Trix Trans-Pennine 124

[sagaguy]

The coaches that Trix never supplied,they are impressive models though!.

 

 

                                   

 

 

               Ray.

 

                    

[Signaller69]

The coaches that Trix never supplied,they are impressive models though!.

 

 

20170430_164541 (2).jpg

 

 

Ray.

Strange Trix didn't release the Mk.1s in crimson & cream, though I doubt they would have been quite as nicely lined out as your model (if the choc/cream ones -no lining- are to go by), I'm guessing it is a repaint?

 

I have seen them in Southern Region green, WR chocolate & cream, BR Maroon, BR DMU dark green (for the TP units) and BR blue/grey; the colours all looked very good renditions I thought, compared to some more recent models even.

[sagaguy]

Yes,the cream was Ford Sahara Beige & the crimson was Halfords 454439 Nissan Red 465.It was finished with Modelmaster lining & coach numbers.I did spray one with Railmatch satin varnish but it made thr crimson a biy pale so the rest were finished with gloss varnish.Also a nevawas buffet car!!!.They look good in a train though

 

 

 

                               ray..

[BernardTPM]

Yes,the cream was Ford Sahara Beige & the crimson was Halfords 454439 Nissan Red 465.It was finished with Modelmaster lining & coach numbers.I did spray one with Railmatch satin varnish but it made thr crimson a biy pale so the rest were finished with gloss varnish.Also a nevawas buffet car!!!.

No longer neverwas. There's even a Trix Trans-Penine one.

[Signaller69]

Just had a thought about the CKs though, given 'Golden Fleece 30's post #5 where he mentions corridor/open both in the same coach.

The prototype CK 15000 had a unique layout of 3 corridor compartments and 4 open bays, so can anyone confirm if Trix modelled this layout? (i.e. door, toilet, 2 x 3rd compt., 1 x 1st compt., door, 2 x 3rd open bays, 2 x 1st. bays, toilet, door)

No, Trix followed the production layout of 3x 2nd and 4x 1st class compartments.

 

Edit to correct!

Edited October 14, 2017 by Signaller69

[keefer]

I suppose the main thing is that Trix did the hard work and produced the driving cars, the most recognisable feature of the trains. In the absence of space to run full trains, a lot of boys at the time would've been thrilled to have something new and exotic on their train set, especially if they were able to see the real thing in service!

Well done to all on the thread for what they're doing with their sets - as said already, using the other available Trix coaches gives the trains a uniform look, which is more important than 100% accuracy.

As long's the driving cars are there, then it's a Trans Pennine!

Edited October 14, 2017 by keefer

[Signaller69]

At the risk of shouts of "sacrilege!" this is what I'm using some Trix Mk.1s for. . . A not too distant relative of the Trans Pennine units actually! It is a Swindon class 126 DMU, using modified Lima class 117 DMU chassis, shown in various stages of surgery here:

RMB sides spliced with bits from a BCK to become the Driving Motor Second (DMS).

Cab windows and side section from further Trix parts.

Primed! Pretty much complete.

Almost complete centre Trailer Composite (TC) body; sides for the other end Driving Motor Brake Second (DMBS) being prepared.

DMBS getting there. The 2 different ends, nearer being scratchbuilt from plasticard.

 

The main reason for using Trix coaches as donors, is the window size and spacing is very close to the prototype, albeit the bodyside profile is not quite right for a Swindon unit. The donor coaches supplied sides, ends, roofs and interiors. As can be seen the 2 driving motor cars of the basic 3 car set are quite different. Rather than repeat everything here though, further details can be found on my workbench thread.

 

Hope it is of interest.

[sagaguy]

To be honest,it`s not sacrilige to cut & shut Trix coaches,they are cheap & plentiful on Ebay, i`ve bought three coaches for a tenner inc p&p,&Pullman cars for £5.99.If you want to repaint,you can pick up something like this for 99p,the P&P is more than the article.

 

                     Ray.

 

 

              

[sagaguy]

I found that a lot of these coaches had broken off buffers & i found MJT castings were a good substitute,BUT,no sooner had i fitted these,the TTRCA spares dept.restored the tool that made the buffer beam assy. which is a clip fit to the chassis.Oh well.

