It's only second to HO in Eastern Europe - search for "Tillig", "Pilz" and "Berlinerbahn". The British TT was of course a completely different scale but on 12mm gauge track. There is still an active 3mm scale society in Britain.
Regards, Greg.P.
There was previously the argument that many modellers like to buy "foreign" models, so making British models in HO might result in some export sales. It hardly matters any more as all British models are made offshore these days. Another point is that most accessories - model cars, trucks etc - are widely available in HO and as scarce as hens teeth in OO scale.
Regards, Greg.P.
The point? You cut yourselves off from a vast range of products from around the world and you kill your export market stone dead!
Regards, Greg.P.
No you don't, your export models are made to 3.5mm scale and your British models are made to 4mm scale. Unless you are talking about the few British and mainland European loco's and stock that now co-exist side by side due to the Ch-Tunnel there isn't a problem as non would be seen with next to each other.
And besides any of that, seeing that 4mm scale has been the gauge / scale in the UK for 70 years or so, what are all the people going to do with their
4mm scale models if manufactures move over to 3.5mm scale ?...Commercially there is no point and next to no market for British outline models in 3.5mm scale.
In message , Gregory Procter writes
Thanks for all the info about TT. So it seems British TT at least is another 'bastardised' gauge, same as OO.
"James Christie" wrote
It is a problem when coupled with the amount of free play necessary in the wheelsets to allow the model to negotiate relatively tight radius curves.
John.
Many modellers like to have a variety of prototypes beyond our narrow modelling preferences eg, I have a US loco, a French loco and my small collection of British HO stock in addition to my German layout collection. If someone manufactured an A4 in H0 at current proprietry prices I would almost certainly buy one.
How do you know that? Fleischmann obviously sells enough of it's Warship and Bullied coaches to keep them in their catalogue.
Regards, Greg.P.
12mm at 3mm to the foot is only 4 foot gauge, even worse than 00's 4'1 1/2" gauge!
In message , James Christie writes
As I recall the British version of TT was called TT3. I must admit the gauge was a bit wrong, though.
I may have got this wrong but I think I read that it was much easier to convert a proprietry steam locomotive to the less strict EM gauge than to P4 due to the spacing of the cylinders and other components. While not
*impossible* to convert steam to P4 it's often easier to build a complete new chassis. Ditto it you want a motorised loco instead of tender drive. Conversion kits are available for all the popular RTR models.(kim)
John,
To be pedantic, it actually had a hyphen - 'TT-3' :-)
And the narrow gauge was very obvious. I had a fair bit of it when it came out in the late 1950s and it all ran well as far as I can remember. It is quite a nice scale if you are pushed for space and you can now model it in 13.5mm or 14.2mm gauges if you want things a bit more realistic.
Jim.
Only for modern outline. All period British buildings, buses and BR road transport vehicles are produced in 4mm scale.
(kim)
They all run on H0 track now so what's the problem? British rolling stock is built to a smaller loading gauge than any other country so a 3.5mm scale model would look 'undersize' and few foreign collectors would want one.
Or, it is still in their catalogue because they haven't managed to sell any.
(kim)
No-one here is cut off from foreign products, they all run on the same track. People here are free to buy any foreign outline models they choose. The only export market I can think of for British outline 3.5mm would be an ex-WD steam locomotive and EM-2 electric loco for modellers in Holland.
(kim)
Wasn't TT3 for narrow gauge modellers running 4mm scale on 3ft gauge track? I think Peco still make track for it?
(kim)
< snip >
Stick them all on ebay, Jerry! Badger.
Your point being what exactly, or are you just trying to tell us that you 'play trains' rather than 'model railways' ?....
Keeping something in a catalogue means nothing, what you really need to know is the sales / production figures, all it means is that Fleischmann have kept the tooling and may well produce a batch now and again.
":::Jerry::::" wrote
Don't we all? ;-)
Or still be selling their original production run as you suggested earlier.
John.
In message , ":::Jerry::::" writes
I though we all just 'played trains'? When it gets more serious I feel the fun tends to go out of it.
In message , kim writes
No, you're thinking of OOn3 as it was called in those days. Heaven alone knows what Peco call it now.
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