# What should I know about Euro/US compatibility?



## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I have decided to model the German RB or DB railway around epoch III/IV.

I know the gauge is standard for HO, but what concerns me are voltage requirements for operating locomotives and electric accessories such as block signals, interior building lighting, etc.

If I'm running Euro locomotives, do I have to use DC transformers for throttle control like US models or are all of these AC controlled? Does it depend upon the brand?

I would like to keep the electrical aspects of constructing and running this railroad to US standards, but running German locomotives.

I'm rather confused about power. DCC throws another wrench into the works for me and adds to my confusion about power and what is best for running a model railroad today, and not 30 years ago when I had my last railroad.

Walk-around (or wireless) cabs would be great but I have no where to walk around to since there is not much room left in the room to walk anywhere after the railroad benchwork is built so a wired controller or transformer is fine.

Sorry for the long winded post, but things aren't as simple for me as they were 30 years ago.


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## Genetk44 (Feb 26, 2016)

Pretty well all of the European models are DC or Dcc except Marklin which is AC. There are some English language German Model Railway forums on the internet...and very good one on Facebook. My advice would be to use their knowledge to help you. DC and DCC both use the same DC power coming out of your wall sockets.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Thank you. Marklin is probably out then. Riverossi, Fleischmann, or similar will work for me then. And I'll have a look at those references too.

Tschüß!


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## Genetk44 (Feb 26, 2016)

Also checkout roco,Brawa and Piko.


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## Gwent Rail (Jan 24, 2018)

MichaelE said:


> Thank you. Marklin is probably out then. Riverossi, Fleischmann, or similar will work for me then. And I'll have a look at those references too.
> 
> Tschüß!


Marklin is out unless you want to change whelsets (and loco pick-ups) which is not unduly difficult but you do need some basic knowledge of what you are doing.
Even the Marklin rolling stock is usually AC, a system which invoves both rails being -tve with +tive center rail. So you get a car which has no axle insulation between the two wheels.

I recently needed some pig iron ladle cars for my Steelworks layout and the only ones I could find were Marklin.
A pain to replace the wheelsets, but superb models, highly detailed and made of solid metal. NEM coupling boxes are standard, so Kadees simply plugged in.

Some of the companies that make continental stock are now owned by Hornby and will be fully compatible with anything you do to USA standards.

best of luck and let me know if you get any problems you can't solve.:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Thanks Jeff. Will do.:thumbsup:


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## ebtnut (Mar 9, 2017)

Also note that the European wheel flanges are deeper than the U.S. NMRA standard. You'll likely need to stick with Code 100 (or European equivalent) track.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Thanks for that tip. I was going to use code 83, but it will be code 100 now. I had just read something about the flanges on Euro equipment yesterday.


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## xsolowx (Apr 3, 2018)

Hi everyone! It doesn't seem that there are a lot of us in the US that run the European trains. My collection started in the late 70s when I got my first roco train. I still have it and many others. It's cool meeting some other people who share the same interest.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I think I'm the only one here that posts about European trains. Welcome.

I was told Code 83 is fine for newer equipment past the 1990's. So now I'm going back to code 83.

When I lived in Germany I saw a lot of tains and always wanted to model something in the low Alps or Black Forest region.


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## xsolowx (Apr 3, 2018)

I used the bachman track with the plastic bed and I haven't had any issues. I am in the process of acquiring a huge lot of stuff from a gentleman that passed away. I plan on selling whatever I can for very reasonable prices. I have 15 locomotives that will be arriving Thursday, which is only the beginning. If you are interested let me know!


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## xsolowx (Apr 3, 2018)

I started a Facebook page...there are only a few of us so far, but feel free to join us!


https://www.facebook.com/groups/239277299965301/permalink/239277303298634/


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

I have a Roco bullet train from Germany and a Bachman Thomas the Tank Engine from the US. They run on each other's tracks with no problems.

However, the Roco has incredibly stupid couplers consisting of a single strip of plastic. They weaken every time you take them apart, so I am leaving them permanently attached to each other.


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## xsolowx (Apr 3, 2018)

It seems a lot of the old plastic becomes brittle over time


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## Darrenmb (Nov 13, 2018)

Adding to this, my trains are all old Hornby steam locks, but oo gauge not ho, I know the difference between the gauges is apparent when rolling stock is near each other, but I am.having hard time find oo gauge buildings even ebay.co.uk is not coming up with much (shipping costs are ridiculous) does anyone know if the building are close.enough in scale to work if I only use ho buildings and oo trains? There will be no ho trains on my layout (if I ever get it built)


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## Atlanta (Apr 29, 2019)

The NEM -> Norm of European Modelmanufacturers is a different Standard than the US NMRA.









All measurments in metric of mm --> 1 Zoll/Inch = 25,4 mm.

