BRTrainz

On 18/02/2023 at 12:09, woodenhead said:

Interesting that Japanese New Englanders have N gauge couplings.

That's the norm for Japanese HO narrow gauge models from what I've seen, so makes sense that Kato would supply them for the domestic market with those fitted.

A set of brass wagons I saw on eBay once are the only Japanese models I can recall seeing that came with with OO9/H0e/HOn30 loop couplings fitted.

Am looking to replace the plastic disc wheels on my Peco OO9 wagons (and any carriages with plastic wheels I might buy in future) with metal ones.

Was going to just replace them with metal disc wheels, but would like to go with another type if more accurate.

Tried google but could not find any real answers, beyond it being apparent from photos that TR 14 and 15 have wheels with either holes or spokes in the present day.

I do have a Accucraft 1:19 L&B bogie van that came with 3 hole wheels, but they look solid on the few photos I could find of the prototype.  Finally found a photo showing that van 23 has 3 hole wheels so guess I answered my own question for L&B goods stock.

11 hours ago, Ravenser said:

TT is a fully commercial scale on the Continent, and has been for over 30 years .

 

It's actually been one for even longer than that in the former eastern bloc - Zeuke (which later became Berliner TT Bahnen, the remains of which were bought by Tillig) started making TT in 1959.

19 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Hi there.  From what I’ve seen*, the advert in Railway Modeller says “metal tyred spoked wheels.”  The photos seem to show metal wheels, but note there is a disclaimer noting that they are “pre-production samples shown with disc wheels.”

 

No indication of price or availability yet but they look very good to me.  Hope that helps, Keith.

 

(* I don’t buy RM, but have seen a photo of the advert shared for information in a TT:120 Facebook group)

Thanks.

Now to wait for Hattons to put them up for pre-order....

Do the wheels appear to be metal (as is pretty much standard in TT) or plastic (like Peco's N wagons)?

27 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Already announced Black Five, 57XX, J94, Jinty, 9F and I've definitely seen a lot of photos of Castles, Britannias, A3s and A4s on good trains. Plenty of locos for the goods vehicles.

 

Never seen Duchesses on any though.

 

Thread about A4s on goods here in the archived section.

 

 

 

 

Jason

I meant one being available at the same time as the wagons not phase 3/4/etc announcements.

I knew of A3s and A4 being used on goods trains but thought it was just express fitted ones in the 60s.

Interesting to see they ended up on regular mixed goods and mineral traffic and in the 50s at that.

The main thing I find odd is that Hornby is releasing all these steam/early diesel era wagons without ANY sort of proper goods/mixed traffic loco to pull them (not counting the 08).

I'm gonna be stuck with using a A3, A4, or something continental on goods trains for a while until the 9F, 31, 37, or 47 is released.

1 hour ago, britishcolumbian said:

I was thinking Hädl, but they may well be Arnold. I'm not sure because that's before my period of interest, and prior to Hornby's announcement, too far west.

The English and Dutch Meat Company van is Arnold (Tillig also makes one but it's not a ferry van and has a brakeman's cabin that looks to be well outside the UK loading gauge).

Hädl make a DR ferry van of different design.

1 hour ago, Pacific231G said:

Could someone who has examples of one or more please measure the centre to centre sleeper spacing of the Hornby, Peco and Tillig plain track.

 

Though with the same scale the difference is far less than the usual 00/H0 anomaly, I believe that British main line sleepers were traditionally rather further apart on main lines than in other European countries ( 650-750mm seems familiar) 600mm seems to be the current normal sleeper spacing  for modern high speed lines but it was for French higher speed classic track for some time before the LGVs (Lignes à Grande Vitesse built for the TGVs)  which also use that spacing (as does HS1) and that's the spacing Peco used for Streamline. On older classic lines the spacing was wider but the width varied and some railways used panels where the relative position of every sleeper was defined.

Not a measurement, but this post has a pretty good photo for visual comparison:

I see a pretty noticeable difference between Hornby/Tillig and Peco spacing.

14 hours ago, rekoboy said:

The coupler box needs to be removed with a Dremel attachment and/or a chisel craftknife blade and the chassis carefully smoothed - no problem for an experienced modeller, but maybe quite difficult for a novice.

Ah, I see what you mean now.

