Trix EM1 Bo Bo Electric

[andyman7]

I'm only really interested in later Trix and British Liliput items (representing what was an exotic and hard to find make when I was a child in the 1970s); as such the EM1 has been both an item that interests me (as it is 'modern' [!] image) but also one that generally sits outside my period as it falls mostly in the 2/3 rail coarse track TTR era.

 

I was therefore very please to acquire a late 2-rail green example. The 'Matthewman' bible lists a Green 2 Rail finescale wheels version under catalogue number 1126 from right at the end of the production run in 1964. According to the book it should have one-piece roof vents, no nameplates and a larger size BR totem on the sides; however the one I have now has the nameplates/smaller logos and separate six-piece ventilators. It is entirely possible that this is a late green 1126 model (or even 1123 black version) that has had the body changed for an earlier named version, but whatever the provenance this is definitely not easy to find. Indeed, finding any late British Trix/Liliput models in 'as-made' condition has always in my experience proven hard - their high price and target market of adult modellers (as opposed to the kids train set market) paradoxically seems to result in many models having after-market 'improvements' made, for example adding the missing yellow ends to models such as the Warship or correcting the bufferbeam colours on the corporate blue E3001.      
 

I will therefore continue to keep an eye out for 'late' EM1 issues but this one will make a good addition to my 60s 2 rail Triang/Dublo/Trix stable.

[sagaguy]

They are a very powerful loco, ihave a few of them,they all run off the Trix catenary at the moment.

 

                             Ray.

 

                           

 

[33C]

I found a 3 rail one in black and just turned the pick ups through 180° to run as 2 rail. Daft, I know! It's in lovely nick but it should be blue.........

[sagaguy]

Here you are,one of my repaints of a tatty original.

 

        Ray.

[cctransuk]

36 minutes ago, 33C said:

I found a 3 rail one in black and just turned the pick ups through 180° to run as 2 rail. Daft, I know!

 

That is precisely what they were designed to do.

 

CJI.

[andyman7]

1 hour ago, 33C said:

I found a 3 rail one in black and just turned the pick ups through 180° to run as 2 rail. Daft, I know! It's in lovely nick but it should be blue.........

 

42 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

That is precisely what they were designed to do.

 

CJI.

Yes, I'm aware of the shoe pick-ups being configurable, but to me it's still fairly crude, so the later wheels with wiper pickups are a much preferred option for me 

[sagaguy]

I don't think these models were ever supplied with wiper pickups,they were intended for three trains on one track,the third pickup being the catenary.The AL1s never had wiper pickups either, being 2 rail,the Current was collected through opposite bogies. 

 

       Ray.

[andyman7]

1 hour ago, sagaguy said:

I don't think these models were ever supplied with wiper pickups,they were intended for three trains on one track,the third pickup being the catenary.The AL1s never had wiper pickups either, being 2 rail,the Current was collected through opposite bogies. 

 

       Ray.

They were supplied in this way at the end of production, by which time TTR was being phased out, becoming 'Trix Trains' - it's there in the Matthewman book, and the chassis in my example is to full factory spec. It's the same chassis arrangement as the Warship. The E3001 started life as a Liliput/Miniature Construction model and had a different chassis arrangement that was later adopted for the Western.

[russell price]

Does anyone know where i might source a full set of wheels for mine as the pest has got to mine? if i cant source any then i shall either turn out a set of my own on the lathe or modify something to fit.

Thanks

 

[sagaguy]

The only way you may be able to get them is from the TTRCA spares but you have to be member to buy.

 

        Ray. 

[cctransuk]

13 hours ago, andyman7 said:

 

Yes, I'm aware of the shoe pick-ups being configurable, but to me it's still fairly crude, so the later wheels with wiper pickups are a much preferred option for me 

 

Crude now - but considered rather clever sixty-odd years ago!

 

CJI.

[andyman7]

Yes, of course - especially as in the days before any kind of common standards, it meant Trix locos could be used not just on their own system, but also on Dublo or Triang with relatively little faffing about.

[Il Grifone]

When they decided to produce models that actually looked like the real thing*, Trix introduced a rather clever plastic flange to convert locomotive wheels from their coarse standards to something compatible with Dublo standards. It was only one way however.

The fibre track became 'universal' and later still they went the whole hog and became two rail.

 

* Previously, apart from four-coupled toy trains, they had three Pacifics* that were reasonably like their prototypes (provided you kept them away from a ruler) and some 4-4-0s that shared the wheel arrangement.

 

* On the chassis of the Trix Express '01' (discreetly marked "FOREIGN" after the war - fooled nobody) - LNER/BR(E) A1 'Scotsman', LMS 'Princess' and Streamlined 'Coronation'. The last two did not reappear after the war (apart from factory 'one-offs'), though the Princess seems to have inspired the Rovex (later Tri-ang) version.

 

https://www.brightontoymuseum

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Il Grifone

[sagaguy]

As well as my Trix EM1s,i modified a Heljan EM2 to collect from the wire using new Trix pantographs from the TTRCA.Works really well.

 

                           Ray.

