Minitrix - 15649 - Flatcar, Lgnss , Container Transport, Epoch V - Renfe - 22 71 443 3596-4

Specific Item Information: Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (renfe) / Spanish State Railways type Lgnss container transport car der Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (renfe). Used for a 40-foot standard container.

Road Name History: Renfe Operadora (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈreɱfe opeɾaˈðoɾa]) is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge, the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge and the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias—Railway Infrastructure Administration).

The name "Renfe" is derived from that of the former Spanish National Railway Network, RENFE (acronym of Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles—National Network of Spanish Railways) created on 24 January 1941 with the nationalisation of Spain's railways. As per EU Directive 91/440, RENFE was divided into Renfe-Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005.

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Brand/Importer Information: Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets.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.

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