philsandy

2 hours ago, markw said:

Agreed they are no worse when uncoupled, and much better when coupled.

The Tilling coupling looks so much better when viewed like that, nowhere near as obtrusive as in all the others photos I've seen.

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

Things are going well, pages will be into the hundreds soon!

 

When we reach page 120 the thread will have to be closed.

11 minutes ago, adrianmc said:

Don't know if it has been highlighted in this thread before but the Hornby TT:120 Catalogue has a major typo on page 2?

 

First paragraph has the statement:

 

"Introducing Hornby TT:120, a Table Top model railway format that uses an internationally recognised scale of 1:120 or in simple terms, 1" to 1' and is a perfect scale for those of all ages who may be limited for space" 

 

Surely that should be 1" to 10'  i.e. 1 inch to 10 feet?

 

 

 

 

Glad it's not 1" to 1' as I would have to have got a bigger TableTop.

13 hours ago, jonnyuk said:

Saw the range today at Gaydon. I have to say I was on the fence, looked interesting and could see the appeal but part of me thought, nope.

however seeing the range in person I’m sold, the loco’s are the perfect blend between detail and robustness, I picked them up and not once felt something would drop off, but at the same time enough separately fitted detail to look good.

I’ve had n scale before and to be honest it just p*ssed me off with how difficult it was to put stuff on the rails, to hook rolling stock together etc, the slightly larger scale really appeals to me.

with everything they have for launch would suit me, new era and location to model. Highlight for me though as to be the 08, stunning little loco.

 

simon did say (and he said it many times), this is not replace OO, never will and it’s not the intention, he kept going back to size constraints of OO in the modern world, uni students, folk in flats etc.

 

He did also the sets might be after Xmas now, they spotted a mistake on the Loco which they fixed but they missed the Christmas boat by a week, they are trying to fly them over.

also the OO hst pullmans are on the boat and be here for Xmas (makes me a happy bunny).

the smoke generating loco’s will be here in may.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking  very good going off your photos,. Did they have any of the locos running, if so how did they perform?

Re. Hornby TT120 Pre ordering.

Sorry if this is an obvious question, but pre ordering is something I've never done, how does it work. Do you pay for the items when you pre order, or pay when they are actually available and are about to be posted out to you?

Re. TT120 wheel standards.

Don't know if this info has already been posted on here,

I emailed Hornby technical dept. about this and got this reply (in less than 48 hrs):

TT is built to European NEM standard 310. Please use the link below for the table you are looking for, showing all measurements. The gauge of TT track is 12mm, so along that line will be the numbers you need.

https://www.morop.org/images/NEM_register/NEM_E/nem310_en_2009_20111116.pdf

Hope this helps,

Kind Regards,

Matt Jordan
Customer Technical Advisor

I know it has been mentioned on here but can't find it now (78 pages!) but what type of couplings are Hornby using on TT120 range? What other manufacturers use the same couplings, and how do they fit to the locos/rolling stock (NEM pocket?), ie. can they we swapped for something less obtrusive?

6 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

Yes unfortunately, at the moment 🤞   I would be soldering construction wise, the problem would be finding suitable sleepers in copper clad.

 

 

The 3mm Society do 2.5mm x 1mm thick copper clad strips.

On 16/10/2022 at 17:40, Tim Dubya said:

Just wandering around the web and found out that C&L do rail in code 55 (and 40), so it shouldn't be too difficult to get rolling your own (subject to finding suitable sleeps and timbering of course).

I have been looking into this, ie. making my own trackwork.

It appears C&L do not supply chairs for Code 55. The 3mm Society supply chairs for Code 60 bullhead and 2.5mm wide plywood sleepers. Also 12mm track bases for Code 60 bullhead.

EM modeller but tempted to build a small shunting plank in TT120 out of curiosity. I don't like the track that is on offer from Hornby/Peco (sleepers too close together) so want to build my own track. Is there anyone who supplies chairs for code 55 rail? can not seem to find any.

4 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

Why on earth wouldn't it be 12mm gauge? 

I have misunderstood this. I incorrectly assumed that this Hornby launch of TT was 3mm/ft. 

On 10/10/2022 at 15:26, Il Grifone said:

 

Not at all; it's a different scale (2.5 mm/ft against 3mm).

Perhaps I didn't look  hard enough, but I could  find no reference to gauge (12mm?) or wheel/track standards. I did see that they still don't understand how Walschaerts valve gear works.

 

Have only just seen this news from Hornby... Wow!  but I also could not find any info on the gauge. 

Am I right in thinking these couplings do not have a dove tail?

A rigid bar coupling will give you a closer (more realistic) gap between the two. Alternatively try gently bending the power car coupling up (1mm? going off your photo), and bending the dummy car coupling down (1mm) to bring them to the same height. There should be enough give there for them to move this amount without breaking.

7 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

There is another Thread that is more up to date about MM. 

