Har også spurgt på märklin-user.net og her kom følgende svar (
https://www.marklin-users.net/forum/pos ... ial-number ):
In many topics there are questions about locomotive age.
I have made a "tendency list", based on my own locomotives.
The locomotive's serial number often starts with a letter, after this list:
No letter = Mechanical Reversing Unit
V = Electronically controlled mechanical reversing unit (Vorshaltelektronik)
E = Electronically controlled mechanical reversing unit or a fully electronic unit
R = 5 star propulsion, Regulated (Fünf-Sterne-Technik)
D = Digital control
H = Digital control, High performance propulsion
M = Delta (Mehrzugbetrieb)
S = C-Sinus-Motor (some C-sinus locomotives are reported to have a H)
The serial number label is black with coloured print. The tendency of my locomotives indicates this "time table":
Print colour Silver, 6 digits = 1981 - 1987
Print colour Silver, 8 digits = 1988 - 1991
Print colour White, 8 digits = 1992 - 1996 (Also my 39221 from 2000)
Print colour Orange, 8 digits = 1996 - 2005
Print colour Green, 8 digits = 2006 - 2009
Print colour Green, 9 digits = 2010 - 201? The two first numbers = year
Added, reminded by H0: the first number in the serial number (after the letter, if any) indicates the final digit in the production year.
Examples:
28536 means a analogue locomotive from 1982.
M9139930 means a DELTA locomotive from 1999.
S6070502 means a C-sinus locomotive from 2006.
H11061196 means a digital high performance propulsion locomotive from 2011.
The locomotives from 1981 and earlier have no serial number.