Model Trains in TT Scale (TT=Table Top) in Dublin

coolwings

TT scale 12mm gauge Model Trains are coming to Ireland.

Green Hobby & Model in Harolds Cross, Dublin has agreed to distribute model trains for Tillig and Roco in Ireland.

TT track is 12mm between the rails so it is a size halfway between OO (HO) and N gauges. TT is not so tiny as N, but it is capable of tighter turns than OO so TT suits a smaller space better than OO. So it is an interesting size, given the room sizes in modern houses.

Also raises interesting possibilities of HOm and HOe narrow gauge for light rail LUAS commuter type model rolling stock because Tillig make that nice LUNA track that goes via model roads.

If you have not heard of TT before that might be because TT scale is the scale called "3mm scale" in the UK (3mm = 1 foot) so TT 12mm track would be the rail size used by many "3mm scale" UK modellers...

To get an idea of the size of TT .... 1 inch = 10 feet.
So a 40 foot container in TT would be 4 inches.
And a 60 foot Luas coach would be 6 inches in TT.

Manic Moran

I'm kindof surprised to see TT making a comeback. It's an old scale, but is hard to find stuff for. Or at least, was. A similar one is "S" scale, which is sortof between HO and O.

NTM

coolwings

Hi MM

Old but not as old a scale as OO, eh?

TT was always most popular in Europe. It would have been the most popular model railway size after HO, because TT was the smallest size available until N appeared.
Then N took a chunk of the TT following for itself.
N became really big in the English speaking countries, particularly the US and UK. If you look at the rolling stock in N, you notice a lot of it is designed for those countries. OTOH if you look at TT locos & wagons you see not much US rolling stock, more is Continental Europe prototypes in 1/120th size.
However TT always maintained it's place as number 2 after HO behind the Iron Curtain, particularly in former East Germany, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic & Slovak Republic), and Hungary.
The expanding EU did the rest. Those countries are all part of Europe now. First it spread back into reunified (west) Germany and now TT scale seems to be making a big comeback in the English speaking part of Europe too.

Regarding the internet - Today there are German language discussion forums that didn't exist a few years ago, purely for TT scale modellers. The updates in the pipeline for the Green Hobby website alone will increase the english language web content for TT by a reasonable amount. A couple of TT pages are uploaded there already and in a couple of weeks it will be a fair source of TT scale information to English speaking modellers.

It will be interesting to see how farTT scale's surge in popularity gets in Ireland. Irish are becoming more European (or is it just international? )in their tastes.
We have a lot of central europeans living here that have brought their model preferences, including TT scale trains, with them from their birth countries.

Manic Moran

Irish are becoming more European (or is it just international? )in their tastes.

My guess is that they're more sick of LNER, BritRail and Faux-CIE. Or having to kitbash odd kits to get a proper 121 class or what-have-you. American-prototype modellers in Ireland always did seem rather rare, I only ever recall two others (one HO, one O) during my time. Continental European does have a fair bit of variety going for it and has less need for do-it-your-self import: Local hobby shops usually have decent leads, or you just hop on the cross-channel ferry every now and then.

That said, I wonder how the Internet is affecting things like that? All of a sudden I'm ordering modelling supplies from the UK without any hassle at all, I wonder if this means there is a greater increase in people Net-Ordering Athearn, Bachmann et-al from the US? American prototypes have a great load going for them visually.

NTM

Revelation Joe

Going a bit OT:
I model US-outline in N and UK-outline in OO (I'm English BTW).
I would love to model Irish outline but a) I can't afford to diversify any more and b) My skills are stll very much at the beginner's stage, so I wouldn't be confident in chopping up expensive locos and coaches!
There's a great forum, with modellers from the UK, Ireland, Europe, the US and Australia at www.rmweb2.co.uk - admittedly there is a mainly UK-outline bias but it's a great place to hang out. A lot of well-known modellers hang out there.

coolwings

Hmmm ..... I looked at that link.
There's nothing about TT scale there.

coolwings

Here are a few TT scale model railway background info type links:
Any reference to "Pilz" part numbers would be Tillig part numbers since Tillig took over Pilz track making.
A look at TT in action
TT layouts for small spaces
More layouts for TT Scale
TT Dogbone Type Layouts
Combined Layout expandable in stages

Here are some assorted pics of layouts in TT to give a fair idea of how much "features" can be incorporated in "how much table space" with TT scale
http://galerie.tt-pics.de/categories.php?cat_id=54&sessionid=bcba64f0de82559d3c1cc3895bc9bc52

http://galerie.tt-pics.de/categories.php?cat_id=289&sessionid=bcba64f0de82559d3c1cc3895bc9bc52

http://galerie.tt-pics.de/categories.php?cat_id=243&sessionid=bcba64f0de82559d3c1cc3895bc9bc52

http://galerie.tt-pics.de/categories.php?cat_id=193&sessionid=26ee1d03eea37410b0bcdc06c9e31818

Revelation Joe

coolwings wrote:

Hmmm ..... I looked at that link.
There's nothing about TT scale there.

Not specifically, no...
It's a general forum though, so if you did join, there'd be no reason why you couldn't post about TT
Plus I'm *fairly* sure there's a few members who model German outline (in other scales though)

Del

coolwings

Could do.

I like continental models. There is such a huge variety in European trains, wartime, historical, right up to the newest ICE high speed locos.
Their investment in rail transport (could teach us a lot!) has made a plethora of nice stuff to model.
IMHO The boys in England messed it up by calling TT "3mm to the foot" - that confused the issue far more than necessary with scratch built broad and narrow 3mm. It's just "TT scale".

Then a Czech friend living in Ireland showed me his layout in TT, and convinced me that this scale is a nice compromise, small enough to get a good layout up off the floor, big enough to see all the parts well.

Before that I was thinking about N gauge, but now I kinda regard N as "shelf scale", TT as "table top-trestle scale", and HO-OO as "mainly-attic-floor or spare-room scale".

But in the back of my mind was "What if I have to move house? " That was how I lost my old OO layout way back. I wanted big-ish but still portable. So for me it has to be TT.