Hornby announce TT:120

[Steamport Southport]

I wonder how they compare to a 4mm scale Hunslet Quarry Tank.

 

Now they are tiny.

 

 

Jason

[JohnR]

The latest issue of the TT mag contains a free TT:120 Scalescenes download....

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, meatloaf said:

First fault already reported on facebook - rods slipped and out of alignment much like the 00 does now and again :(

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6027976840633601&set=pcb.2189624544556085

 

Yes I saw that, I've just tested mine over a 6ft length including an R2 and R3 reverse curve and a Hornby dead frog point. No issues and was getting smoother by the run, the Arnold Kof ran smoothly through the point as well.

 

As Roy said it's well detailed, other noticeable differences between N and TT ones is tge half open cab window and roof vent on the TT version. As I don't do DCC his comments on internals don't affect me. I suspect the weight is down to Farish using a metal body and Hornby plastic.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Hobby

[Porfuera]

After running mine in I decided to have a play (cough...) test on the dining room table with some rolling stock to see how it performed.

 

The twelve wagons seemed just about OK, especially considering there wasn't a single straight piece of track on the circuit it was running on. Similarly the three Pullmans were managed easily. However, the wagons and the Pullmans together seemed to be a step too far, with a lot of wheel spinning. But as I said, there wasn't a straight and the reverse curves of the crossover probably made things even harder.

 

There was also some occasional hesitation over the Hornby dead frogs, although I've since found this seems to be disappearing with a bit more running.

 

The only problem I have so far (touch wood!) is that the rear coupling seems to be pointing slightly to the right which makes coupling up impossible without manual intervention to push it into a more central position. I'm hoping it will straighten itself out with a bit more use but otherwise I'm sure it is something that can be fixed with a spot of fettling.

 

Here is a short video to show how it performs.

 

(Spoiler alert - any railway modellers of a sensitive disposition and with a tendency towards rivet counting should not watch the following video 😆)

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Porfuera

[meatloaf]

 First 08 review on youtube.

 

From the looks of it sound could be doable

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBacElyOFz4

 

 

[MartinRS]

20 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I would expect a turntable from PECO at some point.

 

They do one in nearly every other scale/gauge and already have one in H0m. Maybe they could alter that as it works out at 60 foot in TT.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/35776/peco_products_lk_1455_turntable_150mm_diameter/stockdetail

 

 

Jason

Well as I don't have a layout at the moment I think I'll wait and see if Peco produce a turntable at some point in the future. The HOm turntable is too small for a pacific though it does mean that when (if) smaller wheelbase steam locos are available TT:120 modellers will have a turntable suitable for smaller stations. Thanks for the idea.

[Roy L S]

17 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

Yes I saw that, I've just tested mine over a 6ft length including an R2 and R3 reverse curve and a Hornby dead frog point. No issues and was getting smoother by the run, the Arnold Kof ran smoothly through the point as well.

 

As Roy said it's well detailed, other noticeable differences between N and TT ones is tge half open cab window and roof vent on the TT version. As I don't do DCC his comments on internals don't affect me. I suspect the weight is down to Farish using a metal body and Hornby plastic.

 

Tested mine on analogue on a short piece of track, slow running is very good and the mechanism is commendably sweet running. Looking at the diagram of the internals I would have thought that fitting DCC sound using a small 6pin Zimo MS500 and sugar-cube speaker could be achieved without intrusion into the cab.

[Porfuera]

18 minutes ago, meatloaf said:

 First 08 review on youtube.

 

From the looks of it sound could be doable

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBacElyOFz4

 

Just watching the video now and I noticed from the shot of the end of the box that the minimum radius is 310mm, which is Radius 2.

 

I would've expected it to cope with R1 curves. Maybe it will but maybe Hornby are just playing safe with the recommendation.

 

I wonder whether the upcoming steam shunters will be the same recommended minimum radius or whether they will be R1.

 

Maybe 0-4-0s will be R1 and 0-6-0s will be R2.

[Johan DC]

59 minutes ago, Porfuera said:

 

 

Maybe 0-4-0s will be R1 and 0-6-0s will be R2.

Are there 0-4-0's in the pipeline?

[Porfuera]

11 minutes ago, Johan DC said:

Are there 0-4-0's in the pipeline?

 

Good point - I was thinking that one of the group of frequently-debated TT:120 steam shunters was an 0-4-0 but I was probably confusing myself with recent 00 releases.

 

Maybe they'd be too small. Are there any 0-4-0s in N?

[meatloaf]

7 minutes ago, Porfuera said:

 

Good point - I was thinking that one of the group of frequently-debated TT:120 steam shunters was an 0-4-0 but I was probably confusing myself with recent 00 releases.

 

Maybe they'd be too small. Are there any 0-4-0s in N?

Bachmann Percy is one i can think of but the 009 quarry hunslet is even smaller

Edited May 19, 2023 by meatloaf

[jonnyuk]

mine arrived today, forgot how small it was (last time i saw it was at one of the shows last year). one of the pick ups does not touch the wheel so i need to sort that. it does show every flaw in my track not been 100% level, i small stay alive would be ideal.

