Z CLUB (G.B.)
(Affiliated to Z Club 92)
36 Floribunda Drive, Briar Hill, Northampton. NN4 8RZ
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Newsletter No. 12 - 2nd Quarter 1997
Welcome to Newsletter No. 12. Included in this issue is a list of the new items from
the major manufacturers, plus information on a range of etched brass building kits for
the American market for which we have the import rights. Also we included the service
sheet for 8820/8821 Class 221 Diesel loco, and as a special one off, a colour photo-
copied sheet of road signs. We are looking into producing this sheet on self adhesive
paper for sale to members.
New Items
Marklin
88891 The 25th Anniversary Gold Loco
81560 Starter set with a Class 24 Steam loco, 2 Wagons, Oval of Track & Controller
81860 Freight Set with Class 140 Electric, 6 wagons, Track Pack & Controller
Limited Edition 1997
89575 Street Light set. This contains 3 each of 8 different street lights
88831 Class 52 Steam loco with Tub Style Tender
88401 Class 140 Electric in Raspberry with new style Logo
88680 Class 101 Electric loco
88601 USA Class F7A in Blue Sante Fe War Bonnet livery
82600 USA F7 B Unit in Blue Sante Fe War Bonnet livery
82301 Matching Blue Caboose
88445 2 Class 460 Swiss Electric Locomotives in Marklin Liveries
Limited Edition 1997
88447 Class 460 Swiss Electric Loco in Danzas livery
Limited Edition 1997
88448 Class 460 Swiss Electric loco in BLS Livery
87451 BLS Passenger Coach !st Class
87461 BLS Passenger Coach 2nd Class
82201 Set of 3 Shell Bogie Tanks
82351 Heavy Duty Bogie Flat Truck
82330 Low Side Wagon with Brakeman's Cabin
86611 Old Style Van 'Kaiser-Friedrich-Quelle'
82360 Set of 3 Container Wagons
82021 Bogie Tank Wagon VTG 'Burol Lubricants'
Railex
Silver Der Adler Set, Unpowered Silver Arrow and Powered Baggage Van, Several
Bavarian Freight Wagons, An Unpowered Kof 1, V100 in Private owner and DB Red
livery, and 2 Funicular Railways.
Schmidt
MAK DE 1024 in Koln Harbour Red, Class 141 Brass Body and Fulharbour motored
in Epoch III Green, SBB Sliding wall van in CARGO DOMIZIL, and the Bogie HIBIS
wagon in 'PERRIER' ,'RAILSHIP' and 'CLASS RECYCLING' liveries.
Westmodel
Class 152 2-B-B-2, DR E 36 2-C-1 Vintage Electric Locos, VT 66.9 Bogie Railcar,
Kittel Steam Railcar, Wiesmar 4 Wheel Railbus - this is to be produced in both
standard gauge and - wait for it - working Zm Narrow gauge (a Gauge of 4.5mm).
Micro Structures
These are the etched brass building kits I mentioned earlier. Although not cheap they
are of excellent quality. At present they consist of a range of ten different buildings
plus two different fire escape kits, and a rather neat phone box. It is hoped to extend
the range over the next two years to include wild west buildings and further modern
town buildings. The price in the USA is between $28 and $33. I have been in contact
with the company and have agreed to be the supplier for the UK. They have a full
colour catalogue of which I only have one copy at present, but I will try to obtain some
more from the States for anybody who would like a copy. Please contact me direct
for further information.
Hints and Tips
Continuing with Brian Ward's excellent article on maintaining Z Gauge stock.
Axles
Keep the axles of Locomotives free of dirt, a particular locomotive of mine had
problems moving, perhaps going a little way then stopping dead, running the
motor with wire leads direct to the motor, this involved removing the body from
the loco and placing wires on the top (near the brushes) to check if it ran
without a hitch, which it did, this led to the assumption that the problem could
be in the pickups within the bogies or chassis.
Taking bogies apart is not hard - in many cases, pull the pin, take the bogie
assembly off the chassis (taking care with the loose gear), remove the screw,
and push the bottom in the direction of the coupler (watch out for the coupler,
don't loose the spring if it falls out! See further information about putting
couplers back in.) The axles looked as if they had been used as a micro land
fill site! Loco's with bogies are the easiest to work on, you can take everything
out and put it back together without much fuss (see next part for loco's with
side rods). As far as cleaning the axles goes just about anything will work once
you have removed them. I used a slightly damp cloth to take out the loose
dust then tweezers to remove the grime that has wrapped itself around the
axles. If you have caked on oil, try washing up liquid (or meths. - Ed.)
After you have cleaned the bogie put the gears back in the same way you
found them, then replace the axles remembering that the contacts go on the
inside of the wheels and being careful not to damage them.
You will probably need to replace the coupling, because it always pops off.
Hopefully you were expecting this and made sure that the spring didn't go off
into never-never land. Putting the coupler back on is actually simple, place the
spring diagonally into the little chamber with the top sticking forward (lean it on
the post that holds the coupler in place), then put the coupler's pin into the top
of the spring, push gently on the spring and when the coupler can be placed
on the post, do so.
Remember to re-lubricate the gears if you have cleaned them as they will be
as they were when they were new.
(I would suggest that this operation is carried out one bogie at a time as they
are different and if you place the bogies the wrong way round you could have
your engine going in reverse!! - Ed.).
In the next newsletter I will complete this article with the section on locomotives which
have side rods.
Sales
Richard Giles, 21 St. Ives Gardens, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6NJ, who will provide
an excellent painting service (I can vouch for the quality of his workmanship), has a
couple of Elmar Class 47 locos he wishes to dispose of. These can be painted in a
livery of your choice with the price to be agreed between you and Richard.
Don't forget our range of items which are available to the membership. We have a
new item - a Cat D7 bulldozer in white metal to complement our JCB issued as the
membership gift. These will retail at £2.49 plus p & p, and will be available as
from July 1997.
Lighting Coaches
Since the article I wrote in Newsletter 10 I have found out the proper spare part
numbers for the Marklin light units in they use in their coaches, they are
33 216 Bogies fitted with pickups (2 required)
33 222 Light Diffuser
33 223 Light Shields (2 required)
33 220 Conductor Strip
33 221 Contact strips (these are the bulb holders, 4 required)
33 204 Contact bridges (these are pickup plates 2 required)
I hope that this information makes sense and is of use to you.
Exhibitions
I will be attending an exhibition with Wintersdorf at the St Giles Church Hall,
Desborough near Corby on the 7th June.
Brian Humphries, Member No. 0062, has a very nice layout called 'Erichsburg'. He
will be attending the following exhibitions with this layout.
Italian Railways event in Bedford on the 7th June
Kempston, Near Bedford on the 5th July
Kettering on the 19th/20th August
The GRS show in Oxford on the 13th September.