New Signs from LIGHT WORKS USATM - pg. 12
Don Bouchard of Rogue Locomotive Works Resigns - page 11
Inside front cover - Aspen Model ad - Westmodel 30030 MILW Hudson 4-6-4, 30028 IC "Casey Jones" 4-6-0, 30038 steam rotary plow, 30039 old engine house.
The Trackside Perspective - A Special Gift... - Fred Ladd provides a new Z-specific logo for Ztrack to replace that F40PH!
Märklin's DB Class 143 Features New Motor - smoother and slower are the major features of a new FIVE-POLE motor. WARNING! - The new 5-pole motor takes a different brush set, the new part #89891.
The Class 143, A True Workhorse - Ye Ed. gives a history and tech. info. on this former-East German Class 212/243 loco.
The "Trucks" of the Trade - Ye Ed. tells how to clean and tune loco trucks (bogies).
Z Web Site Offers Photos, Newsletter and More! - "http://www.zmodel-trains" is the new Website for Stan Jones's firm, Z-Model Train Products, and has "incredible photos" of the DG&M modules, Stan's own layout, an on-line newsletter, links, and products.
Ztrack Accessories (ad) - Ye Ed. is offering 1936 coupés in six colors.
RELCO Track Cleaner Smooths Operations - an English hgh-frequency generatr wred between the power pack and the rails, originally reviewed in Ztrack in the June 1991 issue; the Stiskas sell it.
Lessons Learned on the Layout - Billy Roden on how to, and how not to, make hermaphrodite cars with a Micro-Trains coupler at one end and a Märklin coupler at the other {I feel guilty; I have an even better way and never thought to write it up}.
Rogue's Don Bouchard Resigns - for those of you who don't know, this is both a personal disaster for Don (third heart attack) and a potential disaster for Z-scale; Don was the honcho for Z hood units -the Rogue GP38-2 and the forthcoming (we hope) C40-9 and C44-9.
Micro-Structures'{s} Hopper Kits Already Sold Out - Miller Engineering's 2- and 3-bay hopper kits have sold out; only 100 of each were made {to me that is actually a promising note - manufacturers take note!}.
LIGHT WORKS USATM NEW PRODUCTS ARE SURE TO BRIGHTEN ANY LAYOUT {an unabashed promo} - Miller Engineering unveiled a new line of Z accessories, 40 of them, including large and small vertical and horizontal lighted signs for many businesses, sign supports, interior lighting kits, power supplies and a catalog (more than just Z).
1999 New Railex Z Items - Reynaulds offers the DRG Class 05 003 stremined steam cab-forward passenger engine, a dummy KöF shunter, a dummy DRG E 69 steeple-cab electric, and a miniscule 1:220 handcar!
Super Scene Clean Brightens Scenery - the newer version of the familiar Scene Clean is plastic- and laquer-friendly.
Oooops... Our Mistake... - Correction for in headers of May/June issue page 22 Speed Conversion Chart; the top line of the chart reads distance in INCHES and it should read distance in FEET, i.e.: 4 Feet, 6 Feet, and 8 Feet!
MailBag - miscellaneous letters.
NEWZLINE
Micro-Trains 13717 KCS #20899 1941 PS 50' double-door boxcar in red with white lettering.
Micro-Trains 13515 U. S. Navy #USN 61-05146 1997 repaint of 50' boxcar in grey with black lettering.
1999 Märklin Insider Locomotive - Insider Club 88835 DB Class 52 freight 1-E (2-10-0) loco with condensing tender.
Z Structures Offers Line of Z Buildings - new company with eight ready-made (and some kit) solid wood structures; log cabin, house, apartment, hotel, church, a DOGHOUSE and an OUTHOUSE{!}, and a set of three billboards.
NOT AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. FILE - good things we can't get here pictured {to make us drool?} - German semi-streamlined and bi-level commuter cars, large Transwaggon freight car, autotrucks (including a Chevy van), a 90-ton work crane, Paper buildings, two steamers, and a detailed small forklift.
