Minitrix - 16661-01 - Locomotive, Electric, E44 - Deutsche Reichsbahn - E 44 046

Specific Item Information: Model: The locomotive has a digital interface connector, and LED headlights and marker lights that change over with the direction of travel and that can be turned off by means of bridge plugs. 4 axles powered on each locomotive. Traction tires. The locomotives have separately applied grab irons and cab steps. The buffer beams swing out like the prototype. The locomotives have NEM coupler pockets. The roof conductors are metal and the insulators are separately applied. The cabs have interior details. Cab lighting can be installed in the cabs and activated with the 66840 digital decoder. Both locomotives are individually packaged. Length over the buffers for each locomotive 96 mm / 3-3/4".

Highlights: Technical variations. Cab steps. Separately applied grab irons. LED headlights / marker lights.

Prototype History: In Germany in the 1930s there was no money for new development of locomotives. Many senior folks in the rail industry were concerned they were rapidly falling behind the competition from other countries. Therefore, a group of companies developed three of their own prototype designs for electric locomotives, which were presented to the DRG. These companies were Wismar/SSW, BMAG/BEW and BMAG/MSW.

The new designs used a new technique of placing the traction motors in a so called "tram-hanging" design inside the bogies. This technique was already in use in Bavaria with some Bavarian electric locomotives like the E 73. Also, in Austria this technique had been in use since 1923 with much success. The base concept of all three prototype locomotives was the same, but between the prototypes there were many differences. The most successful design went into mass production as the E44 and went into service in 1934.

In the fifties and begin sixties the locomotives were in service in the long-distance trains, mainly in Southern Germany. The locomotives were renumbered to class BR 144 from 1968. In Western Germany the locomotives were taken out of service in 1984.

Road Name History: The Deutsche Reichsbahn, also known as the German Reich Railway or the German Imperial Railway, was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I.

The company was founded in 1920 as the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen when the Weimar Republic, formally known as Deutsches Reich (German Reich, hence the usage of the Reich in the name of the railway), took national control of the German railways, which had previously been run by the German states. In 1924 it was reorganised under the aegis of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG), a nominally private railway company, which was 100% owned by the German state. In 1937 the railway was reorganised again as a state authority and given the name Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB). After the Anschluss in 1938 the DR also took over the Bundesbahn Osterreich (BBO, Federal Railway of Austria).

The East and West German states were founded in 1949. East Germany took over the control of the DR on its territory and continued to use the traditional name Deutsche Reichsbahn, while the railway in West Germany became the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB, German Federal Railway). The Austrian Osterreichische Bundesbahnen (OBB, Austrian Federal Railways) was founded in 1945, and was given its present name in 1947.

In January 1994, following the German union, the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn merged with the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn to form Germany's new national carrier, Deutsche Bahn AG, technically no longer a government agency but still a 100% state-owned joint stock company.

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