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Trix trains


sagaguy
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I prefer the Trix A3 loco body to the Tri-ang one and not liking the Trix chassis's I have fitted a couple onto Dublo/Wrenn A4 Chassis's.  My only criticism of the body is the awful looking head lights but In can live with them. 

It was not an easy fit and needed a lot of chassis block cutting away and the pole pieces reducing to fit the firebox.

 

Garry

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Edited by Golden Fleece 30
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Guest spet0114

There are some matching Liliput coaches for her to pull... (Rather attractive clerestories....).

 

Have hunted on eBay but to no avail - can you provide more details, please?

 

Oh dear, I'm hooked..... :-)

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Have hunted on eBay but to no avail - can you provide more details, please?

 

Oh dear, I'm hooked..... :-)

 

There are these at a bargain price  and BIN :-

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Lilliput-HO-Coaches-DB-Clerestory-Passenger-/322920168791

 

They are in DB lvery, but you could pass off the locomotive as a preserved example (she might even have the right number?) (or repaint?).

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=liliput+clerestory+coaches&client=firefox-b&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT0PjR6J7YAhXjBsAKHYDdA74QsAQIKA&biw=1195&bih=612

 

I was tempted myself, but SWMBO said, "NO!"   :(

 

The Liliput coach I have has rather attractive matchboarded sides. I'll see if I can find some more info., but probably it will be after Xmas.

 

Since 'Lilliput' becomes 'Liliput' in Austrian, I would suggest (Lilliput,Liliput) in the search window. Probably Märklin (watch the non insulated wheels), Fleischmann etc. have something suitable too.

 

Our 'friend' Cartmel has this one  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-TRIX-LILIPUT-MODEL-No-293-CLERESTORY-COACH-RED-CREAM-VERSION-MIB-/302511788683 (and a blue one), but his prices are rather less economical.

Edited by Il Grifone
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  • 5 months later...

I just purchased a 3 rail Trix Britannia off eBay.  I'll post a picture when it arrives.  In the meantime, here's one of the photos the vendor had on the listing.  The front steps look slightly bent, but otherwise it looks in pretty good condition.

 

s-l1000.jpg

Edited by Wolseley
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I used to have a class 5 many years ago, it seemed to be a very good model in those days. I also had a Brittania as one of their kits. I may still have the valve gear around somewhere.

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I have a couple of the Standard 5's and also a Britannia and I think the Standard looks more the part.  Here is one that I 3-railed with Dublo style plungers pulling a rake of parcels vans including some 4 and 6 wheelers.  Near the end just watch how fast these get pushed back into the station.  This loco I bought second hand in the 70's and was 2-rail at the time, the paintwork was done then and did not look too bad so I never re-painted it like most locos I did. The only non Trix about it are the Romford bogie wheels (plus the pick-ups).

 

 

Garry

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My old class 5 was the most powerful locomotive I have come across. In my teenage years I coupled it to a train with a Dublo Duchess on the other end and it literally pulled train and Duchess backwards. I remember acquiring it by a trade-in of the old bakelite track with Hattons in the late 50s/early 60s.

 

Incidentally, can't the class 5 and Brit be converted between 2 and 3 rail by simply changing the collection shoes?

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My old class 5 was the most powerful locomotive I have come across. In my teenage years I coupled it to a train with a Dublo Duchess on the other end and it literally pulled train and Duchess backwards. I remember acquiring it by a trade-in of the old bakelite track with Hattons in the late 50s/early 60s.

 

Incidentally, can't the class 5 and Brit be converted between 2 and 3 rail by simply changing the collection shoes?

The Trix locos had a tyre on one of the driving wheels hence the pulling power.

 

They could have their shoes swapped around but I am not keen on the Trix pick-ups especially a shoe on the outside running rail. Plus, I wanted a "proper" 3-rail loco so both sides of the driving wheels have a common collector.

 

garry

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Beat me to it!