Märklin ad for two Z Unfinished Layout Boards.
ON THE BACK COVER - full color, full page ad for Reynaud's, with steam and diesel locos and freight cars.
The first of the issues I missed,
Volume 5, Number 3, May/June, 1999,
featured the following:
ON THE COVER
Cover Photos - Black Widows resting in the barn as the Daylight waits on Billy Roden's Z module - Building the DG&M Roundhouse Module - Zimmerman's Scratch Built Building Collection - and an oversized color photo of FR's GN/WFEX Z reefer.
In This Issue ...
Zimmerman's Scratch
Built Building Collection.......pg. 4
FR Update.........................pg. 8
Collector's Corner: The World's
Largest Private Z Collection....pg. 10
Building DG&M Modules
The New Z Scale Standard!.......pg. 12
Kibri Releases New Kits...........pg. 14
NEWZLINE..........................pg. 15
Manchester Hobby Products Unveils
Line of Z Accessories...........pg. 16
Märklin's MHI 2/99 Items..........pg. 18
Z on TV...........................pg. 20
Z Scale Speed Chart...............pg. 22
And much more...
FR Releases Western Fruit Express Reefers! - pg. 8
Inside front cover - The Trackside Perspective - The Hunt...- Robert Kluz
MailBag - miscellaneous letters - Stiskas on repairs and upgrades, eBay warning, etc.
Scratch Building In Z, The Possibilities - about Brian Zimmerman's HUGE kitbashed.buildings.
Full page b&w
ad for Märklin's "New Limited Edition Cars" {more millionaire stuff!}
FR Unveils U.S. 50' Reefer - Swiss Signals - a limited run of painted, pad-printed, ready-to-run #ZF312 Great Northern/Western Fruit Express reefers and the ZB312 kits@
, and pix of Harald Freudenreich* holding his new Swiss Ae4/6 protoype shell and of Mrs. {Ilona} Steltner assembling his inconceivable new BLS Te 2/3 Tractors {talk about tiny!} and holding the new Ingersol{L} Rand Erie diesel locomotive, plus two of the microscopic signals.
{* - Harald Freudenreich of Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik.}
{@ - ERRATA! - In one of the funniest typos (or mistranslations) I've ever seen,
Rob writes that the ZB312 kit comes UNDERCOATED!
I don't use salt on the Berlinerwerke-Z and doubt anyone else uses salt,
so we really don't need undercoating.
I have a sneaky feeling that Harald or Rob meant UNDECORATED!
}
Ad for Miller Engineering's new 3-Bay Hoppers.
Collector's Corner - photos of representative samples of a humingous Z collection in Germany, now up for sale - 1,872 pieces, of which 39 are train sets with alll their additional items! {H--l; if you count spikes and such, I've got that many pieces!}
Billy Roden, New Ztrack Module Coordinator - DG&M Z_MOD Established as Official Standard - {sez who?} - photos and diagram of new modular standard from the Richardson, Texas, modular group. {No standard for a third track, no standard for electrical connectors, dimensions for track spacing and end setbacks in inches instead of metric - but it's a good start - more detail is supposed to become available shortly in packets.}
Kibri Announces Two 'New' Z Scale Kits - Dreie{i}chen Station #6714 and Saalburg Station Paltform #6718 - Rob says they are variations of older kits.
Preiser Releases 3 New Z Figure Sets - #88535 - passengers waiting with bags, #88536 - railway personnel (with an inexplicable skimpily-clad "lady"), and #88537 - workers in heavy (protective?) garb.
Märklin 1999 Club Car Available for Order - the Z car, #2165, is a boxcar with a Parisian scene {just what I always wanted - more collector stuff that has no relationship to model railroading!}.
NEWZLINE
Micro-Trains 14106 PRR #603120 1951 40' PS-1 Class X-43a boxcar in red with white lettering.
