Trix
Twin : Model History in Pictures
© Copyright 2011 Garry Lefevre
all rights reserved
The formative
years – 1900 to 1935 !!
About the people who made Trix Express and
Trix Twin
A fateful Meeting
Most collectors believe the story of Trix Express
began on Sunday 3rd March 1935 when a new 00 gauge model railway
system was first presented to the World at the Leipzig Trade Fair at the
“Petershof” in the Grimaischen Street by the Vereinigte
Spielwaren-Fabriken. ( See also http://www.trix-twin.co.uk/hist1.htm
) But the complete story goes back far earlier. The concept and development
took place not just in Germany but also in England. To get to this point lay a long period of
development starting with a fateful meeting in Paris in 1900 between Stephan
Bing from Nürenberg in Germany and W J Bassett-Lowke, (known as Whynne) from
Northampton in England.
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Stephan Bing was part of a family business -
Gebrüder Bing, which for some years was one of Germany’s leading toy
manufacturers. Soon after he met Bassett-Lowke
he started making English outline 0 gauge and larger trains for the English
market. These were clockwork, live steam and electric. The first was a 4-4-0 GWR locomotive which
went on sale in 1904. |
Stephan Bing with his wife in the
1930s |
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W. J
.Bassett-Lowke aged 70 1877 -
1953 |
In 1900
Bassett-Lowke was a young man who had spotted an opportunity in the model
railway market. Most trains were
clockwork or live steam with only a few electric. In England there was a wide range of models
all needing different spare parts.
Enthusiasts would sometimes have to search shops to find the right
part to fix their engine. Whynne
realised if he stocked all the main parts and sold them through a mail order
catalogue he would supply a demand throughout the UK. As he
developed his company specialising in a model railway mail order business he
began to sell complete locomotives from different manufacturers. Over the future years he manufactured very
little himself but bought products from various factories designed for his
specific market needs. He developed a
network of contacts and companies with interconnecting business interests all
in the model business. In addition to model railways he marketed, model
ships, aeroplanes and special architectural models. His company grew to one of the largest
model companies in the United Kingdom. |
The First
English Models
Stephan Bing was not the only one, George Carette, a Frenchman
living in Nürenburg also made stock for Bassett-Lowke up to the beginning of
the First World War. Märklin also made
English outline locomotives in both 0 gauge and gauge 1 often with three
variations, live steam, clockwork and electric.
The first English Märklin locomotive was sold through Bassett Lowke in
1903 and the last in 1937. All these
products were packed into Bassett-Lowke boxes to be sold to the public with no
reference to the original manufacturer’s name.
Although sometimes the box stated “Partly Foreign made”. The only part made in England was sometimes
the box ! These models are much sort
after by collectors such as members of the Bassett-Lowke
Society. More about the Society on their
website : http://www.bassettlowkesociety.org.uk/
Of the three major German suppliers, the closest
relationship was between Stephen Bing and Whynne Bassett-Lowke. The two men
were life long friends. The relationship
was never as close with Märklin who insisted on selling direct to other English
companies such as Gamages in London.
Whilst George Carette went out of business in 1916.
The First 00
Gauge trains
Märklin’s
“00” 1912 train
For the period from 1900 to the late 1930’s England
was the World’s largest market for model railways. From about 1910 several manufacturers had
started to experiment with smaller trains than Gauge 0. In 1912 Märklin made a set they claimed was 00, but the scale was
1/55 not 1 /87.5 of HO, it was more like S scale. The track had a width of 26
mm. This was shown in their catalogues
up to 1928/9. It used mains electricity
without a transformer with just a recommended light bulb in circuit to reduce
the power !! Clearly it was a dangerous
model and was banned in Germany in 1928. One of the difficulties was to get an
electric motor small enough for 00 gauge.
Bing creates
the first 00 trains
In 1920 Bassett-Lowke persuaded Bing to develop a
smaller sized train: “ Bings Table Railway” in 00. This explains why most of
the items were English outline. The
first were clockwork but latter electric.
It is not my intention to go into the history of these trains here, but
only to show the link to the development of Trix Express and then to Trix
Twin. More can be read in Jeff
Carpenter’s book in English or Peter Berg’s book in German on the subject. These little trains were the first 00 massed
produced model railways, although there were many other smaller manufacturers,
none really gained any noticeable market share.
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See also |
Bing leaves
Gebr. Bing and buys into a new Company
Stephan Bing came from an old family of toy
manufacturers of Nürenberg going back to 1838.
In 1927 he left the company founded by his family and a short time
latter bought into the Vereinigte Spielwaren-Fabriken Andreas Förtner
&J.Haffner’s Nachf.GMBH to produce a range of toys including a Trix construction
toy. The company at this time did not
make any trains. The connection with
Bassett Lowke may have ended there but for the success of this product in
England. To meet sales demand mainly
from Woolworths local manufacturing was needed.