 

                                Ray.

[sagaguy]

I suppose the main thing is that Trix did the hard work and produced the driving cars, the most recognisable feature of the trains. In the absence of space to run full trains, a lot of boys at the time would've been thrilled to have something new and exotic on their train set, especially if they were able to see the real thing in service!

Well done to all on the thread for what they're doing with their sets - as said already, using the other available Trix coaches gives the trains a uniform look, which is more important than 100% accuracy.

As long's the driving cars are there, then it's a Trans Pennine!

I converted my rake to 3 rail by fitting a Marklin skate on a trailer coach & wired it to the motor coach by means of a home made plug & socket a la Dublo 8f etc.

 

                                             Ray

 

                     

[Il Grifone]

Strange Trix didn't release the Mk.1s in crimson & cream, though I doubt they would have been quite as nicely lined out as your model (if the choc/cream ones -no lining- are to go by), I'm guessing it is a repaint?

 

I have seen them in Southern Region green, WR chocolate & cream, BR Maroon, BR DMU dark green (for the TP units) and BR blue/grey; the colours all looked very good renditions I thought, compared to some more recent models even.

 

The crimson and cream was long obsolete when Trix released their Mk I coaches. R-T-R models always bore the latest livery - No 'heritage' back then!

Probably the first current (i.e. prototype recently still running) model was the 3F in Midland Railway livery. Possibly because the last one had not long been scrapped - The actual prototype of Tri-ang's model (43775) was scrapped just before the model appeared....

[Golden Fleece 30]

Here is the genuine Trix TP 3-rail bogie.  It has the small shoes to be screwed on in different positions for which ever outside rail you want to collect from and then the centre.  The only difference for me is that I had to solder small discs to them to go through my pointwork.

 

I was going to do something along the lines of what Ray did but was lucky enough to get the 3-rail one first.  What was unusual is that the 2-rail green versions had a small yellow panel but the 3-rail version had plain green ends.

 

Mine here is amongst other DMU/EMU's but only 5 cars long as the 6th was missing a bogie from the days I was going to convert the 2-rail set.  You will notice the drivers roofs are a different grey but the 2-rail set did match the centre coaches.

 

 

Garry

[Il Grifone]

Garry

 

The 3 rail version probably pre-dated the 2 rail one. Trix was still dithering over the matter at the time. The delay in converting was probably the final nail in the coffin both for them and Dublo. The yellow panels appeared about the same time.

 

Seeing your Tri-ang EMU, reminded me that I had found a likely prototype for it in a book titled 'The Southern Railway Story'('The Works' £3 IIRC)  on page 47. Two Driving/guard-luggage/8 comp. thirds back to back, described as an early two-car EMU awaiting scrapping in 1957, It has ventilators above the door droplights (like the Farish compartment coaches). The Tri-ang version is shorter and has wider compartments but that's Tri-ang. They didn't worry over much about such trifling matters.

 

David

Edited October 15, 2017 by Il Grifone

[BernardTPM]

The cabs on the Triang EMU would suit either an Eastern Section 3-SUB or the 4-LAV. Eight compartments makes it the former. I would guess when it came to scrapping the middle coaches were dealt with separately from the outer power coaches.

[roythebus]

If you look at the Trix "fine scale" wheels, you'll notice a boss on the back. They used to supply extra large bakelite or plastic flanges so the new stock could run on their old style track. I had a Southern tank loco (was it the E1?) and a BR 4-6-0 that had them. just removing them meant it could run on the club layout.

 

I was fortunate enough to have worked in Patrick's toy shop in Fulham in the mid 1960s, part-time at school, then full time when I left. I used to look forward to the visit from the Trix rep. i used to order at least one of everything that came in new, including the Western, the TP, the class 81 and the coaches. He showed me a sample of the Flying Scotsman which was very expensive and the boss refused to let me order one. there was also a Brush 4 planned, but that never materialised that I know of.

Edited October 15, 2017 by roythebus

[Golden Fleece 30]

If you look at the Trix "fine scale" wheels, you'll notice a boss on the back. They used to supply extra large bakelite or plastic flanges so the new stock could run on their old style track. I had a Southern tank loco (was it the E1?) and a BR 4-6-0 that had them. just removing them meant it could run on the club layout.

