Category:Trix: Difference between revisions

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{{Toymaker}}
{{Toymaker|Trix_logo_staggered-X.jpg|Trix_logo,_postwar,_perspective_frame.jpg}}
'''The [[Trix]] company''' represented a largely informal partnership between the [[Bing]] brothers and their staff (who were finding it increasingly difficult to operate in Germany is the build-up to WW2) and Bassett-Lowke, their main UK distributor, in producing new, smaller train sets for the emerging 00-gauge market.  
'''[[Trix]]''' was a metal toymaking company founded in Germany between the wars by [[Stefan Bing]] and other ex-''[[Bing|Bing Werke]]'' staff. The company was noted for its technical innovation, and helped to pioneer the new half-size 00/H0 model railway format, with improved models that were a generation further developed than the early half-size locos and sets that had been trialled by the Bing company.
 
==Origins of Trix Limited==
After the Nuremburg-based [[Bing]] got into financial trouble in the late 1920s, some of the key personnel left and banded together to start a new toymaking business, headed by '''Stefan Bing''' and '''Siegfried Kahn'''. '''Andreas Förtner''''s Nuremburg toymaking company (ANFOE) had already merged with '''J. Haffner''''s in 1925, and the Fortner-Hafner company was bought by the group, moving to larger Nuremburg premises in 1929. An early major product was the new TRIX metal construction sets, and it was decided to set up local offshoot companies in the main countries being exported to, and the first of these was '''Trix Ltd.''', 4 Golden Lane, London EC1, a joint enterprise with Stefan's friend [[W.J. Bassett-Lowke]] in 1932.
 
With Stefan's Jewish heritage becoming increasing problematic as the Nazi party gained ascendancy, Stefan began to concentrate more on his links with England and Bassett-Lowke, with B-L designing British-outline bodyshells for the new trains.
 
As the situation in Germany worsened, B-L "took in" Trix and Stefan Bing, with manufacturing at [[Winteringham|Winteringham Ltd., Northampton]].


==Trix metal construction sets==
==Trix metal construction sets==
{{Box|Moto_Trix_closeup.jpg|close-up of a Trix constructor set, showing the Trix system's three rows of holes}}  
{{Box|Moto_Trix_closeup.jpg|close-up of a Trix constructor set, showing the Trix system's three rows of holes|380}}  
Trix had originally built metal "Meccano-like" construction sets, but unlike many [[Meccano]] clones, the Trix products had their own distinctive system, which involved strips having three staggered lines of holes, so that as well as being able to be rigidly bolted together inline (like Meccano), they coudlalso be connected at an angle, without needing additional cross-struts.
The TRIX metal construction sets reinvented the [[Meccano]] idea, using a smaller range of more general-purpose plates, punched with three staggered sets of holes that lined up diagonally, suggesting the name '''Tri-X''', or Trix.


This three-hole system gave rise to the Trix name.
These sets looked distinctively different to Meccano, and the three-row system had the advantage of allowing plated to be bolted together rigidly not just in-line but also at right-angles or at 45 degrees without needing any additional side-struts. The main advantage of the system, though, was cost - since Trix plates were used as both wide beams and narrow plates, a Trix set required fewer specialised pieces, and the entry-level Trix sets were much cheaper than their Meccano counterparts.


==Trix Twin Railway (TTR)==
==Trix Express==
{{Box|TrixTwin_CoronationScot.jpg|Trix Twin Railways promotion for their [[Coronation Scot]] set (1937)}}
{{Box|TrixTwin_CoronationScot.jpg|Trix Twin Railways promotion for their [[Coronation Scot]] set (1937)|380}}
Trix are associated with two main model railway product lines, '''Trix Express''' and '''Trix Twin'''.
 
'''[[:Category: Trix Express|Trix Express]]''' was the original Trix model railway system manufactured in Germany.
 
After the simple and cheap-to-produce TRIX sets, the bankruptcy of Bing Werke in 1932 created a new opportunity, and the next major product line was a range of tabletop train sets inspired and developed from the earlier '''Bing Tabletop Railway''' system that some of the new company's personnel were already intimately familiar with. After some years of development, the Trix Express system was first shown to the public at the 1935 Leipzig Spring Fair.