 

The pickups need modification for two rail. The idea was that the loco would pickup from one or other of the running rails so that two locos could be operated individually at the same time and swopping the running rail pickups would change the rail used for pickup. The centre rail pickup would need extending to pick up from the running rail instead.

 

The EM1 has three pickups in a row and it is possible to make her two rail by switching them around.

 

David

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I think there was a Britannia body for sale very cheap on the Skipton Exhibition club sales stand last year.  I wasn't quite sure what it was and left it but thought about it on the train home and realised.  The 70000 number is moulded into the smoke box door I think?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just purchased a 3 rail Trix Britannia off eBay.  I'll post a picture when it arrives.  In the meantime, here's one of the photos the vendor had on the listing.  The front steps look slightly bent, but otherwise it looks in pretty good condition.

 

 

It has arrived, and is in better condition than the photographs suggest. The steps are not bent, as such, it's just one of them that has been knocked slightly and is a bit loose - should be easy to fix.  The paintwork is in excellent condition and doesn't need even any touching up - the only wear evident is a bit of scuffing on the cylinder lining and on one of the cabside numbers - and the nameplates and the red on the bufferbeam look a bit grubby.  I can't call it a mint example, but it's very close to being one.  I briefly tested it, just enough to make sure that it runs, and it runs very well.  All in all this has to be one of the best bargains I have picked up on eBay - not exactly dirt cheap, but worth more than the ‎£50 I paid (it was on "Buy It Now" and I think it had only been posted up for an hour or so when I spotted it).

 

I already have two Trix locos, an 0-6-2T and a Warship and I noticed a difference in the pickup arrangement.  The  0-6-2T and Warship have those angled pickups that rest on the outer rails, but the Britannia does not - it has a standard Trix centre rail pickup, but the pickup from the outer rails is via the tender wheels.  I assume this means that it was manufactured after Trix dropped their TTR system.  Can any Trix historian comment on this?

 

I haven't got around to taking a photo yet.

Edited by Wolseley
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The first Trix Britannias had pick up shoes for the running rails. This is an early one without the detachable plastic flanges to convert them to 'scale'.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/oo-Gauge-Boxed-TTR-Trix-Twin-Britannia-Locomotive-Tender-70000-/142842673646

 

Later ones appear to have picked up from the wheels if this tender is anything to go by.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIX-TENDER-ONLY-FOR-5MT-LOCOMOTIVE-/352388395761

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  • 4 weeks later...
 

I don`t think i`ve posted this on this forum before, Trix Transpennine units can be made to run very well on Dublo 3 rail track,no sparky problems.It`s fitted with a Marklin skate in the brake coach the assist with current collection.

 

                                            

 

 

                  Ray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I've recently acquired, from different sources, two Trix ac locos which have had the reversing coil and mechanism removed, and the coil over the armature replaced by a magnet. The skate pickups have been wired direct to the brushes, and so they now both work beautifully on dc!

 

So I wonder if this was a 'standard' bodge of the day, perhaps around the time Trix were going over to dc?

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The Southgate Hobbyshop,N.London offered DC conversions to Trix AC locos in the early 60s so perhaps it was one of these conversions.

 

                       Ray.

 

Thanks Ray but I don't think so - definitely a 'rough' job and the magnets loose. But perhaps once someone had seen what they offered realised they could do a diy job with a suitable-sized magnet from the bits box and a couple of bits of wire. Dirt cheap and dead easy.

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My Dad did this with a number of our locos. My apple green 0-4-0 had an Eclipse bar magnet replacing the field coil, as did Pychley. I think the SR motor coach had a horseshoe magnet for some reason. Still got them somewhere, now I guess some bright spark will suggest I convert them to DCC!

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My Dad did this with a number of our locos. My apple green 0-4-0 had an Eclipse bar magnet replacing the field coil, as did Pychley. I think the SR motor coach had a horseshoe magnet for some reason. Still got them somewhere, now I guess some bright spark will suggest I convert them to DCC!

