I found this for sale, but no one has mentioned MiniTrix as good bad of ugly.
Should I run or gun?
Anyone???
Please try before you buy. Minitrix can be a good old DC only motor. Converts easily to MTL, and goes thru the tightest curves. They weigh more than other units, so should pull very well. Overall performance should be OK for an old 3pole motor. A bit noisy because of the metal gears. Get a pair if you run DC.
These units most likely were made in the late 90’s, before Marklin bought out Trix. Minitrix was the Nscale part of Trix, a good old German mfr. Many Nscalers know these as Postage Stamp trains, when Nscale was in it’s infancy.
You may also find some Minitrix Funits. Try not to pay more than $25 -$30 with MTL couplers. Great value for a 30yr old design!
Thanks. I passed.
At one time, Minitrix was “state of the art.” They are rugged but obsolete. I have an older Arnold that is similar to the Minitrix. I would buy the Minitrix myself but for the same reason I’ve kept my archaic Arnold. It even says “West Germany” on the bottom. It has oversized wheels, no head light, is made of metal, is a little noisy, has no flywheels and will really pull. Is it obsolete? YES! To me its akin to owning a Willy’s Jeep. For an up to date switcher, I’d recomend an Atlas RS-1. I like them so much, I’ve got three! I had one of the Minitrix F-units decorated for Pennsylvania. I model B&O, C&O and Chessie and Do Not enjoy repainting units, though I have done so many times and havr been more than satisfied with the results. Well, I have a good friend who fell in love with it, so I gave it to him. I have too many engines already. Even though I would have had to repaint the unit, I would have probably scarfed that Minitrix switcher up.
Nice call. I would have done the same.
What the others typed: acceptable for its day, but now dated.
This thing had three speeds: very fast, still-too-fast and not-at-all. This is not acceptable for a switcher.
IF you want an FM switcher, I would buy the Atlas FM road switcher and use that until someone actually issues an FM yard goat. This assumes, of course, that your road ran those.
Minitrix made fine locos (they still do) - I have a 10-15 year old German electric loco that runs like a champ after I gave it a good clean and relube (bought it used, it barely moved until I did this!). It’s now the candidate for my first N scale DCC installation if/when a new N scale layout is built. As said before, try before you buy, don’t pay top prices, and be prepared to do some servicing on the model - these have a good few years behind them now!
Hi! You old timers,
It was a good thought that I had this morning, when I said to my-self (there most be a few Minitrix fans up there). Thirty years ago, I bought my first Minitrix set, the motive power was an F7 Canadian Pacific with the old maroon color that I love so much. Let me tell you what had happened last week on my layout, last Christmas, I bought a N scale C-630 Locomotive from Atlas, my dealer was George’s Trains in Toronto Ont. It was on sale but the cost including transport came up to $118.00, without the taxes, by the way a very good-looking engine. Now for my story, I had my new rooster hauling about fifteen freight cars go in up on a small grade of 1.5 percent, when at the top a quarter scale miles away, my engine wheels started to slip. Guest what I had to do, I reverse my locomotive to the beginning of the small grade and attach my thirty years old F7 Minitrix to fini***he job. Was my face red, it just shows us that we always need a good locomotive? See you soon
andrejonc