PECO announces its entry into the TT gauge market

[Hobby]

They tend to model in 1:80 scale so 009 locos would not present a problem. Narrow Gauge is quite popular over there.

[BernardTPM]

4 hours ago, Golden Fleece 30 said:

The very first Tri-ang TT catalogue (leaflet actually) stated built to a scale of 1:120. Within a very short timescale this leaflet was issued with an amendment now saying scale 1:100.   I guess they were going to use 1:120 but when they realised the motor design would not fit the bodies etc were done slightly larger.

I assume this must be the amended leaflet though it doesn't state a ratio, just "3mm. to the foot".

Perhaps you were referring to this though, where is states "about 1/100th actual size".

 

While TT3 is being referred to as 1:100 scale it isn't quite. Being derived form a "mm to the foot" scale it works out to 1:101.6. Admittedly the difference is small.

Edited June 7, 2022 by BernardTPM

[Pmorgancym]

16 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

But tourists from Japan come to Britain and ride on the little Welsh trains.

They also come to our std gauge railways

We'll see I guess

[D9020 Nimbus]

I'm beginning to think the 7-plank wagon has been chosen because they've been tooling up a new one in N gauge.

 

Seems to me that the track is usable for other markets; the buildings will require little investment. Only the wagon is committal so far.

[luke_stevens]

54 minutes ago, Calnefoxile said:

 

If you look at the Catenary you'll see that it's Viessmann which is already available Viessmann 4200 Gauge TT Starter set Catenary modellbahnshop-lippe.com

 

Regards

 

Neal.

 

Yes I could tell from the height gauge :) But why bother to announce it unless it is relevant to a new product? Any existing TT (1:120) modeller is going to know that it exists. If they are trying to tell someone new there must be a reason...

 

Luke 

[woodenhead]

Just now, D9020 Nimbus said:

I'm beginning to think the 7-plank wagon has been chosen because they've been tooling up a new one in N gauge.

 

Seems to me that the track is usable for other markets; the buildings will require little investment. Only the wagon is committal so far.

It will go nicely with the GW buildings and a class 66.

[eldomtom2]

32 minutes ago, Hobby said:

They tend to model in 1:80 scale so 009 locos would not present a problem. Narrow Gauge is quite popular over there.

Well, when they model using 16.5mm gauge track. N gauge has always been the big thing in Japan, and while the George Englands are definitely overscale for that the Japanese market is perhaps more amendable to Rule One. Certainly there were lots of excited Japanese modellers responding to Kato's tweets on them.

[Hobby]

They produce quite a bit of H0 scale (1:80) narrow gauge using 9mm track. Check out Tomytec.

[Pmorgancym]

39 minutes ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

I'm beginning to think the 7-plank wagon has been chosen because they've been tooling up a new one in N gauge.

 

Seems to me that the track is usable for other markets; the buildings will require little investment. Only the wagon is committal so far.

Looking at the video on their YouTube channel (peco have a YouTube channel? Not that long ago they were banning Web addresses from ads in RM!)

It seems very much they are announcing a system, they talk about choosing a scale that mean the accuracy of locos won't be compromised, first piece of rolling stock and hoping that it is further supported.  The language isn't introducing a new range of track, it's bringing back TT scale.  

[Pmorgancym]

Here's a random thought.

All of our major manufacturers are suffering supply issues.  What if someone were to come to market with a UK produced product that was on the shelf now?  Almost big enough to have the detail people want in 00 and almost as space efficent as N, would that be a seller?  Yes you can argue about what exactly should be on the shelf, but if it was there available to buy, I imagine quite a few would buy and create a small GWR blt just for the curiosity of a new scale and a fair proportion might stick with it and demand more...

Edited June 7, 2022 by Pmorgancym
Spelling

[Phil Parker]

54 minutes ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

I'm beginning to think the 7-plank wagon has been chosen because they've been tooling up a new one in N gauge.

 

Seems to me that the track is usable for other markets; the buildings will require little investment. Only the wagon is committal so far.

 

Oxford started the same way and so would I if I were launching a new range. You can churn that wagon out in hundred of different liveries for no more than the cost of design and paint. The collectors, who make up a singnificant part of the market, won't worry it's an "odd" scale, but they will happily fill a cabinet with pretty wagons. Since it's a smaller scale, they can squeeze more in that cabinet too. I believe the phrase is "Double Bubble".

[Hobby]

57 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

It will go nicely with the GW buildings and a class 66.

 

With a few freightliner wagons behind it it would do as a starter for the Reading to  Basingstoke line!

[luke_stevens]

27 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

With a few freightliner wagons behind it it would do as a starter for the Reading to  Basingstoke line!

 

Or perhaps something like this?

 

Copywrite Modellbahn Shop Lippe / Tillig

 

Luke

[spamcan61]

49 minutes ago, Pmorgancym said:

 

It seems very much they are announcing a system, they talk about choosing a scale that mean the accuracy of locos won't be compromised, first piece of rolling stock and hoping that it is further supported.  The language isn't introducing a new range of track, it's bringing back TT scale.  

...but they're not bringing back TT scale, because that was a different TT scale: rather confusing for the uninitiated.

[Flittersnoop]

This development seems utterly baffling.

