Hornby announce TT:120

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

If you want to soften PVA, just put a damp kitchen towel on the track for a few hours.

As long as it isn't pva which is waterproof once it has fully set (like some of the stuff sold by builders' merchants)

[andrewshimmin]

4 hours ago, MartinRS said:

I do know that Andrew Shimmin uses screws from alansrobinson.co.uk and they get a mention on his https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/177215-a-family-tt-adventure/page/2/#comment-5178296 page. 

 

 

Martin is right, I am using these and very pleased with them.

I tested a variety of screws as Alan kindly sent me samples.

The holes in the Hornby TT track are quite small, too small for the 1.4mm or even 1.2mm diameter screws to push through.

The 1mm diameter screws however seem to work perfectly.

The 6mm long were more than adequate to secure the track to a plywood baseboard.

If people were using some sort of underlay I think the 8mm might be more appropriate.

It's important to realise that the screws are small and the head can be stripped if handled too roughly.

[Jeff Smith]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

As long as it isn't pva which is waterproof once it has fully set (like some of the stuff sold by builders' merchants)

Carpenters PVA will always be waterproof.  Over here the white PVA sold as School Glue is washable.  I found this out having ballasted with it and a subsequent acrylic weathering wash softened it....

[PetersSpares]

Hornby have had an agreement at some point with some stores to sell them TT however they have yet to offer it to their Tier One accounts like ourselves. We can't stock it or even order for customers requests. Spares however are available to anyone so we have purchased what is being offered to us.

 

Thanks Peter 

[MartinRS]

6 hours ago, PetersSpares said:

Hornby have had an agreement at some point with some stores to sell them TT however they have yet to offer it to their Tier One accounts like ourselves. We can't stock it or even order for customers requests. Spares however are available to anyone so we have purchased what is being offered to us.

 

Thanks Peter 

I have a blue Class 08 bodyshell but want a green or black one and know from postings in this forum that I'm not the only one. I don't want to spoil my existing bodyshell. Will you be stocking Class 08 bodies? I did a search on your site but didn't get any hits.

[jonnyuk]

23 hours ago, J-Lewis said:

In the past I’ve always used white glue to hold track onto baseboards, with track soldered to screwed down pieces of pcb circuit-boards at the joints.

 

The ballasted and glued track is pretty much immovable in my experience, but it can of course still be lifted with a scraper or chisel when the layout reaches the end of the road.

I’ve used screws on my tt and OO, I’m way at the min but on my return I’ll dig out where they are from. I’m never going back to glueing now.

[Les1952]

On my layouts (all 6 in 3 scales now) I've used Peco N-gauge track pins to put the track in.  The track the punters can see is ballasted and glued and then (most of) the pins on this area are removed.  

 

I cut the ends flush under the baseboards - something I've learned the hard way.   This time I've used a pin pusher for the first time- something I wish I'd bought 5 layouts earlier.....

 

Les

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Les1952

[Porfuera]

Apologies for the cross-post from the TT:120 Class 08 thread, but I've duplicated it here just in case anyone isn't following that thread...

 

Here is an excellent video of someone fitting a Class 08 with an 8-pin TXS sound decoder and speaker - plus a stayalive, a flywheel(!), lights (including a cab light) and two crew members!

 

I'm no expert so I'm not sure that the running lights are prototypically correct but even so I think it is brilliantly done.

 

Perhaps not for the faint-hearted as there is some work required with a Dremel. Plus there are an awful lot of wires to cram in under the body.

 

I think it is a pity that Hornby couldn't have offered sound as standard, especially as Bachmann Farish have managed to fit an 18-pin sound decoder in their N Gauge 08s. However the current generation of Hornby TXS 18-pin decoders probably wouldn't fit so hopefully Hornby will redesign when smaller TXS decoders become available, or they could just use the 8-pin as in the video.

 

With this sort of micro-engineering I guess there is hope for fitting sound into smaller TT:120 locos such as 0-4-0s, especially as the same guy has also managed to fit a stayalive and lights to a sound-fitted BachFar 08, which shows that almost anything is possible if you have the knowhow - and the courage!

 

 

[Gary704]

It’s not often I put my oar in but I’ve been monitoring the TT120 threads for a while and my goodness what a lot of Hornby bashing!

