Porfuera

I thought that the TT sets had 3rd radius curves, given that track expansion packs 2 and 3 show curves that fit inside those of the TT set. The minimum curves for the TT set locos are given as radius 2 so I don't think expansion packs 2 and 3 will have radius 1 curves in them. I think expansion pack 5 is first radius, though. EDIT: I think I'm correct - this is what the online shop says anyway: 1 x Locomotive, 3x Coaches, 1x Transformer, 1x Controller, 1x Rerailer, 1x 3rd Radius Starter Oval with Track Pack 1

I don't do big locos either (or steam for that matter) but now that I've seen them I want one! The Easterner looks very tempting... must resist... must resist...

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.

I'm glad it was some help! Given that the station throat is about 40% of the total length of the trackwork (i.e. it is 2 feet out of the 5 feet total) then I reckon a Peco- trackwork Minories in TT:120 would fit on two 1 metre boards and there would still be enough space to fit in the station building (as you mentioned a third board would be needed for the fiddle yard): If (like me) you don't have anywhere for a permanent layout then if you can get the width down to about 225mm, each board would fit into a 77 litre Really Useful Box for storage (internal dimensions about 1110mm long x 300mm H x 225mm W). I have a couple of these and I'm sorely tempted to give it a try!

For Hornby maybe but the Peco points are Streamline, not Setrack. Not that Streamline is a 100% accurate copy of real trackwork, I'm sure. But as far as I can tell from measuring the distance between adjacent rails on my Anyrail plan (not necessarily easy to get a completely accurate figure), the distance between the rails on the entry to the station throat is 22mm. Unless I'm completely wrong, that equates to 8-and-a-half feet or so, which isn't too shabby and I don't think a lot would be gained by trimming a few mm off the points to move them closer together. And considering the track is entering a series of curves through the throat, I guess that the 6 foot way might widen out to be more than six feet? I might be grasping at straws there... Cheers, Neil.

Agreed, especially if you're trying to design a little shunting plank for the Class 08 as I'm trying to do. According to Antics website, the Peco small radius points SL-U1291 and 1292 will be: length 135mm/5.3in, nominal curve radius 466mm/18.3in, diverging angle 11.25 degrees. Not holding my breath, though. I hope this isn't going too far off-thread - but as I mentioned above, I really don't like the huge plastic frog in the Hornby points... Plus the Peco points are Unifrog and AIUI no isolating rail joiners are required, which is nice. The Hornby points require TT8035 DCC Track Turnout Clip if you want both diverging tracks live.

I've been trying out various shunting plank track plans in Anyrail and I've found that the currently available Peco points (medium?) are quite large. If I've got the plan below right I'd say that using the Peco points for the smaller Minories plan above would mean that the points will occupy about half of the five foot board and would severely reduce the length of the sidings. Nice, sweeping curves at the station throat I guess, but at the expense of a longer layout. Longer even than the OO layout. So much for the space-saving properties of TT120! Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking it, I've ordered a Class 08 and a few wagons and I can't wait for them to arrive... I just would've preferred Peco to bring out the smaller-radius points first. But that's just me... Edit: Just to get it back on thread - I don't really like the look of the Hornby points so I won't be buying those and I haven't tried planning with Hornby. Edit: the board size below is 150cm by 30cm (or 1500mm by 300mm, which is approx. 5 feet by 1 foot)

If you only want to screw the track down temporarily perhaps you could find some fairly flat-headed screws that would fit in the gap between the sleepers and which would hold down the sleeper on either side of the gap - if you see what I mean...! That way you wouldn't have to drill the sleepers and there would be less chance of distorting the track if you're careful and you screw the screws down just enough to lightly nip the sleepers. You'd need something with a broad head but low-profile so that the locos/wagons/couplings won't foul them - maybe something like these (although I'm not sure about the size as I don't have any track to hand): https://www.screwfix.com/p/easydrive-button-low-profile-screws-4-8-x-22mm-200-pack/7483H?kpid=7483H&ds_kid=92700048793290424&ds_rl=1249413&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvqGcBhCJARIsAFQ5ke4Xkr4txY6KFYnyl037h6Gz_AjgD7NcAXvs4R6VqHGggBMgMIOC44caAl4TEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Cheers, Neil.

