From the King and Queen of Marklin Z Scale: Glenn and Sandy Stiska, er, if you got dirty wheels, your gaugemaster is not working. Substitute "gaugemaster" for relco in the discussion below: "Comments on the Relco Electronic Track Cleaner --Glenn and Sandy Stiska We would like to offer our personal experiences with the Relco track cleaner and the [Rogue] GP38-2 and the FR Boxcab engines. We purchased a GP38-2 this past June and Harald's Lehigh Valley Boxcab Train Set in July. Both have been running on our layout for over 3 months now with 150 hours on each locomotive. They are both well and happy and have no ill effects from our Relco units. We have had track cleaners on our layouts since 1991 and several of our Marklin engines have an excess of 500 hours on them. Some of our new 5 pole locomotives have more than 100 hours on them. All run fine with no problems. Regular cleaning gives us a chance to take a good look at our engines and they are in tip top shape. When Glenn read about the Relco in an article in a 1991 issue of ZTrack Magazine, he decided that we should give one a try. We were amazed at how much it improved our running. I would clean tracks for hours and now it takes us minutes because the Relcos keep the track way, way cleaner. An unexpected plus is that the wheels on the engines and cars don't get the caked on dirt that we used to get before we installed the Relcos. We have to qualify that though. We clean our tracks with alcohol and a chamois before we run each night. From what we have found out over the years, the reason the Relco doesn't harm anything is that the amperage produced by it is very, very low." Now, their article on cleaning everything marklin: http://z-world.com/operations/maintenance/stiskas.html MU's (multiple lashups) or how many locomotives can fit in a row on your track? With your Marklins, as many as you want. Marklin wheels slip, (aka they slow down going up the hill), they slip with one locomotive, and with many attached together, some will be slipping while others are tractioning, so run as many as you want together, no damage. Well, maybe an overloaded trafo, but not the Marklin 67271 model. Come to the Force Luke: Last Christmas AZL ran a sale on some of the oldest locomotives they made, ca 2007. for around $169 for two, yes two locomotives, the buyer received a 16 year-old can-motored american style diesel with two rubber traction tires on the wheels. One dealer who sells them does a demo video for each buyer if they wish. This is what he wrote about these diesels (and he has seen em all since the start) "I've found the 620x 4-digit series to be some of the smoothest running locomotives AZL has ever put out and we've all seen David Wolf's "AZL Coal Drag" video on YouTube where one is pulling several dozen hoppers." The dealer demos each purchase to the purchaser with a video of the locomotive running. He put those 16 year old locs on the tracks and they started right up, no reoiling required, no hardened like concrete congealed oil in their gears. With two traction tires, one AZL loc can pull a real coal drag. AZL guys only do MU's to emulate 1:1 prototypical operation, not cause they have to. David Wolf's coal drag video: Continue to enjoy and play with Marklin. And when you are ready for the toys for big boys, AZL will be ready for you.
I did some testing on the Gaugemaster HF 1 track cleaner, I used my small test track as it is not complicated at all. Here is a photo of how it is wired, the black wires on the left are the power supply(16vAC), the yellow wires in the middle are the controller wires(normally the brown and red wires connect there), and the red/brown wires go to the track. Here is a photo of the unit with the light on, as you can see in the photo, the only way to get the light to come on is too remove one of the wires going to the track, I removed the brown wire, the light does not come on when everything is wired and there is no locomotive on the track with power or no power using the controller, the only way to get the light to come on is to remove one of the wires too the track. I think this is wired properly when all wires are connected, but I have never seen the light come on unless I remove a wire from the track terminal.
Last night I lost a headlight on my American diesel locomotive( Marklin..mini-club..8861.."Z" Scale..F7 Locomotive..Southern Pacific..# 6329), I put the other light from my green locomotive(2005 version like in the photo below) and it worked but it was not near as bright, I searched "headlight for a Marklin 8861 diesel locomotive" on ebay and the internet with no results, anyone have a link to where I can buy a few of them?, or tell me how to search for them and other parts properly?
I did not get to this in time, it is "out of stock" now, I should have jumped right on it, it's my fault.
I think the light goes on when the gaugemaster is actively cleaning "burning" debris, and is off when there is a good electrical conductivity.
