Trix Twin Railway : Model History in Pictures 1935 to 1937
Photos of every Trix item made
with catalogue numbers
© Copyright 2004-2012 Garry Lefevre
all rights reserved
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1935 to 1937
In this period
·
Trix Express the first 00 gauge model railway in the
World
·
TTR introduced at the British Industries Fair in 1936
·
Trix Train models in LMS,
LNER and Southern Railway liveries with catalogue numbers
·
The first attempt at a scale model of the “Portsmouth
train” in 00
·
From wooden buildings to metal Manyways
stations
·
Also known as Twin Trains
1935 the beginning ....
On Sunday 3rd March 1935 the World of 00
gauge model railways began. This new
smaller scale system was first presented at the Leipzig Trade Fair by the
Vereinigte Spielwaren-Fabriken, (the United Toy
Factory). The name of their new smaller
model railway was called Trix Express. A
year later this was to become “TRIX TWIN” in the UK. More about this exhibition and the very
first 1935 newspaper advertisement, (February 1935), for Trix model railways
and latter ones can be seen on the links
: For the exhibition 1935 Exhibition
layouts and for the first newspaper ads :
– Advertisements for
Trix.
Prior to this date model railways were 0 gauge or even
larger. Whilst experiments had been made as early as 1912 by Märklin, (this was nearer to “S” gauge) it was not a
success because of the unreliability of the small electric motors at that
time. In the 1920’s the Bing table top
railway was a success as clockwork models and latter a few electric engines
were introduced. But the system was very
toy like. The company producing these
went bankrupt in the 1930’s following the Wall Street crash. But the originator Stephan Bing joined with
Siegfried Kahn, ( the inventor of the Twin running system as recorded by the
British Patent office), to build on their experience and develop a more comprehensive
00 system. They bought into a company -
the Vereinigte Spielwaren-Fabriken – partly for this
purpose. The company already had a Meccano style construction set with the name TRIX. Hence the name chosen TRIX EXPRESS for these
new model trains.
Above the very first Trix train on the very first
public layout shown on the 3rd March 1935 in Leipzig.
Note the coaches have windows on the ends and the track
is not the black colour later used. These were prototypes and were modified
before production in the summer of 1935.
Example similar to the original track produced in
early 1950 by Trix for an exhibition.
From
the beginning the company presented a complete system, a locomotive, coaches,
goods wagons, a variety of track, buildings and
accessories.
Throughout the development of Trix trains another influential person was Wynne Bassett Lowke both before and after 1935. He and Stephan Bing had known each other since 1900 when Bing started to manufacture English outline 0 gauge trains for export to England. Bassett Lowke was mainly a mail order business with a couple of retail shops. Most of the items he sold were not manufactured by his company but produced exclusively by others for his distribution in the UK. The main suppliers were, Bing, Carette and Märklin. He had been in constant discussions with Bing and Kahn during the development stages. He now wished to import these into England and persuaded Bing to repaint the German 0-4-0 from black to green for the English market so as to be able to sell it as a “Southern” style loco with 3 German coaches also in a modified green colour. The catalogue described the set as in “correct Southern Railway Green”. The loco did not have “Southern Railway” on the tender as you would expect but “Trix Express” although the picture in the catalogue shows it as “Twin Train”, both versions have the number 5391
Catalogue nr. 11/2
Sold separately as: Loco 20/51, latter for UK 21/51, coaches 21/152, 21/151
On
all the tenders you can see underneath the word “Trix” the word ”Twin” so it
was clearly overwritten at the factory.
Yet the word “Express” has not been over written. Trade photographs exist showing the loco with
“Twin Express” on the tender, clearly a last minute change.
Catalogue nr. 11/1
Sold separately as: Loco 20/51, latter for UK 21/51, wagons 21/64, 21/68, 21/67, 21/62
The
same green loco was used in the Goods set, with one covered van, one open
truck, one shell tank wagon, and one goods van.
All the wagons were unchanged German stock described in the English
catalogue simply as “Finished in correct colours”, what ever that meant!
Both
sets were sold in similar boxes, only the insert to support the coaches or
goods wagons was different.
The loco above is the black one for the German market |
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They
came with 4 straight rails and 12 curves, a controller, 6 plugs, and an
instruction book. Transformers had to be
bought separately a necessity as mains electricity varied in different parts of
the country.
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In the UK Bassett Lowke was the principal
importer and promoter of these new trains.
Evidence exists to show that Hamleys Toy shop
in Regent Street, London imported direct not only trains but other toy products
of the German company. Bassett-Lowke for
the first few years always referred to these as the “Twin Trains” or “Twin Train Table Railway”. The Bassett Lowke’s own catalogue and a
special one he printed for these new trains never uses the name Trix anywhere
in the catalogue. However the Hamleys Xmas 1935 catalogue used the name Trix Express
through out.
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Above the two catalogues issued in 1935,
selling the same trains but with different names !
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 ins
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:- |
The station called “Trixstadt” in Germany was renamed “Twin City” for the UK
Catalogue 21/270, latter as 804
The design of the station was based on an ‘O’ gauge
station made by Bassett-Lowke some years earlier ( photo
below of the 1932 model). This was designed by Henry Greenly working with the
principle architect of the London Underground.
The station is very similar to the designs one sees where the trains run
above ground in the London suburbs. The
00 German stations had a round clock face with a flag on the tower, whereas the
English version from 1936 had a square face and no flag, not withstanding the
picture in the catalogue.
Above the 0 gauge
station : even the blue line under the roof is copied on the Trix Express 00
station
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.
