My Reviews

The Great Re 460 Race

Minitrix or Kato?

Introduction

The biggest question in modern era Swiss N modelling is undoubtedly whether Minitrix or Kato makes the best Re 460/465.  Both models are incredibly good and highly accurate, with flywheel drives and excellent pulling power.  They are quite difficult to tell apart in the picture below, both having slight advantages against the other which balance out:

• Kato - lower skirting over the wheels, one headlight on in the opposite direction to motion as on the prototype.
• Minitrix - slightly finer mouldings, sharper printing and more prototypical headlight casings, DCC ready.

The Race

Having amassed enough locomotives to make an almost fair comparison I set out to race them against each other - after all they will mainly be used for high speed services!  Alas only one loop of my mainline is working and so pairs of warmed up locomotives were positioned about 30 cm apart and raced together by measuring how the gap between them changed over time.  The competitors and results were:  

	Minitrix 12735 SBB Re 460 033-4 'Swiss Collection IV' Final position: 2nd Notes: purchased new from an Internet shop.
	Minitrix 12862 SBB Re 460 004-5 'Uetilberg' Final position: 1st Notes: purchased from eBay.de and listed as a 'display model'.  Whatever the previous owner did with it - thanks!
	Kato 13709-0 BLS Re 465 014-9 'Spalenberg' Final position: 3rd Notes: purchased from eBay.co.uk, came with decoder unexpectedly! Model fitted with DCC decoder and although it was the overall fastest in one direction it was the slowest and jumpy in the other on my DC layout.
	Minitrix 12676 SBB Re 460 045-8 'Rigi' Final position: 4th equal Notes: purchased from eBay.de and listed as 'used'.
	Kato 13709-2 SBB Re 460 000-3 'Grauholz' Final position: 4th equal Notes: purchased from eBay.co.uk and listed 'as new'.

DCC

I look forward to upgrading to DCC in the near future when presumably all of them will run as well as 'Spalenberg' did in one direction on DC!  Kato is releasing both SBB and BLS versions again this year (2007) and they might even be DCC ready like the Minitrix ones.  

Conclusion

If and when they are available from either manufacturer or from eBay etc. then they are well worth obtaining.  As 'Swiss Collection IV' above demonstrates the Re 460s are available from both makers in a large range of advertising and promotional liveries that the prototype looks so resplendent in.  On eBay Kato models regularly command a slight premium over Minitrix ones but I'm not sure why from my evaluation above - perhaps the shape of the Kato model is more accurate but I haven't bothered to make measurements and compare because life is too short!  I'm happy with both and have found that they complement each other nicely when double-heading a heavy train.

The BLS Bonanza

Minitrix 15917 and Hobbytrain H2790

The new coach set by Minitrix captures the new livery very well and the coaches are scaled correctly and provide a Bt-B-B-A-AD configuration.  The SBB Swiss Express moulds appear to have been reused for the coach bodies without modification and this explains the absence of the recently added air conditioning bulges (see the red ellipse below).  I've seen a set for sale with these added by Wabu and you could easily do it yourself without major structural modification.  With NEM couplers that more importantly close-couple there are no unsightly gaps between coaches and using Fleischmann couplers could make the gap even smaller.  

Interior lighting can be fitted but often the contacts fitted to the bogie axles act like brakes and if you have a prototypical length train the locomotive will have trouble on slopes.  The whole set is constructed to Minitrix's usual high standards and runs very well with built in directional headlights in the end coach.  I have heard reports that when using DCC the directional headlight assembly on the SBB version released years ago can heat up so much that it deforms the plastic bodywork! Not having DCC I can't substantiate this and the design could well have been improved since then.  Fingers crossed for when DCC arrives at Eurofima Prima!...

Complementing the new BLS livery with matching locomotive was the next task after acquisition but the matching Re 420 by Minitrix didn't really appeal to me as much as the limited edition Fleischmann Re 485 BLS Cargo, however this was unavailable and too expensive for my budget (this is a hobby, not an obsession...yet!).  However I was delighted to discover by accident that Hobbytrain had produced a Taurus in theoretical BLS Cargo livery and given its value for money and impressive abilities (see my Which Taurus? review) I was prepared to overlook the fact that it doesn't exist.  Sorted!

Some modellers will undoubtedly find it appalling that not only am I using a freight locomotive to pull a passenger train, but the locomotive is a hypothetical design!  Realism defenestrated in this way may seem odd when the whole point of modelling is to capture reality in miniature form, but I think that just capturing the essence of reality is sufficient and indeed difficult enough a challenge!  Besides, if the BLS ever does acquire the Taurus for cargo duties then I shall have the last laugh...haha.

Which of these will give you wings?

Battle of the Tauri : Minitrix vs. Hobbytrain

Now that the Siemens Eurosprinter ES 64 is here in so many varieties and in so many liveries then I thought it a good idea to compare the two models.  The issue is confused somewhat by the three different levels of the Minitrix Taurus which I have invented for your convenience:

ALPHA : Top of the range, it has super detailing, working pantographs, directional headlights, flywheel drive, drive on all axles.

BETA : Mid-range, it has working pantographs, directional headlights, flywheel drive, drive on all axles.

GAMMA : Entry level, it has drive on two axles.  Perhaps the pantographs work but who knows?

In my opinion the difference between Alpha and Betas (apart from cost) is so small (just the detailing) that they should be one group, with the Betas having the same paint standard as the Hobbytrain model.  I have some of each and am quite delighted by either.  The ones to avoid are the Gammas which are suitable in my opinion for display purposes only with their poor performance.  The Hobbytrain model is a Beta equivalent on balance (with its features as compared below to an Alpha Taurus) and is just as capable.  Both companies offer a wide range of liveries with only limited overlap, but Hobbytrain really should be noted for its excellent hypothetical liveries for example the BLS design below.  Neither the SBB nor BLS actually have the Taurus, but it is imaginative to suppose how the livery would work if they did and a refreshing break from many modellers' obsession with realism.

Without further ado then, I present...

Which Taurus?
(Alpha) 12730 - Picture by Minitrix	H2790 - Picture by Lemke Collection
Current collecting pantographs! Super detail! Incorrect chassis!	Fictitious liveries available! Good chassis design! Not quite as well made!
Runs beautifully and very powerful, can pull ten coach trains up steep inclines without slipping.  The 12730 model above comes with an extra pantograph (removed from the actual locomotives).  Beware of the ÖBB 1016 version with black roof (first issue). DCC Decoder slots into NEM socket.	Runs very well and fictitious BLS 'connecting europe' is nicely executed.  My model came with mould markings on the buffers which were very easily removed.  Beware of oldest versions that have daft looking pantographs.  DCC Decoder must be wired in but PCB designed to make this easy.
And the answer is therefore obvious: BOTH