This one caught my attention on eBay and I ended up buying it:
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Scratchbodges/i-NNSwcSs/0/4b561e54/L/trix2-L.jpg)
Just another old Minitrix Type 2 diesel in chromatic blue, small yellow ends and white window surrounds. Minitrix were a bit quick off the mark getting their model out in BR Blue before BR had actually decided what BR blue looked like. But what's that leaflet under it?
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Scratchbodges/i-qG4fJmS/0/ede1dc98/L/trix1-L.jpg)
Hand-drawn artwork by someone with some skill. Note the address at the bottom: Courtaulds gave up on British Trix at the end of 1967 and the assets were transferred to a new company, Thernglade Ltd. I haven't yet established when the Type 2 first appeared on the UK market, but I believe it was towards the end of 1967. The box for this model is unusual. It's actually the wrong box, labelled for a Mk1 coach, but has the correct foam insert and I have found one other Type 2 for sale with the same plain green box design. I'm pretty sure these boxes were only used on Courtaulds models: the Thernglade models (1968 on) all seem to have been in standard German Minitrix packaging, green and yellow window box with a polystyrene tray. So I suspect this slightly "playworn" Type 2 is one of only a tiny handful sold in 1967, at the very dawn of British N gauge. If anyone knows anything more about the very early days of Minitrix in the UK I would be very interested to hear.
Richard
My first N Gauge loco was this one, bought new for £4 in December 1969 from Bold & Burrows Ltd who had just moved around the corner to 12-22 Verulam Road, St Albans, Herts. So the stock may have dated from 1967 but was still on retailers shelves a couple of years later.
Quote from: msr on November 07, 2019, 03:33:13 PM
My first N Gauge loco was this one, bought new for £4 in December 1969 from Bold & Burrows Ltd who had just moved around the corner to 12-22 Verulam Road, St Albans, Herts. So the stock may have dated from 1967 but was still on retailers shelves a couple of years later.
£4 sounds cheap. A new Farish Pannier cost £5.99 in the newfangled decimal currency in July 1971, and inflation wasn't that high then although things were about to get much worse. Bankruptcy stock? I admit to a fascination with very early N Gauge: next on my list is a Farish Holden tank in GER blue, in its lovely little imitation velvet lined box. So pretty, and such a terrible piece of mechanical design.
Richard
Good point about the price. The RM for March 1967 gives the RRP at just under £6. This has jogged my memory and I think I part-exchanged this model with some old Hornby tinplate stock which the shop proprietor was keen on collecting, so that probably accounts for the apparently low price. I think the deal might well have included some Minitrix track and half a dozen points as well which I would have acquired at around the same time.
Oh my how things have increased in price...or have they?
https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1967?amount=6 (https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1967?amount=6)
Links the buying power of £6 from 1967 to 2019. Its very interesting to read that £6 then is worth about £108 now. So a six quid loco when I was 4 would cost about £108 quid now. And thats pretty accurate as far as locos are concerned I would say.
Just for the sake of interest.
Cheers
That sort of very early issue of a model is just the sort of thing that piques my collecting interests. An interesting and unusual find!
I have the blue Holden and it runs! also the black one and that runs to!!
Lovely little things wouldn't part with them for a modern one either. :D
Might be considered a dinosaur, but a brilliant and reliable chassis. I still have some that date back to when they were new in the late 1960s. However they have found a new lease of life under other things.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/83/5731-071119202818.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=83681)
I have to say the mechanisms of Minitrix locos (even then) were excellent and showed how our German cousins like to over engineer everything. If only locos today were as robust... I still have four Minitrix Britannias and they run wonderfully (should have added with all different names and numbers!). :D
Paddy
A Minitrix dinosaur warship just sold for £92 + £5 postage on eBay.....
Despite Fleischmann having the name and the reputation at the time I have found that Minitrix mechanisms of years ago keep going well after their Fleischmann equivalents have bitten the dust.