 

 

I think this has already been done,there`s been some discussion on the Facebook Trix model Trains page!!.

 

                          Ray.

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There's no need to replace the field coil with a permanent magnet*. Just diconnect the sequencer reverser (it can be left in place - it adds weight) and wire in a bridge rectifier so that the coil is always enerigised in the same polarity. She is now DC and reverses properly once the rotary switch is set correctly. This has the advantage, apart from simplicity, of being easily changed back to AC if desired.

The armature is in series with the field coil and should not really have the full voltage across it.

 

DCC could possibly be wired to feed/control the coil and armature separately?

 

* Trix did this with their U.S. outline locos for export around 1950. (IIRC a permanet magnet replaces the field coil and she has finer wheels for 2 rail - its quite a while since I took mine out for a run.)

AFAIK it was just the switcher, but there would have been no problem with the passenger loco, as the bodies only differ in detail. Mainly the position of the headlight and a change in the design of the pilot. There are at least two variations in the handrails....

Edited by Il Grifone
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I've never tried it, as I don't have any AC locos, but I've read that AC motors such as those used in the British Trix models will run on DC. I believe that Eheim used AC motors in their trolleybus models and they are said to work on DC. I looked at buying some of them back in the 1960s, but when I saw that they were AC, and the price, I didn't proceed with my plans to add them to my layout.

 

I've seen AC motors being referred to as "universal" on continental European model railway websites presumably as they will work on either AC or DC with no modification, but the reversing mechanism is still needed to change direction on DC.

Edited by GoingUnderground
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The Trix motor is indeed universal and will work happily on DC, but it won't reverse by altering the polarity like a DC motor. Lowering the voltage below 4 volts* wil trigger the sequence reverser and it then won't run at all until the process is repeated when it will reverse.

 

* Assuming everthing is working correctly. The Trix motor is a touchy beast. The brush tension should be adjusted so that the locomotive will start with 6 volts applied rather than for the best operation like Dublo.

 

The automatic signalling system made use of this with the 'indicating check switch' which placed a bulb in series with the supply to a section of track in front of one of their colour light signals. Switching the signal to red will cause the approaching train to slow down and stop (again theoretically). I have even managed to make this work!

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rmweb.co.uk%2Fcommunity%2Fuploads%2Fmonthly_03_2017%2Fpost-807-0-69649400-1489577964.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rmweb.co.uk%2Fcommunity%2Findex.php%3F%2Ftopic%2F108405-trix-trains%2Fpage-5&docid=mEeTcLZRK1WXMM&tbnid=XbDZcS2MzpBm3M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwii5LaMzbrcAhUIPFAKHdZWCEAQMwhBKAAwAA..i&w=800&h=493&client=firefox-b&bih=647&biw=1292&q=trix%20indicating%20check%20switch&ved=0ahUKEwii5LaMzbrcAhUIPFAKHdZWCEAQMwhBKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

It was a feature of the ready wired table top, details of which can be found here:

 

http://www.ttrca.co.uk/TTRCA%20Gazette%20164%20Sept%2016%20WEB%20edit.pdf

 

I never realised any Princesses were made post-war much less in blue.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just got hold of five Trix "Blood and Custard" coaches, two of which have lighting units fitted (don't ask me why - I'm not sure why I bought them).  They are pretty sound, although rather grubby, and need a good clean and lubrication, and the roofs will probably need to be repainted.  They do, as you would expect from Trix products of that vintage, have trouble negotiating Dublo pointwork and I was wondering if anyone could comment on how easy it would be to change the wheels (I haven't taken any out yet to see what shape the ends of the axles are, nor am I sure what would be the best way to take them out) and whether Dublo wheels could be fitted (the coaches with lighting would obviously need metal wheels and axles on at least the bogie without the 3rd rail pickup) or, if Dublo wheels won't fit, which make would?

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