I have been dabbling in the DC model railway for more than 10 years mainly in N-scale (1:160) for obvious reasons: I like to run and operate long-trains – passenger or freight and due to lack of space to build a reasonable layout to realize this vision, N-scale is an obvious choice. To me, it is a good balance between size, availability of modern-era rolling stocks and the operational realism that I wanted to achieve. Hence, germaN:160 was born, representing Epoch VI (2005 – present)

My blog and modeling journal on germaN:160 “Somewhere in Germany“ (Foto: Jimmy Low (c))

My interest in HO-scale has always been latent; knowing that I could not afford the space rather the price tag. I owned a couple of HO-scale models; more for aesthetic and sentimental reasons rather than to run them.

In considering which first (but not the last) German HO-scale steam locomotive I wanted to own, it took me awhile to decide. Do I go for the “common” war locomotives (dt. Kriegslokomotiven) BR 50 and BR 52? Or even narrow-gauge BR 95 tank engine? Having lived in Germany for 10 years, rode on special steam train excursions, visit railway museums and model railway exhibitions, there are plenty of steam locomotives for one to choose.

One particular steam locomotive caught my eyes (yes, you can say it was “love at first sight”) and spurred my interest to purchase and start my HO-scale modeling, this time in AC (alternate current). The choice was obvious, Märklin.

Join me on my steam experience across Germany in my (future) Märklin H0-scale, AC layout: germaN:87AC “Steam Experience across Germany”.

Yours