In central europe the metric system is dominant, so car lengths of the real prototypes are giving in mm mostly.
As example a coach of 26,4 m is in mm multiplicated by 1000 => 26.400 mm Length over Buffers LüP.
In model Scale of H0 Gauge are a wide varity of scales valid for H0 Scale. 
Märklin/Maerklin using often 1:100 Scale as H0
Roco's older Models are 1:100 too but newer models true to scale are 1:87.
GFN (Gebr. - Brothers of - Fleischmann Nuremberg) using a special Scale of 1:93,5
RivaRossi is using sometimes 1:76 (00 Scale) as H0 on shorter prototypes as H0 models as example the US American 4-4-0 Oldtimers. IHC/AHM/Pocher/RivaRossi and some models distributed over ConCor or Bachmann were manufactured in 1:76 too but sold as H0.

Why they did these varities of Scales in H0? Why they did it, is that the most manufacturers providing their own toy train standards of track systems. Extra sharp radius Curves of below 18" or 360 mm should be running with H0 Cars. Long coaches haver the overhanging effect so they shortened the cars in Scale using up to 1:100 Scale in addition with shorted length of the cars. So some cars could be easily uo to 50 mm shorter than true to scale cars.

In the past of before 1984 each european manufacturer provided their own cuppling systems, their own track systems, wheel set dimensions and power pack systems. The NEM was a try to make international standards to work better together.

Maerklin using AC Connectors in middle of their rails. They are running theis trains by up to 16 V AC and the other Direction impulse comes by 24 V.

Trix Express used three rails two of the rails were the same polarity of DC of 12 V.
The Trix Express run onto Code 120 Tracks only. 
Trix International run onto Code 100 in the past.
Trix Express and Trix International could never be combined together before changing the wheelsets because the wheel flanges of the Trix Express wheels had a flange width of 1,5 mm.

In europe we are not using the track codes mostly but their rail hights in general.
Code 100 -> 2,54 mm --> 2,5 mm
Code 83 -> 2,1 mm
Code 80 -> 2,03 mm
Code 75 -> 1,9 mm
Lower Code Numbers does not allow to run NEM modern wheelsets, for using Code 70 -> 1,8 mm or lower you need to use NMRA RP25 Wheelsets.

Inside the EU the public AC is different to the USA.
At Great Britain the AC is 240 V by 60 Hertz (Hz)
At Continental Europe the AC had changed into EU Standards from before 220 V AC +/- 5 % by 50 Hz via 230 V AC + 5 %/- 10 % by 50 Hz into actually 230 V AC +/- 10 % by 50 Hz.
The modellers were advanced tobuy their powerpacks sometimes new.
Older Power Packs are allowed to use by own risk but the customer has to use the right fuses that all works well. In cause of fire it can happen that the fire insurance will not pay the down burned home.

Maerklin has changed the colors of their power pack units during the period of time when the Electric power plants changed their AC in the public Nets.
The older blue ones are for 220 V only the newer white ones are for 230 V but some of them were from before 2008 (mostly sold on eBay) they may not be used in general but by own risk.

The NEM cars using an arm mechanism to run short coupled cars (Buffer to Buffer) without space between the Buffers. The mechanism drops the cars when running through the curves so that no derailment will happen in the beginning of any curve.
S-Curves are tricky to the rigid coupled cars so a between straight track of in minimum half car length of the longest car is needed that the coupling arm mechanism can work like expected.
Important is that rigid coupling between two cars when using Buffer to Buffer Coupling.
The Kadee NEM 362 Couplers have moveable joints shortly behind the Knuckle it cannot be used for Buffer to Buffer Coupling and it allows it not that the Arm Mechanism works correctly. Use Kadee Compatible Couplers with NEM 362 shafts like McHenry, E-Z Mark II Couplers from Bachmann or any other rigid knuckle couplers.
The best european NEM 362 Couplers are that from Roco it allows smooth coupling of the cars. The GFN (Fleischmann) short couplers are well too but you need more power of speed to couple the cars.
The new Maerklin or Roco Universal Couplers are well too. Itallows shorter coupling than with european standard couplers but allows to be compatible to the standard couplers of most manufacturers, too.

All modern European cars and Locos have allready the NEM 362 Coupler boxes to use NEM 362 Coupler Shafts from any manufacturer.

Important to know is that the overhead wires of european NEM Standard is 10 mm lower than what the NMRA gives as standard.

If you will using buildings from european manufacturers you need to know that there are differences in space to top of tracks in general by Tunnel Portals or Signal bridges or over the tracks Signal towers. 
For steam era the max. Hight is by 70 mm for electric era by 120 mm. The side width is smaller than NMRA Standards. Look to the scale Diagram above.
Parallel tracks are given by a minimum of 52 mm from center to center of track.