As I mentioned, I've never had a loco with traction tyres so maybe I'm overthinking it, but to me they kind of feel like a solution that's looking for a problem - first, N gauge locos seem to work well enough without them; second, they (presumably) reduce the area available for pickup and third I assume you need to dismantle the bogie (or coupling rods) should they ever need replacing. Maybe they're needed more when there's more rolling resistance, like very long rakes going around tight curves and/or inclines..? But like I said I'm probably overthinking it - I do a lot of that... Cheers, Neil.

Hi, I'm enjoying your thread here - it is very interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. I have been thinking about buying one of the Tillig Trax starter sets - could you let me know whether the Traxx loco has traction tyres fitted? I've never had a loco that is fitted with them but from what I've read they seem to be quite popular on continental models. Cheers, Neil.

Maybe - but I won't be holding my breath. Or maybe Heljan will be back in by then 😀 Having just flicked through the TT:120 Club mag... The Class 08s are given as Phase 1, due to arrive in January (maybe Feb now?) The 21T minerals, HAAs and TTAs are Phase 2 due to arrive in January, April and August respectively. The 21T minerals will cover three eras (4, 5 and 6), so three versions rather than the single version that is on the website (that seems to be having an identity crisis when it comes to which era it belongs to - I think I've seen it listed in Eras 3, 5 and 8, depending on which filters you choose). I guess all dates are subject to change. Apologies if any of this has been mentioned before. Cheers, Neil.

I agree. I decided to bite the bullet today and order the blue Class 08 and the three TTAs for it to push around. I can't exactly remember the delivery dates but they were something like winter 22/23 for the Class 08 (so now at least Feb next year I guess) and I think it was summer for the TTAs (slightly disappointing). I would have preferred the 21T minerals to the TTAs but these were not even available to preorder - they were only available to wishlist and to receive an email notification when they're in stock. However maybe I was late to the party and the initial allocation of the 21T minerals has sold out already. I keep telling myself that there is no rush as I don't actually have anywhere to run them and that these dates are probably fairly short compared to some development/marketing/release cycles that have happened in the past. But then I'm probably not the target audience for these products and anyone hoping to buy something for a Christmas present will be disappointed and sales will almost certainly be lost.

Hello John, I only found your Buncombe thread last night and I have to say that I am in awe of your speed and quality of modelling and of your technical expertise. All I ever do is procrastinate! I've quickly checked out Sarsden today and I'll read more on that layout when time permits - it looks excellent as well. Needless to say I'm looking forward to keeping up with your progress on Buncombe. Best regards, Neil.

Interesting - I never knew that (I'm not big on steamy things). Maybe this photo bears that out - the pony truck appears to be 'floating' and doesn't seem to have flanges - assuming it isn't photoshopped and/or another scale, although (from what I've read here) the counterweights are incorrect so probably TT:120... Cheers, Neil.

Yep - I also received the same email today and I, too, hadn't noticed the "If you have not received the product yet..." link at the bottom. So I after reading the above I went back to the email and clicked on the link and lo and behold my TT:120 Club magazine dropped onto my doormat a few minutes later. Now that's what I call customer service! 😆 Still no sign of my membership pack (I also joined on the 10th October) , but hey! it is all free and I'm sure there's nothing in it that I really need. Plus the delay must mean that interest is bigger than expected, which must be a good thing, no? The mag is 30-odd pages and quite small print so it looks like there's lots packed in there. I'm looking forward to reading it later today. Cheers, Neil.

When I subscribed to Rail Express magazine it used to contain a supplement magazine called Rail Express Modeller - or have they stopped that now...? Cheers, Neil

Thanks for the ideas, although I think it supports my thoughts that very little of what's being released as RTR will run together, apart from rakes of express passenger trains. However (as has been suggested a number of times previously) this may not bother those that have been identified as the target purchasers for TT120. Fingers crossed that this will take off and that other manufacturers - including kits - will join in. Cheers, Neil. Edit: It might be easier to paint the Class 08 green! Just a thought...

