TrixTwin rail or three rail, does anyone remember it?

[Rsimps]

When I was a kid I bought up a load of track and started collecting prewar Trix. Now still in my parents loft there is a 8' X 6' loop and sidings covered up just as it was left 20 odd years ago.......must go and get my emery cloth out and see if it still works.

[anselm]

My first train set in c 1956 was a Trix three rail inherited from my uncle.  I sold it only last year although it had been in the loft for over 40 years.

Ian

[BobB]

Dad bought me a trix three rail 6 volt train set second hand. He had so much fun with it that he then bought loads and loads of Hornby three rail stuff. I was a bit fed up because my little locomotive (pretend prairie, black, 0-4-0 with two suburban coaches) would not run through the points on Dad's layout !

Dad's rolling stock generally looked like pictures and what we actually could see but I couldn't find a loco that looked like my little one. Didn't seem to stop me getting the bug though. Makes me wonder if today's super detail is necessary to keep the hobby alive.

[broadsword]

There's a Trix collectors club, arrange meets , swaps, repairs etc,
quite interesting seeing 50s layouts revived.
Website is ttrca.co.uk, quite lively and cheerful .

[Ian Bowden]

I remember one feature was that the wheel pick up was switchable between the left and right wheels so two trains could be run independently on the same track. Hence the name Trix Twin

[Bealman]

Indeed it was. Quite innovative when you think about it.

I remember when Binns Road switched over from the tinplate 3 rail track to 2 rail.

The slogan on the back of Meccano Magazine at the time said:

"Boys what you've wished for is now a fact....

Hornby Dublo two rail track!"

[mr bachmann]

the good old days . I still have my very broken 0-4-0 plastic bodied loco , and still running on my 00 gauge layout is the 2 side tipping hoppers and lighted brake van .
The track, coal elivator,signal box and lighted signals have all gone , my other 0-6-2 loco had snap off plastic flange to the wheel sets for running on the new Trix track - much like tri-ang series 4 (?) but 3 rail . The Trix transformer is powering the point motors on my 00 lay out .
14 volt AC then transfering to 12 volt DC in later years , original track was black bakelite , also 14 v AC if my memory thinks when turning the running loco off then restarting it did not move you had to click the button three times to go forward , to reverse you clicked the button twice . And any owner will tell of electric shock if accidently bridging the finger across the brush holder (on the out side of the loco). 

Also Trix did a wind up controler to power the starter sets .

[Webbo]

I had Trix Twin when I was a kid in the 1950s and still have a whole load of it. My first TTR loco was the metal 4-4-0 loco Pytchley running DC which was closely followed by the venerable black 0-4-0 in plastic. Both these locos had their origins pre-war when they ran AC.

The next generation of Trix locos including the Britannia, Class 5, 0-6-2, EM1, Warship, and Western locomotives were much more realistic and could run on 2 rail track although my Britannia and Class 5 could run on 3-rail in Trix Twin mode as well with a simple conversion. An interesting thing about these models is that their scale is 1:80 so it sits about half way between OO and HO.     

Here are my old Pytchley and 0-4-0:



and my slightly newer Britannia and class 5:



They all still run fairly well though performance is not in the same class as with newer 5 pole motors.

Webbo

[Rsimps]

All mine are AC with separate transformer and controls with a red nob in the middle that acted as a breaker if there was a short. You pressed the button a number of times and it would change the direction of the loco or isolate the loco. The other controller operated the other outer rail and a second loco. All mine have the brushes sticking out of the side with a relay on the loco. From memory the speed could be controlled ok for that type of loco.

[ntpntpntp]

I haven't had much exposure to Trix Twin other than seeing a few bits at swapmeets etc., I was brought up on Triang, but I do have a soft spot for Hornby Dublo 3-rail.  I've acquired a few bits and pieces cheaply on eBay.  I love watching the old stuff clattering round a layout at a show, just as much as I love watching a finely detailed model.

[violets49]

Hornby 3 rail wasn't compatible with trix Twin. Because the wheels on Hornby 3 rail were not insulated, they caused a short. I put a hornby 3 rail toad brake van on my brothers Trix Twin and blew it up! He never spoke to me again!    Can't remember what happened to the trix twin set (I suspect my dad repaired it.) but I kept the toad and re wheeled it later. I think I also purloined the two waggons from the trix twin but the loco and track? no idea where they ended up.

[steve836]

Wasn't it Trix that brought out coaches and wagons in the sixties that were to a scale somewhere between OO and HO. I bought quite a few because they were much better runners than Hornby or Triang and cheaper too!

[Webbo]

Wasn't it Trix that brought out coaches and wagons in the sixties that were to a scale somewhere between OO and HO. I bought quite a few because they were much better runners than Hornby or Triang and cheaper too!

Yes it was. The scale was 1:80 and they had upper bodies made of plastic in contrast to previous offerings which were all tinplate.

Webbo