 

 

[GoingUnderground]

I have several Trix EM1s, so the following info may be of use to anyone thinking of buying one.

 

Beware of zinc pest/rot. The first one that I owned was bought way back in the late 1960s, less than 10 years after the loco was launched. It already had a bad case of pest in the motor bogie drive shaft housing but the body was and still is completely free from pest. I have another one where the wheels are suffering from rot as well. These seem to be the two components, wheels and drive shaft housing, that suffer most from pest, probably because they were made by Trix in-house and not bought in. None of the bodies that I have, so far, show any signs of pest, which I put down to them being bought in by Trix from a reputable firm who produced their own range of chrome plated zinc alloy bathroom fittings and who appear to have had excellent quality control standards. I recently replaced some bathroom fittings made by that firm after almost 40 years of use, and they showed no signs of pest. The only reason they were replaced was modernisation of the bathroom..

 

The 6 individual roof vents are each held in place with a peg that fits through a hole in the body. Treat these vents with care as the plastic does seem to go brittle with age and it is possible to break off the vent by accident and lose it if the loss goes unnoticed.

 

The pantographs seem to be quite robust, but the plastic pegs that locate them on the roof seem to have the same brittleness as the roof vent plastic.

 

The early models had coarse scale plastic wheel flanges applied over the fine scale wheels. The flanges can be removed by cutting them off and once removed cannot easily be refitted. If you think that Triang wheel flanges are coarse then you won't believe the thickness of the Trix ones.

 

There is no such thing as a "3 rail" Trix loco in the way that Dublo locos were 3 rail. The Trix "Twin" system used the centre rail as the common return, unlike Dublo who used both running rails as the common return. On the Trix locos, the wheels are insulated from each other and from the chassis, and so will run on ordinary 2 rail track by adjusting the pickup shoes accordingly. I think on some Trix locos, the chassis was live to the 3rd rail, but that doesn't seem to apply to the design of the EM1, at least not to the examples that I have. The pickup shoes are not terribly attractive, but it is possible to make your own pickup wipers running on the back of the wheels. You will need pickups for each side for the reason described above.

 

The loco is made to 3.8mm scale, so will look slightly small next to true 4mm scale models.

 

The shape of the cab roof and loco front is incorrect. When seen from head on, the front corners of the roof above the cab front windows on the Trix model curve downwards towards the sides quite noticeably, when it should be almost flat like the Triang EM2. It makes it look a bit like it is melting away at the corners. It is possible to disguise this by painting the roofline so that it is horizontal above the cab front windows. 

 

But given that the design dates back to the late 1950s when model railways were primarily toys it's very acceptable, at least to me when compared to the real thing. And it has pantographs that will run touching the contact wire without distorting out of shape which is more than can be said for the Heljan EM1, and will run and pick up quite happily under Triang Phase 1 and 2 catenary as well as under the somewhat rarer Trix catenary system.

 

It shares running gear with the Warship, the main difference being that the bogies were further apart on the Warship so it is not possible to do a straight body swap, but it is possible to cut'n'shut a Warship chassis so that it fits into the EM1 body, having done one myself. On this loco I will be remodelling the Trix EM1 bodyshell to convert it to "Tommy", which will probably mean that I will end up removing the curvature of the cab roof above the cab front windows.

 

  

 

 

[Il Grifone]

Trix wheels are so coarse that they will not go through Dublo pointwork at all, whereas Tri-ang will albeit with a bit of bump due to the deep flanges. The B2B seems to be about 12.5mm?

Increasing the B2B will allow a rough passage for rolling stock, but this is not possible with the locomotives due to gear mesh problems.

Changing the wheels is the best option but finding 10mm diameter wheels to Dublo standards is not easy. The Peco conversion sets for Tri-ang will do, but are plastic and like hen's teeth these days. I have used the small 9mm size Rivarossi wheels with a Peco washer between the axle halves. These are a tad undersize and look it or one can fit Dublo wheels, which are 2mm too big in diameter, but this is an advantage with the passenger stock as it helps to disguise the smaller scale. The 'scale' coaches in particular seem narrow.

The 'shortie' parcels van makes a useful LMS 42' van especially if fitted with Dublo LMS bogies*. This also solves the problem of the Trix coupling drop pin being set for steamroller wheels. (Playcraft couplingss are similar without the excuse of coarse wheels - an attempt to avoid patent claims?)

Wrenn magnetic uncouplers require the trip pins set to the Trix setting to operate as well.

*Scrap D3 LMS (or even early D12 BR) coaches are quite easy to find. Why Meccano Ltd saw fit to change the bogies on their coaches to an incorrect type I don't know. Petty economy or did they run off too many of the suburban type?

Edited January 2, 2023 by Il Grifone

[Beechnut]

Check out the Hanson’s auction 10/01/23.

 

Brendan

[sagaguy]

On 01/01/2023 at 20:16, GoingUnderground said:

 

 

The 6 individual roof vents are each held in place with a peg that fits through a hole in the body. Treat these vents with care as the plastic does seem to go brittle with age and it is possible to break off the vent by accident and lose it if the loss goes unnoticed.

