Minitrix - 16131 - Locomotive, Diesel, DB V100 - Deutsche Bundesbahn

Specific Item Information: Prototype: German Federal Railroad (DB) class 213 diesel locomotive. "Traffic Red" paint scheme from Era V. Use: Passenger and freight trains.

Model: The locomotive has a built-in digital decoder for operation with DCC, Selectrix, and Selectrix 2. It has a motor with a flywheel. 4 axles powered. Traction tires. The triple headlights and dual red marker lights change over with the direction of travel and can be turned off. The locomotive also has separately applied grab irons. Length over the buffers 75 mm / 2-15/16".

Highlights: Completely new tooling. Body and frame constructed of metal. Warm white LEDs for lighting. Separately applied grab irons.

Prototype History: These DB Class V 100 diesel locomotives were produced in the late 1950s by the Deutsche Bundesbahn for non-electrified branch lines as a replacement for steam locomotives. The V 100 class was built in three different variants. Decommissioned locomotives were also used in Austria by the Austrian Federal Railways during the 1990s and early 2000s, where they were registered as ÖBB Class 2048.

The Class V 100.10 was a diesel locomotive for light passenger and goods traffic on branch lines. It was developed in 1956 by the Bundesbahn Central Office in Munich together with the engineering works, Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK), for the Deutsche Bundesbahn.

The DB Class V 100.20 (later Class 212) is a more powerful variant of the V 100. It was based on the prototype V 100 006, which from 1960 was renumbered to V 100 2001. It went into series production in 1962 and, unlike the V 100.10 which was employed on branch line service, it was also intended for main line duties and ramps. Up to 1966 a total of 381 examples entered service. The Class 212 is 12.1 metres long (from no. 022: 12.3 m) and weighs 63 tonnes. Its top speed is 100 km/h and its engine generates 993 kW (1,350 PS).

Road Name History: Deutsche Bundesbahn was the Western Germany DB before reunification. After World War II, Germany (and the DRG) was divided into 4 zones: US, British, French and Soviet. The first three eventually combined to form the Federal Republic of Germany (the West) and the Russian zone became the German Democratic Republic (the East). German territories beyond the Oder were ceded to Poland except for the northern part of East Prussia, which was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1945.

From 1949, the new governments assumed authority for railway operations. The DRG's (or DR's) successors were named Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB, German Federal Railways) in West Germany, and Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR, German State Railways) in East Germany kept the old name to hold tracking rights in western Berlin.

Unlike the DRG, which was a corporation, both the DB and the DR were federal state institutions, directly controlled by their respective transportation ministries. Railway service between East and West was restricted; there were around five well-controlled and secure checkpoints between West and East Germany, and about the same number between East Germany and West Berlin. Four transit routes existed between West Germany and West Berlin; citizens of West Berlin and West Germany were able to use these without too much harassment by the East German authorities.

The DB started in 1968 with changing the locomotive and passenger car serial numbers to the UIC norm. In 1970 the DR followed. The DB started experimenting with the Intercity trains in a new livery (bright orange).

In 1989, the Wall fell. Train frequency rapidly increased on the existing East/West corridors; closed links which had formerly crossed the border were re-opened. On 3 October 1990, Germany was reunified; however, this was not immediately the case with the railways. Administrative and organisational problems led to the decision to completely re-organize and reconnect Germany's railways. The so-called Bahnreform (Railway Reform) came into effect on 1 January 1994, when the State railways Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn were formally reunited to form the current German Railway Corporation (Deutsche Bahn).

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. one of its co-founders was Stephan Bing, the son of the pioneer toy-maker industrialist Ignaz Bing. In 1935 the company began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label. Prior to the outbreak of World War II the Trix company produced a small range of fairly unrealistic AC powered three rail models running at 14 volts.

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.

Trix's owner in the 1980s and 1990s was Mangold, which went bankrupt in the late 1990s and Märklin purchased the assets in January 1997. In part, this purchase was a reflection of Märklin's need for added production capacity; Trix had been manufacturing certain items for Märklin in previous years. The purchase was also in response to the earlier purchase of the Karl Arnold company by the Italian company Rivarossi; Märklin were very keen to take over Trix market share in 2-rail H0 and especially Minitrix, until then Märklin had not marketed N gauge models. In 2003, Märklin introduced its first N gauge models under the well established Minitrix brand. A number Märklin H0 scale three-rail AC locomotives have also been introduced in two-rail DC versions under the Trix logo and many models are shared between the two brands.

From Wikipedia