Trix Trains Catalogued

Some more recent acquisitions - once again, nobody else bid for them on eBay so they weren't expensive.  As can be seen, this is a small collection of Trix model railway catalogues and associated publications of some vintage.  On the top row are a 1964 catalogue, (note how the name is now styled simply as 'Trix' rather than 'Trix Twin Railways' of 'TTR' as on the older items, reflecting the system's move away from its three rail 'twin' trackwork to a more modern two rail set up), and an earlier, 1960/61 catalogue.  Below these two are a 1958 catalogue, the 'Trix Yearbook and Catalogue' for 1954 and, most interesting of all, the 'TTR Permanent Way Manual' from 1950.  The latter is a fascinating guide to operating your model railway along the lines of a real railway, with chapters on signalling, block working and the marshaling of freight trains, amongst other subjects.  I can see this becoming my 'bible' for operating my own layout.  Between them, these publications provide a pretty good history of Trix's evolution post war, (or British Trix, to be accurate, as it operated separately from its original German parent, Trix, going through several different ownerships post war).

The range of locomotives and rolling stock offered was pretty much unchanging throughout the fifties, having its origins pre-war.  The closest it had to an actual scale representation of a real prototype was the A3 pacific (strictly speaking an A1/A10 as it represents the type in  its original configuration).  The two 4-4-0s, the Midland Compound and the ex-LNER Hunt class look vaguely like their prototypes but have clearly been designed to run on a standard chassis.  The other locos were freelance 0-4-0 designs of both tank and tender types, (these mechanisms were also used as the basis of a couple of US outline steam locos).

This same range features in the 1958 catalogue, although, by then, they had been supplemented by some scale length tinplate coaches.  Somewhen during the fifties there had been another 4-4-0 based on the existing mechanism, this time a Southern Railway Schools class.  This, apparently, is incredibly rare today.  But then things changed completely, within a year, these locomotive models had been swept away in favour of a whole new range of proper scale models, as reflected in the cover to the 1960/61 catalogue, which illustrates the new Warship diesel, EM2 electric and Britannia 4-6-2.  There was also the Standard Class 5 (or Class V, as Trix insisted on calling it), an E2 tank engine a Drewery diesel shunter.  The coaches and wagons, however, remained the old tinplate types.  By 1964, there had been further expansion of the range, with a Western class diesel being added, along with new plastic bodied wagons and BR Mk1 coaches.

The wheels by now had finer scale standards, making them, in the main, capable of running on other manufacturers' track, although Trix now also produced a new range of 'universal' track, in both three and two rail, which could be used by other makers' stock.  All the locomotives were also now available in either two rail or three rail versions.  By 1967, the three rail track and locos had been discontinued altogether, (although the track could be special ordered and all of the locomotives could be converted to run either three or two rail).  Within a few years, Trix introduced even more models, this time of the LNER A2, A3 and A4 pacifics, before finally going out of business.  For a few years some of their products were available under the Lilliput brand but, by the late seventies, they had pretty much vanished.  The Trix name, of course, lives on with the original German company.  Interestingly, although, in effect, a separate entity, British Trix always maintained links with German Trix - the 1964 catalogue, for instance, includes models from the German company and its subsidiaries, re-wheeled to British standards.

Trix have always held a fascination for me, partly because of the way that they effectively vanished from the market before I was old enough to get into model railways.  I remember their products appearing fleetingly in model shops when I was a kid, then the Lilliput models, whose appearances were even rarer in my local model shop.  They were always the lesser known of the 'big three' British model railway manufacturers of the immediate post war period - they never had the prestige of Hornby Dublo (although they were more expensive) or the cheapness and availability of Triang.  Their cause wasn't helped by their choice of an eccentric AC three rail system when the more popular Dublo used a DC three rail system and upstart Triang boasted two rail operation from the outset, and their inconsistent scale, preferring 3.8mm to the foot to the 4mm to the foot used by other British 00 manufacturers.  They did switch to DC during the fifties but, like Dublo, focused n three rail for too long.  Still, they did outlast Dublo by a good few years (the Hornby Dublo range was acquired by Lines Brothers in 1964 and combined with their existing Triang range to create Triang-Hornby).  Which was only fair - they switched to two rail faster than Dublo and their new range of models was far better than anything Dublo had to offer in terms of detail and accuracy.  The Standard Class V model, of which I have an example, is still a good representation of the prototype and a superb runner: smooth and very powerful,  Their Mk1 coaches, of which I have a large number, bought when they were available quite cheaply, second hand, are likewise, very accurate mouldings and incredibly smooth runners.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the 'Twin' part of their original name, it was due to the fact that Trix's three rail system, in both AC and DC versions, allowed the independent running of two locomotives on the same track - somethimg impossible with either the Dublo or Triang systems.