FLIRT Update

A victory for obstinacy!

Today I decided to take another pass at the FLIRT cab with the Dremel and bored out more plastic.  I've made the body shell thinner in parts, and removed more of the interior plastic for the top lights (which are non operational at this point anyhow).  It's much improved.  I think the slight difference is now the product of the body shell bulging slightly, and not the decoder preventing the cabin from seating correctly on the frame, so it really cannot be made any better without reducing the bulge at this point:

This is the "bad end".

and for comparison, here's the good side.

I've reduced the bulge slightly by shaving off some of the speaker's housing, but it seems no more can be done there.  As it was, I was dangerously close to destroying the little thing, so this is as good as I will get it.   The cab seam is what really vexed me, it was so obvious.  The bulge is there if you look for it but it does not stand out too badly.

Can you see the bulge in photo one?  Bonus points if you can tell me which Sci Fi series is referenced in these images!

The BBC reports on train travel in Switzerland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21294241

I had a similar experience in Italy, leaving me thinking these wonderful machines are run by pretty ugly companies who could stand to learn something about customer experience and service from industries that face more direct competition.  Profits made on fining your market are a short term strategy.

REVIEW: Trix AM 4/4 12518

This engine is special to me.   It was produced in a limited run in 2005, it has a factory installed selectrix decoder and I got mine from a shop in Switzerland after an odd flurry of emails made possible by Google translate.  It is a supremely smooth runner, it's solid, heavy, and reeks of quality.  

Update 1/10/15: one of the drive axels has lost its gear!  The result is the gear mechanism is unbalanced and so the locomotive simply will not run.   I'm deeply saddened, as this was a favourite.   I bought a dead DC Minitrix v200 off of eBay hoping to scavenge it for parts but it was mechanically different.   I looked up the pro on the Minitrix web site and they have no stock, so unless one of you can point me in the right direction I think this engine is retired.


The manufacturer says:
Swiss Federal Railways class Am 4/4, B-B wheel arrangement. Built starting in 1953 as the class V 200.0 for the German Federal Railroad 


Use: Medium and heavy express trains and fast passenger trains. 


Model: Era IV. Die-cast metal body and frame. • Powerful can motor (with bell-shaped armature) with a flywheel • Digital connector • close coupler mechanism Headlight / marker light changeover, 4 axles powered, 2 traction tires Length over the buffers 115 mm / 4-1/2". 


This model is being produced only in 2005 in a one-time series.


The fact that the German Federal Railroad retired the class 220 did not automatically mean the end of this successful class. Many of these locomotives were acquired by other railroads and overhauled for new uses, including track laying work in Saudi Arabia and in Switzerland, where the class 220 was used for an even longer period of time.