Søren's Model Railway Pages

About model railways in H0

NAVIGATION

Upgrading the mysterious Trix 22200 (class 152 "Porsche")

The class 152 in the Porsche livery (Trix model 22200) were part of a campaign by Porsche to deliver parts and new cars using the rail network. A long with the class 152, a class 182 "Taurus" got the same livery (Trix model 22911).

A model train
Trix 22200 - Class 152 of the DB AG, "Porsche".

At a train fair I found the class 152 at a bargain price (50 EUR, 55 USD). The model was not working which was the cause for the low price. The model is an older design with a bogie motor and 2 axles powered. 

I asked the dealer if I could check the model and noticed that the anchor in the motor was broken. This is an easy (and cheap) fix, so I bought the model.

Here are some pictures of the motor and the problem is quite noticeable.

A model train
The broken anchor. A cobber plate had fallen off and jammed the motor.
A model train
The motor was damaged. If you look at the cover you can see all sorts of small metal dust parts all over the inside of the housing.

The Trix model 22200 is rather mysterious as there seems to be no record of it ever existing as a model. The Trix website does not contain any information about the model, nor can you download any user manual or technical information about the model.

This is unsual. If you know more about the model, please let me know.

Repairing The Model

Since the motor design is the same the Märklin used to use in their older models of the class 152, I can use the Märklin spare parts for my motor. The Trix spare parts sold out long ago, but Märklin has upgrade kits available for their motors.

Back home I got my hand on a Märklin motor kit (60941) which contains a new anchor and components necessary to convert a Märklin motor to DC for digital operation.

The Trix model is DC by design, so I actually only need to use the anchor from the kit. The model is rather old (18 years) so I decided to completely overhaul the motor. The parts are in the kit anyway, so I might as well use them. That way I have now got a completely new motor with all parts up to 2019 standards.

A model train
Here is the upgraded motor. I have taken out all the old components and used the new components from the 60941 motor kit.

Bonus! The original anchor is a 3 pole, and the anchor in the motor kit is a 5-pole. So even with a working model, you will get better running conditions by doing the above mentioned upgrade.

The model now runs smooth and problem free. The beauty here is that even though the seller had written the model off as defective. It pays to check the reason. You can almost always get the model running again. Some times with very little effort.

All there is left now is to upgrade the lights from yellow LEDs to warm white LEDs. I will deal with that at some point.

The model now has a new life on my layout hauling freight trains!

Happy Modelling