 

When Peco introduced the H0m track I hoped that a manufacturer would make some British or Irish 3 foot gauge models, especially when the die-cast Isle of Man loco appeared. I'm still waiting. There's still very little continental Metre gauge stuff apart from the Swiss models.

 

Now we're to have TT gauge track - I wonder how much of it they will sell, when there's almost nothing to run on it?

[woodenhead]

4 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

...but they're not bringing back TT scale, because that was a different TT scale: rather confusing for the uninitiated.

So they are bringing back a scale that already exists in Europe and ignoring the one we have over here.

 

To quote Stewart Lee "Coming over ere with your more accurate scales and making for an altogether better fidelity of model to track width"

Edited June 7, 2022 by woodenhead

[6990WitherslackHall]

8 minutes ago, luke_stevens said:

 

Or perhaps something like this?

 

Copywrite Modellbahn Shop Lippe / Tillig

That would be more suitable for the 66 rather than steam era private owner wagons.

[luke_stevens]

Just now, 6990WitherslackHall said:

That would be more suitable for the 66 rather than steam era private owner wagons.

 

Yes, that's why I think it will be a more "modern" image. If there was a 66 avaliabe at this moment you could get a repaint into a UK livery and run reasonably accurate trains...

 

Luke

[luke_stevens]

4 minutes ago, Flittersnoop said:

This development seems utterly baffling.

<snip>

Now we're to have TT gauge track - I wonder how much of it they will sell, when there's almost nothing to run on it?

 

But there is buckets of stuff to run on it just NOT for the British market. Peco has a lot of business on the Continent and I'm sure that is what this is primarily about. If they can drum up UK support, that's great but an extra to the "selling TT track to the European Mainland market".

 

It's not about us.

 

Luke

[Pmorgancym]

8 minutes ago, Flittersnoop said:

This development seems utterly baffling.

 

When Peco introduced the H0m track I hoped that a manufacturer would make some British or Irish 3 foot gauge models, especially when the die-cast Isle of Man loco appeared. I'm still waiting. There's still very little continental Metre gauge stuff apart from the Swiss models.

 

Now we're to have TT gauge track - I wonder how much of it they will sell, when there's almost nothing to run on it?

If you watchbthe youtube video there's a very clear sense they're not just launching a new range of track.

[spamcan61]

2 hours ago, luke_stevens said:

 

But there is buckets of stuff to run on it just NOT for the British market. Peco has a lot of business on the Continent and I'm sure that is what this is primarily about. If they can drum up UK support, that's great but an extra to the "selling TT track to the European Mainland market".

 

It's not about us.

 

Luke

That's the only way it makes sense to me.

 

If the primary focus is the UK market  then surely 3mm/ft on 14.2 mm track would make more sense.

Edited June 7, 2022 by spamcan61

[luke_stevens]

21 minutes ago, Pmorgancym said:

If you watch the youtube video there's a very clear sense they're not just launching a new range of track.

 I agree there is a lot proposed but the only significant expenditure they have made so far is on the track. Laser cut kits are low expenditure and the wagon is still a just a CAD image. 

 

If they get b****r all UK orders the track will still go ahead where as the other stuff will fade away.

 

The hobby is full of announcements that never materialised: I'm still waiting for the Wrenn Adams Radial to haul the Airfix Bulleids...

 

Luke

Edited June 7, 2022 by luke_stevens
spelling correction

[JohnR]

52 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

...but they're not bringing back TT scale, because that was a different TT scale: rather confusing for the uninitiated.

 

Only really confusing for those aged 70+ who were around when Triang launched their compromised TT in 1957. Theres a hell of a lot more people who have only the vaguest notion as to what TT is, and who will be in the market for something like this.

[bradfordbuffer]

37 minutes ago, JohnR said:

 

Only really confusing for those aged 70+ who were around when Triang launched their compromised TT in 1957. Theres a hell of a lot more people who have only the vaguest notion as to what TT is, and who will be in the market for something like this.

Don't think the 70+ demographic will be the only ones confused! May be a good time for a mag article to explain 3mm scale and what's on offer in light of recent 3mm press!

Defo time to drop the TT acronym push for 3mm scale with gauge after.....3mmscale! But that's going to get the triang tt modelers getting there tension locks twisted?

[Mr chapman]

My thoughts as someone who was thinking about TT a year ago. 

 

It looked a nice scale, I saw a few layouts and thought why not give it a go. There was a particularly nice lyme regis layout that caught my eye. As a southern modeller a triang clan line would be a good starting point to detail and probably build an etched chassis for. So off to the 3mm section of Rmweb I went. After reading many pages of conflicting information and no one really seaming to agree on anything I quietly left. A niche scale dividing itself into yet smaller sub groups just felt odd. Talk of the prospect of a mk1, but to which scale? Should it be compatible with triang? Proper 1:100, even more proper 3mm? It put me off the scale completely. 

 

Now this announcement. A clear set of track, buildings and probable rolling stock... To a new standard, agreed on by the manufacturers. (You'd need to be daft if you thought peco hadn't run this by some rtr manufacturers)

 

THIS is making me have another look. I will buy a bit of track, a couple of buildings and a few wagons because it's nice and clear. We'll done peco.