Comaparing the two

As some of you may know, I am slowly moving towards the new Hornby TT:120 scale products as the basis for my new layout (Blossom Hill 2).  I have purchased some TT:120 track and a single wagon, but also I have picked up a couple of older Triang TT wagons.  I was curios to see what the difference might be.  I knew that TT was around 1:100 scale, while TT:120 is (as it says on the tin) 1:120 scale.

I tried an old TT wagons on the TT120 track and they ran OK but had trouble negotiating the points.  The wheel flanges were just too large.

I then set up the newer TT:120 wagon next to it and was surprised at how different they were in size.  You probably knew about this already, but for me, any notion of perhaps running the two together were dashed today!

Bob

TT:120 is on the right:

Gosh, that's quite a difference.

Wasn't the old TT also called TT3 as it was 3mm to the foot,?

I know TT120 works out to 2.54mm to the foot, but it does look a lot smaller.

Bit like comparing 00 and H0 I suppose.


Ed

Second try at posting. The first one disappeared when I tried 'post reply' as did another one.

Anyway, there is a surprising difference between the two. As you say, Ed, like HO and OO.

Copied and pasted just in case.

That took a minute & 25sec's to post. A long time when you're sitting waiting for it.

This time, it sent a message that it couldn't find the server. I clicked on the link that came up and it took me to a 'Your message' page where I got the message that I had unsaved data. I clicked on it and up came this message that I'd tried to save, before.

Can anything be done about this?

peterm said

That took a minute & 25sec's to post. A long time when you're sitting waiting for it.

This time, it sent a message that it couldn't find the server. I clicked on the link that came up and it took me to a 'Your message' page where I got the message that I had unsaved data. I clicked on it and up came this message that I'd tried to save, before.

Can anything be done about this?

From “Post #289,844”, 5th March 2024, 3:15 am

No got a problem on my laptop Pete, 2 seconds to post a reply



Ed

Going back to TT, have you got any N scale rolling stock Bob?

Be interesting to see the difference between TT:120 ( 2.54mm per foot) and UK N 1:148 (2.059mm per foot).




Ed

That's a huge difference Bob and much more than I tought it would be.

On the other hand, when you compare "OO" Gauge with "HO" - the former being 1/76th and the latter 1/87th, then you're talking only a 10% difference whereas it's 20% between 1/100th and 1/120th - that's a fifth so quite a lot.

As Ed said, the old TT was 3mm:1ft and TT120 is 2.54mm:1ft so I'd have expected them to look a lot closer to each other.  Strange what scale differences look like but I do wonder if Triang made their 2.54mm a tad larger for bigger UK hands - maybe they forgot and thought it was inches …………..

Visited Frizinghall Models this morning. Had not been for ages and they have OO, TT120 and N gauge demonstration layouts. Other half showed an interest so the lad set them running. TT120 certainly looks bigger than N and obviously smaller than OO. It looks more realistic than OO as the track gauge is a smidgin over gauge 12mm instead of 11.958mm ! whereas OO is 16.5mm and should be 18.832mm. Great for Bradford Tram models though as that was a 4' system equating to 16mm! I asked how it was going and he reckoned they could not get enough of it which suggests the doomsayers about the future of TT120 have got it wrong. Personall I like the look, but not the prices!

Whilst I think TT120 - or more accurately, the old "Triang TT" 3mm scale stuff is a superb half-way scale, I don't like the thought of having all my eggs in the hands of 1 manufacturer, especially if that manufacturer is Hornby.

It's a great pity Triang didn't persevere with their "TT Gauge" stuff but they didn't.  Being faced with a single supplier in the current economic climate is, to me, not a healthy situation to put oneself in.  Hornby have been struggling financially for years now in spite of owning some of the county's favourite brands - something which either says a lot about Hornby's management or a lot about the state of the hobby market, or indeed, both.  Having a single player allows that player to pitch it's prices wherever it feels it can do - competition is usually a good thing in that it offers some control over retail prices.  Secondly, given the way Hornby seem to enjoy stacking up financial losses, if at some stage their backers decide enough is enough, then all the TT120 modellers will be left high and dry.

The size/scale difference between "old" and "new" TT is greater than the difference between HO and OO scales.

It is interesting to actually see the difference, though, with the wagons side by side. It is comparing like with like, i.e. two British outline 4-wheel wagons, where I cannot pose two similar British items in HO and OO side by side. The nearest I can get is to pose British OO against Continental European HO, but because European sock is so much larger than British, they actually end up being roughly the same size.

Ed said

Going back to TT, have you got any N scale rolling stock Bob?

Be interesting to see the difference between TT:120 ( 2.54mm per foot) and UK N 1:148 (2.059mm per foot).




Ed

From “Post #289,847”, 5th March 2024, 8:48 am

I did have until yesterday - just sold off all my n gauge items.  
Bob

SRman said

The size/scale difference between "old" and "new" TT is greater than the difference between HO and OO scales.

It is interesting to actually see the difference, though, with the wagons side by side. It is comparing like with like, i.e. two British outline 4-wheel wagons, where I cannot pose two similar British items in HO and OO side by side. The nearest I can get is to pose British OO against Continental European HO, but because European sock is so much larger than British, they actually end up being roughly the same size.

From “Post #289,872”, 10th March 2024, 12:39 am

I have to admit to being quite shocked when I saw the difference.  I had an idea that I might be able to run some TT stuff while I wait for TT:120 to roll off the production line.