Catalogue nr: engine
shed21/272, goods shed 21/273, station 21/270 or 804, island platform21/271 or
807, signal 21/203
Above are the four
initial buildings shown at Leipzig in March 1935. By September the engine shed had grown higher
and longer to accommodate the pantographs on the 0-4-0 electric loco introduced
in the autumn. Thus the early small
green engine shed was made for a very short time less than 4 months.
To see more of
these and other buildings in the Trix range from 1935 to 1954 see the link to -
TTR
Buildings
Other items imported
into England in 1935 were :-
The
coach on the left was only imported by Hamleys
described as a Pullman car Catalogue nr. 21/153.
The
suburban coach in both catalogues was the German Catalogue nr. 21/103
It
is a puzzle why the red Mitropa was chosen and not
the wagons lits with the words in English “ Dining
car”
Aside from the goods wagons in the sets, four other
wagons were imported, a Brake van (Catalogue nr. 21/163), an open truck without load, Catalogue nr. 21/61, ( the one in the set
is with coal Catalogue nr 21/67), a
Timber wagon (Catalogue nr 21/69) a
Tarpaulin wagon (Catalogue nr
21/66). The first of these was the
German long covered van which looks nothing like a brake van. The popular “Jamaican banana” wagon was not
imported until 1936, probably why it is a scarce item for collectors today.
The telegraph pole ( 21/234) was in both catalogues
The Hamleys’ catalogue
also shows the mile stones ((21/233).
The runaway success of these autumn imports meant
they were sold out well before Xmas. Bassett Lowke realised if English out line
models were made he would have a winning product to sell. So with agreement of Stephan Bing in late
1935 he commissioned Henry Greenly to design English outline stock to put onto
the German chassis for both locos and rolling stock. Track, controllers etc
would continue to be imported from Germany.
Already in 1932 the German company had set up a UK
subsidiary – Trix Ltd – in London with Franz Bing ( Stephan’s son) as
director. The company was used to market
and produce locally Trix construction sets.
For this purpose a Northampton company was chosen - Winteringham Ltd, a
company associated with Bassett Lowke Ltd.
It was now this company that was asked to produce the English out line
trains.
A second development was to ask Winteringham to
produce the wooden buildings also instead of importing them from Germany. The company was already producing the larger
0 gauge station and island platform for Bassett Lowke. The design of the goods shed was changed and
the engine shed changed by Henry Greenly.
All were now painted in a more realistic concrete colour of pale yellow.
The scene was set to introduce the new line at the
British Industries Fair in the spring of 1936
1936
Before we look at the English models, in the early
part of 1936 more sets were imported from Germany similar to the above original
sets. However the loco’s wheels had been changed to spoke wheels and the box
was no longer square but oblong, a design that was to last for many years. The
first few imported had their wheels painted red like the German original, but
soon they were changed to black.
Catalogue nr. 11/2
A goods set was also
imported with the number 11/1
The success of the
introduction in 1935 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”). It was hoped
this would be accepted by Bassett Lowke so he would drop the Twin Train Table
Railway label he was using in his publicity.
But he was stubborn and went on using his own preferred name right up to
1939 with Trix Ltd using the name Trix Twin on all their boxes, literature and
advertisements. Indeed there are
magazines where the same item is being shown in two different advertisements
one with the name “Trix Twin” and the other with “ Twin Trains” !
To see more of these first newspaper ads click on – Advertisements for Trix.
View of the
layout at the British Industries Fair, BIF in 1936
The 1936 Catalogue showed this layout with the buildings, signals and yard lamp
Other new
items in this picture are the yard lamp, the footbridge and the signals.
3 sets for
each livery were produced :-
LMS Suburban set. Catalogue nr 2/315
Sold
separately as: Loco 2/510, (goods version 2/515), coaches 2/550,2/555
The LMS Express Passenger set Catalogue nr 2/335
Sold
separately as: Loco 2/520, coaches 2/560, 2/580, 2/570
The LMS Goods set. Catalogue nr 2/325
Sold
separately as: Loco 2/525, wagons 2/621,2/609,2/603,2/650
LNER Suburban set Catalogue nr.4/315
Sold
separately as: Loco 4/510, (goods version 4/515), coaches 4/550,4/555
LNER Express Passenger set Catalogue nr .4/335
Sold
separately as: Loco 4/520, coaches 4/560, 4/580, 4/570
LNER Goods set Catalogue nr 4/325
Sold
separately as: Loco 4/525, wagons 4/621,4/660,640,4/650
In addition
other goods wagons were produced
Sold
separately as: 662,609,606,605,604
The same
photo shows a GWR wagon and a SR wagon not put into production.
It is shown below complete with disc wheels.
Southern Railway Express Passenger tra Catalogue nr in .5/334
Sold
separately as: Loco 5/520, coaches 5/560, 5/580, 5/570 and an all 3rd
5/590 ( not shown above)
Southern Railway goods set Catalogue nr.5/324
Sold
separately as: Loco 5/525, wagons 5/603,643, 661,5/650
The loco was also produced in black as a goods tank 5/515
Mtor coach by itself 5/530
( the only time TTR used a green box).
Above is an extract from the spring 1937 catalogue
Catalogue nr . 7/530
It was only in production for 1937
These basic
parts enabled one to build a station to ones own design. For example:-
A grand
terminal station is shown below.
Made of metal
Many ways replaced the wooden stations.
Catalogue nr. 71 |
Catalogue nr. 73 |
For more information showing the development of Manyways see the section on buildings:
Trix
buildings and accessories
Or
Take a look at the
next period 1938-1939