Wolfgang and his wife Birgit started restoring Marklin trains in the early 1970s as a hobby and turned the work into a family business in 1990. They performed their restoration magic on locomotives, wagons, and structures in Gauges 0, 1, 2, and 3 from the period 1885 to 1920. In doing his work, Wolfgang developed a set of “principles”, not unlike those that govern work in the art restoration community, to guide his restoration efforts:
- The owner/collector must decide, based on the “historical value” or “collector value” how much effort he is willing to have put into the restoration process. This can be a contentious issue.
- The toy should be returned to its original condition. Original means
the condition/state the toy was in when first produced. Any changes that are
encountered in the process, such as replica parts, removal of original parts’,
serious body damage, repainted areas, etc. will be “back-modified”
to the original condition.
- In the process the original state is exposed and cleaned, replica or missing
parts are replaced with originals.
- Modern paints (i.e. from a hardware store) are not used; paints are mixed using a formula originally used.
- It is important that “re-touched” areas are not visible to the naked eye.
- New colors/paints should, if possible, be created using the original pigments and formula. Colors can be applied using the original tools and techniques or those of today.
Examples of how these apply to a restoration efforts are shown in the following photos.
In the above photo a roof from a LNER coach has been painted over in a gray color. With a modern tool (scalpel), the gray paint is carefully removed and the original paint can be seen. In this project, 95-98% of the original paint of the roof is, after the delicate procedure, again available. The result is near perfect!
Above a Marklin Gauge 1 hospital car (produced 1902-1904) car has been painted over with "new" color, the original interior is missing, and the inside of the car was extensively modified, including the drilling of holes, to poorly install a “light”. The result was a sought after car that had no value. Herr Bauer removed the “new” exterior paint completely and corrected the interior changes back to the original. Nearly 95% of the original paint was rescued to its 1902 color. The interior furnishings and the figures were produced in the Bauer workshop as replicas. The car is now a highly valuable collectable!
Between 1923 and 1935 Marklin produced at least five 4-6-2 locomotives for the British, French, and US markets that were very similar in appearance. The Marklin locomotive #4020 in the photo below is a ‘0’ gauge, live steam model built for the British market from 1926 – 1929 and named “George the Fifth”. (The second British oriented locomotive was Marklin’s interpretation of the London North Eastern Railway’s (LNER) famous “Flying Scotsman” 4-6-2 locomotive.)
With only a quick, first look, the locomotive looks fairly good. But a closer inspection shows that the locomotive is completely over painted; there is no original color anywhere, and all numerals are missing. Also the locomotive was not functional.
The resulting restored, live steam locomotive.
This battered locomotive is a sought after collector's item. The 1 gauge Pacific was produced by BING (11/8105) only for a short time around 1930. The BING model was a good representation of the DRG Class 01 “Pacific” 4-6-2 locomotive. Unfortunately, the loss of the original paint on this 1 Gauge model locomotive is very significant. The only solution was a total repaint. The result is the stunning locomotive shown below.
Gauge 3 Train
The locomotive pictured below is a rare Gauge 3 toy train ( #1023 RNN) produced by Marklin between 1896 and 1898. The locomotive and a number of cars were found at a flea market in 1999. The craftsmanship of the restoration is evident.
The antique clockwork 0-4-0 locomotive appears small in the photo but remember
that the distance between the two outside rails for Gauge 3 track is 2 5/8 inches.
Gauge 3 trains are BIG! The drive wheel has a diameter of 82 mm - 3.2 inches.
The clockwork mechanism is very large; the spring is very strong and was also
used in old gramophones of the time. With the tender attached the locomotive
tender combination is nearly 50 cm, ½ meter long! Each car is 22 cm long.
The cars found at the flea market included this “baggage” wagon and the passenger carriage below.
Passenger wagon catalog # 1806/III
In addition to the restoration work on the locomotive and the two wagons, Herr Bauer made from scratch the beer wagon (1808/III) below for the train. This Gauge 3 train is a very rare item.
Stork Leg Loco
This Gauge 2, live steam locomotive, known as a “Stork Leg” locomotive, was produced by the Schoenner company of Nuremberg around 1902 to 1904. These locomotives are called “Stork Legs” because they had fairly long drive rods, one on each side of the locomotive, powering a large single wheel. They had an ungainly motion, like a walking stork, when moving down the track.
The alcohol fired locomotive now has a complete, functioning steam whistle. Restored she is an impressive machine, with the distinctive movement. The locomotive can move forward and in reverse. In the photo below a conductor made by the Bauers is a replica (Size: 8 cm tall)of a very old Kibri figure from our their workshop. The figure provides a good size comparison for the locomotive.
The number of pigments that create the authentic paint scheme for the locomotive is shown below.
Toy railroads needed more than just locomotives, wagons, and track to function. They needed a wide variety of accessories, such as railway stations of all sizes, covered train sheds, track crossings, newsstands, turntables, yard buildings, bridges and tunnels, toy figurines etc. The early toy train manufacturers produced hundreds and hundreds of these items. Today these train accessories with their ornate metal structures and their elaborate color schemes are the prized possessions of many collectors. And today there are many of these treasures that are in derelict condition and need the skills of a gifted restorer to bring them back to their original condition. Wolfgang and Birgit Bauer are known for their beautifully restored stations. Displayed here is only a small sample of their restoration efforts.
# 2171 Gate Keeper’s shed (1901 – 1910)
The restored # 2171 Gate Keeper’s Shed – note
the subtle coloring that was applied by hand with a brush.
What remains of a battered #2846 British railway station
(1913 – 1923)
The restored railway station with passengers waiting for the train to arrive. Friends are there to see them off.
Last year in 2014 MTH (Mike’s Train House) introduced a reproduction of
the famous Leipzig Bahnhof – train station – that Marklin first
introduced in 1919. The MTH train station is intended for ‘0’ and
HO trains. Originally Marklin made two versions of the station, one for ‘0’
with catalog # 2036/0 and one for ‘1’ gauge trains, catalog # 2037/1.
Both stations were catalogued from 1919 – 1931.
The Bauers are very familiar with the Leipzig stations having restored several Gauge 1 and Gauge 0 structures as shown below.
The station from the rear.
The restored interior from the rear of the station.
This “Station Café” (# 2015) was found
while cleaning out an attic! Note that many parts of the station are missing
including the café
dining furniture, the canopy, and the “travelers”.
The restored Station Café. Wolfgang preserved as much of the original colors as possible and did a beautiful job repainting the missing areas. Note the deep luster of the roof. Those awaiting trains can now relax in the sun and enjoy a beer under the light blue canopy. The travelers/figures were hand made by Frau Bauer.
This great Gauge 1 Märklin tunnel # 2524/1 (1906-1912)
is over 100 years. Seventy-five cm in length, this tunnel was unfortunately,
in a very bad condition with a lot of rust, some metal changes, and missing
parts. After the restoration by the Bauers one can see the impressive work of
the original Marklin artisans.
Of note, there was also a smaller version (59 cm long) for Gauge 0, with a candelabra lamp with "Imperial Oil Lights".
An interesting detail in these tunnels, which unfortunately can’t be seen in the photos, is Marklin’s use of small glass beads (1 mm) that are scattered on the “mountain side”. When struck by light these beads produce the surprising effect of glittering ice crystals or snow! The Bauers, of course, reattached new glass beads and, like a 100 years ago, the mountain “sparkles again”.
Next: Bauer Replicas and Reproductions
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