Well, there's a funny thing. As I sit on the chair that I do I've been slightly ahead of the curve of both the Peco and Hornby announcements. This has given me a chance to ponder it for a while. My first reaction on the Peco entry a while back was 'OK, where's the loco?' Wagons buildings and track are one thing, but without some power, a trainset you do not have. There is the Gaugemaster Euro-Class 66 lurking in the shadows of the website. Is this available? If so, no one is talking about it. Then we have the disconnect between the two announcements and you quickly get into conspiracy theories. Finally, there is the latest announcement from Heljan saying that they are pulling out of the idea as Hornby have stolen their thunder and duplicated. Well, we've been here before with Terriers et al, as we have had the website-only purchase game.
Industry shenanigans aside, is it viable idea? If you look at the longer term picture then it probably is. N gauge is often seen as a bit too small and this is a wee bit up at 1:120 (2.54mm-1') as opposed to 1:148 (2 1/16th mm -1'). That doesn't seem like much in linear terms, but is quite a visual jump. Then there is the 3mm angle with its root in Tri-ang TT and a healthy half a century old support society. The folk there that I know are robustly pissed off and feel completely slighted. I tend to agree, but there are two bits of thinking which will have affected the decision not to go 3mm/ 1:100.
Firstly there is the, unseen by most British eyes, large Germanic/Euro market (what, we are still talking to Europeans?! Green pens at the ready). Here, the tradition is 1:120 on 12mm track and it can't be beyond most people to see that there is a commercial eye on this. Linked to this vis-a-vis 3mm is the question of the triple possibilities of gauge: The die-hards using 12mm, the two people using 13.5mm and the newer and growing rapidly finescale breed on 14.2mm. If the companies pick one it'll piss all the others off. Better to be even-handed and piss them all off. The upshot is that the 12mm boys have just been handed a range of super-detailed off-the-shelf track. And don't tell me that they're not going to buy it.
My conclusion is that it'll all settle down and in five years it will have taken off or sunk without trace. It's going to be black and white and probably dependant on whether Hornby decide that it is worth carrying on with. If not, we'll have Tri-ang TT Mk2. If the range can grow and form into some sort of logical lump which at the moment it doesn't, looking like a completely random selection of non-compatable items, then it'll work. We shall see.
I've already bought a yard of track, a point and a pack of buffer stops. When there's time I'll give some of my TT stuff a test run...I was considering a go at British TT120 but don't think I'll bother, I'm sure there will be plenty of layouts built.Ive probably got enough stuff to build a little German layout, a genre I've always had a liking for, even having started an N gauge DB steam era BLT about 30 years ago. I guess it's also another thing to blame my Dad for, he used to know the Fleischmann importer in the 70s so catalogues and the odd bit of rolling stock came my way.
ReplyDeleteWhen my father had the model shop we had the standard Triang TT display layout, the baseboard of which went on to be re-used for our OO9 layout. With a house move in prospect 120th is something I would consider, depending on the space I end up with. But a lot does depend on the availability of stock. Havng said which I'm tempted to build a test GWR branch with the Peco structures in the hope that some basic GWR stock will appear one day.
ReplyDeleteThe argument that Hornby had any obligation to do TT in 1:100 scale because some sixty years ago that's the ratio they were modelling TT in is like arguing that if Hornby develops an O Gauge range it should be in tinplate.
ReplyDeleteI hope it leads to more interest in modelling 3' gauge, Metre, and 3'6" gauge in OO and HO using TT chassis.
Having now seen Hornby's TT:120 display at King's Cross yesterday, the difference in size between it and old TT3 is quite apparent. The wagons look very nice and I'm certainly tempted by an 08 as a repainted one could haveendedupon a branch line somewhere in central Europe. One approach I suppose would be to multi-mode a layout in Chris Ellis style. I wonder how Hornby will get around the possible lack of clearance between overscale wheels, outside cylinders and platform edges etc.?
ReplyDeleteThose few 3mm scale members getting in a huff need to understand that the show circuit will be flooded with identikit NuTT layouts soon, but proper 3mm scale 1:100 stuff will still be rare. With all the support of the society, it's not hard to work in, but it's a proper MODELLERS scale. Especially if you work in 14.2 - proper hardcore modelling.
ReplyDeleteHad the trade gone down the 3mm route I'm sure some of the hardcore would have complained that it was no longer a modellers scale. I do get a feeling some of them want this to fail, and would do whatever option was chosen. I was speaking to one of the fairly well-known designers in the trade who has real concerns about the thinking behind the Hornby approach. Copying the idea of an OO trainset seems a very odd way to attract people in 2k22.
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