The only down side is the enormous current they seem to draw by modern standards makes them difficult to find a suitable chip for if you want to fit them for DCC.
Les
The Minitrix 2F/T3 chassis, all bought at-least-2nd hand, all at least 30 years old, powers most of my layout's loco stable.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/81/2947-300819145739-81012700.jpeg)
Mike
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :beers:
Wow - thank you for posting that. I've been delving into the Minitrix history - which you might have gathered from the 6/19 and 1/20 issues of the NGS Journal, if you read these.
So this discovery confirms what I had believed before writing for the journal, but I had yet to find catalogue proof that the blue and green Class 27 locos were first introduced by British Trix (part of Cortaulds Group) in 1967. They were then bought out by German Trix who acquired all of the tooling and the factory. They formed Thernglade, specifically to continue production of these N gauge models at the Wrexham plant, and kept on some key staff from British Trix. Confusingly, the green class 27 appeared in the German Trix 1969 catalogue as a new model. I suppose it was new to the German Market. The Blue class 27 did not make an appearance in catalogues until Hornby introduced it into their Hornby Minitrix line in 1980. I daresay that there are some early 1967 versions knocking around that were never advertised in catalogues.
What I am also trying to establish is the origin of the Class 42 warships. I have found catalogues from 1967/68 which show that British Trix had Blue, Green and Maroon Warships in their OO line up, and they had just started manufacturing N gauge models. The fact that the early Class 27s and the early warships have a VERY similar construction, seems to suggest that the warships might have started life with British Trix - but since German Trix bought up the company and the tooling, they could have just continued the project at the Thernglade plant in Wrexham, to bring out the Warships as brand new in 1970. The Thernglade catalogue from 1970 does list 2 Warships, both shown with names that never went into production - Spartan (blue) and Vanguard (green). This suggests to me that they were new in 1970 - the artist for the catalogue seemingly having to guess some detail in time for the catalogue to go to press. (eg - their N Gauge Britannia clearly wasn't available to photograph, so a photo very much like one I have seen of of Trix's OO Britannia was used instead !)
ps - I am not aware of a type 1 and type 2 Class 27 loco. I have a few examples, some look early, but I acquired them without boxes. One is definitely a Hornby Marketed version. I've not spotted any difference.
I would have thought British Trix's involvement with the 27 and 42 would have been just the bodyshell, given that the 27 used the chassis from the German E10 and the 42 used the chassis from the German V200.
The 27 chassis remained the same version for its entire life as far as I know and never adopted later the E10 or similar chassis, whereas the 42 adopted the later re-designed V200 chassis (body mounted buffers, different bogie sideframes, long-shaft motor etc.)
@Jfheath (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=1728) I have in my possession (somewhere in a box behind my railway I guess) some original history pamphlets for Minitrix, Farish and IIRC Wrenn. They were written in the 1980s for collectors, as to which boxes are the right ones etc.
If I ever find them I will scan them and send you a copy. I paid about £2.50 for each pamphlet.
It had the Minitrix history, including the overlap with Peco (the Mk 1 coaches were once called Wonderful Coaches, and the BP tanker was originally Minitrix too).
I too was interested in the early Minitrix and made sure I had collected every 27, Warship (including one supposedly never made), Britannia and 9F made.
However the collecting bug is just that with me. I like to be able to say I once owned that one, so I sold all of my early Minitrix, Farish and Wrenn a few years back.
Didnt get much for them, so they are not likely to fund a pension pot even now :)
Best regards
Bob
Here is my Warship, purchased 15 Aug 1970 from H.A. Blunt & Sons (formerly Bold & Burrows Ltd), who had recently moved to 10-12 High Street, St Albans. My notes state it was bought in a Minitrix polystyrene box with card lid. The bogies have built-in buffer beams, in contrast to the more modern design which had the buffer beams integral with the body. Perhaps the latter were the German models and the former were from Wrexham?