 

I was fortunate enough to have worked in Patrick's toy shop in Fulham in the mid 1960s, part-time at school, then full time when I left. I used to look forward to the visit from the Trix rep. i used to order at least one of everything that came in new, including the Western, the TP, the class 81 and the coaches. He showed me a sample of the Flying Scotsman which was very expensive and the boss refused to let me order one. there was also a Brush 4 planned, but that never materialised that I know of.

Roy, I think the "universal" wheels were only on the tank, Britannia and Standard V. I had them on a Standard but once the plastic ring was cut off you could not go back to coarse scale ones, who would want to anyway?. I don't think any diesels had them nor did the A3 or A2. Later on the wheels were produced without the boss.  The "boss" on the wheels in the photo is actually the insulating bush on both sets of wheels.  The real boss was quite a large diameter in relation to the wheel size. As you can see in the photo of mine with the tender this one was produced without the large inside boss and the other shows the inside bosses.

 

The Brush Type 4 was indeed advertised but as you say never materialised.

 

Garry

Edited October 16, 2017 by Golden Fleece 30

[BernardTPM]

In the same catalogue that showed the Brush type 4 the full set of Mk.II Pullmans were also shown; they're still unavailable r-t-r.

[roythebus]

Yes, the same catalogue. 

 

I wasn't sure how many models had the universal wheels, maybe the Warship and EM1 had them as well as they were at the tail end of the bakelite track. The AL1 has quite fine scale wheels, but then some of the pattern making for that was done by Adrian Swain of ABS Models fame.

 

I never saw any of the diesels with the universal wheels.

[Il Grifone]

The last purely coarse scale Trix locomotive was the Ruston-Hornsby Diesel Shunter which came with the shunter's truck. I saw it in a shop window with the statement that it would run on Dublo track. Thinking this unlikely, I enquired inside to be told on plain track, but not the pointwork, but the wheels could be turned down for a few shillings! Not having the 63/- (IIRC) to buy one I left it at that. Since Trix had the habit of driving the wheels directly through a geared flange, I suspect it was unlikely. The next 3 locomotives were all released together (Brit. Class V* and 56xx) (possibly concurrent with the Ruston-Hornsby?) were all convertible (possibly not the first issue?). (In response to the question as to replacing the coarse flanges, the answer is collectors as they command a higher price with these bits of plastic  ) I have a feeling the next few locos were also convertible, but being diesels and an undernourished looking E2, I wasn't really interested....

 

* Trix always insisted on the Roman numeral, but to everyone else it was a Class 5.

Edited October 17, 2017 by Il Grifone

[roythebus]

I've still got a Trix Ruston, the wheels on that are quite coarse flanges width-wise. someone in the past has used carpet tacks for buffers and they do look the part for an industrial diesel. I may still have bits of a Britannia somewhere.

 

I had a class 5 which ran quite nicely on the MRC's old 00 layout which was built to fine-scale standards.

[andyman7]

Yes, the same catalogue. 

 

I wasn't sure how many models had the universal wheels, maybe the Warship and EM1 had them as well as they were at the tail end of the bakelite track. The AL1 has quite fine scale wheels, but then some of the pattern making for that was done by Adrian Swain of ABS Models fame.

 

I never saw any of the diesels with the universal wheels.

The AL1 wasn't originated by Trix but was incorporated into the range, which is why it is 'proper' 4mm scale and didn't share any of the previous Trix characteristics. It still gets my vote as the finest RTR British outline model produced in the 1960s.

[roythebus]

The AL1 wasn't originated by Trix but was incorporated into the range, which is why it is 'proper' 4mm scale and didn't share any of the previous Trix characteristics. It still gets my vote as the finest RTR British outline model produced in the 1960s.

 

ISTR it was in the Lilliput range originally and was taken over by Trix when they were owned by one of the big international companies and based in Wrexham. for its time it was, as you say, probably the best RTR model. It shared the motor bogie with the Western diesel, hence the slightly long wheelbase, the centre axle hole being used as an idler gear for the AL1.