I agree with the sentiments of this - it seemed a bit rushed to me as well, in as much as very little of this range seems to go together unless you want to run rakes of express trains. I would have jumped in if there was a Class 08 (any era) and a few matching wagons to shunt around on an Inglenook or similar, using track from Peco rather than Hornby. However the best I can do at the moment seems to be an Era 7 (TOPS) BR blue Class 08 and three TTAs. At a stretch I could add the six Era 8 (Sectorisation) HAA MGRs but that seems to be as far as it goes until Phases 3 and 4, and even then the pickings will be fairly thin. And am I the only one that thinks that shunting TTAs and HAAs would be an odd mixture...? So I took a look and Hornby's OO Catalogue and as far as I can see there isn't much more on offer in OO in Eras 4 to 8 (as far as wagons are concerned, at least) and therefore I guess Hornby will need to expand its range of wagons in TT, which may in turn mean additional stock for OO - who knows? I do hope that Hornby can make a go of this - I have no reason not to and surely it can only be good for the hobby as a whole if it does? But it looks like they will either need to commission a lot of new wagons for various eras or else we will be waiting for other manufacturers to jump in to add extra stock to fill in some gaps in Hornby's range. In the meantime I'll be holding on to my money (not what Hornby want, I'd imagine) and waiting for reviews. Cheers, Neil.

Hi Paul, It is always great to see more photos of Stoneferry Engineering - I have always enjoyed your layout on RMweb and seeing what can be done with O Gauge in such a small space. It is one of my favourites and is very inspirational. I hope you are enjoying your Class 14 - I don't have one but as you say they are a lovely model and from what others have said they're excellent runners. All the best, Neil.

Also Neil B. (@Nile) was very kind and recently reloaded his photos of his cut-down points on Page 19 for me - there are no measurements but they give an excellent view of how a crossover looks with the cut-down points and it should be possible to guesstimate the track spacing from these photos. I have some points of my own but sadly I'm still no closer to actually starting a layout... hopefully one day soon... fingers crossed...! There are also Peco point templates available on both the Peco and the Tower Models websites - these might be worth hacking about before taking a cutter to the real thing! Cheers, Neil.

This look great. I have been enjoying this thread a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing more as it develops further. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Neil.

Hi, A great-looking start. I look forward to seeing more as it progresses. Neil.

OK - many thanks! I guess I got the wrong idea about the Wayback Machine - I'll try asking @Nile and see whether he still has them. Cheers!

I hope someone can help me with this... There has been some mention of using the Wayback Machine to retrieve photos that are currently unavailable due to the recent change of hosting. I have been trying to use the Wayback Machine for this but I've been failing miserably! I should state here that the photos I'm trying to find aren't mine - they were posted by @Nile on June 6, 2019 and were posted to a thread "Peco O Gauge Set Track" - sorry if you're not interested in that but hopefully this might help anyone that is looking to restore their own photos or files from the Wayback Machine. I can get to the first page of the "Peco O Gauge Set Track" thread here: https://web.archive.org/web/20170512140639/http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75748-peco-o-gauge-set-track/ Once I have arrived at the first page I've tried navigating using the "Next" button or by trying to select specific page numbers but all I get is the following "not archived" response: Looking at other threads in the same archive/snapshot, the url for subsequent pages should have "page-2", "page-3", "page-4" etc appended to the end of the url, but trying this instead of using the navigation buttons still gives me the same "not archived" response. I know that the date/timestamp of "20170512140639" is earlier than the posting date that I'm interested in but this is the only archive of this thread that I've been able to find so far and in any case the thread was started in 2013 and there should be several more pages prior to 2017, even though 2017 is a couple of years before the post I'm interested in. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong or is it simply that the Wayback Machine does not archive everything? If the latter then surely it won't be much use if people are trying to retrieve their files...? Note to moderators: if you feel that I've put this request in the wrong place then please feel free to move it. Thanks to anyone that has managed to read this far! Cheers, Neil.

Hi Jack, That's good to know, cheers. I was thinking of buying the other Scalescenes boxfile so I'm temped to give it a try...! Thanks, Neil.