I have may missed something in regards the decoder, so the hm7000 wont fit? bought one for my a4

[Roy L S]

2 minutes ago, jonnyuk said:

mine arrived today, forgot how small it was (last time i saw it was at one of the shows last year). one of the pick ups does not touch the wheel so i need to sort that. it does show every flaw in my track not been 100% level, i small stay alive would be ideal.

I have may missed something in regards the decoder, so the hm7000 wont fit? bought one for my a4

A stay alive will only work on DCC not analogue, but if it can be done in an N 08 then the larger volume of the TT120 one should make it even easier to do I would have thought.

[jonnyuk]

hm7000 is dcc in some ways and they do have stay alives, if a hm7000 is not going to fit then it kinda blows my idea out of the water to use hm7000 for my TT stuff. my layout is all live with no insulating fish plates which makes dc a problem now,

[Roy L S]

9 minutes ago, jonnyuk said:

hm7000 is dcc in some ways and they do have stay alives, if a hm7000 is not going to fit then it kinda blows my idea out of the water to use hm7000 for my TT stuff. my layout is all live with no insulating fish plates which makes dc a problem now,

 

That's a bit of a blow, we can but hope Hornby come up with a solution, I feel sure they will with other small 0-6-0 types in the process of development.

[Porfuera]

1 hour ago, jonnyuk said:

I have may missed something in regards the decoder, so the hm7000 wont fit? bought one for my a4

 

The A4 and the 08 take different HM7000 decoders - the A4 takes the Next18 decoder, the 08 takes the 6-pin, which won't be available until autumn, I think. Also the 6-pin is only available without sound.

 

I don't think either loco will take a stayalive - I didn't specifically check when I chipped to my Blink Bonny but there didn't seem to be a lot of space to spare once the chip was in the tender. I think the 08 is just too small, otherwise they would probably have gone for a sound chip and speaker.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Porfuera

[jonnyuk]

i wonder if i should send my 08 back now, its all use to me if want to run the a4 at  the same time  (i'm not buying another dcc system)

[Les1952]

2 hours ago, Roy L S said:

A stay alive will only work on DCC not analogue, but if it can be done in an N 08 then the larger volume of the TT120 one should make it even easier to do I would have thought.

 

One or two of the Continental manufacturers are advertising stay-alives on their analogue models....

 

Les

 

[Roy L S]

3 minutes ago, Les1952 said:

 

One or two of the Continental manufacturers are advertising stay-alives on their analogue models....

 

Les

 

 

I would welcome a summary of how it works on analogue.

[Hobby]

13 hours ago, meatloaf said:

Bachmann Percy is one i can think of but the 009 quarry hunslet is even smaller

 

The Japanese also make a another 0-4-0 chassis even smaller!

[009 micro modeller]

14 hours ago, Porfuera said:

Are there any 0-4-0s in N?

 

14 hours ago, meatloaf said:

Bachmann Percy is one i can think of but the 009 quarry hunslet is even smaller

Even the H0e Minitrains chassis probably have smaller mechanisms than would be needed for TT, although the scale is larger. Going back further in the past in N there are things like the Ibertren Cuckoo and Arnold chassis as well, even if they don’t run very well by modern standards.

 

53 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

The Japanese also make another 0-4-0 chassis even smaller!

Indeed: https://railwayworld.co.uk/product/super-mini-size-motorized-chassis-tu-koppel-tsugawa-n-scale-tgw/

 

See also Stephen Sullivan’s ‘Electric Mice’ series of articles in 009 News.

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Going back further in the past in N there are things like the Ibertren Cuckoo and Arnold chassis as well, even if they don’t run very well by modern standards.

 

And, of course, the much better running (by the standards of the day!) Fleischmann N scale 0-4-0T!

[009 micro modeller]

44 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

And, of course, the much better running (by the standards of the day!) Fleischmann N scale 0-4-0T!

Exactly. So I’m confused about why people would think it was extremely difficult to produce an 0-4-0 in TT or be surprised that there are any in N (although to be fair in 009 there were a few years where it was virtually impossible to get a good and easily available small 0-4-0 steam mechanism).

[Roy L S]

3 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

The Japanese also make a another 0-4-0 chassis even smaller!

They do, here it is under a 3D printed N Gauge L&Y Pug from Shapeways, it has been on my "to do" pile to finish for a while, but I am mad enough to want to chip it with a micro-decoder and add a runner wagon to provide extra pickups.

 

Roy

[meatloaf]

So my tracks arrived. Just track pack 1 at present as i wanted to test the loco and get a feel for the scale. The layouyt will be 1200mm x 440mm on a scale model scenery baseboard.

 

Spent a pleasureable 15 mins shuffling the wagons back and forth. The loco runs well thankfully. The uncoupler works well enough after a frustrating few moments figuring out how to fit it.  I'll order the rest of the track now. Id have liked a 2nd loco but the A3 / A4 are too big. Much smaller than the 00 scale brother.