Trix & Others

This section includes Gaiety, Graham Farish and Trix Twin engines. All of these engines are contemporary with HD. The newest being the first one we look at.

Up until 1994 I had basically collected and run Hornby Dublo and Wrenn Locos some of which had been repainted and re-bodied. Looking back, my first “modern” loco was a Trix-Lilliput model of The Flying Scotsman.

Now Trix have been around throughout the period of Hornby Dublo and after from before the war until the current times but they have been the subject of many owners, many systems and even scales. Trix Twin started as a 3 rail system but a different 3 rail to HD. The track was bakelite based and had a

centre pickup rail and two other rails were  separately earthed. This meant that two trains could run  on the same track. Trix also had very large wheel flanges which made them completely unsuitable for running over HD points. The post war versions also had the option of fine scale wheels which made them suitable for HD track. This particular model was after Trix had been bought by Liliput and is an OO model. Many of the earlier Trix models some of which I have and are shown below are HO scale or even intermediate between the two.  You can also read ‘A brief history of Trix‘ written by Model Railway Express.

After the Express Locos I focused on Tank Engines and small tender engines. So next came the GWR built o-6-2T in BR livery from Trix Twin. This is supposedly a HO model but its size is very close to the HD N2 loco so I have always thought of it as close to OO gauge. This is a genuine Trix 3 rail loco with slight modifications to the loco pickups to enable it to run very well on HD track.

The next loco is the Trix model of theSouthern E2 loco and this is definitely in HO scale it is also plastic unlike the diecast one above. This is a 2 rail engine which has been converted. Small but a nice little runner with a single or a couple of carriages. It is in late BR logo livery with no number. I think this means that it has been fiddled with at some time because it should have a number.

The final Trix engine is a BR Standard 5MTtender engine with a very heavy diecast body making it an excellent runner although it has been converted from 2 rail. The paintwork is a bit tatty but overall it is an impressive engine.

Now we move onto Gaiety Engines made by Castle Arts of Birmingham They only made a model of a GWR Pannier Tank and their version of the N2 tank engine. My one has an original 3 rail chassis which means that it is a bit noisy and slow but runs and it does look the part. I also have another one with a modified body and running on a HD 0-6-0T chassis. It has been re-painted, not that well, into BR black. The extra weight of the body much improves the running of the HD 0-6-0 chassis.

Finally in this section we have another GWR Panier tank engine, a different series to the Gaiety ones, but this time made by Graham Farish. This company started in OO gauge in the 50′s and produced a good range of models including some tender engines with a shaft drive from the tender to the engine. This was very complicated and there are few that have stood the test of time. This tender engine is in excellent condition and a great runner, it was probably converted to 3 rail from new.