What have I bought ? - Minitrix 0-6-0 with unknown body

[Geriatrix]

I just bought three Minitrix 0-6-0 tanks on eBay. Two of them have the normal LMS Dock Tank bodies , bu the other has a strange body which I'm trying to identify. It looks a bit like the Peco - Wills B1 kit, but that was designed for a Arnold 0-4-0 chassis, and some bits look different, the shape of the cab window is different. Could this be an ancient Bob Hughes production maybe?

It's the first loco in the picture, with a "normal" Minitrix body on the second one, for comparison.

[AndyGif]

paint it blue and call it thomas

[jivebunny]

paint it blue and call it thomas

It does look uncannily like an E2 class 

[Dorsetmike]

Langley do an SR E2 class, but that fits the Farish 0-6-0 chassis, plus an E2 does not have outside cylinders.

The same Minitrix chassis is found under a German outllne loco, could it be a repaint of one of those?

The only kit I am familiar with for this chassis is the ABS 1366  GWR dock tank, but that is a pannier tank, so it's not that.

[Geriatrix]

Close I think. It's probably meant to be the J63, but I don't think it's the ABS kit. I'm pretty sure that it's the same as the silver loco shown on this page:

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1334.0

But that is not a great deal of help as the author refers to it as a "mystery locomotive"! The main difference is the cab roof, which on the ABS J63 is flat, but the silver loco, and my loco, have a raised portion in the middle. Mine also has a rather more subtle screw going through the dome.

In fact the auction that I obtained it from is this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIX-LOCOMOTIVES-JOBLOT-N-GAUGE-/331167672638?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=TvFUrculeB%252FVeknCtnqH5JWkWVI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc


Rather pleased with my buy, as they all run quite well, if better forwards than backwards; but then my other Minitrix 0-6-0 is the same - I think it might be down to the weight distribution.

Anyway, GCR is good, as my layout is loosely (incredibly loosely!) based around Quainton Road at the time of the MET/GCR Joint Rly., although with an added GWR incursion.

Having said that, the Metropolitan Railway will be purchasing this particular loco from the GCR, and repainting it in Met livery, in order to operate the Brill tram!

Thanks for the suggestions.

[EtchedPixels]

There are at least two "J63" kits as I've got one of each!

There is also a Caley 498 class kit

[BernardTPM]

This looks like one of the very early J63s from around 1969/70. This was a running chassis supplied with a kit body, sold by British Minitrix; I found a Hobbytime of West Wickham ad to confirm this in the May 1970 MRC - price 81/- (£4.05, but a Triang Hornby B12 was 82/6, so not cheap in its day). I believe Highfield Models may have been involved in the production of the body kit. British Trix was owned by Courtaulds in those days.

[Geriatrix]

Thanks for that info. If it is the Hobbytime kit, and that does seem quite likely, that means that my loco is getting on for 45 years old - almost an antique. I wonder if its still on the original chassis.

[BernardTPM]

It wasn't specific to Hobbytime, I just spotted it in their advert. When things are a bit better organised I might be able to find out more about it. AFAIK it was sold as a Minitrix product - this was the early days of British N Gauge and British Trix wasn't a directly owned subsidiary of the German Trix in those days (nor joint with Hornby as it was in the later '70s and early '80s). Effectively it was replaced by the LMS Dock tank model (same chassis, but fully finished r-t-r body).
Incidentally, there were two kits for the LMS Dock tank prior to the r-t-r version. The better known one was the Peco kit for the Arnold 2221 chassis, but there was also a Ks kit earlier in the 1960s that was designed to fit the Minitrix T3 chassis i.e. the same one as used under the Minitrix model.