Pocket LINT

Today I learned that I had received really good grades on my bachelor thesis and the accompanying talk, so to celebrate I bought myself a little red train. To be precise, an Alstom Coradia LINT DMU (class 648) in N scale (1:160) by Trix, under their Minitrix label.

Most of my german N-scale trains are Trix. Fleischmann is, in my opinion, just too expensive, and Roco recently quit making N scale models, making Trix the only major company I am interested in. I had my sights set on the LINT for a while now, because you see it a lot around Goslar, my home town. In fact, I had wanted to buy one early last year already and even pre-ordered it, but Märklin, owner of Trix, went into receivership, resulting in a delay (and the cancellation of my order).

The train comes in three version, of which I picked the cheapest, but adding a DCC decoder (Lenz Silver mini+). Quite a few grates and such are only printed on, and not all markings are included, but the overall shape and major details have been reproduced faithfully. The motor is hidden in the high floor section of one of the parts and rather flat. You can see it through the windows if you look hard enough, but it isn’t annoying. Fitting a decoder was extremely easy, as it should be: Remove the shell and you can directly access the lighting board, which is hidden under the ceiling. Take out the plug and insert a standard NEM 652/NMRA size S decoder, and you’re all set. Trix should finally get around to marking which pin is pin #1, though: In this case, looking along the second section, it is the one on the right.

Apparently, someone at Trix once accidentally inserted an additional 0 when ordering traction tires, and now they have to use them wherever they can. I have no other explanation for the two traction tires fitted to the single driving truck of this train, which is never going to pull anything else and does not even come with standard couplings or coupler pockets. That being said, it runs well enough, although it does not like dusty rails much. Not a surprise given the low weight, of course. You can replace the non-working couplers with a fixed drawbar to use two LINTs together, but one is enough for me.

All in all, I think € 100 is not a bad price for this, although looking at the value per money one gets for example with Kato, it isn’t awesome either. Still, a nice train and I am glad to have it.