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Minitrix

N Minitrix B&O 85' 4-Door Box Car - NIB

N Minitrix B&O 85' 4-Door Box Car - NIB

1 $5.00 6h 25m
Minitrix N Scale F9A POWERED Pennsylvania Item # 2971

Minitrix N Scale F9A POWERED Pennsylvania Item # 2971

- $25.00 7h 51m
N Trix 13171 Open Goods Car Set (2)  w  Load  #162

N Trix 13171 Open Goods Car Set (2) w Load #162

8 $13.26 8h 8m
N Trix 13171 Open Goods Car Set (2)   #163

N Trix 13171 Open Goods Car Set (2) #163

8 $13.49 8h 9m
N Trix 13821 Open Goods Car Set (2)  w Load #164

N Trix 13821 Open Goods Car Set (2) w Load #164

5 $8.26 8h 11m
N Trix 13001 Blue Passenger Car #165

N Trix 13001 Blue Passenger Car #165

1 $0.99 8h 13m
N Trix 13942 Box Car Set (2) #167

N Trix 13942 Box Car Set (2) #167

4 $2.13 10h 29m
N Trix 15247 Freight Car Set (2) w expandable roof #168

N Trix 15247 Freight Car Set (2) w expandable roof #168

5 $13.65 10h 31m
N Trix 13167 Miele Waschautomaten Set (2) #169

N Trix 13167 Miele Waschautomaten Set (2) #169

6 $13.63 10h 33m
N Trix 13002 Blue Cream Passenger-Car Set (4)  #171

N Trix 13002 Blue Cream Passenger-Car Set (4) #171

9 $26.00 10h 45m
MINITRIX 2914 N SCALE 0-6-0 SSWITCHER STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

MINITRIX 2914 N SCALE 0-6-0 SSWITCHER STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

2 $19.99 13h 43m
Minitrix 13697 N-Scale Refrigeratr Wagon Wurzburger, MIB

Minitrix 13697 N-Scale Refrigeratr Wagon Wurzburger, MIB

- $12.95 18h 31m
VINTAGE MINITRIX "N" SCALE CENTER FLOW HOPPER 51 312300

VINTAGE MINITRIX "N" SCALE CENTER FLOW HOPPER 51 312300

1 $9.99 20h 19m
Vintage Minitrix N Scale 9mm Train Car W Germany MIB

Vintage Minitrix N Scale 9mm Train Car W Germany MIB

1 $9.99 1d 14h 23m
Trix N Scale 4-6-2 Locomotive Train Pennsylvania 5495

Trix N Scale 4-6-2 Locomotive Train Pennsylvania 5495

3 $13.50 1d 19h 20m
SNCF - 30 ft French wagon with stone load

SNCF - 30 ft French wagon with stone load

1 $9.99 1d 21h 12m
TRIX N SCALE "RIO-GRANDE" CATTLE CAR  APPEARS BRAND NEW

TRIX N SCALE "RIO-GRANDE" CATTLE CAR APPEARS BRAND NEW

-
$4.50
$8.75
1d 21h 17m
Minitrix Steam Loco tender

Minitrix Steam Loco tender

2 $2.25 2d 15h 34m
MINITRIX,  "N" SCALE OPEN HOPPER CAR IN BOX   FREE SHIP

MINITRIX, "N" SCALE OPEN HOPPER CAR IN BOX FREE SHIP

-
$3.99
$6.00
2d 21h 1m
MINITRIX P.R.R 4-6-2 STEAM ENGINE #2970 K4 PACIFIC

MINITRIX P.R.R 4-6-2 STEAM ENGINE #2970 K4 PACIFIC

- $49.99 2d 21h 56m
MINITRIX P.R.R 4-6-2 STEAM ENGINE #2970 K4 PACIFIC

MINITRIX P.R.R 4-6-2 STEAM ENGINE #2970 K4 PACIFIC

- $49.99 2d 21h 57m
Trix electric semaphore signals  (lot of 3) euro style

Trix electric semaphore signals (lot of 3) euro style

1 $9.97 3d 22m
Minitrix L&N U30C

Minitrix L&N U30C

- $25.00 3d 10h 3m

Train news

  • TRAINS HISTORY

    Prehistory There have been models and toys of trains for as long as there have been real railways. Indeed some early models of locomotives were made first as sales promotional tools for the early railways, even if they later might have become playthings. During the Victorian period toy and model trains and locomotives fell into a number of categories there were the live steam engines, expensive and only for the wealthy, there were pull along trains in all shapes, sizes and materials, penny toys in lead and tin and latterly clockwork engines. The steam and clockwork engines might be intended to run on the floor, or a simple track assembled by the user, but there was no real sense of system about these trains. Most of these toys were made in Germany. Britain and France tended only to make the better class of steam engine. There was an indigenous US industry, with considerable use of cast iron rather than tinplate. The Real Beginning The defining event in toy train history was the launch by Marklin in 1891 of the first complete system of trains. While the first models were derived from earlier products, what Marklin introduced was a series of standard track gauges, ready to use track sections for those gauges, and a range of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories to match. Now you could have an initial train set, but continually add and expand till your miniature railroad empire was complete - which it never was.

     

    This was of course good for the toy manufacturer, indeed this is possibly the first example of the expanding range, with items at various price points Christmas, birthdays, parents and relations and pocket money sized, which is one of the basic features of most successful toys since.

     

    These first Marklin models were made in three gauges called 1, 2 and 3, logically enough. Painted and soldered tinplate was the main material, and clockwork the driving power. And they were crude. But the range was clearly a great success. So Marklin expanded and improved its range, after a few years adding a fourth, small gauge O. The range of accessories was greatly expanded. Other German toy makers introduced competitive products, most importantly Bing then probably Germanys, and hence the worlds, largest toy maker. Despite the odd divergence these makers generally adopted the same standards as to gauge as Marklin, while developing new production techniques, in particular the use of lithographed printed tinplate, allowing much cheaper and more colorful items, at the expense of some robustness.

     

    By the start of the 20th century other methods of propulsion were being applied too, in that live steam and electric powered models had taken to the toy train rails, though clockwork was still the prime mover. More importantly the first ranges of Marklin and Bing and others were growing and improving each year, and as with the rest of the German toy trade, was strongly export oriented, thus spreading toy trains world wide. The main markets were Britain, France and their empires and the US. Britain had no indigenous toy maker to compete with, nor really had France, but there was home based competition in America. Britain however had something else - model railways

     

    Model Railways

    The hobby of model railways can really be said to have been founded in the U.K. at the start of the Edwardian period. There were already active amateur model engineers, building live steam locomotives and with a keen interest in the real railways. One of the embryo suppliers to this group was a young man, W J Bassett Lowke. He saw the potential of using the German toy trains, particularly the track and mechanisms, with bodies rather more accurate as to prototype and selling not as a toy to children but rather to adult enthusiasts. And he used the services of another young man, Henry Greenly, as a designer of these models. Greenly, among other things, established a system of scales using the Marklin  gauges as the starting point. He also founded the first periodical devoted to model railways. And thus from the beginning the hobby of model railways was in part a toy, and in part the effort of amateur and professional model makers coexisting, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not.

    Bassett Lowke tended to use the services of Bing and Carrette for its own models, but of course once the idea of British outline models was established the German makers started to produce models for sale by other importers, for example Marklin for the Gamages store in London.