T gauge class 08 - utter madness

[Capri_sam]

I thought I'd share this for the sheer insanity of it!

N gauge is my large scale hobby - I'm also a fan of T gauge (1:450 - 3mm track spacing), which has a vibrant if very small (in every sense) community of kitbashers, 3D printers and devotees. My recently dismantled N gauge layout had a T gauge industrial/harbour railway, representing 18" gauge.

Among the ridiculous work of the community is an A3 with smoke generator (and working valve gear, of course), DCC fitting... Someone's even made a working Wickham.

The sole UK manufacturer, tgauge.com, has been working on a class 08 for a couple of years - it was due around now but has been pushed back to October due to Covid. They just shared the pre-production bodyshell images - imprint of shell on lolly sticks for scale - this measures just 3/4", or a shade under 2cm long, with outside frames, and will have etched buffers, handrails and other details, as well as being 6-wheel drive. Oh, and the preorder price was £45 RTR...

Absolute madness.

Photos aren't mine, they belong to Alan Ramsay and were posted to Facebook, but I thought some here might appreciate it! The HST with a pound coin is for further sense of general scale (that's got directional lights, by the way).

[chrism]

Roughly half of z-scale size? That's dedication, as well as eyeball straining.

[N_GaugeModeller]

Don't drop one of those on the floor, the carpet monster would eat that with no problems.

Far too small for my eyes

NGM

[Capri_sam]

Don't drop one of those on the floor, the carpet monster would eat that with no problems.

Far too small for my eyes

NGM

Been there! I've literally dropped a locomotive through a crack in my wooden floorboards...

It's a difficult scale to work with for various reasons (fiddly, over-sensitive, terrible trackwork especially the points), but when your 2+7 HST set is less than 50cm long and you can fit 2-3 scale miles of track on a small board, it has its rewards!

[emjaybee]

Absolutely remarkable!

[Bealman]

Rather you than me, but impressive nonetheless. 

There is an excellent T gauge layout by a lady called Becky Stares in the December 2019 RM (the Rod Stewart issue). She has even scratch built local buildings!

[Stuart Down Under]

So it looks like the ultimately challenge left in T gauge is live steam! I recall that Alan Sherwood got down to 1:240 scale in about 1970. With developments in technology since then maybe 1:450 is possible, 

[Ditape]

t gauge can be fun, here are some pictures of my t gauge layout with home made buildings done by down scaling buildings from other scales.

[Bealman]

That's very cool, Di - didn't know you were into this gauge! 

[njee20]

I keep flirting with it, given the diminutive size it's ripe for 3D printing. You could do entire rows of houses in one go.

[emjaybee]

@Ditape any chance of a pic of the overall track plan?

What size is the layout?

Interesting stuff.

[Philip.]

I love a challenge and T Gauge looks right up my street. I have an old aluminium camera case that is begging me to do something with it 

[gavin_t]

Whilst I admire the cracking work and dedication involved I couldn't do it myself as I struggle enough with N gauge with my shovel hands 

Great looking layout though 

[ntpntpntp]

I did flirt around with T gauge when it first came out, but in the end it was just didn't satisfy me in terms of reliability and smoothness of running so it's consigned to a shelf.  Maybe one day I'll investigate if/how the mechs have improved.

[EtchedPixels]

It's nice to know people are getting it to work. I did scratch build some T track N scale bits for narrow gauge (and some hand made track!) but it was just too unreliable at the time.