Currently my favorite locomotive! The appeal on this one is sort of funny for me. When I was first exposed to it in the 2007 Trix New Items catalog it did not really stand out (I thought at the time that it looked like a Winnebago!). But over time, the paint scheme started to appeal to me. Its certainly one of the more intriguing and dynamic paint schemes from any railway anywhere in the world.
I've now had this locomotive since June of 2008, and I am thoroughly pleased and impressed with its running characteristics, detail, and reliability. Installing a decoder into the NEM 651 socket was simple, quick, and problem free (by the way, this is a locomotive where there is room for the NEM 651 plug decoder without the wire harness).
This little locomotive can pull quite the load based on its relative size. I can attach nearly all of my 31 pieces of freight rolling stock and it can climb my 2% grade (on a curve!) without showing any obvious signs of slipping. Fantastic!
This is also a locomotive where the price was pretty good. In US dollars, I paid well below $200 last summer (remember the exchange rates back in the summer of 2008?) which is, generally speaking, a good 'value' from Minitrix (my context for this is my past experience with O Gauge, where $400 is typically the floor price and $500 or $600 for a decent model with digital capabilities!). Yes, compared to the domestic US locomotives, this was pricey, but I am not currently in that marketplace, so this seems okay to me (FYI, at current exchange rates, this should probably be around US$160).
In sum, a great looking and running locomotive --- and currently, the only representative from France on the layout! Enjoy the photos!
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