Help on which locomotive body to use.

[alan gee]

Hello
Can any members help me with the following question. I have a spare Minitrix  2-6-2 chassis which I want to use to build a locomotive with. I have no preference about which locomotive or railway it ran on. What I want is quick simple construction either white metal, etch brass or 3D printed. I have no experience of what will fit the chassis and the Parkside Dundas chassis data page is a mine field and does not assist very much. What experience and problems have members had using this Minitrix chassis.

Also has anybody got a 00n3 Backwood Miniature's Londonderry and Lough Swilly railway 4-8-0 tender engine they want to sell, either as a complete kit, a part made kit, a complete locomotive or just a collection of parts. I would be very pleased to purchase this from you. This is needed for a static display of Burtonport station to be on display in the community centre at Burtonport.


kind regards

Alan Gee

[B.Meldon]

The Minitrix 2-6-2 chassis suffer from motor problems. The motors often run poorly, some run better one way than the other, others need a lot of power to get moving and they also have a tendency to burn out as well. Some chassis are quite noisy as well.
The other problem they have is with plastic slider section of the valve gear that is very easy to snap.
Spare parts are not obtainable.

As to what body kits you should use this is all down to personal taste. However several of the kits designed to fit this chassis are outside frame prototypes so although the chassis will fit it may not look much like the prototype loco. Examples of body kits that use this chassis and are based on locos with inside frames are the Langly WD Hunslet 4-6-0 and the Chivers (Five79) NWNGR Gowrie.

With the various white metal body kits for this chassis the quality of the finished model depends very much on how much effort and modelling skill you put into its construction. The basic kits can quite easily be assembled as they are, but with some time and effort a far better finished model can be achieved.

Brian Meldon