back in their home country. This year’s show took place from Jan-
uary 29 through February 3. My inter- est of course, was the trains, which were housed in Hall 7A. The 900-pound goril- la of train booths was Märklin. This year it was even bigger now that Märklin and LGB have merged. With numerous display and meeting areas, everything from Z scale to large scale was beautifully displayed. A very nice LGB garden railway ran through a recreated garden with trees, plants a stream and fountain. Lenz, the creator of DCC had a booth showing its latest DCC items including decoders that will not only “keep-alive” on dirty track but can receive com- mands on dirty track. I had a nice con- versation with the owner, Bernd Lenz and he told me of his new direction for Lenz. They are now manufacturing O scale locomotives and cars. Americans, like me, might find this a bit odd for we generally believe that Europeans live in smaller houses than Americans. In the U.S. a 2,400 square foot house is com- mon. In Germany it is rare. So why O scale? Bernd explained that his O scale is targeted and the 40-plus age demo- graphic that may have recently seen the children leave home to continue their education or start their own family. This leaves an empty bedroom that is typi- cally 3×4 meters. That is not large, about 9 by 12 feet.
So what kind of O scale layout can you build in that space? A highly detailed switching layout. Even so, you need curved switches and special couplers that will operate in tight spaces. Bernd showed me an ingenious coupler arrangement that allowed reliable cou- pling and uncoupling on extremely tight curves, a process that is further compli- cated by European cars having buffers. Peco is one of the major manufactur-
ers of track in Europe. Several years ago they entered the U.S. market with a Code 100 track that was very reliable but was a bit bulky in appearance. This track has now been refined and the tie profile is much closer to scale and American appearance. In addition Peco now makes an extensive line of Code 83 track and components specifically for the American market. The Peco line is broad and covers track from Z to large scale. Probably the best news is that Peco now offers a catalog in Eng- lish for the U.S. market. A few years ago Kibri was sold to
The large scale LGB garden layout was complete with trees, flowers, shrubs and a babbling stream (above). O scale is a growing market in Europe and Lenz in now producing new coupling devices for these buffer equipped cars that are able to couple and uncouple reli- ably on tight curves (below). They allow good operation on compact switching layouts.
Viessmann, a manufacturer of electric overhead railway components, street lights, signals and accessories. The in- corporation of the Kibri products into the Viessmann lineup has taken some time but for 2014 Kibri has a new 265 page catalog showing their full line back in production. Known best for the heavy equipment models,
including
large construction cranes, bulldozers and trucks, the Kibri models also in- clude several brick buildings that can fit in nicely on American layouts. Bachmann is a name that is known worldwide. They are part of Kader Hold- ings that also produces Lilliput, Gra- ham-Farrish, Williams and a variety of other model train related products. Most of the products shown at the Toy Fair are directed toward the European mar- ket, but Bachmann also showed off their newest products for the American mar- ket there. A new HO scale PRR GG1 with DCC and sound, high reaching pantographs and razor sharp detail and graphics heads the lineup of new prod- ucts. Also in HO scale are some new 50′- 6″ drop end gondolas with very fine de- tail and a variety of loads and an HO scale Porter 0-6-0 with DCC. Bachmann had produced an excellent Peter Witt trolley in HO, N and O scale. Now they are producing this impressive model in large scale. Laser-cut kits have been around for a few years and the technology keeps improving. Joswood GMBH is produc-
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 63
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