Trix Express
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Trix Express was the main model train product range of the Trix of Nuremberg Germany, currently owned by the Maerklin company of Goeppingen Germany. The Trix Express system was first introduced at the Leipzig exhibition in 1935. It was the first reasonable priced HO (Half Nil/Zero) Table-Top model train system using 16.5mm track (1:87). In Germany the system was marketed as Trix Express. After the Nazis forced the Jewish owners of the company to sell their shares, they moved to Britain and founded the Trix Twin company, which initially used an identical system.
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 Maerklin HO (still produced today) and Hornby Railways, 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 system until 2003 when the last models were produced under the auspices of the Maerklin company. The British Trix Twin company changed to DC in 1956, abandoned the three rail system in the early 1960’s and disappeared altogether after a number of take-overs and mergers during the 1970’s.
Apart from the centre pick-up, the Trix Express system also retained the larger wheel flanges, customary in the 1930’s, right till the recent end, making derailments rather uncommon, but at the same time making their rolling stock incompatible with more modern two-rail NEM systems.
The Trix Express system still has a large following in countries such as Germany and The Netherlands with very active clubs and is readily available on Ebay.
