Prototype

Highlights

• Prototypical tooling changes based on the new tooling for the RAm TEE.
• Heavy metal construction.
• World of Operation mfx+ digital decoder with extensive sound and light functions.
• Factory-installed interior lighting can be controlled digitally.
• Factory-installed engine room and cab lighting can be controlled digitally.
• Various classification lights on the ends of the train can be controlled digitally.
• Controlled, high-efficiency propulsion with a flywheel in the motor car, 4 axles powered.

Product description

Model: This is a 4-part unit. It has an mfx+ digital decoder and extensive sound and light functions. It also has controlled, high-efficiency propulsion with a flywheel in the motor car, centrally mounted. Two of three driving wheelsets in the two 3-axle trucks are powered using cardan shafts. Traction tires. There is factory-installed interior lighting in the compartment, dining, and open seating cars. Triple headlights and dual red marker lights change over with the direction of travel. They and the interior lighting will work in conventional operation and can be controlled digitally. The interior lighting in the baggage area of the motor car can be controlled separately in digital operation. The engine room lighting in the motor car and cab lighting in the motor car and control cab of the open seating car can all be controlled separately in digital operation. The classification lights on the ends of this train can be controlled digitally.

Maintenance-free, warm white and various colored LEDs are used for the lighting. There are multiple conductor special couplings with guide mechanisms between the train units for a continuous electrical connection of the entire train. There is pickup shoe changeover with current supply depending on the direction of travel from the motor car or the open seating car with a control cab, depending on which car is at the front of the train. There are many separately applied details.

The two ends of the train have a Scharfenberg coupler (no function) modelled.

The minimum radius for operation is 437.5 mm / 17-1/8". The train can be run on Radius 1 if you ignore the clearance profile.

Total length of the powered train over the couplers approximately 113 cm / 44-1/2".

The "Northlander" diesel powered train is being produced in 2024 in a one-time series only for Insider members.

Charlie's Tips

This model can be found in a DC version in the Trix H0 assortment at Ajckids.com under item number Trix 22975 exclusively for Trix Club members.

You can also read our Insider 2024 models blog entry.

Publications

Prototype information

Once upon a time! Most fairytales begin this way and there actually is a train, which became famous in Europe and Canada and whose story is like a fairytale. It began in 1957, when the Trans Europe Express (TEE) raised traveling by rail in Europe to a new level. The Dutch State Railroad (NS), from which the TEE initiative originated, cooperated with the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in the development of the train. Together they purchased five four-part powered trains with a motor performance of 2,000 horsepower, which held its own in terms of comfort and design with the DB icon, the class VT 11.5. The active career of the trains designated as the RAm or DE4 began with a lot of promise, among other things with the TEE "Edelweiss" on the route Zürich – Basle – Strasbourg – Luxembourg – Brussels – Amsterdam, whose running time represented an almost sensational achievement for that time. This TEE required only 9 hours and 30 minutes with 13 intermediate stops for the 1,050 kilometer / 656 mile trip, which meant an average speed of 110 km/h / 69 mph.

The "Edelweiss" was in 1974 the last service of the RAm/DE4 after train number RAm 501 had been destroyed three years before as TEE "Bavaria" in the tragic accident at Aitrang, Germany.

Unexpectedly a prince came from distant Canada and kissed the remaining RAm and DE4 units awake. In distant Ontario, the state Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) wanted to usher in a new era in passenger service. On June 9, 1977, the once European TEE finally started from Union Station in Toronto for the first time as the "Northlander" on a Northland run to Timmins, around 750 km / 469 miles.

Before that the trains were overhauled in the Netherlands and Switzerland. This involved the installation of new headlights, marker lights, number boards, horns, and bells adhering to Canadian standards. The elegant ONR paint scheme of yellow/blue was also applied to the trains in their old home. The "TEE Trains" quickly became a big success, especially since the "Northlander" ran through a fabulous landscape. The running time of around 11 hours was absolutely acceptable by Canadian standards. The unusually comfortable travel experience stood in the foreground. After numerous failures, the susceptible motor cars were replaced at the start of the Eighties however by proven GM type FP7 A units.

The "Northlander" ran with this consist until 1992. The fairytale appeared to end again at a graveyard for retired rail vehicles. Then the Swiss association TEE Classics brought five cars back to Europe. Moreover, with significant help from the firm Märklin, which was able to present this famous train soon after its arrival in Göppingen, Germany. Road number V 200 007 handled the transport from Hamburg Harbor to Swabia. The small "Northlander" is thus an eye-catcher in German miniature landscapes too. Especially since there is no TEE train able to ascend to the double TV star.

The video producer Eisenbahn-Romantik devoted two episodes to these trains: "From the TEE to the Northlander" describes with unique historic scenes the train's use in Europe and mostly in Canada. "Ontario – the Northland and Return" depicts the adventurous return from North Bay in Ontario right up to the train’s arrival in Hamburg Harbor. Both episodes can be called up in the ARD Media Library and on YouTube. And what about the happy ending that every fairytale ought to have? It is there in a number of ways: The five former "Northlander" cars are currently at the Netherlands Transportation Museum (www. nederlandstransportmuseum.nl) where the overhaul has begun. The real life "Northlander" discontinued in 2012 is to return starting in 2025 or 2026 with modern Siemens-powered trains on its old route and the legendary European-Canadian train will remind people of a quite unusual train with the perfect Märklin Insider model at least in a small scale.