Not sure but I think Peco and or Wizard may be taking on the Stuff. Peco the Decals and Wizard the Plates? Could be rubbish of course?

Phil

Well, it can't get any worse.

8 hours ago, 31A said:

This might be a bit 'off the wall', but the second and fourth driving axles are sprung and it might be worth checking that these axles can rise and fall freely.  If stuck at the bottom of their travel, they might be causing other axles to lift off the rail?

 

I bought one second hand a little while ago; it seemed to be unused but I believe was from one of the earliest batches produced, and the grease had gone solid so the axle plungers were stuck.  In my case, it was causing current pick up to be poor and after I'd stripped out the old grease and re-lubricated it the performance was transformed.  If you dismantle it be careful not to lose the springs!

 

Apart from that, I usually reckon on a back to back measurement of 14.5mm for OO, but it's surprising how much RTR wheels can vary.

Good point. I have one of these and it is a superb runner, it never stalls, why?  because it has 2 sprung axles, which ensure constant wheel/rail contact.

On 02/07/2022 at 19:15, johna said:

Just in the process of building a small shutting layout using two points but would like to be able to in uncouple the wagons hands free. I will be using  pecket and ruston loco so can anyone advise me what couplings to use please? 

Have a look at my post here:

Great looking trackwork.

1 hour ago, RFS said:

 

But surely the socket has to be a mirror image of the plug? 

The four wires to motor +ve , motor -ve , track RH and track LH, are not soldered directly to any of the 8 pin terminals, they soldered to different terminals on the board.

I have got it working now it, it was the terminal I had arrowed, as pointed out above  by daltonparva. Thanks.

3 hours ago, daltonparva said:

Your picture looks like that has got the broken wire end still soldered to it.

Thanks for that. It shows up better on the photo than it does just looking at it. Got it working now.

13 minutes ago, RFS said:

See this diagram for the 8pin socket - https://bluerailtrains.com/8-pin-plug-considerations/

Thanks, but that is relating to the plug, not the socket.

Some years ago I removed the 8 pin socket from a loco and hard wired the decoder. I now need to re fit the socket, but am unsure which terminal to solder the black wire for the RH side pick up.

Can anyone confirm if where I have indicated (black arrow) is correct? 

Dave,  I have one, PM with your address an I'll post it on.

I have just converted all my rolling stock from Bachmann TLC , with Brian Kirby's method for auto magnetic uncoupling, to Bachmann DMU couplings, (part no. 36-055), still using Brian Kirby's method. They are less obtrusive and work very well.

Thanks Jeff, but I gave up on the Lincs couplings, I could not get them to work consistently with permanent magnets. Wagons were uncoupling to often when being pulled them over the magnets. I'm sure they work very well using electro magnets.

I am now fitting Bachmann DMU couplings using Brian Kirby's method, less obtrusive than the standard TLC and work consistently.

12 hours ago, Lacathedrale said:

Ah thank you - presumably because bogies and wagon frames are scale width, with correct length pinpoint axles - whereas locomotives have narrower chassis and corresponding axles.

 

Is simply a case of replacing the axles with longer ones, or does one need to also replace the wheels? Again, specifically talking about inside frame, inside cylinder/valve Bachmann locomotives.

I have converted steam locos to EM using the original wheels, but using longer EMGS shouldered axles, 3mm x 2mm. (5905 R5D2).

I reduced the wheel flanges by 0.2mm/0.3mm to give a flange width of 0.5mm, (but check first, Bachmann flanges do vary in width). 

I found this an easier way of converting, especially for locos with valve gear, although with some locos there can be a problem with there not being enough clearance between the front wheel crank pin screws and the valve gear.

METHOD I USED:

I reduced the wheel flange by placing a good flat file on a work bench, placing the wheel, flange side down on the file and sliding it back and forth. Regularly checking the flange thickness with a digital vernier.

It's easier rather than to keep trying to measure the flange width to first take a measurement of the overall wheel width and keep checking that, till you have reduced it by 0.2mm/0.3mm.

eg, overall wheel width is 2.9mm, so reduce it to 2.6 or 2.7mm.

I rolled a small flat file around the 2mm dia. axle stubs to put a knurl on to give a tighter fit in the plastic wheel bush.

Used Araldite to glue the plastic bushes in to the wheel hubs.

The problem then was because these bushes have a shoulder (about 0.5mm thick) and the 3mm dia. part of the axle is 16mm long, this would give a B2B of about 17mm.

I filed the bush shoulder thickness down to 0.25mm, This is done with the bush being in situ in the wheel bore, and using the method described above, re. reducing flange thickness.

So if the wheel width measured at the axle bore is say 2.7 mm, when the bush in place it should then measure 2.95 mm, and if the 3mm diameter part of the axle is 16mm long, when both wheels are pressed home up to the shoulders, this will give you a B2B of 16.5mm.

Hope this makes sense.