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/231-251020175146.jpeg)
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/231-251020175239.jpeg)
There are three Warship chassis. ALL German in design.
The one you have is the Mk 1.
The Mk 2 has a plastic insert between the bogies where it says Trix on your model, and was only IIRC on the early blue Hermes.
The Mk 3 was the Hornby Minitrix version of Hermes and Intrepid in the 1980s, with the motor that slid in from the side rather than from above, and with the buffer beams fixed.
The Mk 1 and Mk 2 models had transfers and the Mk 3 models were Tampo printed.
All blue ones actually had incorrect livery placement of arrows/numbers.
HTH
Bob
Here are two German V200s dating from 1970s and 1990s, showing the change in chassis.Exactly the same two chassis as those found under the Warships.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/97/5885-230720112651.jpeg)
Which one was supposedly never made?
I have Hermes in blue. Intrepid in green, a green one with full yellow ends whose name escapes me as its gone for a resprsay a Maroon Zebra and Rapid which was bought second hand 1n 1977 really tatty maroon and didnt run well.
Since been repaired and repainted in maroon keeping its identity.
Im a big fan of Minitrix Warships got "a few" and another one on the way. (Gideon take note lol)
ps the 27 chassiss is good for the Shapeways EM1/class 76
.
Andy
Quote from: Bob G on October 25, 2020, 05:49:13 PM
It had the Minitrix history, including the overlap with Peco (the Mk 1 coaches were once called Wonderful Coaches, and the BP tanker was originally Minitrix too).
There is I suspect an interesting story there waiting to be told. IIRC the Peco 15 foot wagons were originally developed by Trix, and have the same combination of chassis and wheelset plastics that made Trix OO gauge wagons famous for their free running. The grain wagon was a perfect half-size reproduction of the model that finished off British Trix financially, and I don't know whether Peco or Trix came up with the other bodies (fish van, tube wagon etc etc) to fit on the grain wagon chassis. I have seen photos of a very early Peco grain wagon with sprung Rapido couplers in big bulky pockets, so I would guess the "Elsie" coupler was a Peco idea. Peco announced Mk1 coaches in 1967 or possibly earlier, so presumably some kind of deal was done whereby Peco acquired the Trix wagon range and the Mk1s went to Minitrix. I wonder why?
Richard
All the 15' chassis wagons originally had sprung couplings. When Peco brought out the 10' chassis that was around 1971 and were Elsie couplings from the start.
The 15' chassis was upgraded to Elsie much later, about 1980 IIRC, and they say Peco Mk 2 underneath.
The Trix BP TTA tanker of 1967 was the first wagon Peco sold and the tanker chassis is quite accurate for its time. That chassis was used for the grain wagon in 1969. I don't know if it was designed by Trix or Peco or in unison.
The others - tube, Hybar, plate, fish, pallet were all shrunk or stretched to fit the chassis and were made from 1968. There was then a NE or BR brake brought out in 1974.
HTH
Bob
Quote from: Bob G on October 25, 2020, 08:00:22 PM
All the 15' chassis wagons originally had sprung couplings. When Peco brought out the 10' chassis that was around 1971 and were Elsie couplings from the start.
The 15' chassis was upgraded to Elsie much later, about 1980 IIRC, and they say Peco Mk 2 underneath.
The Trix BP TTA tanker of 1967 was the first wagon Peco sold and the tanker chassis is quite accurate for its time. That chassis was used for the grain wagon in 1969. I don't know if it was designed by Trix or Peco or in unison.
The others - tube, Hybar, plate, fish, pallet were all shrunk or stretched to fit the chassis and were made from 1968. There was then a NE or BR brake brought out in 1974.
HTH
Bob
Thanks very much for that. My memory is very imperfect, and I was sure the 15 foot wagons all had Elsies from an early stage. By the time I was buying them, early 1980s, they would all have been on the Mk2 chassis anyway. Somewhere I have a cutting from RM around 1967 announcing the new Peco wagon range. There was an MGR hopper which took thirty years to get to market and a Lowmac which we are still waiting for. The Lowmac would have needed a special chassis which would explain why it never happened.
