Hornby TT gauge is announced

[PolarStar]

This announcement by Hornby is pretty interesting . From a business point of view its a completely captive market ! No other major manufacturers apart from Peco who were rather carefull in a commercial sense ! So by doing this announcement they have scored a major goal in a sense !!
                It is quite obvious  that oo is very crowded market and N is not far behind . . So into unchartered water and a completely captive market . No secondhand no real rival a Business dream !! Just one major gamble is there a real market , are there customers .Has anyone been involved in any  business surveys at exhibitions etc or online as I would love to no what the customer base and sale predictions are and where they got there figures from !!
                  Also do not like the online sales only !! Yet again Hornby could be doing a major 'male chicken' (changed by forum) up like the noughties ( Almost went bust! ) There are alot of factors and it is a very high risk strategy !! Remember Live steam !!! We shall see !!

[woodbury22uk]

I do not think that there is any possibility of Hornby entering the British N market in a meaningful way. When I talked to Simon Kohler about the Brighton Belle, he claimed that it was an initiative from the Arnold brand people and not a Margate initiative. Margate's promotion of the Belle was lukewarm. Hornby have no desire to be swimming as a minnow in a pool already occupied by bigger N fish. So building a TT:120 pool is far more attractive.

Yesterday as an experiment I printed out a building in N and 1/120. Truthfully the TT building is not really much bigger than the N one (23%) and in my opinion TT will not be the salvation for an N gauger's failing eyesight or probably hand eye co-ordination. TT will also seem very fiddly for anyone converting from 00 gauge to TT. So its selling point is saving space over 00, and that is the market it will cannibalise to a limited extent. In a way I hope that TT:120 becomes a big success for Hornby, bringing new customers into the model railway market, so they stop behaving as the playground bully in the 00 arena. I also hope that the new producers from the past 10 years do not allow themselves to be lured into diluting their efforts by dipping their toes in the TT pool.

Having said that, I can see that there would be some fun in an Inglenook yard populated by a class 08 and some of those splendid Tillig bogie sliding wall vans with a Hornby VGA or two on Tillig ballasted "Unitrack". Coffee Table Top.

[Roy L S]

I have joined the Club and ordered the A4 set.

When/how did it apply the 15% off?  At the checkout stage?   I'm still deciding which set to go for.

To answer my own question: £29.17 Taken off The Easterner set at the checkout stage.   Looking forward to a nice Xmas prezzie for myself

Yes, I have queried and apparently there is a technical issue with some orders, but my discount has been applied, so I too am looking forward to a pressie for me! I really like the look of the A4, but are spoked tender wheels correct?

[mickeyflinn]

I joined the TT:120 Club yesterday (no harm as it's free) and after mulling it over since then, I've just pre-ordered the "Eastener Train Set" with the BR A4. With the 15% discount that being a member of the club gives you, the set is not much more expensive than the RRP of a similar sized Farish or Dapol steam loco on their own.

I do have their Rail Legends Mallard that I've had for a number of years, and to my eye, if the loco that comes with the set is of a similar quality to what that is, I'll personally be very happy.

I don't know if I'll order anything else though, as although I've still not got a permanent layout, I've got a considerable amount of money tied up in my N-gauge stuff.

[maridunian]

One thing Hornby's dip into TT could do because of its constant 1:120 scale is modelling Channel Tunnel traffic.
No need to worry about 1:148 or 1:160 scales for wagons although the differences are small.

Needless to say they had to introduce sufficient models including covering the steam era, in order to appeal to as many people as possible.
I would have gone for class 92s and wagons suitable for Channel Tunnel use and shrunk their class 395 Javelins.

EDIT: A shrunken-down class 71 would have been useful for Dover train ferry trains and a B1 for the same to/from Harwich - don't know how large is the range in 1:120 scale of Continental European wagons compatible with cross-Channel traffic exists

Intermodal stock is the obvious common ground for international traffic. Some discussion over there...

New modern wagons such as the Sggmrs articulated 90' bogie wagons are quite pricey, but 3D prints of the Sgnss and Sdffgss less so.