 

The pantographs seem to be quite robust, but the plastic pegs that locate them on the roof seem to have the same brittleness as the roof vent plastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is my Heljan EM1 fitted with again,Trix EM1 pantographs which were supplied by the spares from the TTRCA.It`s actually fitted with a miniature switch inside the body which means that it can pick up from the wire or the centre rail through a Marklin skate attached under one of the bogies.It has always mystified me how such an expensive model had such a crap pantograph.You can see the slide switch just to the right of the green pcb.

 

                    Ray

[GoingUnderground]

On 02/01/2023 at 08:53, Il Grifone said:

Trix wheels are so coarse that they will not go through Dublo pointwork at all, whereas Tri-ang will albeit with a bit of bump due to the deep flanges. The B2B seems to be about 12.5mm?

Increasing the B2B will allow a rough passage for rolling stock, but this is not possible with the locomotives due to gear mesh problems.

Changing the wheels is the best option but finding 10mm diameter wheels to Dublo standards is not easy. The Peco conversion sets for Tri-ang will do, but are plastic and like hen's teeth these days. I have used the small 9mm size Rivarossi wheels with a Peco washer between the axle halves. These are a tad undersize and look it or one can fit Dublo wheels, which are 2mm too big in diameter, but this is an advantage with the passenger stock as it helps to disguise the smaller scale. The 'scale' coaches in particular seem narrow.

The 'shortie' parcels van makes a useful LMS 42' van especially if fitted with Dublo LMS bogies*. This also solves the problem of the Trix coupling drop pin being set for steamroller wheels. (Playcraft couplingss are similar without the excuse of coarse wheels - an attempt to avoid patent claims?)

Wrenn magnetic uncouplers require the trip pins set to the Trix setting to operate as well.

*Scrap D3 LMS (or even early D12 BR) coaches are quite easy to find. Why Meccano Ltd saw fit to change the bogies on their coaches to an incorrect type I don't know. Petty economy or did they run off too many of the suburban type?

The flange thickness on Trix fine scale wheels as fitted to the EM1 are slimmer than the wheels on Triang models of the same period. So your comments about the coarseness of Trix wheels only apply to the older models with coarse scale wheels such as the Ruston Hornsby 0-6-0 diesel shunter, or the younger models such as the EM1 with convertible wheels which still had the plastic coarse scale flanges in place. On the coarse scale and unconverted wheels the back-to-back at the wheel tread would be around 12-13mm simply because of the thickness of the flanges. 

 

As the 1959 Trix catalogue said about the Ruston Hornsby loco "This model is only available for Trix Track, being fitted with non-scale wheels only.". 

[sagaguy]

As a variation on the scheme,one of my Triang EM2s operating on the layout.

 

                  Ray.

 

 

 

[Il Grifone]

On 03/01/2023 at 12:17, GoingUnderground said:

The flange thickness on Trix fine scale wheels as fitted to the EM1 are slimmer than the wheels on Triang models of the same period. So your comments about the coarseness of Trix wheels only apply to the older models with coarse scale wheels such as the Ruston Hornsby 0-6-0 diesel shunter, or the younger models such as the EM1 with convertible wheels which still had the plastic coarse scale flanges in place. On the coarse scale and unconverted wheels the back-to-back at the wheel tread would be around 12-13mm simply because of the thickness of the flanges. 

 

As the 1959 Trix catalogue said about the Ruston Hornsby loco "This model is only available for Trix Track, being fitted with non-scale wheels only.". 

 

I should have said I was referring to the early Trix wheels. Later on of course they dropped these in favour of something rather finer/less coarse.

[roythebus1]

Beware of flange depth on later Trix fine wheels, they ground out on fine scale bullhead chairs! Or at least my AL1 does, but that may be partly due to worn traction tyres.

[Il Grifone]

Dublo wheels were not intended for scale rail. Code 100 is about their mark (Dublo track is code 125 (3 rail) or code 110 (2 rail)

[sagaguy]

I dunno,my Trix Peppercorn makes a pretty good fist of running on Dublo Track!.

 

                          Ray.

 

 

[Il Grifone]

Later Trix has wheels that are 100% compatible with Dublo track (as does Hornby of course). The only problems are that Trix connected the the pickups to directly to the loco chassis block which causes short circuits with Dublo stock (wheels live to chassis) as here:

 

 

 

The other problem is the Trix (and Playcraft) drop pins are set nearer to the centre making the uncoupler rails incompatible.

 

I suspect the Dublo stock uncoupling in the video is a result of the13½" radius of the Trix curved rails. Being steel, Trix track suffers from dirt collection more than Dublo.

The smaller Trix scale is quite apparent especially with the Tri-ang stock (even the TC box car/track cleaning vehicle.

No prizes for guessing that the bits of plastic make a mailbag collection bin for the Tri-ang TPO coaches.

'Supply/power' and 'return' are better used rather than 'positive' and 'negative'' as the latter alternate with direction on DC and (since we are talking Trix) have no relevance with AC.

There is a neat push-contact fibre based Trix terminal rail. Bakelite track relied on small size banana plugs. The latter are quite hard to find today.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Il Grifone