1 hour ago, rekoboy said:

I use Peho conversion kits - they work well, but can involve a large amount on surgery on the vehicle in question, especially on BTTB passenger carriages. Their use is not without problems for the inexperienced modeller. I shall add a section on Peho close-coupler mounts in the near future. The simplest solution for modellers who have older BTTB or Tillig coupler mounts (with the spring loaded slot) is to buy a pack of modern Tillig or Kuehn couplings for the slot fixing, i.e not those for the NEM pocket ones. That solution is quick, easy and results in no alteration or unwanted damage!

I thought most 2-axle wagons were pretty much just trim away the old mount and super glue the new one in place (after checking height, etc. of course)?

Haven't looked much into converting anything else.

On 22/12/2022 at 13:55, gc4946 said:

During the last few days my secondhand Berliner TT Bahn wagons arrived to supplement the three Tillig blue Polish Railways (PKP) wagons supplied in the starter set.

 

The BTTB wagons have the earlier hook and loop couplings, I may equip at least one of my Tillig locos with the older style but I don't know the part number.

 

Interestingly the Tillig PKP covered van uses the same underframe as the three long wheelbase BTTB vans except for the couplings.

FYI Peho makes NEM close coupling mounts for upgrading old BTTB stock that look to be pretty straightforward conversions if you want to upgrade them.

Scotsman set is now showing as "in stock" and is no longer a pre-order item.

Well got my Scotsman set here in the US yesterday.

Loco and carriages look gorgeous.

Loco was dead out of the box but turned out the Next18 dummy plug had come dislodged and was rattling around in the tender.

Was a bit jerky in reverse but I haven't broken it in yet and only did some very basic testing.

Track seems decent but will likely be sold on as I have Tillig bedding track.

Buffer stop seems like it will fit Tillig bedding track with some trimming.

Bit disappointed that the buffer stop is black like the OO one instead of the nicer looking brown shown on the website.

Think I might start selling off my N gauge as I've always found it a bit too small to be satisfying.

32 minutes ago, Jeff Smith said:

DHL might require a signature, they always seem to for me in the US.

Yes, DHL Express will require a signature if you do not have signature release set up.

27 minutes ago, meatloaf said:

The Bachmann ones a rebadged zimo, but at almost £40

 

Ah, wondered if that was the case with it looking so similar.

1 hour ago, Jeff Smith said:

The Hornby ones currently available have flying leads with connectors.  Are there any without leads that plug straight in?  My only previous experience with installing chips was with leads that had to be soldered.

 

I should add, for control only, no sound.

Hattons has a 18 pin decoder that appears to plug straight in with no harness for 17 quid:

https://www.hattons.co.uk/241234/hattons_originals_dcr_18pin_direct_18_pin_4_function_1_1amp_direct_plug_decoder_with_back_emf/stockdetail

Bachmann 36-567A and Zimo MX618N18 appear to be other no harness options.

I personally am inclined to go for the Zimo MX618N18 if I decide to go DCC as Zimo decoders are supposed to have excellent motor control but it seems to be out of stock everywhere ATM.

4 hours ago, Michanglais said:

 

Hi,

 

Just a quick word on the Fleischmann/Roco Profi couplings - they're expensive, a bit ugly and, in my and many people's experience, aren't particularly reliable unless you've got extremely well-laid track and very gentle trasitions into any inclines. Otherwise, they have a bit of a tendency to leave half a train behind and the uncoupling can be very random - not always the same coaches/wagons, not always in the same place on the layout. 

 

Personally, I live in a small apartment and have to make do with Kato Unitrack running on a pretty uneven floor. Profi couplings are of absolutely no use to me under those circumstances (hopefully yours are better! :). I've turned to magnetic couplings (I do no shunting, so don't need remote uncoupling, tho I 'think' I've heard rumours of future 'powered' magnetic couplings that will allow remote uncoupling).

 

Don't want to put you off giving them a go but before ordering a bulk pack, given the price, I'd order about ten-or-so to have a play around with. 

 

Hope that helps!

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

Saw your earlier post in thread about reliability.

Mainly interested in the Profi coupling as I think you can lift coupled stock straight out of a train like with rapidos?

My layout will eventually be on a flat tabletop without any inclines so no worrys about that for me.

I am somewhat curious about the (I assume NEM?) magnetic couplings you mentioned - what brand are they?

Definitely not ordering a bulk pack of Profis before testing a few of them.

Received my Dapol couplings today.

They are not rigid enough to move the close coupling mechs on the Tillig stock I tried them on at all (instead the the knuckle partly opens on curves while the mech stays straight).

They won't even clip into the NEM pockets on my Arnold ferry vans (way too loose) so presumably won't fit Hornby pockets either.

All in all not usable for my purposes.