Mike

[martyn]

 

[quote  I really like the look of the A4, but are spoked tender wheels correct?
[/quote]

I haven't gone fully through the RCTS history and tender details closely, and it doesn't seem to give full details of all the tenders, but it seems that corridor tenders had disc wheels and non-corridors were spoked.

The history of both the A4 and A3 tenders is rather involved!

Martyn

[Jack]

Yesterday as an experiment I printed out a building in N and 1/120. Truthfully the TT building is not really much bigger than the N one (23%) and in my opinion TT will not be the salvation for an N gauger’s failing eyesight or probably hand eye co-ordination.

You set me thinking @woodbury22uk, thank you

By way of my own experiment, and to get a visual of TT 1:120, I downloaded a Scalescenes.com free model so as to do a compassion. I've made a few of Scalescene models. John Wiffen of Scalescenes advices reducing the 00 gauge models to 63% for TT1:120. Scaling up an N gauge model by 23% doesn't work when it came to normal A4 printers, parts "fall off" the paper edge.



I will admit that I wasn't perhaps as careful folding as I would usually have been.

Did I find it easier? I have to say Yes, particularly when it came to folding edges over. Will others who have sight and/or dexterity problems find it easier? All i can suggest is do what I've done and download a free model from Scalescenes, or wherever, both in 00 (reduce printing to 63%) & N gauge and try it for themselves.

Will TT be easier when it comes to making plasticard models? I don't know, maybe time will tell.

As you say converting to TT may not be the answer for sight and dexterity issues, but for some it just might extend their modelling career.

[njee20]

Intermodal stock is the obvious common ground for international traffic. Some discussion over there...

New modern wagons such as the Sggmrs articulated 90' bogie wagons are quite pricey, but 3D prints of the Sgnss and Sdffgss less so.

Mike

When the first raft of announcements came I did some digging on the potential models, but didn't find any! We don't have the Sggmrs over here, and the IKA Megafrets didn't seem to be available. Couldn't find any IZA, IWA, FIA, ICA, IPA or JIAs either when I looked. So it's a nice theory, but didn't seem to work in practice. If someone did a 92 I'd be in like a shot!

[gc4946]

I've looked through their brochure and Hornby are certainly going in a big way to launch its TT range.
All their steam locos announced are large, express passenger types except the 9F. Maybe in the medium term they'll release mixed traffic, smaller tender and tank locos.
It'll be interesting to see their new 37s and 47s because their OO versions are very long in the tooth and Hornby could have done them from scratch.

At the moment with the range on offer, I'm not switching over just yet.

[Michael Shillabeer]

Interview with Simon Kohler is interesting
https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/interview-simon-kohler-on-launch-of-hornby-tt/
Development started in 2017
Target market is people new to the hobby so advertising in newspapers is planned
Aiming to get whole family involved in model railways
Simon recognises that £200+ for a loco is too expensive for many

[njee20]

The pricing is odd though. The 66 is £100, whilst the 50 is £140. One presumes there's a fair bit of commonality between them, and obviously they're both new toolings. Ok there are more liveries to do in a 66, and perhaps they envisage selling markedly more 66s, but that's feels fairly unlikely.

[gc4946]

Hornby churned out 66s in various current liveries over the past year or so at affordable prices

https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/versiondetails/article?id=492

Probably doing the same strategy in TT

[njee20]

But that's the old tooling, no working lights, generic body not suitable for half the variants they offer, woeful decoration. That doesn't appear to be the case with the TT one.

[gc4946]

But that's the old tooling, no working lights, generic body not suitable for half the variants they offer, woeful decoration. That doesn't appear to be the case with the TT one.

you're quite right, I suspect they looked afresh at the 66s, including designing it with a central motor and flywheels and tooling up of body variants to reflect the real locos.

[silly moo]

It will be very interesting to see whether other manufacturers will do TT accessories, will Metcalfe do buildings? will others do figures and line side items? 

When you think of all the bits and pieces available for 00 and N there's a lot to be made. I suspect they will be watching to see what happens.