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2
‘Trains at School’ Project
Instructions on how to operate Märklin trains
A little bit of history
Railways were first invented to transport heavy loads more
efficiently. Initially, they were simple carts on rails, moved by
muscle power, used to shift coal and slate out of the mines. The real
revolution though did not come until the invention of the steam
locomotive in the early 19
th
Century. Within a few decades, the railway
was so successful, that it had conquered the world.
Märklin is a German manufacturer, who first started making toys in
1859. They were pioneers in miniature trains, and even today, Märklin
is still at the forefront of developments in the industry.
During the 1930’s, Märklin developed a 00-gauge (later to become H0)
table railway, roughly half the size of traditional 0-gauge trains.
Its heyday came after WW2, when the world economy boomed, and people
had more money to spend spare time to fill in.
The three-rail alternating current system chosen proved to be very
reliable and simple in operation. To this day, Märklin still uses the
same principle, albeit far more advanced than in the past.
Scales and gauges
The distance between the inside faces of the rail heads is called the
gauge
. The
standard gauge
in real life railways measures 1435mm.
Gauges wider than this are called
broad gauge
, ones smaller
narrow
gauge
.
The
scale
is the ratio between the full size (scale 1:1) and the
model. H0 scale railways are made to a scale of 1:87. A H0 scale model
of a standard gauge railway runs on a gauge of 16.5mm (1435mm/87).
There have been many model railway scales and gauges in the past, but
only a few are commonly used today.
Scale
Gauge mm
Designation
1:22.5
64.0
II
45.0
IIm
32.0
IIe
1:32
45.0
1
32.0
Im
1:43.5 or 1:45
32.0
0
22.5
0m
1:76
16.5
00
1:87
16.5
H0 (half-0)
1:120
12.0
TT
1:160
9.0
N
1:220
6.5
Z