'''Trix Twin Railway (TTR)''' was a system that allowed independent control of two separate locomotives on a single common layout using three-rail track and two separate controllers. The two outer rails were used as separate independent power lines, and the centre rail was "common".  
The Trix Express (and Trix international) names continued to be used on the continent after [[World War Two]].


Trix included ideas from both companies' personnel, and for a while there appeared to be some internal competition about what the products ought to be called in the UK. A catalogue from 1937 shows the TTR logo and name on almost every page, but the catalogue's cover instead announces "The Bassett-Lowke Twin Train Table Railway".  
==Trix Twin Railway (TTR)==
'''[[:Category: Trix Twin Railway|Trix Twin Railway (TTR)]]''' was the next development of the Trix railway range. A patented innovation involved isolating all three rails of a three-rail track to allow individual control over two trains on a single track, by having two locos drawing power from different outer rails, and with the use of two controllers.  


For a while this tongue-twisting confusion over whether "TT" should be presented as standing for "Trix Twin" or "Twin Train" extended as far as the product packaging, and even to the markings on the models themselves, where Trix sometimes apparently supply models with their preferred markings, and Bassett-Lowke would then overpaint them with theirs.
With the rise of the Nazi party in Germany causing Stefan Bing and Siegfried Kahn to move to the UK, TTR increasingly became a UK system.  


Production moved to a UK factory used by Bassett-Lowke after the Bings finally fled Nazi Germany.
For a while a "difference of vision" between Stefan Bing and [[W.J. Bassett-Lowke]] created a tongue-twisting confusion over whether "TTR" should be presented as standing for "Trix Twin" or "Twin Train" Railway.


==Selected patents==
{{Box|Scientrix_Trix_Electrical_Set_(BL-TTRcat_1938).jpg|1938: Trix "Scientrix" science set |380}}
* [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19370114&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP&CC=GB&NR=459744A&KC=A&ND=4 GB459744 (A)  -  Improvements in or connected with tracks for toy railways (espacenet.com)]  – ''clip-together track'' <small><small><br>VEREINIGTE SPIELWARENFABRIKEN A. FORTNER & J. HAFFNER'S NACHFOLGER GES., 15, Kobergerstrasse, Nuremberg, Germany. Jan. 23, 1936</small></small>
* [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19360810&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP&CC=GB&NR=451644A&KC=A&ND=4 GB451644 (A)  -  Device for coupling and uncoupling toy vehicles running on rails    ]
: <small><small>VEREINIGTE SPIELWARENFABRIKEN A. FORTNER & J. HAFFNER'S NACHFOLGER GES., 15, Kobergerstrasse, Nuremberg, Germany. Feb. 28, 1936</small></small>
* [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19370430&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP&CC=GB&NR=465168A&KC=A&ND=4 GB465168 (A)  -  Electrical railway toy] – ''The "TTR" patent for running two independent trains on three-rail track''
: <small><small>VER SPIELWARENFABRIKEN ANDREAS + (VEREINIGTE SPIELWARENFABRIKEN ANDREAS FOERTNER & J. HAFFNER'S NACHFOLGER GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRANKT)  Oct. 31, 1935, No. 30095. Convention date, Nov. 28, 1934</small></small>
* [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19380705&CC=GB&NR=488357A&KC=A GB488357 (A)  -  Improvements in or connected with toy electric railway vehicles ] – ''uses a reverser relay to switch the colour of the front and rear lights depending on a train's direction of motion''
* [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19390111&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP&CC=GB&NR=498651A&KC=A&ND=4 Improvements in or connected with remote-control coupling and uncoupling devices for toy electric railways (espacenet.com) ]
{{Links}}
{{Links}}
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trix Trix (German Wikipedia)]
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trix Trix (German Wikipedia)]
* [http://www.trix.co.uk/ Steve White's Trix Twin Model Railway collectors' website (trix.co.uk)]
* [http://www.trix.co.uk/ Steve White's Trix Twin Model Railway collectors' website (trix.co.uk)]
* [http://www.ttrca.co.uk/index.html Trix-Twin Railway Collectors' Association TTRCA (ttrca.co.uk)]
* [http://www.ttrca.co.uk/index.html Trix-Twin Railway Collectors' Association TTRCA (ttrca.co.uk)]
* [http://www.theplatelayers.org/symposium2009/trix.pdf History of Trix (theplatelayers.org)] - ''(.pdf)''
* [http://www.mremag.com/news/article/trix-british/12466 Trix (British), Model Railway Express Mag (mremag.com)]


[[Category:Bassett-Lowke]]
{{B-L}}
{{MetCon}}

Latest revision as of 00:37, 24 January 2016

Trix was a metal toymaking company founded in Germany between the wars by Stefan Bing and other ex-Bing Werke staff. The company was noted for its technical innovation, and helped to pioneer the new half-size 00/H0 model railway format, with improved models that were a generation further developed than the early half-size locos and sets that had been trialled by the Bing company.

