I have been planning to make some changes for a while and finally got around to it tonight.
I think it must have been around 2008 that I received my Roco 68505 MRCE 185 in black Crossrail livery.

A few years back, I acquired a Trix 22636, a model of Crossrail 185 578 in grey/white (see photo below).

I realized that the black livery was only in use for a relatively short time before the loks were returned to MRCE, while the white ones were leased for a longer period of time and could therefore be used with a greater variety of consists over a longer time span.

I managed to obtain the shell for the white 185 579 (68503) from Roco and today I finally got around to swapping the shell with the black one, leaving me with a pair of CB Rail/Crossrail 185s. There is a slight variation in colour shades, but as I am not planning to run the two in tandem, this should not be a major problem.

One lok will be pulling a mixed container train of Crossrail and Ewals containers. The other will be pulling a mixed container with a variety of containers.

I also have the Maerklin 37346.1 Re 436 in Crossrail livery. I have not yet decided what that locomotive will be used with. Most likely it will be a container train as well.

The 22636 is running with the chassis from a 37446. I managed to find both the 22636 and 37446 for a very good price and for roughly EUR 300 total, I have a locomotive with sound, Swiss light changeover.

The 68503 came out to around EUR 300 when the extra shell was added to the total price as well. That model does not have sound and I don't think that it is equipped for Swiss light changeover, although I will have to go through all the functions to be sure. It does have long distance headlights as a function.

185 567 (68505) went into Crossrail service in Feb 2006 and was returned to MRCE in January 2008, which was just under two years. 185 578 (22636) and 185 579 (68503) went into service in July 2007 and were in service until January 2013, allowing me to assemble consists that cover almost 6 years, a much longer span of time.

Here are some photos:


Roco 68503 - Trix 22636


Trix 22636 - Roco 68503
(Note the different shades)


Roco 68503


Trix 22636

Regards

Mike C