Richard
Quote from: BramptonBranch on October 25, 2020, 07:28:15 PM
Which one was supposedly never made?
This is what I owned at one time and it matches with the pamphlet I have somewhere.
Mass produced versions were as follows: All on Mk 1 chassis except where indicated:
D805 Benbow - Green
D815 Druid - Blue
D816 Eclipse - Green, Maroon and Blue
D823 Hermes - Blue (Mk 2 and Mk 3 chassis)
D825 Intrepid - Green (Mk 3 Chassis)
D866 Zebra - Green, Maroon and Blue
Ones that were not produced except accidentally
D815 Druid - Green (I think I had the only one known as of 2012. It was mint, unused. One of those found in an old shop sort of thing)
D838 Rapid - Maroon (very rare but a few were made. If you resprayed yours it will have gone down in collector value :( )
Some maroon ones appear to have suffered fracturing around the screw securing point so there are not as many going the rounds as blue or green ones. Must have been a paint/plastic reaction of some sort. You sometimes see them on EBay with split bodies around the roof area.
HTH
Bob
I was aware Rapid is rare but it was in a poor state when I bought it in 1977 Ive no plans yet to sell any of them.In fact I would like the whole fleet of 71!
Over the top I know but who cares! :helpneededsign:
Andy
Hi @Bob G (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=1517)
That is a very kind offer. I'd be very interested in seeing stuff like that please. I've been working largely from old catalogues, dates on technical data sheets, and dimming personal memories. And one or two internet sources that I found. Most things tie up, but one or two do not - including a couple of dates from Pat Hammond's Rovex Vol 2 and Ramsays Model Trains v9. I don't for a second think that he is wrong - there must be a reason which I don't yet understand.
I have never seen the 3rd Generation Warship - and didn't know that the motor was side loaded - I suppose it fits in like the class 47 with those plastic axle support clips. I'll dig out the tech sheets for the german counterpart.
Quote from: Jfheath on October 25, 2020, 10:41:49 PM
I have never seen the 3rd Generation Warship - and didn't know that the motor was side loaded - I suppose it fits in like the class 47 with those plastic axle support clips.
Seriously? They're quite common, certainly in the post-Hornby Minitrix sets. There's usually one or two on ebay at any given time. They're immediately recognisable with fixed buffers and different bogies sideframes, no yellow ends.
Yes the chassis design and motor mount etc. is similar to the 47
Here's one, with its German cousin.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/5885-261020092646.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=101039)
This one came as part of a full Minitrix passenger set with two blood/custard coaches, track oval with passing loop, main power pack etc. I picked up mint about 3 years ago
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/5885-261020093102.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=101040)
Quote from: ntpntpntp on October 26, 2020, 09:28:37 AM
Seriously? They're quite common, certainly in the post-Hornby Minitrix sets.
Sorry - when I say 'seen' - I mean I have never had my hands on one to take to bits and investigate - like I have with every other Minitrix model. I have a photo of Intrepid that a friend sent to me on my website, and I know enough to be able to spot the difference between the 3 generations. I have 2 very battered old versions - I couldn't even tell the original colour when I was given them. I took them both apart, stripped the paint to the (surprising) chocolate coloured plastic, resprayed them and put them together. One is a 1st generation, one is a 2nd. They run beautifully. Curiously, they seem to have a positive chassis when travelling forward.
But I've never bothered to buy one - I seem to be one of the few people that doesn't like the look of them !
As a consequence, I've never seen under the cab to note how the post 1979 Intrepid model was put together, but from the tech sheet for 12943, the arrangement looks to be identical to that of the class 47 - which is a much nicer solution that that used for the Class 27 and the earlier warships.
ps
I'm sorry - I didn't respond to your earlier comment (yesterday). You said "
I would have thought British Trix's involvement with the 27 and 42 would have been just the bodyshell."
