Märklin may be the market leader - but they are not the only manufacturerer on the model train market. So, let's have a look on what other model train firms offered - or are offering - which can be compared to Primex, i.e. who provides unexpensive stuff for newcomers to our hobby.

Lima, an originally Italian manufacturer, offered trains for large department stores and mail order dealers mainly between the 1960ies an 1980ies. They were not designed for "real" model railroaders, but as a robust toy for children. So there were only few or even none add-on parts which could get lost or broke.

In the 1980ies, Lima started to turn more to the "professional" sector of model railraoding and presented more detailed trains; the especially realized models of more "exotic" European prototype train which hadn't been produced by any other manufacturer yet. More and more, the "toy trains" were replaced by "real" model trains. Those trains, however, weren't suitable for children's hands any longer due to their many fine details.

Kleinbahn is an Austrian brand with an own chain of stores. Their asortment mainly consists of Austrian rolling stock - in a solid, robust quality. Regarding they are low-price newcomer's items, the Kleinbahn trains even don't look bad at all. They are of course less detailed and not scaly (even locomotives are, like rivet counters and nitpickers would say, "too short"), but don't forget for whom or as what these trains are designed: as a toy for children!

The second market leader after Märklin is Roco. It seems, however, that their low-cost line wasn't such a great success. Before the insolvency of the original Roco Modellspielwaren GmbH, the firm offered a "Playtime" line. These trains were simplified in way comparable to the 1960ies and 1970ies Primex items. The lighting and paint was more simple than those of the "normal" Roco items, and there was no flying wheel. Roco even managed to present more simple train - a DB BR 120 and a couple of double deck cars. In fact, the windows of these trains were only printed on the shell - the presentation of these items led, in fact, to some serious discussions within the model train community! The successor firm, the new Modelleisenbahn GmbH, didn't continue that product line.

Moreover, there's an assortment of several passanger- and freight cars offered by Fleischmann, called "Junior-Serie", for just good prices. The firm has also some robust locomotives, but the prices of these items are too high.

A more successful way has been chosen by a firm from Eastern Germany. Piko meanwhile has earned a good name for high-quality model trains which don't have to do anything with the former plastic toys produced during the times of the so-called "GDR". Some time ago, Piko presented low-price models of the modern "Taurus" electric enginge and the DB 218 diesel engine for the German mail-order shop Conrad. The prices were about 60 €. Meanwhile the product line has been extended by new models, also low-cost passenger car and freight cars. A BR 185 and 189, as well as the first steam enginge, are also part of the product line which is called "Piko-Hobby". The locos are offered as DC and AC versions, and are now also sold by regular model train dealers where they cost around 80 €. The AC versions are equiped with a simple Uhlenbrock decoders so they can be operated on analog as well as on digital layouts. The "A-track", a new track system using 2,5 mm track profiles is rounding of the asortment.