Micro-Trains 14105 P&LE #20375 Class XM 40' boxcar in red with white lettering and black NYC system logo.
Manchester Hobby Products Releases Z Line - 4 tunnel portals, 2 abutments, 2 wing wall sets, and 1 retaining wall, in plaster.
MRC Releases New Z Transformer - Tech 4 Railpower 350 - { - This baby puts out enough juice to fry everything on your layout in one shot! The Stiskas write on page 4 of the Sept/Oct issue that it is rated at 30VA but did not mention the output voltage - probably 12 volts or more!}
Märklin Announces 2/99 {should read 3/99?} EXCLUSIV - #81416 Commuter Service Train, #82172 Tannery Barrel car Set, and #82374 Quar{t}z Quarry Set of 4-wheel dump cars.
Z on TV - Z'er Ron Ruddell on PBS's Train Time, Program XXII, 09 Apr 99; available at $14.95.
Measuring Z Scale Speeds - The Conversion Chart - reprint of 1988 article and chart {BUT there is a The top line of the chart reads distance in INCHES and it should read distance in FEET!
ON THE BACK COVER - full color, full page ad for Reynaud's, with WWII German cab-forward streamlined steam passenger and dummy KöF diesel shunter and dummy steeple cab electric locos and a hand car!
The last issue previously reviewed,
Volume 5, Number 2, March/April, 1999,
featured the following:
ON THE COVER
Cover Photos - Micro-Structures latest release, the Gulf Gas Station; also Märklin's new ICE-3 train and B&O EMD F7 and F7B.
In This Issue ...
Ladd's Work Trains................pg. 5
Kitty Hawk Software Releases Kits.pg. 6
Scene Clean Spray Cleaner.........pg. 7
Building Märklin's Signal Tower...pg. 9
Märklin New Items for 1999........pg. 10
Newzline..........................pg. 15
The Ebay Phenomenon...............pg. 16
Constructing Loading Docks........pg. 18
Micron-Art's Baggage Carts........pg. 20
Lessons Learned...................pg. 22
And much more...
1999 Märklin New Items
Micro-Structures Releases Gulf Service Station for 1999! - pg 20
Inside front cover - The Trackside Perspective - From Bananas To Trade Tariffs - Robert Kluz
MailBag - miscellaneous letters - one from Old Dutch Nelson (Colorado Regional Contact) re Märklin's "Classic American Building Kit Series II", one complaining about the lack of hoppers {*}, and one miscellaneous.
{* - Harald Freudenreich of Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik has gorgeous hoppers
available right now (click on NEW)!
I hope to have a construction article in the next issue! - SB,III}
Photos from Fred's Files - Work Trains and More
Kit-bashed cranes, E7A and B (3-axle trucks!), and busses.
Kittyhawk Software Unveils Line of Paper Kits
A kit with a CD-ROM and 20 sheets of cardstock suitable for color inkjet or laser printers, with 20 different buildings which can be run off in HO, N, or Z. There are 4 kits - Western Buildings, English Buildings & Shops, English Cottages & Houses, English Village {apparently the Western Buildings are illustrated - The Mission, Blacksmith, and Homestead}.
Scene Clean Promises To Make Dust Disappear
{a spray can that purportedly removes dust}
Industry News
Fred Gates, President of Märklin, Inc., is the new President of the Model Railroad Industry Association (MRIA).
Micro-Trains's Nn3 2-6-0 Re-released
C&S Class B3C Mogul in road numbers 5 (#15903) and 7 (#15904), plus F&CC 30' NG boxcar number 540 (#15104, red with white lettering) and White Pass 30' NG boxcar number (#15111, boxcar red with yellow lettering).
Building Märklin's Signal Tower Wood Kit
Ye Ed builds the new laser cut kit, all 1-1/2" x 15/16"of it!
1999 Märklin New Items
Four full pages - far more than your Webmaster is willing to type out!
