Trix
Twin : Model History in
Pictures
©
Copyright 2004 Garry Lefevre all rights reserved
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Part I
1935 to 1937
In the beginning there was : -
The first Trix locomotive sold
in the UK for Xmas 1935 was in a box with 3 coaches, a circle of track and a
controller
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catalogue nr. 11/1 |
1935 catalogue
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Introduced by Bassett-Lowke it was referred to as the Twin Train set.
Although
the loco tender has the words “Trix Express”, a close examination shows it is
an over paint with the word “Twin” underneath the word “Trix”. This would be
more in line with the catalogue. Throughout the text in the catalogue it is
referred to as the “Twin Train”. Nowhere does the word “Trix” appear in this
first catalogue, even the photo of the engine has the words “Twin Train” on the
tender. It seems a last minute
decision was taken to use the German name “Trix” on the loco.
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The
price for the complete passenger train was just £2 and the goods set
35/- or £ 1-75. Probably about £100 in today’s money The
bogie coaches were also different for the English market lacking the German
markings but still in green. Goods
wagons were no different |
The inside of the first 1935 catalogue, shows
mainly items available to the German market with some changes. The loco for
England was in green whereas in Germany it was in black. The green tender in the catalogue shows:-
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The station called “Trixstadt”
in Germany was renamed “Twin City” for the UK
The design of the
station was based on an ‘O’ gauge station made by Bassett-Lowke some years
earlier. The German station had a round clock face with a flag on the tower,
whereas the English version had a square face and no flag, not withstanding the
picture in the catalogue
The very first wooden
buildings in 1935 were painted in a pale green colour, this was only for a
short time before the colour was changed to pale cream. Examples of these very first buildings can
be seen below :-
The first engine shed
above was smaller and lower than the 1936 version which was raised and
lengthened to allow the Trix Express electric loco 20/52 with pantographs to
pass through the doors.
In 1936 for the English
market the goods shed was also changed to a flat roof and a longer platform and
two wooden footbridges introduced .
1936
The success of the introduction led to a decision early in
1936 to start using the “Trix” name together with the word “Twin”, ( capitalising on the publicity of the
launch of “Twin sets”) and secondly to
make items in English outline. Clearly to
design, tool up, and produce models would take time. The target was the Xmas market when 60% of sales occurred each
year between end of October and December.
Thus in the early part of 1936 the German models continued to be
imported. The only significant change
was to the wheels of the loco, which changed from the flat disc type to
spokes. The English ones were in black
whereas the German ones were in red.
From
the autumn of 1936 one could buy the first “TRIX TWIN” models in the liveries
of LMS ( London Midland Scottish) and LNER ( London North Eastern Railway).
3
sets for each livery were produced :-
LMS Suburban set cat nr.
2/315
The LMS Express Passenger set cat nr.2/335
The set had two brake third coaches and a first class
coach. The photo above shows a restaurant car in place of the second brake 3rd.
The LMS Goods set cat nr.2/325
LNER Suburban set cat nr.4/315
LNER Express Passenger set cat nr.4/335
The set had two brake third coaches and a first class
coach. The photo above shows a restaurant car in place of the second brake 3rd.
LNER Goods set 4/325
In addition other goods wagons were produced
The good sets were sold with different assortments of
wagons. Each had a guards van but could
have any other 3 wagons.
Sets were sold in long red boxes, whilst individual items
were sold in plane buff coloured boxes.
This continued until the late 1940’s when red boxes were used for single
items.
These early sets were sold with track. Track was the same bakelite type originally
sold with the 1935 TE sets. The
catalogue below shows the track available.
It is worth noting there was no picture of the half curve although it was listed and the buffer rail is different from that actually produced.
The
same wooden buildings were sold as before.
The 1936 Catalogue showed this layout with the buildings, signals and yard lamp
1937
This was the year with steady development of new models
based on those started in 1936. Early
in the year Trix Twin added the livery of
Southern Railway to the existing LMS and LNER range with the
introduction of a passenger and a freight train.
Southern Railway Express Passenger train cat nr.5/334
The set had two brake third coaches and a first class
coach. The photo above shows a restaurant car in place of the second brake 3rd. Also an all 3rd coach was made
only in Southern livery.
Southern Railway goods set cat nr.5/324
No suburban set was made to match those of the LMS and LNER
models. But TTR continued to market the Trix Express 4 wheel German style green
coaches to run with the Southern green tank loco
cat nr. 5/510
The loco was also produced in black
In the Spring of 1937 TTR introduced the first “Scale model
in HO in the World”. This was a model
of the SR electrically motorised coach used on the route from London to
Portsmouth. The motor unit was made
entirely in Nürenberg whilst the coaches were made in England. Soon after TE introduced the Diesel Flyer (20/58),
based on the Portsmouth but with the addition of white and red lights which
changed over according to the direction of travel.
It was sold in a green box ( the only time TTR used a green box) cat nr.5/375
To
advertise the launch which coincided with the opening of the actual train run
from London’s Waterloo to Portsmouth, an exhibition stand and layout were on
display at the stations.
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The Trix company was now firmly establishing the name “Trix
Twin” and the symbol TTR in the public’s mind. Oddly Basset-Lowke continued to market their own catalogue with
the name “Twin Train” sets up to early 1937 whilst ignoring the name “Trix
Twin” in their catalogues.
Above is an extract from the Spring 1937 catalogue
In the summer TTR introduced the London Transport electric
locomotive – (the prototype followed
the UK practice of picking the current up from an additional rail). It was based on an 0-4-0 with pantographs
made by Trix Express. The pantographs
were omitted, and the embossed “Trix Express” on the sides eliminated.
cat nr. 7/530
Trix never made the matching coaches. Although in the late 1950’s Trix made some
suburban coaches in dark red which would have matched with the LT, just 20 years late !!
It was only in production for 1937
Sometime during 1937 Trix started to change the print on
the goods wagons, e.g. changing the pale grey LMS ones to dark brown. The
catalogue numbers were the same and both were sold at the same time. By 1938 a full range of new wagons was
available, this will be covered in looking at that year. For example :-
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First series from 1936 |
Second series from 1937 |
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STATIONS
In the late 1937 Trix announced a new concept in stations :
the Manyways Station units. A number of basic units could be put together in a
large number of combinations to construct a whole series of different stations.
These basic parts enabled one to build a station to ones
own design. For example:-
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A terminal station from the front above |
and from the other side. |
or a through station
A grand terminal station is shown below.
Made of metal Manyways
replaced the wooden stations.
To match these new design and colour scheme new carriage
shed and engine sheds were also introduced but still made of wood.
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To add to the realism Trix commissioned Britains ( the toy
soldier company) to make station staff and passengers to scale.
The
story continues on a future update …..
1938 to 1939 the years of innovation…..watch this site !!
Or
Index
to other Trix History pages