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Whether your interest be designing and building full size layouts through to meeting over a coffee and discussing trains, the Auckland Märklin Club has something to offer you. Being a Marklin club, our members use Marklin trains from Germany for their model train hobby, which lends itself towards a more European style to our modelling, although we also have some American interests and enjoy all aspects that the hobby has to offer.
Marklin produces 3 scales of trains, 1 gauge, the biggest at 1/32nd scale, Z gauge, the smallest at 1/220th scale and HO, the most popular size at 1/87th scale. Our air conditioned clubrooms in Onehunga have layouts in the developmental stage for all three sizes so you can see the full range of possibilities. As mentioned, the layouts are under development (as though a layout is ever quite complete), which provides members with the opportunity to learn about all aspects of the hobby, whether that be the baseboard, scenery, scratch and kit building, track laying, wiring, digitising, computerisation and/or train running. If this all sounds a bit much, there are also kitchen facilities for enjoying a coffee while discussing the hobby with others or reviewing the books and videos in the club library which are free for people to take home.
There is also a monthly newsletter, keeping members up to date with what is going on in the club, upcoming events and any items of interest. Club meetings are held (at the moment) on the 2nd Monday every month (except January). We are hoping to increase this as interest develops.
Perhaps the greatest benefit from membership of the Auckland Märklin Club comes from meeting with and discussing ideas with fellow members. Many of us are currently working on our own layouts at home and in most cases we have struck issues and worked out ways of resolving them. This can save you the expense of reinventing the wheel and get you up and running more quickly, with advice on:
The library is also a great help with past catalogues, Marklin Insider magazines, general railroad books, videos and "How to" books to assist you. Naturally, like all clubs, there are always some second hand goods for sale between members, which even if 50 years old will still run together with the newest products available.
I hope this gives you a general feel for the club and what it has to offer. Please feel free to ask questions, try things out, bring your trains along to run on the club layouts, make suggestions and generally have a good time. If there is anything we can help you with, we are all ears . . .
Happy modelling,
Andrew Holt, President.
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This "modular" club layout (some modules owned by individual members) was built several years ago and is now reconfigured to fit within the dimensions of the current clubrooms. It uses 3 rail AC power at 16 volts running HO scale trains on either digital or analogue at the same time (since the double mainline tracks are insulated from each other). Some development and extension is going on with the track (note the use of M, K and C track on one layout) with the main focus over the next few months being on scenery.
This club layout was built several years ago and was recently brought out of storage for refurbishment and exhibition. It is powered by 2 rail DC current at 10 volts for the trains with AC current for the points and signals. For exhibitions, the layout forms an "L" shape, but in the clubrooms we will develop extensions to allow for operation against the wall.
This is a private train set (now 30 years old) which is available for the club members to operate. We will be constructing a modular baseboard for the layout in the near future.
This layout was a starter set kindly donated by Steve's Model Shop in Papakura, which is used by the club at exhibitions and the clubrooms for kids to have a try on something more their size. Possibilities to look at scenery and other developments, while keeping it simple for transport and fun for kids.
This layout doesn't exist as yet, but various club members have expressed an interest in developing individual HO scale modules, which can be brought together for exhibitions. If interested in being involved in this project, please talk to the Club President.
For more information on our layouts click here
Formed in 1987, the Auckland Marklin Club has met in various places and been involved in a number of exhibitions, the main one being Model X at Henderson on Queen's Birthday weekend each year. For many years the clubrooms were based in the old Papakura Military Camp and since 2003 has been sited in Onehunga. In between times, meetings have been held at members' houses viewing their individual layouts, which still continues on occasions visiting various places around town and around the country. Members have also enjoyed a warm welcome when visiting the Wellington Marklin Club.