Still intend to try the Roco/Fleischmann Profi coupling, but can't find a US supplier that has them in stock, so waiting until I order something else from Germany that I can combine postage with.

1 hour ago, Michanglais said:

 

Are you UK-based?

 

I haven't tried ordering any track (going to go with Tillig's ballasted snap-track - nowhere for a permanent layout, actually, given the 'market' Hornby are claiming they are aiming at, such snap-track may have been a sensible option to offer... probably licensing issues with Kato... I think Tillig had to come to some arrangement with them) but I'm based in France and despite my myriad emails to Hornby, they still don't seem able to come up with a clear response on VAT and customs charges on pre-orders, despite their own printed policy of orders being DDP (no local VAT or customs charges due upon arrival in a foreign country). 

 

Also, when I've placed pre-orders (this may apply to the UK, too) items aren't 'grouped' so €18 shipping is added to each item. I can't find a way to create a 'basket' (maybe this is simply because they don't want to hold back items to complete an order given that things will become available at different times?). 

 

I've followed the arguments for and against Hornby only selling through their site but if that is their decision - and they're also aiming at international sales - they should at least sort their ordering system out. So far, I've cancelled every pre-order I've placed because of conflicting answers from Hornby when I've emailed them regarding VAT. I don't want any of their track but perhaps I should invest in just a few pieces if there are some available to order now to see how the order is dealt with...

 

Just to try to remain somewhat on topic, instead of my usual customs and VAT rant, it does seem an odd policy to hold back a product. Immobilising capital like that just doesn't make sense when people are itching to spend and, as has been pointed out by others, even those ordering sets may want to expand 'instantly' rather than having to wait for a further order to arrive. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m US based and don’t get charged any VAT.

Oddly enough I have not had a shipping charge added to any of my TT pre orders (I do get one added if I add something OO to my cart).

Have also skipped Hornby’s track for Tillig bedding track (although I’ll probably order a buffer stop at some point and see if I can fit it to bedding track).

3 minutes ago, Porfuera said:

 

Sorry to go over previous discussions (although what else is there to do until someone receives their Scotsman set and reviews it?) but I agree with this sentiment because I also don't understand the logic behind holding back the track until some sets have been sold.

 

What is Hornby's/SK's cut-off point? How many sets need to be sold before they consider they can start selling the track and the Track Extension Packs? Even then, there will always be people without a set that will buy track, so why not start selling it now and recoup more of their investment?

 

Perhaps more importantly, surely there are people that have bought a Scotsman set and would have liked some extra track at the same time, rather than being stuck with just a simple oval and a point for who knows how long? The lack of availability might only serve to put off those buyers from buying more at a future point.

 

And having previously said I didn't like the Hornby points, I didn't realise how relatively cheap the points are! I'm now thinking of buying a few points and a bit of their set track to use as a 'planning aid' to check out the play value operational potential of a few simple layout plans while waiting for the release of Peco's small radius points. Still not holding my breath for those, though - I imagine  Peco may well be waiting to see what the takeup of TT:120 will be before investing more money and resources.

 

Cheers, Neil.

SOME basic curves and straights (as well as the buffer stop) are available now.

Everything else is still listed for pre-order however.

12 hours ago, Hroth said:

It would have been nice for the initial Easterner/Scotsman boxed sets to have gone through without alteration. Most people wouldn't notice the balance weight problem and they would be instant collectors items!

 

There would be enough time to rectify the problem for future production...

 

That probably would have been a no sale for me (only pre-ordered anything after they said in a Facebook comment it'd been corrected) and would not have given me much confidence in the product lines accuracy.

I'm far from a stickler for accuracy, but the counterweights being in the wrong place was to my eyes a glaring error I noticed every time I saw a photo of the models (admittedly only after I saw someone else point it out, but I couldn't unsee it after).

My card has also been charged.

Might actually get it before Christmas here in the states!

Unless you have old stock with big flanges that need code 100 rails, I'd suggest looking at Kato Unitrack or Trix C track before you invest further in E-Z track.

Both are much better quality.

If you really want to stick to E-Z track, you might want to look for Bachmann "Underground Ernie" track on eBay (E-Z track with concrete coloured sleepers, not sure if steel or nickle-silver rails).

38 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

 

You will find that mediums are probably your base coupling. Shorts are rather too short for most N gauge stuff and longs are grossly over long for most things , and look like 1930s Hornby tinplate couplings . I've still not worked out exactly what longs are intended for

Yeah that's what I expect to find.

Only ordered the longs to have all lengths for testing and don't expect to ever actually have a use for them.