stack, and the bell (or a better version - from Freudenreich?) replaced on top of the tank.  Here is the real #14 (in storage at the Arkville facility of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society):   (03 Aug 2004)

(photo courtesy of the Ulster & Delaware RRHS - all rights reserved)

I picked up an old #8800* chassis from the Stiskas (hoping for a 5-pole upgrade one of these days) and put the casting on it for a better idea of how it looks:

(Photos 31 May 01 by and © 2001 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

I'll also have to cut off the huge, visored headlamp and replace it with a smaller one with angled number boards.  The stack's O.K.; that's not a cap on #14, only a tin can or some such to keep rain out of the smokebox.

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8800 vs. 8805

* - Well, I THOUGHT it was an 8800.  I have "always" known that the way to tell an old 8800 from a "newer" 8805 (and, one presumes, an 88051 without counting armature poles) is to check the gear plate on the bottom; those with only the three (3) driving axle gear wheels showing is an old 8800 and those with five (5) gears showing (the three driven axle gearwheels and two intermediate gear wheels) is an 8805.  Having said that, I find that I have it backwards!  Ken Brzenk at Märklin USA took the trouble to explain it to me back in May 1994 and I'd completely forgotten what he'd written (this is the straight poop):

Selah!  You have heard it from the source!

O. K.; simple enough.  I happened to turn over the "8805" dummy on which I'd mounted the old Scull/ISM ALCo casting for some reason and what to my wondering eyes did appear but only three gears!  I'd always thought all my oldies were 8805, with five (5) gears showing.  QUITE SO!  The dummy's an 8800 and all the others, even the one I bought brand-new in Dec 1980, are 8805's:

(12 Nov 01 photo by and © 2001 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

(Detail from 12 Nov 01 photo by and © 2001 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

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I received a Father Nature #5005 Pluto Water 36' reefer (on 11 Feb 03, from Full Throttle); it's a little jewel!  Using my Z Scale Card/Scale Rule I quickly determined that the car is indeed a 34'er, NOT a 40'er (and definitely NOT a 36'er as I had previously - and erroneously - stated):

(11 Feb 03 photo by and © 2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Well, I got a round tuit, but not very well (I'll reshoot the end view):   (04 Jan 04)

(03 Jan 04 photos by and © 2004 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Best regardZ,  S.B.,III