1971/72

Around this time, Minitrix moved the the tooling and the production from Wrexham to Germany, and the role of the Wrexham Factory and Thernglade was ceased.

Minitrix models were now well and truly a German production, and the manufacture of British outline models was reflected in the German Trix catalogue of 1971.  This had the green Class 27, the blue Warship and a description of a second (green) Warship. There was a 'proper' picture of the N gauge Britannia -as opposed to the previous photo of the OO model, and a picture of the same German 0-6-0 model with the tall chimney.

Still having an eye on the British market, a number of variations of the Warship Class 42s and Class 27s were on offer. Two different sources indicate that by 1971, Minitrix had 6 British diesel locomotives available - a blue and a green Class 27, and seven Class 42 Warship variations. The Warships of the time were built on a (Mark 1) chassis with articulated bogies and with a metal battery box which housed the lower circuit board. The 7 available models were D805 'Benbow' in green, D815 'Druid' in blue, D816 'Eclipse' which came in green or blue, and D866 'Zebra' in green, maroon and blue. I believe that these were sold in the narrow perspex boxes with a clip-on lid with the familiar green and yellow coloured card inserts.

1972

Two new Class 42 models were added in 1972: D823 'Hermes' in blue, and D838 'Rapid' in maroon - these were built on a slightly re-designed chassis with the metal floor of the battery box replaced with a plastic, clip-in tray - which presumably made assembly much easier. It allowed access to the electrical pickup circuit board from underneath the loco, without the need to remove the motor.

Left : Class 42 Mark 1 Chassis - Metal Cast Undertray;
Right: Class 42 Mark 2 Chassis - Plastic, Clip-In Undertray

The Class 42 Warships

A restored and re-sprayed Class 42 - Mark 1 Chassis - Pre Hornby

The early history of these models is worth including here as they remained popular throughout the Hornby Minitrix Era.   Hornby's launch in 1973 didn't include any of these models, but the 4 models that Hornby did launch was very nicely supplemented by the additional potential of 9 additional non-Hornby varieties.  The model shops didn't care - they sold them all and the identical sized boxes stacked together neatly, end on, green/yellow Minitrix mixed with red/yellow Hornby Minitrix, with the silhouette of the model inside hinting at the expensive contents inside.  They were all manufactured by the same company, after all.

In the years between 1970 and 1972, nine different variations on the Warship theme were introduced by Minitrix in colours of blue, green and maroon - some with part or full yellow ends, some without depending on the actual locomotive being depicted.  Until 1972, all of the models used the same Mk1 chassis and body as shown in the table below - entries in italics are exceptionally rare.

Original Model Number(s)	2034 or 51 2034 00	2035 or 51 2035 00	2036 or 51 2036 00
1970	D815 Druid (1st Gen) - 51 2034 00	(D815 Druid) - 51 2035 00
1970	D816 Eclipse (1st Gen) - 51 2034 00	D816 Eclipse (1st Gen) - 51 2035 00
1970	D866 Zebra (1st Gen) - 51 2034 00	D866 Zebra (1st Gen) - 51 2035 00
1971			D866 Zebra (1st Gen) - 51 2036 00
1972	D823 Hermes (1st Gen) - 51 2034 00	D805 Benbow (1st Gen) - 51 2035 00	(D838 Rapid) - 51 2036 00
1974	Hermes (2nd gen) - N206 - 51 2034 00
1979	Hermes (3rd gen) - N206 - 51 2942 00)	Intrepid (3rd gen) - N208 - (51 2943 00)

The second generation of chassis was used after Hornby started selling the blue Hermes 42 Warship in 1974. A third generation of chassis and body was introduced in 1979 when Hornby announced its second Warship - the green Intrepid. From 1979, the green Intrepid and the Blue Hermes were both available with the new Mark 3 chassis - once shops had cleared stocks of the Mk2 chassis.

The model numbers - 2034,5 and 6 were assigned to models before German Trix acquired the company, and they were subsequently absorbed into the Trix system as 51 2034 00 etc.    The same number was allocated to models of the same colour regardless of the name of the model - so for example the blue Druid, Eclipse and Zebra all had the same model number 2034 or 51 2034 00.  The price lists refer to the models as simply  'Warship (green)' or 'Warship (blue)' - they never give the name - although some price lists that have been prepared by a shop may include the loco names from the stock that they hold. 

The 2904 (green), 2905 (blue) and 2906 (maroon) are additional part numbers mentioned in Ramsay's British Model Trains #9