There is the entire ICE 3 powered railcar train (with the drive in the intermediate restaurant car!), the entire B&O "Capitol Limited" streamliner set powered by an F7A trailed by a dummy F7B, a German bi-level car set with a bi-level control cab, a new 0-Co-0 DB Class 361 diesel hydraulic shunter, and the 1999 Museum Car set which includes a microscopic ca-1928 Benz flatbed autotruck with barrels.
NEWZLINE
Micro-Trains 14140 SP #97947 1946 Mt. Vernon Car 40' boxcar in red and yellow "Overnight" scheme.
Micro-Trains 13804 AT&SF #68642 Class Sk-G 40' stock car in green with yellow lettering.
Penzee Announces Westmodel Casey Jones & GHQ's Pennsy K4s
Westmodel's 2-6-0 boiler to fit #88991 chassis (available); also GHQ's Brittania (pewter) casting of a streamlined PRR K4s Pacific to fit 4-6-2 chassis (available), plus a trailing truck frame for the Pacific {presumably a Kiesel truck frame} to slip over the Märklin truck frame.
The ebay Phenomenon
Ye Ed on the wild and crazy pricing and fraudulent claims of sellers on the new eBay Internet auction.
Collector's Corner - Märklin's 1986 "Freedom" Car
One sold on eBay for only $21.00 - let the seller beware!
Building A Z-scale Tarck Side Dock
Brian Zimmerman builds {what your webmaster would call} a loading dock.
Micron Art Announces Railroad Baggage Carts
Hoo, boy! These classic carts (four to a package) are photo etched brass kit gems and - well, talk about microscopic!
Märklin, Inc. Not To Hold Annual Club Day
What this boils down to is that Märklin decided to skip the Club Day in favor of a 3-grand trip to Germany and Switzerland, focusing on the model railroad meet in Göppingen and the factory. So much for the average Joe!
They will exhibit at The Big Train Show Aboard the Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA, 11-12 Jun, at the NMRA National Convention at River Center, St. Paul, MN, 19-25 Jul, at the National Garden Railway Convention at the Wyndham Hotel Northwest, Itasca, IL {NW?}, 28 Jul-01 Aug, at The Big Train Show at the Garden State Expo Center, Somerset, NJ, 28-29 Aug, and at the National Model & Hobby Show, Rosemont Expo Center, Rosemont, IL, 30-31 Oct.
Vollmer Responds To Request For New Kits
Oh, brother - they said "NO"! - politely and with a possible future interest but still "NO"!
Lessons Learned On The Layout - Engine Operation
Billy Roden on performance of various engines.
IBL Offers Kibri's "Franconia" Preformed Layout
What can one say?
Previous issue,
Volume 5, Number 1, January/February, 1999,
featured the following:
ON THE COVER
Cover Photos - A Conrail GP38-2 pulling a string of freight cars across a wooden trestle on Joe Malinchak's Z scale layout in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and Miller Engineering's new Millstone Gravel Co.
In This Issue ...
Bringing a Boiler House to Life...pg. 4
DG&M Show Review..................pg. 6
Subways, Z Style..................pg. 8
Getting Started...................pg. 11
Nürnberg New Items For 1999!......pg. 13
Newzline..........................pg. 14
Product Review
Diner Lighting Kit and Interior..pg. 17
Kitbashing Kibri's Factory.........pg. 18
Rob Albriton's
Eurorail Adventure, Part 2......pg. 21
And much more... .
Miller Engineering Releases The Milestone Gravel Co. - pg 15
Märklin Releases B&O "Capitol Limited" Passenger Cars - pg 13
Inside front cover - The Trackside Perspective - It's Train Show Time! - Robert Kluz
MailBag - miscellaneous letters.
Kibri's Boiler House Comes Alive
Ye Ed.shows how to put a working Vollmer smoke unit into the stack of the Kibri #6774.
Dallas, Garland & Mesquite Show Review
Billy Roden describes showing {16 Jan 99} his modular layout.
