Swift, powerful, frugal, and elegant: The best new construction steam locomotive from the German Federal Railroad came out in 1955 as the class 66. With around 1,000 horsepower performance and a maximum speed of 100 km/h / 63 mph it was intended as a jack-of-all-trades to replace numerous types of locomotives that dated mostly from provincial railroad times. The two prototypes, road numbers 66 001 and 002, were very convincing. They pulled passenger trains on main and branch lines as reliably as well as express trains on the main route Frankfurt – Giessen. Compared to the rapid development of diesel locomotives that were considerably less expensive to maintain, the class 66 had no chance. The service area for the two prototypes of the class 66 was finally taken over starting in 1958 by the class V 100, for example, that the DB bought in large quantities. The class 66 is however a symbol for the high level of German locomotive construction that can also shine in the small scale with the new Märklin model.
Prototype: German Federal Railroad (DB) class 66 passenger tank locomotive. Road number 66 002. The locomotive looks as it did in the mid-Sixties. Based at the railroad maintenance facility in Giessen.
Model: The locomotive has an mfx+ digital decoder and extensive sound functions. It also has controlled high-efficiency propulsion with a flywheel mounted in the boiler. One axle powered. Two axles powered using side rods. Traction tires. The locomotive is constructed mostly of metal. There is a factory-installed smoke generator with speed-dependent dynamic smoke exhaust. There are triple headlights and dual red marker lights that change over with the direction of travel and that can be controlled digitally. The cab lighting can also be controlled digitally. Maintenance-free, warm white and red LEDs are used for the lighting. A buffer capacitor is included. The minimum radius for operation is 360 mm / 14-3/16". Protective sleeves for the piston rods, brake hoses, heating lines, and prototype coupler imitations are included separately. Length over the buffers approximately 17 cm / 6-11/16".
A car set to go with this locomotive is also being offered under item number 41329 exclusively for Insider members in 2025.
This model can be found in a DC version in the Trix H0 assortment under item number 25660 exclusively for Trix Club members.
The order deadline for these models is August 15th, 2025.
