Repairing and converting a Marklin to DC

[hon30critter]

emdmike

You really cant convert them to 2 rail operation as the wheels are not insulated.

Hi Mike,

You are wrong. Darth did it quite easily. Watch the video!

Dave

[Darth Santa Fe]

emdmike

You really cant convert them to 2 rail operation as the wheels are not insulated.  Marklin is 3 rail AC powered although the newer digital models have DC motors instead of AC and the older ones can be changed over to DC by replacing the field winding with a permag field set up.  I have done this to both of my F7 diesels as I converted them to digital control.   Now on electric models, you can set them up to run on DC power and use the two rails for ground and the overhead wire for the hot + feed to the motor.   For a few years, Marklin made DC 2 rail engines under the HAMO lable.  Once Marklin bought out the Trix company, Trix became the 2 rail DC powered side of the Marklin company with many identical models under the Trix name, such as the Big Boy, Alco PA diesel and USRA light Mikado along with many European engines.    Mike the Aspie

I pulled all the wheels off one side, expanded the holes and added insulators.  It was all explained in the video......

[emdmike]

You really cant convert them to 2 rail operation as the wheels are not insulated.  Marklin is 3 rail AC powered although the newer digital models have DC motors instead of AC and the older ones can be changed over to DC by replacing the field winding with a permag field set up.  I have done this to both of my F7 diesels as I converted them to digital control.   Now on electric models, you can set them up to run on DC power and use the two rails for ground and the overhead wire for the hot + feed to the motor.   For a few years, Marklin made DC 2 rail engines under the HAMO lable.  Once Marklin bought out the Trix company, Trix became the 2 rail DC powered side of the Marklin company with many identical models under the Trix name, such as the Big Boy, Alco PA diesel and USRA light Mikado along with many European engines.    Mike the Aspie

[Darth Santa Fe]

Thanks!

SeeYou190, this actually is a pancake style motor, and Marklin still uses them in a lot of their top quality models (I remember MR did a review of their PA-1 a while back talking about the impressive performance).  They got a bad name for a long time because of Tyco and other train set models, but they're actually very smooth and efficient runners when made right.

[SeeYou190]

Remarkable. I had never known anyone to do this before.

It looks like that locomotive model is equipped with something similar to what I have heard called a "pancake" motor. It sure seems to run well.

Thank you for sharing.

-Kevin

[hon30critter]

Hi Darth,

That was a very interesting conversion!

Thanks,

Dave

["JaBear"]

I’m not sure whether this is the “correct” response, Darth, but your restorations always leave me with a big smile.

Thanks for sharing,

Cheers, the Bear.

[Darth Santa Fe]

I've never gotten a Marklin product before since my layout's DC, but then after seeing one for a pretty good price, I thought, why not give a try at converting it to DC?  A couple evenings of work later, and it turned out great!