An interesting exercise….I hope I do not upset any other Marklin collectors

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I have a 2 rail layout and have a large collection of Re460/465's.....
Spotting a Marklin 460 [Swiss Cheese]....which I purchased......obviously would not run on 2 rail....

So, I purchased some wheel sets from Trix....isolated one side...But did not spot the axles have an end rebate…so had to purchase some Trix axles...
I inquired to Marklin/Trix about the wheels/axels ..firstly got an email saying they were not available…ten minutes later another email from a different person saying they were available, giving me the part numbers and prices…
Swapped some wires around on the motor…..
The pickup’s were a problem. [Trix would not answer my emails.. and the pickups on the Trix Re 460 ‘Owl’ were not the same as illustrated on the parts list diagram and not listed on the spares list… ]
I had to make some homemade pickups…..which I was not happy with…

A spot of luck…I chatted to one of the Marklin/Trix managers at the Vienna Rail fair last October…
I received 2 complete sets of pickups [one with bogie]..With compliments a few weeks later…
So now I have a 2 rail Marklin Re460….

Regards
Peter Clare [Liverpool]

I have had a few locomotives that I needed to convert from 2 rail to 3 rail. My solution has very often been to source a 3 rail model at a good price and to then resell the 2 rail chassis with the other shell to recover most of my investment. For example, I wanted to have an AC version of the Trix 22631 Re 482. I figured that it would cost around 100 EUR for a decoder and parts needed to convert the model myself. Maerklin then released the 37446 model in 3 rail AC with sound. I managed to find a very good price on the Trix lok and on the Maerklin model, which came out to a total of EUR 340. I then performed a shell swap and resold the 2 rail chassis with the shell from the 37446 for EUR 99, meaning that the total cost for my AC 22631 came out to EUR 241, which was less than the MSRP of the 37446 in the first place.

I have used the same technique to yield 3 rail AC versions of the Trix 22148 Re 4/4II TEE and also to swap a Roco Re 4/4II that I needed to send to Switzerland for a custom repaint into a red former Swiss Express locomotive. In both cases, the end cost worked out to about the MSRP of the original item, which was well worth it.

There is always a risk that you might be stuck with the 2 rail model if there are no takers at the price asked, but at some point, the deal will be of interest to somebody and you will recoup most of your investment.

For a 3 rail Re 460, you could also consider buying the 34618 or 34631 Set (with dummy) and using those parts to convert a DC lok into a working AC version, leaving you with a DC dummy and a working AC lok. You could also look for the 40300 dummy and do the same. Don't forget that there are a lot of variants of a model that may not have been available to a Trix modeller and you may be able to sell the DC version quite easily.

Regards

Mike C