Tillig TT track and points for TT:120

[Porfuera]

I'm thinking of building a small(ish) shunting plank based on a 5-3-3 Inglenook with the addition of a loco runaround and maybe a couple of extra sidings. From what I can see on Anyrail, Tillig's small-radius EW1 points could offer a good space-saving alternative to either Peco or Hornby's current medium-radius points. Additionally there doesn't yet seem to be any release date given by either Peco or Hornby for small-radius points and we could be waiting quite a while for these to arrive so Tillig's small-radius points could be an answer. I hope the following might be of use to anyone looking to buy TT:120 small radius points in the near future.

 

I placed an order with Modellbahnshop Lippe (no connection except as a one-time customer) and I ordered the following:

 

- two small-radius EW1 R/H points 15 degrees (83323)
- two small-radius EW1 L/H points 15 degrees (83324)
- short double slip (83300)
- wooden sleeper flexi-track, 7 lengths (83125)
- rail joiners (86102)
- insulated rail joiners (86101)

 

The order was placed on Sunday last week, was despatched on Tuesday and was delivered by FedEx on Friday morning. Pretty quick, I thought. German VAT was deducted from the order price, which more than offset the postage of 12.90 Euros. I haven't yet had any request for additional import/handling charges from FedEx but it has only been a couple of days.

 

Apologies in advance for the picture quality and the lighting in some of the following photos.

 

Tillig's packaging isn't quite as eco-friendly as Peco's or even Hornby's - the box is cardboard but there is a large clear plastic tray for such a small point. Four rail joiners are supplied unfitted in a small bag - so that means three for the point and one for the carpet monster. There are also three sheets of A4 double-sided multilingual instructions for fitting point motors, explaining track geometries and so on.

 

 

The point itself is quite nice, I think. They are electrofrog with a metal tab rather than a wire for wiring the frog but these frogs are so small (less than 15mm) that it may not be worth doing. The two tabs for the surface-mounted point motors are not part of the moulding and the large tab comes out quite easily by rotating it in a downwards direction. The small one seems to be a little more difficult to remove and I might cut this away rather than risk damaging the point. The only downside to the point is that they do not have a locking spring for the stretcher bar/switch rails and as such are they not really suitable for use on a temporary table-top layout unless you are perhaps going to wire in a surface-mounted point motor. Also, the tie bar/stretcher bar is fitted quite loosely to the underside of the switch rails and wobbles backwards and forwards a bit which seems a little odd but this is just the way they're made and hopefully shouldn't be a problem.

 

 

Looking at the underside of the point you can see that the stock rails are electrically bonded to the closure rails (wing rails?) and also to the 'V' rails (not very clear in the photo so I circled them in red). Also you can see the tab for wiring the frog more clearly. Hopefully this can be bent through 90 degrees without problems so that it can go vertically through the baseboard and be wired in underneath a layout board if you want to do that.

 

 

Here is a comparison of the Tillig, Hornby and Peco points to show how much shorter the Tillig points are. Tillig are 129.5mm, Hornby 166mm and Peco 180mm. The Tillig curve radius is 353mm, which is the same as Hornby's R3 curve.

 

 

Here is a comparison of the three types of points as crossovers. The Tillig and Hornby points fitted together very easily and both rails were the same height with no discernible 'bump' when going from one to the other. The track spacing also appears to be the same - this makes sense if Hornby are using Tillig's geometry as the 'standard' for TT:120.

The Peco points (top pair) are not actually connected to the Hornby points but are just laid on top because I would have had to cut away some sleepers and I didn't want to do that for a photo.

On the bottom Tillig point you can see that the larger point motor tab (the one next to the frog) has been removed. The smaller one is still in place.

 

 

Finally here is the Tillig point diagram showing the point dimensions (R22 and G5 can be ignored - these refer to track pieces in the Tillig track range):
 

 

I hope that is useful. I forgot to take photos of the flexi-track and the double slip so I'll post some information on those tomorrow.

 

Cheers, Neil.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Porfuera

[PaulRhB]

9 hours ago, Porfuera said:

Also, the tie bar/stretcher bar is fitted quite loosely to the underside of the switch rails and wobbles backwards and forwards a bit which seems a little odd but this is just the way they're made and hopefully shouldn't be a problem.

The tiebar is the weak point of the Tillig points and the blades come adrift rather easily, the snap of solenoid or with over pressure with stall type point motors. They can be fixed with a replacement copperclad tiebar but not easy in situ. For a temporary table layout their Unitrak style range would be ideal. 

 

Note there are concrete and wood sleeper versions so be careful which parts you order,

 

 

there are also pieces specially to join tracks at points, you only need one line to have the cut out piece. 

 

These adapter tracks are shown at the frog end of the points, 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by PaulRhB