rodshaw

Does anyone know if Peco have printable templates for their new turnouts? Their website doesn't mention any.

I think we can rule Bachmann out of the speculation anyway. A rep of theirs at a show I went to on Saturday said they are far too heavily into N gauge to invest in TT. (Of course, he didn't put it in writing!)

Two more shows coming up...this Saturday (13th) at Roade near Northampton, and next Saturday (20th) at the Silver Fox DCC show in Milton Keynes.

Then a third and possibly final show for the layout next February in Biggleswade.

14 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

Yes, by coincidence 1:120 is a very convenient imperial ratio.  It is known as TT:120 so mm and inches shouldn't be mixed. 1/10" to a foot is how it should be worked in.

Also, of course, one inch to ten feet. Very convenient for American stock - a 40ft boxcar is four inches long, etc. Very convenient for working out how long your sidings need to be.

4 hours ago, rekoboy said:

I am imagining this, or have I read somewhere that firms such as Lincoln Locos produce British (3mm) TT bodyshells for Piko mechanisms?

They certainy make 3mm scale bodies but I don't know what mechanisms they fit. Whether they will start producing 1:120 scale bodies is another matter.

https://lincoln-loco.co.uk/

I really don't see that it matters what term anyone uses as long as it's clear which scale they are referring to. Two terms will now be ambiguous for British outline modellers - TT and British TT. Oh dear!

In fact it will be interesting to see how many different variations the manufacturers of British TT120 actually use on their packaging.

2 hours ago, Ravenser said:

In practice "3mm scale" is the usual term these days . A quick look through the current issue of Mixed Trffic , the 3mm Society's  magazine shows that TT is used only twice - once in the heading of a sheet covering "Triang TT3 Spares Service", and once at the start of a layout article 

 

The fact that someone obviously feels they need to justify calling a layout "TT" speaks volumes - this is no longer a normal term for 3mm scale. In any case in a number of places there is reference to Irish 15.75mm gauge models in 3mm scale and 14.2mm gauge , neither of which are exactly "TT " or "TT3"

 

I'm sure that we can all get along fine by referring to 3mm scale and TT-120. Nothing much is gained by trying to resurrect the term TT3 which is almost obsolete amongst 3mm scale modellers

Seems to me we can equally get along fine by calling it whatever we like. 3mm scale, TT3 or for that matter 1:100 or even 1:101.6 - take your pick.

Just as it's equally pretty obvious that 2.5mm and 1:120 refer to the same thing. I may even continue to call it Continental TT.

2 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

Nice, what scale Kadees are you using? and how are you uncoupling?

I'm using Kadee HOn3 couplers. I think the ones on that loco are 705s, the ones that come ready assembled. But some of the stock has Kadee 714s and MicroTrains 1015s. But I prefer the Kadees.

I uncouple using the big hand in the sky and a Kadee uncoupling stick. Of course, it was carefully edited out of the video! I tried magnets on a previous layout but found they were always in the wrong place.

On 25/07/2022 at 09:51, Keith Addenbrooke said:

 

Work first, play later.  But yes, I am as excited with this morning’s delivery as a kid with a new toy right now - which is perhaps why I’m still doing this at the age of 54 😃

Only 54? Then you are a kid with a new toy!

15 hours ago, Vanguard 5374 said:

Between the American OO today blog and the American OO Facebook group, there is quite a lot still happening in the scale today. Like TT120 with the Corgi Diecast locomotives, American OO modellers have been able to use Diecast Lionel items (smaller static versions of O gauge items) to produce 4mm scale US outline rolling stock.

There are also some Lionel static models in TT scale, available very cheaply, which can be motorised and turned into very good runners (but then, of course, not so cheap any more)! I have converted three of them, all to DCC and one with sound. They are nice and heavy and ready painted, which gives them an advantage over 3D prints. But they are let down by their chunky handrails.

Here'a a video of one of mine in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOfy3EVzBmY

Incidentally, if you think the track is a bit heavy looking, that's because it's Peco HOm. I had some available and didn't want to splash out on Tillig or Kuehn. But now that the Peco TT track is here, I'll go that way next time!

18 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

I can feel a UkTT120 society brewing

Quite probably. There's already a British 1:120 Facebook group.