I think that you are correct. I did a bit more research after I had read that post by @Belstone - that very early example of the 1967 Class 27 produced by British Minitrix. I hadn't realised that British Minitrix had been given permission by German Trix to develop some UK outline models. I should have read my Ramsay's a bit more carefully.
pps
Minitrix Tech Sheets. Most of these are still available on the Official Trix Website, but it can take a lot of persistence to get to the one that you want. This link will help:
https://www.trix.de/de/service/anleitungen-ersatzteile/ersatzteillisten/ (https://www.trix.de/de/service/anleitungen-ersatzteile/ersatzteillisten/)
Click the 1000 button and wait for the page to refresh. Select the very long URL at the top and copy it and save it for future use - that will save having to click the 1000 button. Then you can rapidly scroll down the full list of locos for number that you want.
When you find the loco (eg 12943) select 'Erstazteilliste' and a pdf file pops up in a new window. The pdf can be saved from this window.
Yes a good set of service sheets and parts lists on Trix as you would hope.
I also use other sites to find service sheets, especially those which have sheets for other brands as well. "Waschzettel" (colloquially = "blurb"?) seems to be a good alternative search term to "Erzatsteilliste"
For example:
http://www.9-mm.ch/katalog/9-mm_katalog_start_002.htm (http://www.9-mm.ch/katalog/9-mm_katalog_start_002.htm)
Despite their age I have kept all of my Warships dating from the 1970s, and given a few cosmetic tweeks they still have a place on my layout today.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/5731-261020161106.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=101070)
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/5731-261020161138.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=101071)
Access some old catalogues here.............
https://www.trovestar.com/Assets/Collections/4/Catalogs/Minitrix/ (https://www.trovestar.com/Assets/Collections/4/Catalogs/Minitrix/)
Looks like the green Type 2 and MK1 coaches were new to 1969
Quote from: Bob G on October 25, 2020, 09:47:03 PM
Quote from: BramptonBranch on October 25, 2020, 07:28:15 PM
Which one was supposedly never made?
This is what I owned at one time and it matches with the pamphlet I have somewhere.
Mass produced versions were as follows: All on Mk 1 chassis except where indicated:
D805 Benbow - Green
D815 Druid - Blue
D816 Eclipse - Green, Maroon and Blue
D823 Hermes - Blue (Mk 2 and Mk 3 chassis)
D825 Intrepid - Green (Mk 3 Chassis)
D866 Zebra - Green, Maroon and Blue
Ones that were not produced except accidentally
D815 Druid - Green (I think I had the only one known as of 2012. It was mint, unused. One of those found in an old shop sort of thing)
D838 Rapid - Maroon (very rare but a few were made. If you resprayed yours it will have gone down in collector value :( )
Some maroon ones appear to have suffered fracturing around the screw securing point so there are not as many going the rounds as blue or green ones. Must have been a paint/plastic reaction of some sort. You sometimes see them on EBay with split bodies around the roof area.
HTH
Bob
Hi - in my stock box here I have:
D805 Benbow Green
D815 Druid Blue (with double arrows in positions like D823)
D816 Eclipse Blue with transfers for names, numbers, double arrows
D816 Eclipse Blue with printed names, etc.
D816 Eclipse Green
D823 Hermes Blue with names, numbers and double arrows as transfers
D823 Hermes Blue as per Hornby Minitrix version
D825 Interpid Green (the Mk III chassis)
D866 Zebra Green
D866 Zebra Maroon
a couple of colleagues have each managed to source a D838 Rapid in Maroon.
another variation to look out for is the colour of the nameplates - some have black background and some have red.
The transfers are waterslide and with care they can be removed with warm water.
The transfer above the nameplate on the green/maroon models is occasionally seen in different sizes, too.
I have seen Warships of all colours with split bodies - I believe it is due to over-tightening of the body retaining screw.
