Marklin 38327 - Steam Locomotive, Road Number 18 323

Prototype: German Federal Railroad (DB) express steam locomotive road number 18 323 with a type 2’2 T29,6 coal tender. Former Baden class IV h. Test locomotive at the Federal Railway Research Office in Minden. Black/red basic paint scheme. With Witte smoke deflectors and inductive magnet on the locomotive engineer’s side. Smokestack with a “Caledonian” rim. The locomotive looks as it did around 1966.

Highlights

• Locomotive with authentic weathering effects.
• Especially intricate metal construction.
• Numerous separately applied details.
• The buffer heights on the loco and tender conform to NEM specifications.
• Factory-installed smoke unit with speed-dependent, dynamic smoke exhaust.
• The cab lighting, running gear lighting, and firebox flickering can be controlled digitally.
• mfx decoder with extensive operating and sound functions.
• Folding walkover plate between cab and front side of the tender.

Product description

Model: The model has an mfx digital decoder and extensive sound functions. It also has a controlled high-performance motor with a flywheel, mounted in the boiler. Three axles on the model are powered. Traction tires are fitted. The locomotive and tender are constructed mostly of metal. The factory-installed smoke unit with speed-dependent, dynamic smoke exhaust can be controlled digitally. The triple headlights change ends with the direction of travel, will operate conventionally, and can be controlled digitally. The cab lighting, running gear lighting, and firebox flickering can also be controlled separately in digital operation. Maintenance-free, warm-white, and red LEDs are used for the lighting. There is an adjustable close coupler with a guide mechanism between the loco and tender. The tender has a close coupling with a guide mechanism and an NEM pocket. The buffer heights on the loco and tender conform to NEM specifications. The minimum radius for operation is 360 mm / 14-3/16". Closer-fitting access steps below the cab are provided for installation if the loco is operated on large curve radii or for display purposes. Protective piston sleeves, heating hoses, and brake hoses are also included. The locomotive is authentically weathered. Length over the buffers 27.2 cm / 10-3/4".

Charlie's Tips

Era-appropriate passenger cars to go with the steam locomotive, road number 18 323, are available in the Märklin H0 range as items 42500 to 42540.

Publications

Prototype information

They were elegant, well-designed, powerful, and genuine locomotive legends. The Bavarian class S 3/6 provincial railroad express locomotives and the Württemberg class C both wrote railroad history along with the most modern of the four-cylinder Pacifics, the Baden IVh, 20 of which were built by 1920 by J. A. Maffei in Munich. The class 18.3 units, as these locos with their large wheels and output of around 2,000 horsepower were designated on the German State Railroad, reliably hauled famous trains, such as the “Rheingold” or the “Riviera-Naples-Express” for many years on routes that included the high-speed line between Mannheim and Basle. After 1945, however, their fate as a small class appeared sealed, and the scrap yard beckoned. This is when Theodor Düring, manager of the German Federal Railroad Central Bureau and a big fan of these powerful provincial railroad beauties, intervened and had road numbers 18 323, 18 316, and 18 319 overhauled and updated to perform challenging duties on experimental runs. They turned in excellent results and were used in tests of new types of locomotives all over West Germany. Düring’s collection of rarities also included a Bavarian class S 3/6, a locomotive that attracted a great deal of attention, and not just among railroaders, all the more so when road number 18 316 set a record speed of 162 km/h / 101 mph in 1956. Road number 18 323 ran the longest and was a star attraction on many sold-out special excursions from the mid-1960s until its retirement at the end of 1969. This steam loco often drew huge crowds, especially in the Baden region, where it had started its career 50 years before. Many railroaders had never forgotten these thoroughbred racers. An Offenburg locomotive engineer is said to have made the following wistful remark: “There will never be another loco as good as the Maffei machine.” Nevertheless, two of these wonderful Maffei machines have been preserved: Road numbers 18 323 and 18 316 hark back in Offenburg and Mannheim to this Baden-Bavarian tour de force of German locomotive engineering.

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