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Submission declined on 7 December 2025 by TheInevitables (talk). This draft reads like an advertisement. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a platform for promotion or marketing. Drafts that are exclusively promotional may be deleted without notice.
Wikipedia articles must be written neutrally in a formal, impersonal, and dispassionate way. They should not read like a blog post, advertisement, or fan page. Rewrite the draft to remove:
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Declined by TheInevitables 6 months ago.LLM-generated pages with certain obvious signs of being machine generated may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
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Submission declined on 25 October 2025 by Pythoncoder (talk). This draft appears to contain text generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You cannot use LLMs to generate article content.
Declined by Pythoncoder 8 months ago.LLM-generated pages with certain obvious signs of being machine generated may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
Comment: May be notable, but there is not enough here to demonstrate it. The two genealogical sources should be removed. The Altes Spielzeug reference goes to a page listing the content of the magazine - if the article is not available online, please cite the paper version. The Maquetren article has a blank archive - please either cite a version of the article which is online, or cite the paper version. Can you add a reference to the very detailed interview with Expresso a major Portuguese newspaper
? Please write neutrally and avoid WP:PEACOCK words like "sophisticated", "artisanal", "perfecting". Please make sure everything is sourced; the paragraph starting "Märklin has since then tried" and the sentence starting "After Vasco Manuel’s passing" [should read "death", see MOS:PASSEDAWAY] are unsourced. Tacyarg (talk) 15:27, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
- Comment: Ref 3 to 6 and not reliable sources. Never use scribd. It is a predatory. See WP:SCRIBD. These need to be removed. scope_creepTalk 08:18, 28 October 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: The "legacy" section is not appropriate and the draft is more likely to be accepted without it. Theroadislong (talk) 15:38, 26 October 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Please add in-text citations to verify information. Thank you! Significa liberdade (she/her) (talk) 14:49, 25 October 2025 (UTC)
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | Manuel Saraiva, in 1942 in Lisbon, Portugal |
| Defunct | End date c. 1953 |
| Products | Model railroading (00 scale) |
Vacminel (a.k.a Vaqueminel) was a Portuguese model railroading brand founded by Manuel Saraiva in Portugal active between 1942 to 1953[1]. which featured the locomotive MS300, a very sophisticated (although artisanal) copy of Märklin’s SK800.
History
editBetween the years of 1942 and 1953, Manuel Saraiva (Manuel Antonio Quintas Saraiva, born 1913, in Olhao, Portugal[2]) a professional veterinarian and part time modelist, was probably the only person in Europe to build miniature trains, identical to the Märklin models, a brand that, at the time was one of the most notable toy companies in the world. During World War II almost all of Europe’s industries halted their production, particularly German and ally companies. Märklin specifically had to change its production from toy building to weapon manufacture. Although Märklin had halted its toy production, in Portugal, in his little workshop in Santana a Lapa, Manuel Saraiva kept perfecting the production of model trains at a H0 (1:87) scale, inspired by the original model SK800 and copying it to detail. .[3]
Production
editIn an artisanal way, he alone, integrally built a full personalized copy of the SK800, the MS300. He created the moulds, fabricated parts, set circuits, structured engines, lathe wheels, cut tin, painted, tested several locomotives along with full boxed sets. He named his brand and these full sets as VACMINEL (also Vaqueminel) as a tribute to his first son Vasco Manuel[4][5].
Manuel Saraiva built a total of 30 sets composed of one electric locomotives MS300, three passenger wagons, Railway track tracks, and transformers, all in H0 scale and powered by alternating current.[3]
These boxed sets priced at 200 Portuguese Escudos in the late 1940’s (which would be about 250 euros today) were sold at the Bijouflora and the Tadeu toy shops located in Lisbon downtown street, Rua do Ouro.[3]
Business closure
editIn 1955, a few years after the end of the war and when Märklin restarted its toy production, he closed his business and hid the moulds and other liable parts with fears of a German legal retaliation based on copyrights and because, even with its high selling price, sales didn’t really compensate the time and money spent building them. [3]
Märklin has since then tried to know the work of this Portuguese artisan and has guaranteed, even to Manuel Saraiva, no retaliation would happen. Now-a-days those sets are considered relics amongst collectors, and the rare auctions or sales have shown a substantial value increase over the years.
Later accounts and interviews
editIn the 1990’s Manuel Saraiva gave some interviews where he shared the story of Vacminel with many specialised modelling magazines from Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, including a very detailed interview with Expresso a major Portuguese newspaper. He always reported that he had destroyed all his moulds.[1]
In the 2000’s after Manuel Saraiva passed away, his son Vasco Saraiva found the Tender mould and, with that, debate was reignited amongst the European train modelist enthusiasts. Vasco Saraiva was an engineer and tried to detail the artisanal process Manuel Saraiva used, based on what equipment was left at his father’s workshop, by replying to even the most sceptic specialists that questioned the original story. This was done in very detailed correspondence that was then published as follow up articles in the speciality magazines[5].
After Vasco Manuel’s passing a few years ago, while the family was carefully dismantling Manuel Saraiva’s workshop, the locomotive moulds were found and these news were shared with the modelling community.
References
edit- 1 2 Gebr. Märklin & Cie (1984). Märklin 00/H0: Primex, Antex, Minex, Werbewagen; d. Handbuch für d. Märklin-Sammler; Grundmodelle u. Modell-Varianten, Herstellungszeiten, aktuelle Preise, Zubehör ([2. Aufl.] 1984/85 ed.). Wetzlar: Mikado-Verl. ISBN 978-3-8124-0049-7.
- ↑ "Manuel António Quintas Saraiva, * 1914 | Geneall.net". geneall.net. Retrieved 2025-10-26.
- 1 2 3 4 Pipa, Manuel; Jimenez, Anastasio (JANUARY 2004). ""VACMINEL"". Maquetren. Revista de los aficionados al tren maqueta y real nº 130 (Enero 2004). pp. 68–73. ISSN 1132-2036. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
{{cite news}}: Check|issn=value (help); Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ "Vasco Manuel Henriques Saraiva, * 1941 | Geneall.net". geneall.net. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- 1 2 Gollinger, Gerd; Reinold, Dieter; Pipa, Manuel (15 October 2006). ""Die VACMINEL - Story"". Altes Spielzeug - redaktion@altes-spielzeug-magazin.de. pp. 2–6. ISSN 1612-5185. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
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