Happy Warships! :)
Is the Green Eclipse the horrible shade of green with full yellow ends?
Quote from: Bob G on October 25, 2020, 05:49:13 PM
@Jfheath (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=1728) I have in my possession (somewhere in a box behind my railway I guess) some original history pamphlets for Minitrix, Farish and IIRC Wrenn. They were written in the 1980s for collectors, as to which boxes are the right ones etc.
If I ever find them I will scan them and send you a copy. I paid about £2.50 for each pamphlet.
It had the Minitrix history, including the overlap with Peco (the Mk 1 coaches were once called Wonderful Coaches, and the BP tanker was originally Minitrix too).
Best regards
Bob
Bob:
I believe that you are probably referring to "Montys Amateur Collectors Guide to British Minitrix" by Simon Culverhouse. I have two versions of these Minitrix booklets; the 2003 edition and an updated version dated June 2017 (and retitled "The Collectors Compact Guide to British Minitrix").
Simon's guides also include the following titles: British Lima N, Graham Farish N 1970-2001, Peco N Gauge, Lone Star Trains, and British Model Railway Magazines.
Quote from: belstone on November 07, 2019, 02:53:05 PM
Just another old Minitrix Type 2 diesel in chromatic blue, small yellow ends and white window surrounds. Minitrix were a bit quick off the mark getting their model out in BR Blue before BR had actually decided what BR blue looked like. But what's that leaflet under it?
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Scratchbodges/i-qG4fJmS/0/ede1dc98/L/trix1-L.jpg)
Hand-drawn artwork by someone with some skill. Note the address at the bottom: Courtaulds gave up on British Trix at the end of 1967 and the assets were transferred to a new company, Thernglade Ltd. I haven't yet established when the Type 2 first appeared on the UK market, but I believe it was towards the end of 1967. The box for this model is unusual. It's actually the wrong box, labelled for a Mk1 coach, but has the correct foam insert and I have found one other Type 2 for sale with the same plain green box design. I'm pretty sure these boxes were only used on Courtaulds models: the Thernglade models (1968 on) all seem to have been in standard German Minitrix packaging, green and yellow window box with a polystyrene tray. So I suspect this slightly "playworn" Type 2 is one of only a tiny handful sold in 1967, at the very dawn of British N gauge. If anyone knows anything more about the very early days of Minitrix in the UK I would be very interested to hear.
Richard
I have been corresponding with Simon Culverhouse while researching another N gauge pioneer (G.P. Middleton/Highfield Models) and he provided me the following information about Minitrix leaflets:
"The German data sheets were very comprehensive with exploded drawings, dismantling instructions and numbered lists of every individual component. They also have a printing date code.
However British Trix did not issue these German language sheets for locomotives sold in Britain. E.L. Rozsa (creator of the Thernglade Company for Trix after Courtalds decided to sell British Trix) made a tracing of the necessary drawings and added British Trix logos and the minimum of spare parts information.
These British Trix sheets have no date and carry the initials "VR" (Vice Rozsa = by Rozsa) in the bottom right-hand corner and were in exactly the same format as the British Trix OO locomotive instructions." As an example, Simon sent me the leaflets below with his hand-written notes. Note that the German leaflet carries a printing date code and the initials of the original artist (HD).
Ian
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/3276-261020212742.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=101081)
Quote from: icairns on October 26, 2020, 09:47:31 PM
Quote from: Bob G on October 25, 2020, 05:49:13 PM
@Jfheath (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=1728) I have in my possession (somewhere in a box behind my railway I guess) some original history pamphlets for Minitrix, Farish and IIRC Wrenn. They were written in the 1980s for collectors, as to which boxes are the right ones etc.
If I ever find them I will scan them and send you a copy. I paid about £2.50 for each pamphlet.
It had the Minitrix history, including the overlap with Peco (the Mk 1 coaches were once called Wonderful Coaches, and the BP tanker was originally Minitrix too).