Bing turned to an English company Winteringham Ltd, of Northampton who
were closely associated with Bassett-Lowke Ltd.
Later as we shall see it was this company that made Trix Twin items in
England.
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Franz with
his father Stephan Bing on a train in Germany in 1936 |
In 1932 Trix Ltd was founded in London. Franz Bing,
Stephan‘s son was sent to England to manage the company. The purpose was to organise and control local
production and marketing of the construction toy. At that time there were no plans to
re-enter the model railway business |
W J
Bassett-Lowke’s connection to Trix
Bassett-Lowke’s relationship to the new Trix Company
both then and in subsequent years was as a friend and adviser and latter
customer for their trains. He was never
a shareholder. However to establish the
Trix company he was asked to be one of the two first directors as under English
law at least one director had to be resident in England. At that time none of the German directors had
yet taken up residence in England. A few
months latter Franz Bing moved to London.
The second director was Leo Gross an Austrian living in England and
agent for the original Bing company.
Julius Stein, a German living in England, was the first company
secretary, a position he held until 1957.
The company was owned 100% by the German company, Vereinigte
Spielwaren-Fabriken Andreas Förtner &J.Haffner’s Nachf.GMBH. The shares of the German company were owned
74% by Stephan Bing and 26% by H. Oppenheim, a German banker.
Following the Wall Street crash and a subsequent
change of ownership the company making the original Bings Table Railway went
bust in 1932. A gap now existed in the
market for 00 gauge trains.
Bing
persuaded to make a new electric HO train – Trix Express
In the 1930’s Stephan Bing regularly visited
England. On Sundays he used to enjoy
sailing on the Thames near Maidenhead.
On one such visit in 1933 he told his English friend that Whynne was
trying to persuade him to go back into making model railways that Bassett-Lowke
could sell in England. These new
trains should build on the success of Bings Table Railway but be brought up to
date with the latest technological improvements.
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Siegfried
Kahn |
From the very beginning of the design stage the key persons
were Whynne Bassett-Lowke in England looking at the marketing possibilities,
Siegfried Kahn (a brilliant engineer), Oswald Fisher ( the engineer behind
the Bings Table railway) and Stephan Bing with his knowledge of the German
toy market in trains. A lesser part
was played by Henry Greenly an associate of Bassett Lowke who designed the
first wooden Trix Express buildings. |
Henry
Greenly |
On the 28th November 1934 a patent application
in Germany for twin control of two locomotives on the same track was made in
the name of the company and Siegfried Kahn.
No inventor was named, probably due to the fact that Kahn was Jewish and
could not therefore be legally named as inventor. However a year latter in Britain a similar
patent was applied for naming Kahn as inventor.
Indeed Kahn was the named inventor on many British patents of Trix items
with the last that of the Trix Twin elevator conveyor in 1954.
Prototypes
shown to Bassett-Lowke
At the end of 1934 Kahn visited Bassett-Lowke in
England to show him the prototypes.
These were not well received.
Bassett-Lowke did not like the coarse wheeled 0-4-0 which he saw as too toy like. The English market was dominated by adults who
wanted more realistic models with scale wheels.
But Kahn would not hear any criticism, insisting that the market would
be for children. Whynne hesitated to
import any to the English market. To
persuade him Stephan Bing offered Bassett Lowke a 10% discount if he would
promote and import them into England.
This was very unusual as prices were generally very tightly controlled
by Trix, with the manufacturer selling at the same prices to all retailers and
also setting precise sales prices to the public. Whynne agreed to try them for the Xmas 1935
market providing some minor changes were made to the colours of some
items. Yet all was well, for as at
Leipzig in March 1935 the models when shown in England in the autumn were a run
away success and all stocks sold out well before Xmas. The public demand was
such that Bassett-Lowke took advertisements promising more stocks would be on
the way in early 1936.
Contrary to views in some places Bassett Lowke never
had exclusive import rights for the English market. Trix Express trains were sold from Germany
direct to major retailers such as Hamleys, ( still to this day in Regent
Street, London), and Harrods to name just a few.
The first
models
What were these sensational new trains? At Leipzig the items displayed were
pre-production prototypes, some of which were changed before going into
production. For example the bogie
coaches had 3 small windows cut into each end, but not in the final version.
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The track base was not black, but multi-coloured similar
to some made for an exhibition in the early 1950’s. The method of connecting power to the track
was also different. There was only one locomotive, a black 0-4-0 with tender
used in both the passenger and goods set.
