Filmato del record di traino del 1995   6,6 Mb

Filmato del più piccolo layout al mondo 2 Mb

Dal Märklin magazine 2-2005

Volete scommettere... che 150 locomotive Märklin possono trainare cinque carri merci?

Sembra incredibile: cinque carri merci per un peso totale di 80 tonnellate e una lunghezza di 85 metri sono state trainate per 10 metri da 150 locomotive Märklin in scala H0

Lo scorso dicembre presso la stazione di Curtai in Belgio Jaques e suo padre Kristhof Van Biervliet, sono riusciti  a compiere questa "missione impossibile".

Anche gli ingegneri delle SNCB ritenevano impossibile che ciò potesse accadere, nonostante questo l'ing. Kristhof Van Biervliet ha studiato un sistema nel quale 32 delle 150 locomotive sviluppassero una coppia per la reazione tra i carri connessi. Le rimanenti 118 sono state sufficienti per vincere la forza di attrito e dopo un quarto d'ora il convoglio è giunto a destinazione.

Want to bet ...that 150 Märklin locomotives can pull five freight cars?

almost unbelievable: Five freight cars with a total weight of 80 tons were pulled ten meters/33 feet by 150 Märklin

 HO locomotives

Those who bet against that last December at the railroad station in Courtai, Belgium learned better: Jaques and his father Kristof Van Biervliet from the model building shop in Ingelmunster not only succeeded in mobilizing two tracks at Courtai, along with the Belgian Railways (SNCB) and the town mayor Stefan De Clercq but also in doing the impossible the Flemish press and the jubilant spectators watched as five freight cars with a total weight of 80,000 kilograms / 88 tons and a length of 85 meters 279 feet moved a distance of ten meters 33 feet ‑ pulled by 150 HO Scale Märklin locomotives.

Inventive System

 Even engineers for the Belgian Railways (SNCB) judged this to be a mission impossible. Nevertheless, the equally knowledgeable engineer Kristof Van Biervliet calculated a system in which 32 of the 150 locomotìves develop torque to compensate for the reactions among the connected cars. The remaining 118 locomo­tives are then able to overcome the frictional resistance. When it began to rain on December 16, the Van Biervliets’ big day both men were more than nervous, but the 80 tons of wood and steel began to move and arrived at their destination a quarter of an hour later. The world record had become reality.