Märklin spring novelties 2024

What a surprise: The V 60 shunting diesel locomotive announced last year has not even been delivered yet when Märklin announces its big sister, the heavy V 90, for the heavy shunting of freight wagons. The first machines were put into service in 1967 and are still proving their worth in everyday use over 50 years later. The model is also said to have it all: A bell-type armature motor under the plastic housing is standard, but a clear view of the driver's cab with a replica of the driver's workplace was unthinkable just a few years ago.

However, the warm white three-light headlights, which alternate with two red tail lights depending on the direction of travel, will be a major technical challenge. This will be realised with LEDs. The challenge facing the designers at this point is illustrated by the fact that it was not even possible to realise the lighting completely and correctly in the first implementations in H0 scale! Installing light sources or fibre optics in the lower lanterns, which sit in the railing above the buffer beam, was too big a challenge even in 1:87 scale. Today, the market leader from Göppingen even dares to do it on a scale of 1:220!

We will be discussing this and all other spring innovations from Göppingen in detail in the February issue.