Another aspect of size is, of course, the overall area you'll need for a layout. When I first got into railway modelling and was trying to decide whether to go for OO, TT3 or N, the width I'd need for a continuous run was the deciding factor. I discarded N as too fiddly and worked out that I could make a double-track layout with sidings and a passing loop in TT 12mm gauge on a baseboard 5ft by 2ft 8in. in size:

My posting on 8 July shows the result, using 3mm Society track. I'd have needed at least 6ft by 4ft in OO, an increase in area of 60 percent which wouldn't have fitted comfortably into the limited space I had, crammed in between a freezer and storage shelves.

(The layout is pretty crude to my eyes now, being mostly Triang and Bilteezi, but might be a nice idea for modern 1:120 stock and the new building kits around the corner).

Here are some photos from the first ever layout I built back in 2000, with a mixture of TT3 and continental 1:120 stock. The thing that strikes me looking at them now is that, because of the larger continental loading gauge, they are very similar in size.

Obviously this won't apply to the new smaller British 1:120.

Two figures, one HO 1:87 and one TT 1:120, both Preiser. The HO one is 22mm high, the TT one 15.5mm.

The HO one would be about a scale 6ft 3in. high, and the TT one would be just over 6ft. 1in.

By comparison the red door is about 17mm high.

For a door which is 78in. high, or 6ft 6in, height in 1:120 should be about 16.5mm.

Sheffield Supertram - now there's an idea for a layout...

Good luck with the new layout. Any chance of a track plan? Come on, hurry up! 😛

There's also the Revell harbour tug boat which may be near enough for some:

I've recently had two Seuthe 117 smoke units fail after fairly light use.
Are they just unreliable?
Or...the instructions say they are supposed to run on 16-18V AC or DC. I've had mine running off a PSU which is 16V AC and which also powers the DCC controller and hence the track. Could this have harmed the smoke unit?
No option now but to buy yet another, but could running it off its own AC or DC supply (say from my backup Gaugemaster controller) rather than the track DCC supply be a safer option?

On 16/06/2022 at 22:53, britishcolumbian said:

 

The SW1200s from MTB are discontinued, yeah, so there are no RTR locomotives at the moment, but one is in the works. And there is a decent array of rolling stock... RTR there are some boxcars, open hoppers, and modern-ish tank cars - plus six varieties of PS-1 boxcar are coming in the autumn sometime, and a further thereafter. And there are the super short-run things, but a lot of that is pricey: I paid 100 euro each for a CP Rail insulated boxcar and two Pacific Fruit Express refrigerated cars. And a decent array of kits, too. I've been doing TT for the better part of 20 years now, and the NorAm scene is light years ahead of where it was when I started.

Yes, I was probably a bit unfair about the freight offerings. The tank cars particularly are very nice. But my view is coloured because I prefer post-roofwalk era boxcars.

But back to the locos...come on Heljan! Though I appreciate this thread is really about British RTR.

The North American outline market is there for the taking for anyone willing to give it a go. There are no locos being produced at all at present, and the rolling stock offerings are meagre.

I wonder what couplers they will have? Hopefully they'll be swappable for Kadees.

Coming up...Naples Street at GlobalRail in Didcot this coming Saturday. There will be a few TT scale layouts there but this will be the only one with a North American theme.

5 hours ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

I'm inclined to agree with you.  Do they produce anything for their home market that's TT 1:120?

 

I was also wondering about the Gaugemaster announcement too, do these products already exist and are they being sold in the rest of Europe under different brands.  Seems a high cost to tool up for all of those parts if there's no market?

Some (maybe all) of the products marketed by Gaugemaster are existing 1:120 scale products, e.g. the Preiser figures.

Rapido don't produce any TT 1:120 RTR locos for the Canadian or US markets. In fact, nobody does. Czech company MTB produced some batches of SW1200s a few years ago but the supply dried up. There is promise of a new RTR US loco from Europe maybe in the next year or two.

There are a few US TT 1:120 RTR and kit freight cars about, again made by European manufacturers.

The dearth of TT US outline is worse than in the UK because they don't have 3mm either. Many American modellers are actually modelling European TT and/or have Tri-ang.

At least the new Peco track seems welcome over there as an alternative to the Tillig and Kuehn offerings.

Added: the ttnut forum is hosted in the US but many of its members are European.

I would be very surprised if Peco made these announcements without having commitment from a manufacturer to produce at least one loco. My guess would be two - maybe a steam loco and a diesel, say a 24 or a 47.

I model American TT 1:120, having previously modelled British TT3. To my eyes the American stock is just a bit on the small size and doesn't give the impression of bulk that American stuff demands. So I won't be surprised if British 1:120 turns out to be far too twee for me.