New Roco accessory catalog



Roco has just announced availability of a new 2015-2016 76-page Accessory Catalog, which in turn announces a number of new digital items, primarily for expansion of Z21 and z21 control systems.

The new catalog, which can be downloaded in PDF format here

http://www.roco.cc/uploads/news/1/20150901_Roco_Zubehoerkatalog.pdf

has both German and English text and Is also notable for several other features:



It includes an abundance of nice large layout photos (from the First Salzburg Model Railroad Club layout).

It provides far better descriptions of digital and other items (both new and previously available) than other recent catalogs.

It includes a section on "Standard models" that features some basic locomotives and rolling stock – including some previously available 1:100 modern passenger rolling stock.

It does not show suggested retail prices for any of the new or existing items.

It does not indicate availability dates for the new items.

It announces the discontinuance of (most?) remaining items from the very old Roco code 100 track system.

It includes extensive listings for track and related items from both the GeoLine (with roadbed) and Roco Line (without roadbed) track systems.

The digital section notes that with new accessories, the Z21 system can now also be used for large scales, including G scale garden railways.

Apparently Roco heard and listened to complaints about other recent catalogs, which included less than postage-stamp size illustrations of products, often with very little description – and with few inspirational photos showing the possibilities of model railroading.

The catalog focuses primarily on multi-scale (such as digital) and HO items, though there is also a small selection of HOe and TT items.

I tried the catalog numbers of some of the new digital items in searches on the Roco factory Web site – and none of the items I tried showed up there at all. So, there is no indication of price or availability there either. But, some of the descriptions in the catalog hint that at least some of the new items will have lower prices than some previously available similar items (though they may not have all of the functionality of the previous items).

On the whole, I think this catalog – I hope I can get a paper copy at some point, in addition to having the PDF version – will prove a useful reference to the items included. (The Roco Web site says the catalog is "fresh from the printer," so there are apparently paper copies, too.) And, I hope it sets the trend for other future Roco catalogs.

 

Some of the layout scenes may appear familiar, as they have appeared in previous Roco catalogs, though the scenes now appear to have additional details nd are shown with very recent Roco models. (I visited this club layout in Salzburg in December of 2001. It is well worth a stop if you are in Salzburg and is easily reachable by public transportation.)

Look carefully at some of these layout images, and you will discover familiar structure kits from manufacturers such as Kibri – but built with great attention to detail , custom painted, and well fitted into the respective scenes.

 

One annoying feature of the catalog is that while the German descriptions are in black text, the English versions have gray text, which is somewhat more difficult to read.

-- Ernest

Comments

  • el Gato Gordoel Gato Gordo Colorado Spring

    Thanks, Ernest!

  • RailwriterRailwriter Durham, NC

    That is really old news. I was going to do a Blog post on Roco's new items for 2019 -- which is itself old news now, though not all of the new items have been delivered yet -- but got sidetracked (months ago) due to problems with uploading images to the Blog.

    (Don't know what happened, but on my screen, the above post has a bunch of weird characters in it.)

    More recent news -- from today (Aug. 29, 2019!): By the way, Roco/Fleiscmann have announced a model railroad calendar for 2020, which should be available before the end of the year.

    -- Ernest

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