Additional coaches and goods wagons were also shown. There was a full range of accessories,
buildings, signals, milestones, a telegraph pole and level crossing signs. Not all of these were imported into Britain
in 1935. More about these early models
can be see at http://www.trix-twin.co.uk/show30s.html
The first
imports for the British market.
To promote the trains in England, Whynne persuaded
Trix to repaint the loco green and to modify the coaches to a lighter green, described
in the catalogue as “correct Southern Railway Green”. The loco did not have “Southern Railway” on
the tender as you would expect but “Trix Express” although the picture in the
catalogue shows it as “Twin Train”, both versions have the number 5391.
On all the tenders you can see underneath the word
“Trix” the word ”Twin” so it was clearly overwritten at the factory. Yet the word “Express” has not been over
written. Trade photographs exist showing
the loco with “Twin Express” on the tender, clearly a last minute change. The Passenger set had the number 11/2
More about the early models at http://www.trix-twin.co.uk/hist1.htm
What name to use for Trix in England ?
A battle was clearly going on over the name. Whynne
was a marketing expert and wanted a name instantly recognised for its main
selling points, e.g. two trains to fit on a table which other 0 gauge trains could
not do.
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Bassett-Lowke insisted on using the name “ Twin
Train” and even “Twin Train Table Railway”. Advertisements had either the
first of these names or the latter as in the English catalogue. Bassett-Lowke even employed two ladies to stick
new labels over the Trix Express ones !
This
picture shows Whynne at the controls of the first Trix layout in Leipzig in
1935 |
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To add to the confusion, Hamleys in London’s Regent Street issued their own 1935 Xmas catalogue selling Trix Express trains. Even after Trix Ltd introduced the name “Trix Twin” in 1936 to sell to the English market, the Bassett-Lowke shops and catalogues continued to use the “Twin Train” label until 1939.
The above battle over the name illustrates perfectly
the relationship between Whynne and Stephen.
Bassett Lowke wanted to exercise control over all aspects of marketing,
pricing and even design of the trains.
Whereas Bing wanted to remain in control of design, manufacturing,
pricing and to have the right to choose his own name for his own products. But he needed Bassett-Lowke to market these
trains in England. A whole series of
agreements and practices developed between them only made possible because of
their friendship. A few examples follow.
The first
Trix Express Wooden station buildings (
designed in England !)
In the 1934 period prior to the launch in 1935 of Trix
Express trains, either Bing or Kahn saw the Bassett- Lowke suburban station
made in 1932 at the suggestion of London Underground in 0 gauge. They asked if
they could copy it.
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1932
Bassett-Lowke 0 gauge station |
1935 Trix
Express “Trixstadt” HO station |
Note :
even the blue line under the roof has been copied !
Hence the first wooden station (Trixstadt) and island
platform were direct copies of items designed by Henry Greenly, an independent
consultant and designer for Bassett-Lowke.
Latter Greenly designed more buildings just for Trix.
Many new models were made in the early days and can be
read about at :
http://www.trix-twin.co.uk/TTRbuildings.htm
1936 – The
year of destiny for Trix in England
The success of the Trix Express trains in England led
to a decision to design and manufacture the trains in England. The English name chosen was Trix Twin. As written above a company - Trix Ltd, ( wholly owned by the German company) had already been
established in England in 1932 to manufacture and sell the construction toy.
This company was now the basis for the English train business. In early 1936 Franz Bing was joined on the
board by his father Stephan, Siegfried Kahn, Hermann Oppenheim and Jack Davis Somper. Oppenheim
was a banker from Frankfurt who was also invested in the German company in
which his bank held 26 % of the shares with the remainder (74%) held by Stephan
Bing. J D Somper
was a toy manufacturer with good connections with Barclays Bank who was to
advise the new company on the English market and financial arrangements. He acted rather like a non-executive director
would today. In the past he had advised
Bassett-Lowke.
1937 - The
first scale appearance of a Trix locomotive
Another example is the development of the Southern
Railway Portsmouth motorised coach. This led on to the Trix Express diesel
flyer (20/58).
Already in 1936 as Bing and Kahn were launching
English outline 0-4-0s Bassett Lowke was planning more scale like models. In the summer of 1936 he was contacted by the
chief publicity officer of Southern Railway – C. Graesmann – who saw the
advertising possibilities of a model of the new motorised coach they were about
to introduce following the electrification of the railway between London and
the south coast.
Whynne Bassett-Lowke asked Ernst
Twining to design the Trix Portsmouth locomotive for him. It was launched on the English market in
February 1937
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E.
