320 px, left, left side BR 01, right side BR V-200 Trix Express was the main

model train Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, ...

product range of the Trix of

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, Germany, currently owned by the

Märklin Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accesso ...

company of Göppingen Germany. The Trix Express system was first introduced at the Leipzig exhibition in the spring of 1935. It was the first reasonable priced H0 (Half Zero) Table-Top model train system using 16.5mm track (1:87). In Germany the system was marketed as Trix Express. After the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

forced the Jewish owners of the company Stefan Bing and others to sell their shares, they moved to Britain and founded the Trix Ltd London, which initially used the same system. This brand was called TTR - TRIX TWIN RAILWAY. Trix Express Schleifer

Like other systems introduced before WW2 it used a third (centre) rail as a means to supply current to the models. Unlike other systems, such as Märklin H0 (still produced today) and

Hornby Railways Hornby Railways is a British model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, ...

, the outer tracks were insulated, using the centre rail as a common pick-up. This allowed the independent operation of two model engines on the same track and even three if overhead catenary wires were used. The original system used 14V AC power. The German company changed to 14V DC in 1953 and used the

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

system until 2003 when the last models were produced under the auspices of the Märklin company. Because of a great lobby to Märklin, Trix Express has been re-initiated in 2013 by producing new rolling stock. The British Trix Twin company changed to DC in 1956, abandoned the three rail system in the early 1960s and disappeared altogether after a number of take-overs and mergers during the 1970s. Apart from the centre pick-up, the Trix Express system also retained the larger wheel flanges, customary in the 1930s, right till the recent end, making derailments rather uncommon, but at the same time making their rolling stock incompatible with more modern two-rail

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systems. The Trix Express system still has a large following in countries such as

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, and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

with active clubs, and is readily available on

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External links

TTRCA - Trix Twin Railway collector's association

private collector site Steve White

private collector site Garry Lefevre

www.trixstadt.de - Trix Express friends Berlin

Interessengemeinschaft Trix Express

Trix Express Club, Koblenz in DB Museum

Stichting Trix Express in the Netherlands

Trix Model Trains Facebook Group - Peter Brixey
Model railroad manufacturers Model manufacturers of Germany {{Model-rail-stub