TT120 has brought me back into the hobby so that must be a good thing.

Anyway.. running lights on a shunting loco.. 

when carrying out shunting one red and one white above each buffer. 
when running on main line as a loco or not shunting two white lights one above each buffer and a tail light as required.

No other lights used after 1976. 

[andrewshimmin]

Returning to frothing speculation for a moment, we've had pretty heavy hints that an 0-6-0T was coming reasonably soon ("in tooling", SK told me by email). We've had some hints of what earlier 0-6-0Ts might be (Austerity, Pannier, Terrier). But nothing mentioned at all in the magazine or blogs or catalogue.

Do we think this is being kept for a surprise announcement?

Anyone know anything at all?!?!?

[BachelorBoy]

3 hours ago, Gary704 said:

It’s not often I put my oar in but I’ve been monitoring the TT120 threads for a while and my goodness what a lot of Hornby bashing!

I think it's frustration. Hornby does some great stuff, but it never quite lives up to its potential.

 

 

[Porfuera]

1 hour ago, andrewshimmin said:

Returning to frothing speculation for a moment, we've had pretty heavy hints that an 0-6-0T was coming reasonably soon ("in tooling", SK told me by email). We've had some hints of what earlier 0-6-0Ts might be (Austerity, Pannier, Terrier). But nothing mentioned at all in the magazine or blogs or catalogue.

Do we think this is being kept for a surprise announcement?

Anyone know anything at all?!?!?

 

Sorry to pour cold water on your froth Andrew - this is just a guess but I would have thought an 0-6-0T is unlikely to be appearing anytime soon given we're still awaiting wagons such as the 21T minerals, which I think were originally due in January together with the 08s but they're still not here. Then there are the TTAs (originally due in Spring?) and HAAs. These were all in the pipeline since Day 1 but are still not here even though wagons should be much easier to get out than locos.

 

Even the digital Scotman and Easterner sets haven't appeared yet, which you would have thought would be easy to produce but presumably these are held up by a lack of chips rather than anything else. Or maybe a lack of people on the assembly line - I think I heard somewhere that Hornby underestimated the demand for TT:120.

 

Then there are the 66s (not much new info about those in the latest Train Terminal) and the 50s, which are only at the stage of putting together the first test mouldings. Both have also been in the pipeline since TT:120 was launched but seem to be taking ages. Lately I'm beginning to think my initial TT:120 Club membership will run out before we see a 66...

 

I think all the above points to a lack of production capacity in China. So if an 0-6-0T was only just in tooling then I think there's a long way to go (with a lot of too-ing and fro-ing between Margate and the factory) before we see anything appearing, especially judging by the progress of the 66s and the 50s.

 

Sorry to be a bit glass-half-empty... hopefully I'm wrong!

 

Cheers,

 

Neil.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Porfuera

[HExpressD]

14 minutes ago, BachelorBoy said:

I think it's frustration. Hornby does some great stuff, but it never quite lives up to its potential.

 

 

Well, that's just not true is it?

[Jeff Smith]

I'm sure there are a number of viewers of A Model World who only know what they've seen on the show and are therefore unaware of the product timescales and production location.  Neither of which was explained or highlighted.

[natterjack]

9 minutes ago, Jeff Smith said:

product timescales and production location

Since part of Airfix production has already been returned to the UK (eg 1/24 Spitfire IX), i wonder to what extent Hornby will be looking to reduce supply routes across the board, perhaps into Northern Europe?

[Porfuera]

1 hour ago, Jeff Smith said:

I'm sure there are a number of viewers of A Model World who only know what they've seen on the show and are therefore unaware of the product timescales and production location.  Neither of which was explained or highlighted.

 

The same for the TT Talk videos.

 

I'm not complaining here - it was SK's job to make TT:120 sound shiny and exciting to keep the momentum up and therfore he was always going to make promises of new items but he was hardly likely to say that they wouldn't be available for many months (or even years) while the existing items were rolled out and the new items were designed from the ground up.

