Sadly this is another one of those sets that if you buy from Ebay, you are in for a helluva surprise. I have seen this thing in action. It was a totally new direction for Marklin back then. Gone was Delta, and we had the new decoders, with dipswitches and potentiometers for acc/brake delay. I maintain to this day that these were the best decoders ever if you were working in a garage and dust was a problem.... It simply goes anywhere.
Right, couple of things. Marklin was the only company that pulled the Cargo Sprinter off successfully. End of story. With the result that lots of people converted them to 2 rail DC and so forth. As I said, I saw this thing in action, and it is a massively strong puller, and very playable. If I tell you what the "like new" ones looked like when they got here, you will cry. Some of them were converted to DC, some changed back, and some very very played. I gave up after set number 4, got the previous Delta version of this which wasn't a good runner, sold that......... and it was the end of that exercise.
Now, here is a story for you. My supplier in Germany, old Joachim, is just that...... old. This guy has a huge shop. Think PicknPay sort of size. He has a gorgeous red headed daughter, who is not old.... laatlammetjie. 28 with legs right up to her chin..... Now Joachim has a way of hiding things on shelves. Which Sandra then discovers and relay to me because she thinks I own a lion and hunt barefoot with a crossbow every day. Which is fine by me. Sometimes she phones and I get totally drowned in a luscious accent and promises of heerlikheid.... I am wandering.......
So she phones.... and just like my beloved 39080... she found a treasure. A brand new Cargo Sprinter. Minute little shelfwear on the box, with the innards as they left the factory. Brand spanking new.
Long story short, normal mark-up, this was going to go on here at R5600. I agree, she made me pay a premium. I have changed era on my layout 3 years ago, so because I really like this set, I am putting it on here at more or less what I paid for it.
It is beautiful. The weight of that motorized loco....... wholesome. Look at the last pictures as well, and note the size of the motor hehehehe. The containers, the artwork, everything in this set makes me proud to be the Marklinist again.
