Trix electric trains were first made in Germany in 1935 under the Trix Express label. In late 1935 Trix trains made their debut in the U.K. where they were sold and distributed by Trix Ltd, a company owned by Stephan Bing who was the principal shareholder of the Trix Express company in Germany. With Bing's agreement Bassett Lowke Ltd. also promoted the same trains as The Bassett-Lowke Twin-Train Table Railway. Bassett-Lowke was a well-established British model making company.
In 1936 new English-made body castings were manufactured in the style of British rather than German steam locos. These locos, along with British rolling stock, were on sale in LNER, LMS, and Southern liveries. The motors, wheels and some other items were made only in Germany up to 1939. In 1936 the name Trix Twin Railways replaced the Trix Express name in England.
The 1939-1945 war interrupted production, which resumed in 1948. Some unsold pre-war items were sold post-war. Post-war, Trix locos continued to operate on 14 volts alternating current, unlike rival manufacturers Hornby-Dublo and Triang that used 12 volts DC. Trix locos had a complex reversing mechanism, which made production expensive and less reliable. In Germany, Trix changed from AC motors to the more efficient and reliable permanent magnet DC type. Unfortunately, the British Trix company retained the old AC system for several years which contributed to their extremely chequered history. They were taken over several times, with the models renamed Trix Twin Railways, Trix Trains, British Trix and Liliput.
In 1956, Trix changed to 12 volt DC operation, but the models were still three-rail and more expensive than other popular 00 brands.
In April 1963 British Celanese (part of the Courtaulds Group) formed British Trix Ltd and purchased the goodwill and patents of Trix Products Ltd for £1. Ernest Rozsa was placed in charge of design and development but later took full responsibility for production.
Despite a number of successes, the financial problems continued and at the end of 1967 the plug was once again pulled. The German Trix company acquired the assets of British Trix and a company called Thernglade Ltd was acquired to take over production. Rozsa was a Director of the new company and the product was renamed ‘Trix Trains’. This period was famed for the excellent LNER Pacific locomotives they produced in 00 scale.
A number of German toy company ownership changes lead to a decision to phase out model railway production at Wrexham from 1971. The Minitrix tools were bought by the German Trix company and in 1973 Rovex Ltd became the importers of the range which was renamed Hornby Minitrix. The Trix production ceased in 1973.
Rozsa had salvaged the model railway side of the business and purchased stock and spares. He set up a mail order business under the name Berwyn Hobbies Supplies while Liliput of Austria purchased the British model tools owned by Trix of Germany. In 1974 Rozsa formed Liliput Model Railways (UK) Ltd and continued to assemble former British Trix models from parts supplied by Liliput. This continued until 1992 when the supply of parts finally dried up.
Some parts and tools were acquired by Dapol Ltd and others were retained by Liliput which was bought by Kader in 1993. Kader, a Chinese company who owned the American Bachmann company, had established Bachmann Industries Europe Ltd in Britain to market British outline models made from the former Mainline Railways tools which it owned. With the Liliput tools now in their possession, the former British Trix A4 model formed the basis of the Class A4 models currently sold by Bachmann.
You can read more about the history of Trix Twin on the website www.Trix-Twin.co.uk
1980 Liliput UK (Trix)