 

From what we've been told he was as enthusiastic about TT:120 as any of us and consequently he (and Hornby) would have wanted to see all of these items on the market as soon as possible rather than the slow drip of releases we're seeing currently but there are probably many things are outside Hornby's control at the moment.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Porfuera

[HExpressD]

Things happen beyond the control of a manufacture, I know some people like to make this seem like a Hornby exclusive issue but that is demonstrably not true, just this week we have seen delays from both Accurascale and Rapido, but people are rightly treating them with sympathy, not derision. It's like people believe that Hornby should have a grip on things outside of their control, maybe because they're arguably biggest or oldest, if so that's flattery I guess but they exist in the same world.

 

They have made arguably the biggest commitment and release that has been seen from a manufacturer for decades, a bit of understanding can go a long way

[Ravenser]

5 hours ago, Porfuera said:

 

 

Then there are the 66s (not much new info about those in the latest Train Terminal) and the 50s, which are only at the stage of putting together the first test mouldings. Both have also been in the pipeline since TT:120 was launched but seem to be taking ages. Lately I'm beginning to think my initial TT:120 Club membership will run out before we see a 66...

 

I think all the above points to a lack of production capacity in China. So if an 0-6-0T was only just in tooling then I think there's a long way to go (with a lot of too-ing and fro-ing between Margate and the factory) before we see anything appearing, especially judging by the progress of the 66s and the 50s.

 

Sorry to be a bit glass-half-empty... hopefully I'm wrong!

 

 

 

Early this year we were told that two 0-6-0s were then going out for tooling as well as the Class 66

 

So I'm assuming that they will appear at the same time as the 66 - which I would expect to be Q1 2024

 

I'm assuming that there will be a "traditional" 2024 range announcement for OO based on stuff already in the development pipeline , even if the new management decide to limit the development of new tooling for OO locos and coaches in future (on the basis that the items being tooled would  pretty marginal prospects...)

 

Therefore I assume there will be some "new " TT:120 announcements as part of the 2024 range . These would be confirmation  things already  listed in the brochure are going ahead into production. Revealing two 0-6-0s are going to be on sale in a few months would make sense as part of that.

 

The 66 and the 57xx and J94 will be the first TT:120 models that Hornby have had to develop from the ground up. They had already done  1:120 Corgi diecasts of Peppercorn A1 , A3 and A4 which must be related to the TT project, so there will have been welll advanced on CAD for Gresley Pacifics. 08s Duchesses, and 50s have all been done in OOin recent times, so the reasearch and a starting point for CAD already exists.

 

But 66, J94, and 57xx are not subjects where Hornby has developed anything before (66 is ex Lima, J94 ex Dapol, and the 1970s Pannier doesn't really count). So it's not surprising they are a little way down the programme

 

 

[natterjack]

It is likely that Hornby have lined up new train sets for this Christmas- I'd expect to see the marketing campaigns beginning within the next 6 to 8 weeks. Whether the locos will be from existing availability or something new will be interesting to see.

[Les1952]

8 hours ago, andrewshimmin said:

Returning to frothing speculation for a moment, we've had pretty heavy hints that an 0-6-0T was coming reasonably soon ("in tooling", SK told me by email). We've had some hints of what earlier 0-6-0Ts might be (Austerity, Pannier, Terrier). But nothing mentioned at all in the magazine or blogs or catalogue.

Do we think this is being kept for a surprise announcement?

Anyone know anything at all?!?!?

 

When I talked to Simon Kohler at Gaydon last year he said a J94 was in the pipeline, and that they would include high and low bunker, standard, fibreglass and Geisl chimneys, and would also possibly go into Arnold for an NS version.

 

I don't think he realised how much tank carving the Geisl chimney takes.  I'd intended to take one of my OO Geisl austerities to show him at Gaydon or Warley this year but have been overtaken by events.  Arnold version?  Maybe/maybe not.

 

Les

 

 

[Porfuera]

1 hour ago, Ravenser said:

Early this year we were told that two 0-6-0s were then going out for tooling as well as the Class 66

 

So I'm assuming that they will appear at the same time as the 66 - which I would expect to be Q1 2024

 

I'm assuming that there will be a "traditional" 2024 range announcement for OO based on stuff already in the development pipeline , even if the new management decide to limit the development of new tooling for OO locos and coaches in future (on the basis that the items being tooled would  pretty marginal prospects...)

 

Therefore I assume there will be some "new " TT:120 announcements as part of the 2024 range . These would be confirmation  things already  listed in the brochure are going ahead into production. Revealing two 0-6-0s are going to be on sale in a few months would make sense as part of that.

