I stumbled across a NYC Trix Mikado for about $320.00 CDN. Any opinions from anyone who owns one would be appreciated as far as performance and detail. Also is that a decent price?
I saw it yesterday (briefly) and it has been calling out to me to take it home ever since.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Jump on it, Brent. They originally went for $600 US. Apart from the reversed ladder, they are beautifully detailed, run very smoothly, and have some good weight to them. It will come with the older V2.0 Loksound decoder, which means you won't be able to play the bell and whistle simultaneously. (The V3.5 decoder fixed that issue.)
I have both of the NYC Mikes and like them VERY much. Sorry to tell you that I only paid $225 and $250 for mine a few years back when they were dumping them on eBay. I think you'll be very happy with it if you decide to get it, Brent.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Well I snoozed and lost. Yes it sold late yesterday. I guess it was not meant to be. I then went to buy a Playstation 4 for the kid for Christmas, They showed 80 units in stock at opening and apparently sold out 10 minutes before I got there less than 2 hours later. They should have more PS4s in next week though. I'll just have to have 1 cup before I hit the road on that day.
Thanks Tom and Steve.
There are two on E-Bay right now and at really good prices.
Steve
From what I know, the Trix Mikado is one of the best non-brass models around. The intricate detail right down to the hex shaped nuts impressed MRR quite a bit. It also has a top-notch drive with a coreless motor, and interestingly, it has a wormless geartrain that runs so freely that it almost can't stop on a grade!
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I seem to recall that you can push that loco along with your fingers and it will roll like a real steamer being pushed would...with drivers turning. I may be wrong, but pretty sure I surprised myself once or twice doing this on my own NYC Trix 2-8-2.
If you can get one for under USD$400, you are doing very well.
-Crandell
Thanks Guys.
I found another one locally that and may approach the vendor after Christmas with an offer. I have gotten good deals from him before and it would save across border shipping cost and hassels.
In the meantime how about this? It's close to home and I think I could get it in my F-350.
http://vancouver.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-hobbies-crafts-Live-Steam-Train-W0QQAdIdZ548484852
Trix Mikado is one of the best locomotives I have ever bought. It is very nice detailed, but still robust and excellent runner. I bought my first few years ago on German ebay (NYC), for around 100 Euros. After I realized what excellent model I acquired, a year later I bought a second one (PRR), for approximately the same price. Both were DC versions, I wanted to install decoder and loudspeaker by myself.
I digitalized the first one with Tsunami decoder, and I am very satisfied with result. But, sometimes I switch off the sound to be able to enjoy in soundless movement of this locomotive - to observe how it glides on tracks while wheels and rods move slowly. Motor is coreless, i.e. there is no sound from it. Only gears can be heard, but they are far from being noisy...
The second one is still waiting for a new decoder. Maybe I will test new WOW decoder with this one. Tsunami has excellent sound, but motor control could be beter, especially in lower speed steps.
Yes, this locomotive can be pushed on tracks, and wheels will turn freeley. It has special gear system...some gears have teeth with 45 degrees, so two adjacent gears form right angle.
Marklin (Trix) has recently announced to be more orientated on Russian and US market...they expect to get more from these markets than European. So maybe we will be able to enjoy in some new US models from Trix in the same quality as Mikado.
Hrvoje
I'll be surprised if that happens. The reason for the big price drop on the Trix versions years back was because they weren't selling well at $600 a pop and some vendors/sellers were just dumping them for well over half MSRP. No complaints from me because I picked up BOTH NYC versions for 80% of what one originally cost.
With that said, I would be very happy to see Trix get into the US business again. Beautiful locomotives...
The news on new Marklin/Trix market orientation is from September, more here:
http://www.marklin-users.net/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=27374#post417279
Man I sure wished I had pounced on the one I saw now after hearing you guy's talk about them. Just out of interest and it being out of my range of knowledge on such things, how close would this NYC Mikado be to a Canadian Pacific version? C.P. used them as pushers through the Rockies and Selkirks.
Brent,
The Trix version is modeled after a USRA 2-8-2 Mike. Do you know if the CP used any of those Mikes for pushers?
There's a new Trix NYC version currently on eBay for around $200 US, with only ~9-1/2 hours to go. Worth keeping an eye on if the trip across the border isn't going to tack on a lot of additional charges.
[Update: Just checked. The Trix NYC Mike went for just a little over $200. That's a great deal - if it was truly "new", as the seller claimed.]
Thanks Tom
I saw that one on E-bay along with a couple of others for $279.00. I will ask the vendor (when the wife gets home, she has the account) about shipping. His rating is a little lower in that dept.
PWRS has one in stock and last year for Christmas I got about $300.00 in gift certificates for PWRS and will likely do as well again this year. I know they are open to taking offers on old stock as I got my BLI C&O 2-10-4 from them a couple of years back for a song.
As far as how the Trix model compares to the CPR one. They look quite different. I also wanted to know about the technical differences but my eyes started to glaze over. That being said it could always be considered a loaner, that's what I do with my C&O.
http://www.trainweb.org/cprmodeling/proto/col14.jpg
Interesting about the Trix drive being "pushable". I remember my Lionel 2-8-4 being that way. It was worm drive, but with the tooth angle at 45 degrees. I wonder just what the drive setup is for the Trix. Has anyone opened one of the 2-8-2's up to see?
Ed
If anyone has, please tell me how. I've been wanting to replace the "orange" LED headlight for a golden-white LED for a while now. I e-mailed both Trix and a few from their list of dealers/repair shops and no one could give me a definitive answer.
You must open the fron "door" in the front of boiler (where front light is). This part can be removed because it is just pressed in place. There is a small recess between boiler and this "door" in the lower part. It is visible and easirer to remove if you remove boliler from the undercarriage. To remove boiler, you must unscrew just one screw, it is shown in TRIX manual for this loco, page 20 (to download manual for NYC version: http://medienpdb.maerklin.de/product_files/2/pdf/22801_betrieb.pdf).
If you have e.g. PRR version, then the game is diferent, because front light design is not the same. Then it is more difficult to change yellow LED, but it can be done.
More TRIX manuals can be found here: https://www.maerklinshop.de/index.php?sid=7805db4f6ba3e82dafa95b86b06f9b42&cl=sparepartslists&gaugeid=3.
Front LED is SMD type, and is on NYC version soldered on small PCB together with resistor(s). This PCB is situated inside boiler. I installed bigger LED and bigger resistor, but if you can solder small SMD LED, you can use original resistor. Be careful with spring contacts for this PCB when you slide back PCB, they are very fragile. PCB for front light must be slid in BEFORE you return the boiler in place.
Sorry for my partially unusual terminology, but English is not my native lanuage.
Regards,