Full page ad for Mürklin's 140th Anniversary Z Gauge Starter Set #81561, with an announcement of the new 1999 New Items and Export brochure {now available}.
Subways, Not What You Think!
Lester Earl Freeman tells about London-style open-cut urban "subway" modeling {if it weren't "open-cut", we wouldn't see much, would we?} and ye Ed. adds a side-bar about German commuting.
Rogue Locomotive Releases C40-9W & C44-9W
Ye Ed. tells us all about Rogue's new super power.
New Paint Scheme Now Available On Rogue's GP-38s
BN now joins SP and CR.
Getting Started, Running Trains In No Time
Instructions for rank beginners by ye Ed.
New Z Scale Items Announced at Nürnberg Toy Fair!
01 Feb 99 - Märklin announced its B&O "Capitol Limited" streamlined passenger car set #87845, with matching F7 A and b set #88602. The futuristic ICE 3 came out, with power in the middle car, as 388712, and a rail cleaning car has been re-released, with new lettering, #88021. There's scads more - your Webmaster isn't up to typing that much! Try subscribing!
Next, a half-page ad for Micro-Trains's "M" Class 2-6-0 Mogul Steam Locomotives in different versions and with different tenders.
NEWZLINE
Micro-Trains 13630 MODEL RAILROADER - 65 Years Boxcar #MR 346599
- reflex blue with MR logo and anniversay emblem.
Micro-Trains 15110 Montana Southern #500 red single-door 30' ACF boxcar.
{actually, the MS was a narrow gauge line;
this car was a originally Florence & Cripple Creek car.}
Micro-Trains 17084 Grand Trunk #17084 red single-door 40' box car.
Märklin #603026 Automatic Wire Stripper for 0.19 to 6.0 square mm (sic) wire.
{I very much doubt that -it's far more likely to be 0.19 to 6.0mm diameter!}.
Micro-Trains Andrews trucks, 970 w/o couplers and 971 with.
Milestone Gravel Co. Now Available!
This ya gotta see! Huge, etched stainless steel kit for a 2/3-track setup with a towering two-bay hopper and a conveyor building. A A Gulf Gas Station is to follow {now}.
A Look At Micro-Trains 2-6-0 S.P. Moguls
S.P. road numbers 1798 (MTL #16000) and 1785 (#16001) with Vandy tenders (cylindrical cisterns) and 1881 (#16002) with a rectangular cistern.
Product Review
Micro-Structures' Diner Lighting & Interior Kit
Detail with a lunch counter, six tables, and twelve booths! Also none stools and silverware! Lighting is by a flat sheet (EL lamp) {shall one assume this means ElectroLuminescent?}
{Ye Ed. seems to have missed that the interior is (or closely resembles)
that of Edward Hopper's famous painting, "Night Hawks".}
KIT BASHING THE KIBRI 6770
Brian Zimmerman makes up a monster factory from two Kibri 6770 kits and makes it sound easy!
Back issues of Ztrack currently available - see below.
½-page ad for Micron Art's coaling station and water tank.
1/3-page ad for Micro Stuctures's Milestone Gravel Co.
Rob Albriton's Eurorail Adventure, Part 2 - Rob (A.) and his friends continue their tour of Europe in Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, and Zurich!
The back cover is a full-page, full-color ad from Reynauld's Euro-Imports.
[For any of you who may have had a bad experience with earlier editions,
the new editor and publisher, Rob Kluz, is doing a bang-up job
and the magazine well merits your reconsideration.]
This is a wee bit hard to believe, but doing a search on HotBot for "Ztrack" yielded exactly 220 hits!
Someone else signs off, "Be Z'ing you!"
Your Webmaster signs off - "Best RegardZ"
SB,III's Z-SCALE INDEX - see Z-Scale page
{The limitations on HTML page size have forced me to create this new page and another, Continuation Page 1, with INDICES to hold reviews of back issues.
Current and more recent issues are on the Ztrack page.}
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