Hello Everyone,
I would like to introduce myself and my passion and work I have done in a Scale which originally came from the US.
In 1945 the US company H.P. Products (Indiana) came out with the first models on a scale of 1/120 and named it TT => Table Top, because you were able to fit a little layout on a table top.
With the end of the second world war the scale made it over to Germany and the company ROKAL got the leading manufacturer for TT models in West Germany.
East Germany followed a little later with the "Zeuke & Wegwerth KG" which got later the "Berliner TT Bahnen (BTTB)" to establish this scale as the leading scale in East Germany.
After the German re-union the company "TILLIG" assumed the BTTB production lines and rights and continues with tradition and production of great TT scale models till today. Other model railroading companies in German like ROCO or PIKO put their own TT Scale models on the market to sell into this growing market segment.
While I was born in East Germany, I'm fascinated by model railroading in 1/120 since my early childhood. Now about 8 years ago, I picked up my passion for model railroading again and started to plan and build a TT Scale Layout in segment. At that time we were living in Japan and I wanted to be flexible in terms of moving the new layout to any eventual location around the world.
Our time living in Japan and now in Seattle here in the US, influenced me and my model railroading. I was amazed and honored to meet TT Scale model railroader in Japan and here in the US.
After talking to many American Railroader who had never seen any TT Scale layout or thought that this scale is already extinguished I decided to attend "Great Train Expo (GTE)" in Puyallup in December last year.
The 3 days of this exhibition was very exciting and overwhelming. I met so many model railroader and visitor who had thousands of questions around the TT Scale and my layout, that I picked up an idea from some of them and to put the history and the future progress of my layout and the TT Scale on a webpage people could follow.
I liked the idea very much, as it can provide a nice collaboration platform for model railroaders of any scale and around the world to meet, share and get inspired.
As you guys are one of the largest communities for Model Railroading in the US, I would like to invite you re-discover an old American model railroad scale, to share your experiences with the TT Scale in the past and in the present and all other model railroaders who are interested in a European themed layout:
http://www.facebook.com/TTScaleModelRailroad
I also added some pictures here, to give you a first impression of the layout:
attachment.php?attachmentid=178369&d=1354200489
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I hope that I was able to get you interested, curious and a little bit inspired!!
Looking forward to chat and share with you,
Enrico.
I had always been interested in TT. However, I don't believe I've ever seen anything offered in TT for sale at any hobby shops I've visited in my 55 plus years of visitation to hobby shops. TT was always sort of in the back ground, some people would mention it and you would get this idea that eventually it would catch on. This never seemed to happen here in the US. I also remember actually seeing Treble O being available in the late 1950s early 1960s. It fell "By the boards" also.
Are you able to find TT stuff?
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
TT scale never really got off the ground in the western part of Germany. Rokal introduced its first train set in 1949 and slowly extended the range. Right from the beginning, Rokal trains were known for serious quality issues and toy-like appearance, having virtually no chance against the strong brands Marklin, Trix and Fleischmann. In 1960, Arnold introduced N scale, and the slow death of Rokal began.
As Knuddelfisch stated, TT scale made a completely different development in eastern Germany, taking the place that N scale had in western Germany. Piko was the only source of N scale there, but they soon gave up in favor of BTTB´s TT scale range.
TT scale is now enjoying a growing market share in the united Germany, with many new manufacturers marketing nicely detailed products.
In the UK, there are a few modelers building layouts in 3mm to the foot scale, which equals just about TT scale. There is no mainstream supplier, just a few kitchen counter businesses offering kits.
NP2626 Are you able to find TT stuff?
European stuff is pretty much completely, from old to new on rolling stock as well as building.
Here are some links to the major makers:
http://www.tillig.com/index-2.htm
http://www.kuehn-digital.de/
http://www.roco.cc/de/productsearch/0-0-0-1-1-0-0-002001_104/products.html
http://www.auhagen.de/de/Produkte/TT_1207.html?sid=WTOVu4xdLnjyXe1vU2X5NJf6e2YNRfT0
When it comes to US models, then you can find the "old stuff" at Ebay in various conditions.
Or new rolling stock and accessories from here:
http://www.goldcoastrailway.com/
http://www.lok-n-roll.de/16.html
http://www.artanddetail.de/
Which gives you a kind of starting point to setup a small layout, but it is still far away from being complete and easy to build a larger layout of the shelf.
Interesting was to see the Japanese Models in TT-9 narrow gauge, as they are the most detailed:
http://home.t09.itscom.net/tt-9/
Another source are the LIONEL 1/120 diecast models for small money which you can take to build an engine in, like I did here:
http://www.tt-board.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=172635&d=1347041590
http://www.tt-board.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=172637&d=1347041612
http://www.tt-board.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=172634&d=1347041590
I have long felt that it's a shame TT didn't get a better start here. It really is the scale for a 4x8 sheet of plywood that so many of us start with.
There are a few US manufacturers
BTS has some structure kits.
Gold Coast has some freight cars
and maybe some others.
Enjoy
Paul
Thanks a lot Paul, I didn't know about BTS yet!
Many people told me, that the start of TT was bumpy because TT at the beginning didn't provide much accessories along with the rolling stock.
When H0 became more popular it just wiped out TT.
Were you guys able to get on my Facebook page, or would you like me to post some more information and pictures on my layout here in the community?
By the way, is there a way to show pictures directly in the post without having them uploaded into the gallery first?
Thanks,