Ibertren is a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 brand of model railway, based in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. It specialises in models of the Spanish RENFE

RENFE

Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

 train engines and cars.

Ibertren N scale

N scale

N scale is a popular model railway scale/track gauge. Depending upon the manufacturer , the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the gauge is . The term N gauge refers to the track dimensions, but in the UK in particular N gauge refers to a 1:148 scale with track gauge modelling...

 models were quite popular in Spain in the 90s; as of 2008, it sells a very limited selection of N models and a few H0 models.

N series

Ibertren manufactured two series of N-scale models: 2N and 3N.

In the 3N series, a non-insulated DC

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...

 three-rail system

Third rail (model railroading)

The use of a third rail in model railroading is a technique that is sometimes applied in order to facilitate easier wiring.-Two-rail versus three-rail system:Early toy trains used two metal rail tracks like most real trains...

 was used to power the engines. The 2N series, which were introduced later when 3N sales went down, used DC with negative current on one rail and positive on the other.

History

In 1973, Iberten launched its first model train engines, modeled after a green diesel SNCF 61006

SNCF Class BB 61000

The SNCF Class BB 61000 diesel locomotives were built by Vossloh to their G1206 design between 2002-2005 for the French state railways. Twenty three locomotives were built, numbered 61001-61023. As they are operated by the freight sector, the locomotives carry a '4' prefix The SNCF Class BB 61000...

 shunter.

In 1992, Model Iber S.A., the company from Barcelona behind the Ibertren brand, was forced to shut down due to financial problems.

In 2004, a company named "Ibertren Modelismo, S.L." (also from Barcelona) relaunched the brand, with a H0-only catalog.

In 2008, the company announced at the Nuremberg Toy Fair

Nuremberg International Toy Fair

Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg is the largest international trade fair for toys and games. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted...

that it would manufacture N models again.

External links

• Official webpage
• Fan page, with photos of all known models