The numbers game. The average Marklin locomotive don't take a dump without a maintenance manual and exploded numbered parts diagram to plot the movement (with apologies to the Carrier Captain in Red October.) First find the new version of the locomotive you own on Marklin.com and download the manuals. heres a twofer, the F7 and the mikado! The maintenance manuals: https://static.maerklin.de/damcontent/a8/61/a8611fefe4daa4d875cc7f2ac314e3b91434541952.pdf The exploded parts diagrams: https://static.maerklin.de/damcontent/39/e2/39e247c8e7fb1845490c96774b7a8b3f1434542092.pdf you might also want the "new, improved" parts numbering diagram (all parts start with the letter "E" now) effective since Marklin got bought out in 2010 https://www.maerklin.de/service/pro...erator.php?brand=1&artikelnummer=88198&lang=1 spare parts. Armed with the part number, eg E765680 for the coupler springs, a google hit includes: Walthers.com (is the distributor for most every train co db in the USA, including Marklin and you can order direct from them) retailers: AJCkids Euro Model Trains Z Scale Hobo Also other retailers worldwide. of course there is Ebay; but when you are on Ebay, you are swimming in the shark tank. So do a retailer parts check for real pricing before venturing on ebay. Half dead fireflies: The 8953 incandescent lightbulb as std equipment in most all marklin locs, including the F7, shining like a dying firefly, was cutting edge in 1950 lionels. But if you were on Z Scale Hobo, you might not have noticed how to bring your marklin F7 locs into the 21st century, Marklins own F7 replacement circuit board, complete with LED light! https://zscalehobo.com/marklin/199316.html at $23 you get an all new Marklin F7 circuit board with fresh non-oxidized circuits AND an LED light for about the same price that aftermarket suppliers charge for a replacement LED bulb to fit in the old circuit board slot for the 8953 light. Did somebody say they liked Bright? https://zscalehobo.com/photos/marklin/199316_in_F7.jpg
For your AC inputs is the power source are the wire split and both wire ends in the two slots for inputs? I can’t tell but it looks like you have both wires into one input with the photo. My eyes could be wrong so right there is the power wire split like this going into both holes of the gaugemasters ac inputs? that’s the only thing I can’t see clearly.
They are separated and in there own slots/holes, I even put high power glasses on to make sure no wires were out of the twisted ones and possibly touching each other.
Thankyou for this info in this post. All this interests me, my light plugs in horizontally(flat). The circuit board really interests me, my 2005 locomotive needs some upgrades. I will also check out the coupler springs tomorrow, I am outside the library in the cold using their WIFI as they are closed and I am cold. I will read everything again tomorrow when I am inside.
The AC power from the Marklin controller is an under powered for the Gaugemaster. For best results use the separate wall adapter. We have these available at Ztrack Center. I found the light may be on and may flicker. But don’t count on it. What you may see over time is one rail be brighter than the other. You may also get a slight shock touching the track if there isn’t a locomotive on it.
Walthers was "out of stock" on the coupler springs(first link a member here sent me). I have tried for an hour to find the springs on z.scale.hobo index page and have given up, I did find the headlights and bought 2 of them a couple days ago(another link someone sent me), I thought I had bought some "Marklin Z scale coupler springs" from someone but cannot find the confirmation of the purchase in my email acct. I am not a computer wizard, I do the best I can, if you have a link that sends me to the springs themselves, I would be very happy.
I searched this, "E765680 for the coupler springs" and got no result for z.scale.hobo in the first 3 pages, not sure what is going on.
Coupler springs: Go to Zscalehobo.com. Click on the "Marklin" box on the left, where the manufacturers are listed. Click on the box marked "Spares". Scroll down the page. The springs are the 7th item from the bottom of the list. You can get a couplers with springs package around the middle of the list if you need couplers too. The only thing I can click on to get a link would be the "Add to cart" button.
I personally do not think this Gaugemaster track cleaner is working properly, I had it on circuit 1 for a little while, then removed it and have not seen a difference, the light does not come on when the locomotive is removed, most responses make me think the light should come on when the locomotive is removed. Another thing, I dropped it at one point(not from high height), maybe I broke it, my American diesel locomotive fell a couple inches onto it side(two train collision) and it broke the headlight bulb in it, maybe I am just too rough on things, maybe a wire came loose on the inside of the gaugemaster track cleaner, maybe it is something I can fix if I pull it apart. I am running all 3 trains every night, I can run them all very slow right now since I learned how to clean the locomotives drive gears, this made a night and day difference, I would post a photo of them in action but I do not have an account for videos nor do I have the camera needed, stuff like that is over my head and I get frustrated. My circuit 3 has one spot(the first original 19 degree crossing) that gives me issues, I can get thru it very slow or medium high speeds, it derails the 3rd car half the time at medium speeds, I added weight to that 3rd car(locomotive and 2 cars) and it appeared to fix this issue, but it is back, I will try more weight in the front of that 3rd car but there is a point where it is too much weight(had this issue) and the locomotive cannot drag it up the hill to that crossing(the straight level part of the crossing is circuit 2 and the locomotive crosses it at just about any speed now), the first car has a weight in it also, that car has not derailed since adding that weight, this train is very long with long passenger cars(locomotive and 4 long cars), by the time the locomotive is to the turn-in(two tracks into one) there is still at least one car if not two still being pulled up hill and thru the curve, in the photo below the locomotive is just entering the turn-in, the last two cars are still being pulled up hill in a turn, that middle car is the one that is derailing now.
It's possible you received a bad from stock one. The only way to tell for sure is with an oscilliscope.