 

The 66 and the 57xx and J94 will be the first TT:120 models that Hornby have had to develop from the ground up. They had already done  1:120 Corgi diecasts of Peppercorn A1 , A3 and A4 which must be related to the TT project, so there will have been welll advanced on CAD for Gresley Pacifics. 08s Duchesses, and 50s have all been done in OOin recent times, so the reasearch and a starting point for CAD already exists.

 

But 66, J94, and 57xx are not subjects where Hornby has developed anything before (66 is ex Lima, J94 ex Dapol, and the 1970s Pannier doesn't really count). So it's not surprising they are a little way down the programme

 

The 0-6-0s were mentioned by SK in the livestream on the 19th January, where SK was asked the question "what other locos will be done for TT next".

 

SK first replied that for the moment they will "stick with the phases we've shown for the locos we've shown", so given that no 0-6-0s are listed in Phases 1 to 4 then the conclusion must be that the 0-6-0s will be released in Phase 5 or later, and this is where they're shown on Page 9 of the current catalogue after the Phase 3 locos (9Fs) and the Phase 4 locos (Castles) as "Plus, BR Britannia, LMS/BR Black 5, J94, GWR/BR Class 5700 Pannier and much more!"

 

In the livestream SK then goes on to say that "there are other locos we have designed; we've been asked for 0-6-0s and there's one in tooling and another being prepared for tooling."

 

So if the 0-6-0s were to be released next year as you suggest then that would contradict what SK had said moments before about sticking with the phases they'd shown for the locos they'd shown because Princess Coronations (Duchesses), 9Fs and Castles are all listed before J94s and 5700s - unless you're saying that we're going to see Princess Coronations, 9Fs and Castles in the next six to nine months, which seems unlikely given that there's been nothing about 9Fs and Castles and only a very little about Princess Coronations (the shop currently says Spring 2024 for these).

 

I think all this goes back to what was said before - SK was saying things to keep up the momentum and to make TT:120 sound exciting without ever giving dates or timescales for any of this stuff. Then people pick up on the bits they're interested in and expect it will be here in a few short months when in reality it will probably take a year or more.

 

And as for the 66s, I've just checked the shop and the current dates say Summer 2024, so that's Q2/Q3 next year. I feel sure that the original release dates for the 66s were for some time late this year, although maybe I'm mis-remembering because so many dates have slipped that I'm having trouble remembering what the original dates were for these. But I find it difficult to believe that the 0-6-0s will be released at the same time as the 66s because a lot of information has been floating around for the 66s for some time but we've had nothing on the 0-6-0s besides that one comment by SK back in January.

[BachelorBoy]

10 hours ago, HExpressD said:

Well, that's just not true is it?

 

Ok, let me change that to "Hornby rarely lives up to its potential, and frequently falls far short."

 

 

[Les1952]

5 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

Ok, let me change that to "Hornby rarely lives up to its potential, and frequently falls far short."

 

 

 

Given my experience of them Heljan's equivalent could be "Heljans rarely lives up to their potential, and frequently fall apart".

 

The same works for many manufacturers.  Most just don't seem to have a large RM chorus of bashers......

 

Les

[jonnyuk]

7 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

Ok, let me change that to "Hornby rarely lives up to its potential, and frequently falls far short."

 

 

Same old rubbish from the core Hornby haters on this forum. Every manufacturer has messed up, I would agree Hornby do have their fare share of car crashes but they are really the only ones to have every single problem (big and small ) raised, re raised and raised again like a broken record. 
I go back to me experience with the darlings of this forum, AS have provided me with no fewer than 4 products that where /are defective, been told to hack my £74 wagons make them go round 2nd radius curves and said in a flipper way is not acceptable but that was quickly brushed away and heavens for bid actually raising it, chased out of town.

 

can we get back to tt:120 please, how many Joe Public want a small tank engine, would they even know what they are, used for or when?

before I joined this forum I had no clue about era’s, regions, what ran with what (and still don’t out side of ex lswr and modern gwr and infrastructure. 

 

 

[teletougos]

I've never bought a Hornby product in my life, but as an unbiased observer who has to keep an eye on their emails since I've got a 66 on order, I have noticed that they don't half go on with a lot of rubbish. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by teletougos