Z (1:220 Scale) A History

Introduced by the Marklin Company in Germany in 1972, Z scale is the smallest commercially available model railroad scale. Considered a niche market for the majority of its existence, Z scale is today considered a mature scale, with the availability of a large selection of European and American trains, buildings, scenery and more.

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Latest Blog Posts

  • Building a Modern Freight Train

    Freight trains are by far the most common type of train that you’ll come across in North America. We have one of the most vast and efficient networks in the world, and freight railroading literally drives our economy in many ways. But what makes a realistic modern freight train, and what types of cars should …

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  • How to Realistically Ballast Your Railroad

    For many modelers, adding ballast is one of the first steps in the process of creating realistic scenery for your layout. When planning this stage, traditional gray stone gravel will likely come to mind, but take a closer look at real world railroading, and you’ll notice that each railroad and each ​type​ of railroad has …

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  • Realistically Weathering a Freight Car in 10 Easy Steps

    If you follow us on our Youtube Channel, you’ve probably seen a couple of different weathering methods shown, from quickly dirtying up a train set with powders, to a meticulous airbrush job on a scale boxcar. In this blog post, we’re going to share another method which lies somewhere in between in terms of time …

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