Twining was apprenticed as an electrrical
engineer. He also attended Art college which led him to become a designer and
professional model builder. His brother had been apprenticed to Henry Greenly
which led to their company – Twining Models Ltd – doing sub-contract work for
both Greenly and Bassett-Lowke. He had a life long interest in model railways
as an enthusiast, author and designer. Unusualy
he was both an artist and engineer. He
is also famous for many stained glass windows in churches. |
Ernest
Twining 1875 -
1956 |
. Siegfried Kahn had the idea for the Manyways
buildings and asked Ernest Twining to design them for Trix Ltd. |
Made almost entirely by Trix Express in Nürenberg, only the Portsmouth’s body was lithographed in
England on tin plate sheets. These were sent to Germany where they were cut and
pressed into shape for mounting on the chassis.
This was done to insure a colour match with the coaches made in
England. These models were then
marketed as Bassett-Lowke Twin Train with the label on the box just stating a
product by Trix.
Some time latter, in 1938, an agreement was reached
where the Portsmouth and other “scale” models would be marketed jointly with
labels stating both “Designed by Bassett-Lowke” and “TTR Trix Twin
Railway”. Labels printed without
reference to Bassett-Lowke refer to models commissioned by the Trix Company not
by Bassett-Lowke
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Basset- Lowke received a royalty from Trix for these
designs of 5% of the sales price. Both
types of models were mainly designed by Henry Greenly with the Portsmouth and
the Manyways buildings being the big exception, these were designed by E
Twining.
Trix Express enthusiasts will note the similarity of
the Portsmouth with the diesel flyer (20/58), particularly the way the motor is
mounted on a swivel platform. The
contact shaft on the Portsmouth is the earlier “butter fly” type not the latter
gear type as it did not exist when the Portsmouth was made. This is further proof which came first.
Another are advertisements in the press.
I have one for the Portsmouth from March 1937 following its introduction
at the BIF trade show in February of that year.
It was available in the shops from April 1937.
Although this practice started in 1937 formal
agreement to pay Bassett-Lowke a royalty for the design was only agreed in
1938. Such was their friendship that
only an informal agreement existed up to then.
1938
: the forced break with Trix Express
In summary the above was the structure with minor
changes until 1938 when the Nazi authorities in Germany forced the sale of the
German company to Ernst Voelk, the President of the Chamber of Trade in
Nürenburg and owner of the Distler, an old local toy manufacturer. With a great deal of difficulty the Bings and
Kahn left Germany and took up permanent residence England. Part of the agreement was that the English
company would pay a licence fee to the German company as well as guarantying a
minimum amount of purchases from Germany.
This was met by buying some track and the motors etc for use in the
English stock. Financing the English
company without any further support from the previous German parent was a
challenge. Previously J Somper had
helped. He now decided to withdraw all
his support when they most needed it.
However at about the same time the other shareholder in the German
company Oppenheim also left Germany and arrived in England. He had extensive City contacts and soon a
small bank offered support. Later this
bank became S G Warburg.
Production
stepped up in England
Siegfried Kahn was particularly concerned to keep as
much control with Trix Ltd as possible by dividing the production over a number
of companies. Arrangements were made for Winteringham in Northampton to assemble
the range from parts made by different firms.
From Germany complete Trix Express locomotives were imported the bodies
taken off, the wheels painted black and English bodies mounted. These bodies were cast by Metal Castings Ltd
of Worcester and painted by Winteringham.
The tenders were made by John Dale Ltd of London which explains why the
colour match with the locos is not exact.
The same firm printed the tinplate sheets for the coaches and goods
wagons, these were sent to Winteringham who added the wheels, axles and
couplings from Germany. The goods wagon
chassis too were entirely Trix Express but the coach ones were made by
Winteringham.
Trix Workers
assembling locos in Northampton
On the manufacturing side, Siegfried Kahn was
determined to make the Trix Company as independent as possible. Both Trix and Bassett-Lowke subcontracted
work to Winteringham Ltd, a company based in Northampton. Kahn insisted on staff being separately
assigned to work just on Trix products.
On one visit to the factory he saw some staff working on a product he
did not recognise. Discovering it was
for Bassett-Lowke, he instantly dismissed them.
One further member of the new team to mention is Lilli
Bing. Up to 1939 she had been working in
Brussels marketing Trix products. She
now came to England and took up a role in marketing in England a position she
held until long after the war. She
married and became Lilli Sommer. She
became a director of the company after the death of her father, Stephan Bing on
19 April 1940.
One oddity of the Trix way of doing business is the
way they treated their retailers. Maybe
this was a normal practice in those days but would be odd. These were referred to as agents never as
shopkeepers. Although they would place
orders with the Trix Company Bing decided what to send them. They may or may not get their order but might
get something quite different which Bing thought they should sell instead !!
Research for the
above by Garry Lefevre
More about the history of Trix models and their
development can be seen on other pages on this web site. It is my intention to continually add to this
information.
Or
Index
to other Trix History pages