TT or "table Top" gauge at one time held tremendous interest for me as I was in the Army during most of the 60's and living off post in a tiny apartment made HO a bit challenging. Actually HOn3 is almost the same size as TT, but at the time I had no history with narrow gauge nor an interest. I did purchase a TT HP 4-8-4, but could not find much else in any area such as structures, rolling stock, track, etc. At the time my skills and Army duties did not leave me much time for scratch building, so I choose HO.
TT never really took off in the US. What is interesting is how N scale caught on evolving from Arnold Rapido OOO which hit the shelves during the late 60's. If more items were available and marketed as well as OOO/N, would TT have caught on as well?
For me, if I still had limited space, TT would have been ideal and for a larger space, S scale is just perfect, but S has similar problems as did TT.....not enough available unless you scratch build.
I seem to remember that about a decade back a European firm tried to reinvent TT. Anyone know what happened to them or know of the status of TT today?
HZ
I was just reading the other day on this site about a tt gauge project layout for either this year or next year. So apparently it is still around.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
I've heard of TT but other than that know nothing about it. If space and budget weren't a consideration, I think S would be the ideal scale for me. If I had to start over from scratch I would give it serious consideration but I just have too much invested in HO. I find trying to do fine detail work in HO can be frustrating. I don't know how the N scale guys manage to do it. I still get a kick when I hear an N-scaler refer to HO as a large scale. As a kid I moved to HO from Lionel and American Flyer so I've always thought of HO as a small scale.
I picked up (4) "Best of John Armstrong" Information Station PDFs on cyber-Monday. Trackplans had measurements for: TT - HO - S - O. These articles are circa 1952-53. So, TT did have adequate time to pick up steam.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
TT was an East German product, and so little of it got across the curtain. It has always been alive and well in eastern Europe. Here is an overly detailed description of scales.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
TT is being discussed in the MRH forums. Search the forums for TT. Very easy. I just looked.
Google MRH forums. The link will not be allowed here.
I have found over the years since 1996, belonging to a number of forums vastly improves my knowledge of trains, model railroading.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
BroadwayLion TT was an East German product, and so little of it got across the curtain. It has always been alive and well in eastern Europe. Here is an overly detailed description of scales. ROAR
Not originally! It was first a US design, to US measurements - no mix of Imperial and Metric like HO is. Hal Joyce of HP Products was the big producer in the heyday. What's interesting is that it did then later appear in East Germany.
Lots of product reviews and ads in the old issues of MR. A few layouts as well.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I'm in to TT. Check out TTnut.com
I'm a member there and much is disscussed about TT. I also post on MRH and Railline Forum and have some TT projects posted there. I just started posting TT here on the MR site.
Here's a mini-diorama I've started to build to test out scenery techniques.
Bernd
New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds
protolancer(at)kingstonemodelworks(dot)com
A very recent development in the, "What scale should I use to match 1067mm (3' 6") prototype gauge to commercially available track products" - Japanese prototype 1:120 scale on 9mm (N scale) track. Don't know how far it will go or how high it will fly, but there was a cover article (with some nice photos) of someone's mini-layout in Tetsudo Mokei Shumi a few months back.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Howard ZaneAnyone know what happened to them or know of the status of TT today?
TT scale was discussed in a similar thread recently:http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/230947.aspx
Some folks have opined that the "half-step" scale jumps such as S and TT suffer by comparison to their larger or smaller neighbors.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
TT was introduced as a totally American scale to the American market in the late 1940's and a number of crude but real american steam engines were made. However, by the 60's, the scale was more or less officially dead in the U.S. as a marketable scale. The few decent engines that were made were often kit bashed into quite credible scale models. Such things are now collectors items, for the most part in the U.S.
Those in TT and S scale have it tough if decent high scale is demanded, although there is a decent amount of fabulous S scale brass that was produced. Today, a good deal of incredible brass Sn3 stuff is being produced and is available if you have the bucks. S and Sn3 is nowhere near as dis-advantaged as TT. (This assumes you want to model U.S. engines, cars and structures.)
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
I just happened to be reading the May 1996 RMC today and Keith Wills Collector Consist column is about TT gauge.
Ken,
Many thanks for the article. It answers many questions I had. It is a shame TT never really caught on. I would have loved it as my major interest is in huge scenery expansions. HO is fine now as my pike is in a 2850 sq. ft. room, but I always did not have this kind of space. N scale is just a bit too small for me.
My first layout in 1963 was an 11' x 6' HO, but there was not much room for the scenery. This is why I tried to acquire more TT in addition to the Northern by HP.
Just think. Had TT caught on, or if it comes back big, an SD90MAC will be just about as long as an HO GP7 was back in 1953.
TT scale is alive and well in Europe. Several manufacturers support it including Tillig, Roco, and Piko. Most of the firms that sell building kits also support including Faller and Auhagen.
In fact there was a well established West German company making only TT gauge from the 1950s through the 1960s named Rokal. The models were similar in style and finish to contemporary Maerklin or Fleischmann (including the overscale flanges) and operated on 12V DC two rail. There were die cast models of Class 03-10 Pacific, 2-10-2T Class 85 tank among others, a full range of German prototype, but also Santa Fe Warbonnet F-7s with matching Super Chief cars including dome and observation cars. These would be a good start for a USA collector.
There was also a Swiss company Wesa who had a range of mainly Swiss overhead electric locomotives, including the Ae6/6 and Re4/4 I but again the lure of USA prototype took over and they made a GE twin unit 8500 HP gas turbine complete with oil tender. Sadly the only vehicle they made for it to haul was a UP dome Coach. They did sell the lead unit separately, presumably representing a PA-1....
These disappeared from Australia at least by the mid 1960s as N scale gained traction.
Presumably the East Germans filled the gap in West Germany and Switzerland while the market continued.
A serious USA collector might be able to find a Wesa Turbine set. It was pretty basic by current standards, of course.
The English company Tri-Ang, later merged with Hornby produced a range to 1/100 scale (rather than 1/120) of British prototype TT, pretty much matching their OO scale 1/76 range but with only about a third of the range made in OO. This disappeared even before N scale became prevalent.
M636C
Glad to help Howard. I guess I was just reading the right article at the right time.
Ken
Actually, S scale has quite a bit available.
American Models has both scale and HiRail versions of its products. MTH (the former S Helper line) includes conversion wheel sets for diesels and has conversion kits for freight cars.
American Flyer has some scale versions available.
In addition there are numerous other manufacturers that have some S scale.
See the NASG website and Craig O'Connell's site
for more information.
While S may not have the breadth of products that HO has, it has plenty of stuff. It's only short coming is that it has few steam locomotives.
Enjoy
Paul