21-09-2015, 09:54 AM
Oh yes! I remember Trix very well!
In the 50s my mum was bringing me and my brother up on a Widowed Mother's Pension and money was very tight.
So, no bikes, no model railways, no Meccano which, although you could buy parts separately, was expensive to get started ...
One day I spotted the Trix system in a local toy shop. The beauty of it was that it was based on individual Units of useful parts that cost five shillings each. So no high initial outlay. One Unit was enough to get started in a modest way and there was a free choice about which Unit(s) to buy next ...
We started off with the basic units and worked our way up until we got to Unit 'E' ...
Unit 'E' contained a solenoid, a soft iron core, brass contacts, a gong and a fibre insulating piece amongst other bits. So, add a Winner 9V Grid Bias Battery (1/9d) with integral sockets on every cell, a couple of wander plugs and a few bits of wire and I had a wonderful time!
A buzzer, a shocking machine, a bell - not to mention switches - all made from the one kit!
This was the beginning of my interest in things electrical which veered, in the course of time, along the path of what today is called electronics.
A good overview of the UK system can be found here: http://www.trix-metaal.nl/Manuals/Ingeni...index.html
No plates, no colours and a very small number of gears, etc., so no way could it match up to Meccano for versatility but what it enabled you to do, it did very well ...
Trix also sold Trix Twin Railways. These were three-rail, like Hornby at the time, but with a difference: The wheels were insulated from the axles so that power could be obtained from the centre rail and either the left or right running rail. This enable two trains, each with its own controller, to run independently on the same track. Unfortunately, unlike their counterparts, they made no attempt at resembling the real thing, the basic loco being a somewhat chunky body on an 0-4-0 chassis - a bit like a copy of the simple clockwork trains that we all - including me! - grew up with!
I knew a couple of friends who had them but who had no interest in the 'twin' concept whereas most of my contemporaries wanted something that looked like the real thing!
In the 50s my mum was bringing me and my brother up on a Widowed Mother's Pension and money was very tight.
So, no bikes, no model railways, no Meccano which, although you could buy parts separately, was expensive to get started ...
One day I spotted the Trix system in a local toy shop. The beauty of it was that it was based on individual Units of useful parts that cost five shillings each. So no high initial outlay. One Unit was enough to get started in a modest way and there was a free choice about which Unit(s) to buy next ...
We started off with the basic units and worked our way up until we got to Unit 'E' ...
Unit 'E' contained a solenoid, a soft iron core, brass contacts, a gong and a fibre insulating piece amongst other bits. So, add a Winner 9V Grid Bias Battery (1/9d) with integral sockets on every cell, a couple of wander plugs and a few bits of wire and I had a wonderful time!
A buzzer, a shocking machine, a bell - not to mention switches - all made from the one kit!
This was the beginning of my interest in things electrical which veered, in the course of time, along the path of what today is called electronics.
A good overview of the UK system can be found here: http://www.trix-metaal.nl/Manuals/Ingeni...index.html
No plates, no colours and a very small number of gears, etc., so no way could it match up to Meccano for versatility but what it enabled you to do, it did very well ...
Trix also sold Trix Twin Railways. These were three-rail, like Hornby at the time, but with a difference: The wheels were insulated from the axles so that power could be obtained from the centre rail and either the left or right running rail. This enable two trains, each with its own controller, to run independently on the same track. Unfortunately, unlike their counterparts, they made no attempt at resembling the real thing, the basic loco being a somewhat chunky body on an 0-4-0 chassis - a bit like a copy of the simple clockwork trains that we all - including me! - grew up with!
I knew a couple of friends who had them but who had no interest in the 'twin' concept whereas most of my contemporaries wanted something that looked like the real thing!
