The Aurora Plastic Corp. N scale Postage Stamp train sets were made by Minitrix, the Trix N scale line of trains. Trix and Minitrix products were made in Nuremberg, which is in Germany and not Austria, as the new editor Carl Swanson claims.
Minitrix was one of the first who ventured into N scale, after Arnold introduced the scale in 1960.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
When I was in N scale I had a lot of postage stamp trains, and all of mine were marked "made in Austria".
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-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 When I was in N scale I had a lot of postage stamp trains, and all of mine were marked "made in Austria". . -Kevin .
That´s not really correct. Only some of the freight cars were made by Roco of Austria for Minitrix.
For reference, look here.
And here.
I can only tell you my personal experience. Being in High school in 1982 and trying to build an N scale layout forced me to buy lots of Postage Stamp Trains at swap meets.
I never had one that was made in Germany.
I don't think any of my N scale equipment I had in High School, from any manufacturer, was made in Germany.
According to Wikipedia, N gauge models under the Minitrix brand were made from the late 1960s mostly of European prototypes (German and British primarily). North American prototypes were also manufactured and marketed under the Aurora "Postage Stamp" brand; later these items were sold under the American Tortoise, Model Power and Con-Cor brands. Trix sometimes utilized North American consultants to aid in the design of this portion of the product line. The "Hornby Minitrix' brand was used in the 1980s for a short lived range of British outline models using the earlier product tooling.
If, and for whatever reason, the Aurora Postage Stamp train sets were marked "Made in Austria", this was only correct for the freight cars included in the sets.
More evidence to be found here:
http://guidetozscale.com/html/minitrix.html
That too was my entry into N scale, my Mom got my Dad a Postage Stamp set for his birthday one year, so when we set up the holiday layout (at that time, just a 4x4 HO), he added a small section raised a bit over the HO (and forming a tunnel on one edge of the HO layout) with a simple loop plus double ended siding N scale layout, the one track used parts of an Atlas pier set to go up a little, the other was flat. The three cars that came with the set were US prototype, but the loco was the Lil' Donkey 0-6-0 steam loco which was most definitely a European loco. We only had it up that one year, I think I burned out 5 of the switch motors - never burned out an HO one. I was only about 4 at the time. The next year we expanded the HO to 4x8 and the N scale got put away. When I was 8, we built a 2x4 N scale layout that, since it fit on top of the cabinet we kept our other toys in, was allowed to remain all year.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Actually, it doesn´t matter who or where the sets were finally made. The only important issue was and still is the joy they provided to those who got them.
In my case, it was a Marklin starter set, an oval of tinplate track, two 4-wheeled open platform coaches and a fantasy 0-6-0. I few days, that will be 56 years ago, on Christmas 1963. I was a very happy 7-year old then! It was the start of a life long hobby, which is about to end, as I am physically no longer able to do any modelling. My "career" as a model railroader started with a Marklin tinplate train set, and it ends with a nostalgic Marklin tinplate layout I started to build roughly two years ago, but was not able to finish completely.
My first N Scale in 1968 was a Atlas/Mehano RSC-3 a terrible locomotive but,it started by journey into N Scale..
My next N Scale would come in 71 with a Atlas Rivarossi SW1500 of which I bought three plus two Minitrix FM 12-44. I painted these switchers black with yellow frames and pilots and lettered for my Cincinnati Belt Line(CBL). "Serving Queen City's Industries."
And yes,it was a 10' ISL.. I used Atlas switches and flex track. For the era it operated quite well even with Rapido couplers.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Aurora gave up on N scale rather quickly, and I well remember when stacks of those Postage Stamp train sets on hobby shop counter tops would be sold for incredibly low prices. Ironically, Aurora's disillusionment with N might have resulted in a big boost for the scale because of those prices and the amount of over production they engaged in.
Dave Nelson
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