European building manufacturers using sometimes any differrent kinds of plastics what making trouble by using the wrong cements for building it.
Most are based onto Polystyrene or Polystyrol or other Polymere Plastics. 

1 Scale foot in N (1:160) is 2 mm
1 Scale foot in H0 (1:87) is 3,5 mm
1 Scale foot in 00 (1:76) is 4 mm
1 Scale foot in 0 (1:43,5) is 7 mm

The 0 Gauge have different allowed Scales:
1:45 at Continental Europe except France and UK
1:43,5 at France, UK and Canada
1:48 at USA

Popular H0 Scale Narrow Gauges in Europe:
H0 Standard Gauge = 16,5 mm
H0m (Meter Gauge) = 12 mm
H0n3Z (3 ft. Cograil) = 10,5 mm
H0e/H0n30/00-9 = 9 mm
H0f/H0n2 (2 feet) = 6,5 mm


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Thanks, but I'm pretty much caught up on all of that by now.


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## Atlanta (Apr 29, 2019)

About the used Digital Systems there it gives a wide varity of them. Not all are compatible to other distributed systems exspecially not down compatible of older versions.

Three or four popular Standards are existing.
Digital Command Control - DCC
MFX - Multiprotocoll System
Open DCC
Motorola

In the past when model RR's were analog Trix provided their EMS System to run up to four different controlled trains onto one track by up to four power packs when using overhead wires in addition.
On Trix Express in DC operation:
Loco 1 using left rail and right rail
Loco 2 using left rail and middle rail
Loco 3 using overhead wire + right rail
Loco 4 using overhead wire + middle rail
On Trix International:
Max. 2 Locos on same time.

The Fleischman FMZ were using the first Decoders for DC Operation up to ten different Locos were possible to be used in same time onto same circuit.
FMZ equipped locos were not compatible onto other DC RR's.

In later years Maerklin sold the Motorola 1 System followed by Motorola 2 System, than MFX and DCC and much more different Digital Central Units alltogether were it over 9 different Systems which were not compatible to the other provided Systems.

On the other DC Systems every bigger manufacturer used their own provided DCC system. Compatibility to other Systems of DCC were the used Decoders inside the Locos in addition to the used DCC Unit, but it is sometimes impossible to buy DCC Units from different manufacturers to work their equipments together.

So Roco provided the Loco Mouse 1 and the Loco Mouse 2 and the red MultiMouse.
Loco Mouse 2 was down Compatible.
Same with the MultiMouse systems.
Actually there are two different Bus Systems popular by using DCC Units but both aren't compatible to each other.

Since the Manufacturer Roco and Fleischmann became bankrupty and had been merged into the Modell RR Union both Companies providing MultiMouse Systems what a little different by each other.
The hand helds are the same but their sytems a little different.

The MultiMouse System is a light DCC System with max. 3 A.
It does not have consist Addresses for Double Headers, so multiple engines need run onto same decoder Address.

Reading of CVs are impossible, programming decoders is a little bit difficult. 

The MultiMouse and the first Unit of Digital Box working together as Central Unit as long as the MultiMouse is connected onto master Connector.
Up to two moreBoosters could be used followed by one Box Unit and two more Boosters like the following Scheme:
Central Unit + Booster + Booster + Central Unit + Booster + Booster and so on, but the first MultiMouse may never Disconnected from the Master Connector.
Up to 16 other MultiMouses are possible to be used but onto Slave Connectors only.

The grey MultiMouse is from Fleischmann the red one from Roco... It allows to use up to 20 Funktions.

The blue Wireless MultiMouse System works like the cable bersion what I described before but the central Mouse is never needed again the blue Central box is a full DCC Unit but can be made bigger in the chain system described above.

Since Roco and Fleischmann providing the Z21 System that is a real DCC System.
The three Z21 boxes are different.
The most expensive is the Z21 a black colored box it has all needed compinents inclusive. It comes with the black MultiMouse but can by used by Android Smart Phones, too.
The lower equipped z21 is a black colored box too but is a lighter version of the Z21 not all functions are available.
The white z21 for beginners often sold in starter packs has minimum functions aboard only.
You need buying software codes to make yourself a better version.

The Lenz Digital System is using Loco Net and is n own as best available DCC System in central Europe. Lenz Engineering has made some Standards in order of the NMRA much better DCC systems are available in USA only...


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

I don't run HO, but this was a very interesting read.


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## Atlanta (Apr 29, 2019)

Hi Denny,

The 0 Gauge or large Scales narrow gauges becoming slightly popular, too.
0e/0n30 or If or IIn2 running all onto H0 Gauge Tracks.
European narrow gauge vehicles using two different types of popular Couplers.
The Bosna Coupler, like the American Link & Pin Type but with Bolt & Pin.
The Balancier Couplers with Hooks and Spindle between the chains.

Assembly Descrition of Balancier Couplers in German Language, only


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