Best regards
Bob
Bob:
I believe that you are probably referring to "Montys Amateur Collectors Guide to British Minitrix" by Simon Culverhouse. I have two versions of these Minitrix booklets; the 2003 edition and an updated version dated June 2017 (and retitled "The Collectors Compact Guide to British Minitrix").
Simon's guides also include the following titles: British Lima N, Graham Farish N 1970-2001, Peco N Gauge, Lone Star Trains, and British Model Railway Magazines.
That's the one.
I have the early version. Were they really as late as the early 2000s? They are in an old fashioned type face.
Best
Bob
Quote from: Bob G on October 26, 2020, 10:19:58 PM
That's the one.
I have the early version. Were they really as late as the early 2000s? They are in an old fashioned type face.
Best
Bob
Apart from the updated 2017 British Minitrix guide, all my other guides are dated between 2003 and 2006. They are all presented in a professional business font (Arial, Helvetica, or similar).
I am not sure if Simon published any collector guides before the early 2000s. He said that the interest in his collector's guides diminished after the N gauge ranges were incorporated into Ramsay's British Model Trains (to which he contributed), so he only kept the British Minitrix guide up to date.
Ian
I will have to dig mine out and check.
Quote from: AndyRA on October 26, 2020, 04:12:28 PM
Despite their age I have kept all of my Warships dating from the 1970s, and given a few cosmetic tweeks they still have a place on my layout today.
Just swapping the buffers from round to oval makes a huge difference IMHO. Not noticed before but the roof is more suited to a class 43 with the off centre exhaust ports.
Quote from: Newportnobby on October 26, 2020, 07:28:20 PM
Access some old catalogues here.............
https://www.trovestar.com/Assets/Collections/4/Catalogs/Minitrix/ (https://www.trovestar.com/Assets/Collections/4/Catalogs/Minitrix/)
Looks like the green Type 2 and MK1 coaches were new to 1969
It is a little bit confusing but, for some reason, the British rolling stock did not appear in the German Minitrix catalogues until 1969 (as the above link shows) but the Type 2 Bo-Bo was released in the UK in 1967.
Supporting this release date are the following:(1) Ramsay's British Model Trains Catalogue, 9th Edition.
(2) British Minitrix by Simon Culverhouse (2003 and 2017 editions).
(3) Dudley Dimmock on N Gauge (1967) - model price 121/9d.
(4) Adverts for the Type 2 Bo-Bo started appearing in the Railway Modeller (model price 121/-) and Model Railway News (model price £5-19-6) in January 1967.
(5) Toy fair '67 report contained in the News Special section of the March 1967 Railway Modeller (see below).
Ian
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/101/3276-281020014817.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=101161)
That is correct @icairns (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=3276) . It is confusing, because it is confused.
The Class 27 seems to have had four births.
As I understand it:
Birth 1 - 1967 - British Trix make a plastic body with permission from German Trix (to use their chassis for UK models) and sell the first class 27 in their name.
German Trix buy out British Trix - but continue the British Trix production in Wrexham under the company name Thernglade.
Birth 2 - 1969 German Trix now own the Class 27 and include it in their catalogue for the German Market. Labelled as being new for 1969.
I assume it was also available in the UK from Thernglade. I have a 1970 Thernglade catalogue which lists 2 class 27s - a green and a blue and 4 other UK locos. I have yet to find a 1968/69 catalogue from Thernglade - but I assume that it would be in there as well.
Birth 3 - 1973 German Trix move all production and tooling to Germany. Thernglade no longer exists at the British end. Mangold takes over German Trix to become Trix - Mangold, who form a collaboration with Rovex to market the British Outline models - previously done by Thernglade. Hornby Minitrix launch their new range of UK models, including the Class 27.
I don't think there were any modifications from the 1967 version to the 1973. But I can only go on my 3 examples and pictures.
Birth 4 - 1980 - Hornby re-introduce the Blue version of the class 27 as N212 with a different livery and cab number.