Origins of Trix Limited

After the Nuremburg-based Bing got into financial trouble in the late 1920s, some of the key personnel left and banded together to start a new toymaking business, headed by Stefan Bing and Siegfried Kahn. Andreas Förtner's Nuremburg toymaking company (ANFOE) had already merged with J. Haffner's in 1925, and the Fortner-Hafner company was bought by the group, moving to larger Nuremburg premises in 1929. An early major product was the new TRIX metal construction sets, and it was decided to set up local offshoot companies in the main countries being exported to, and the first of these was Trix Ltd., 4 Golden Lane, London EC1, a joint enterprise with Stefan's friend W.J. Bassett-Lowke in 1932.

With Stefan's Jewish heritage becoming increasing problematic as the Nazi party gained ascendancy, Stefan began to concentrate more on his links with England and Bassett-Lowke, with B-L designing British-outline bodyshells for the new trains.

As the situation in Germany worsened, B-L "took in" Trix and Stefan Bing, with manufacturing at Winteringham Ltd., Northampton.

Trix metal construction sets

close-up of a Trix constructor set, showing the Trix system's three rows of holes

close-up of a Trix constructor set, showing the Trix system's three rows of holes [image info]

The TRIX metal construction sets reinvented the Meccano idea, using a smaller range of more general-purpose plates, punched with three staggered sets of holes that lined up diagonally, suggesting the name Tri-X, or Trix.

These sets looked distinctively different to Meccano, and the three-row system had the advantage of allowing plated to be bolted together rigidly not just in-line but also at right-angles or at 45 degrees without needing any additional side-struts. The main advantage of the system, though, was cost - since Trix plates were used as both wide beams and narrow plates, a Trix set required fewer specialised pieces, and the entry-level Trix sets were much cheaper than their Meccano counterparts.

Trix Express

Trix Twin Railways promotion for their Coronation Scot set (1937)

Trix Twin Railways promotion for their Coronation Scot set (1937) [image info]


Trix Express was the original Trix model railway system manufactured in Germany.

After the simple and cheap-to-produce TRIX sets, the bankruptcy of Bing Werke in 1932 created a new opportunity, and the next major product line was a range of tabletop train sets inspired and developed from the earlier Bing Tabletop Railway system that some of the new company's personnel were already intimately familiar with. After some years of development, the Trix Express system was first shown to the public at the 1935 Leipzig Spring Fair.

The Trix Express (and Trix international) names continued to be used on the continent after World War Two.

Trix Twin Railway (TTR)

Trix Twin Railway (TTR) was the next development of the Trix railway range. A patented innovation involved isolating all three rails of a three-rail track to allow individual control over two trains on a single track, by having two locos drawing power from different outer rails, and with the use of two controllers.

With the rise of the Nazi party in Germany causing Stefan Bing and Siegfried Kahn to move to the UK, TTR increasingly became a UK system.

For a while a "difference of vision" between Stefan Bing and W.J. Bassett-Lowke created a tongue-twisting confusion over whether "TTR" should be presented as standing for "Trix Twin" or "Twin Train" Railway.

Selected patents

1938: Trix "Scientrix" science set

1938: Trix "Scientrix" science set [image info]

VEREINIGTE SPIELWARENFABRIKEN A. FORTNER & J. HAFFNER'S NACHFOLGER GES., 15, Kobergerstrasse, Nuremberg, Germany. Feb. 28, 1936
VER SPIELWARENFABRIKEN ANDREAS + (VEREINIGTE SPIELWARENFABRIKEN ANDREAS FOERTNER & J. HAFFNER'S NACHFOLGER GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRANKT) Oct. 31, 1935, No. 30095. Convention date, Nov. 28, 1934

External links

Subcategories

This category has the following 7 subcategories, out of 7 total.

A

C

M

T

Media in category ‘Trix’

The following 96 files are in this category, out of 96 total.

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