T Gauge- Benefits and Restrictions

[LNERW1]

Just thought I’d open up a forum thread on T gauge (1:450 or 1:480 scale and generally 3mm gauge) as I can’t seem to find one anywhere. Dreaming up layouts helps me get to sleep (and, as anyone who is familiar with me knows, I often post them without thinking it through), and one occurred to me recently; a T gauge layout modelling the area of dublin encompassed by North Strand Road, Amiens Street, North Quay and East Wall Road, encompassing Connolly and Docklands station, North Wall yard, the large junction just north of Connolly, three Luas stops, roughly half of North Strand and basically all of East Wall.

This would obviously be massive and difficult to build, and I’m never actually going to build it, but it was a cool idea and got me thinking about T gauge and it’s possibilities. Right now I’ve grabbed a piece of wood and I’m trying to see if I can fit a T gauge terminus on it. Maybe it’ll become a layout thread, but that’s beside the point. I wanted to open up a discussion about T gauge and it’s potential as a scale for serious modelling.

A lot of T gauge products seem to be lost in the depths of long-dead websites, so I can’t give too many helpful links. Tgauge.com seems to be the best source for models in this scale. I am also aware of Eishindo, a Japanese brand that seems to have produced a fairly complex track range, judging by the track library available on the model railway software SCARM. As, again, many T gauge products seem to have disappeared into the depths of the web, you’d need to do some digging to find any other sources.

I hope this can spur on some interesting conversations. Regards,   
LNERW1

Edited August 27 by LNERW1
oopsies

[irishmail]

You will need some strong magnifying glasses to see T gauge! lol...     One of the guys from the First Bangor MRC had  T gauge layout in a brief case.  

[Horsetan]

There's quite a lot of T-gauge insanity on YouTube:

 

[Galteemore]

But has anyone produced anything to scale 5’3”? In all seriousness, would be a great way to tackle some of the set piece scenic features of the Irish system such as the Valencia Road viaducts, with an emphasis on sweep of vista rather than the stock 

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

But has anyone produced anything to scale 5’3”? 

Probably not. If you're increasing the track gauge by a scale 7½", what does that work out at in 1:450 scale?

In a scale that tiny, the emphasis is going to be much more on the surroundings than the trains. I think there'd be a sporting chance of modelling the entire stretch of line between Clontarf Road and Grand Canal Dock, including the junctions NE of Amiens Street, but you'd need to be able to accurately reflect all of that dense inner-city development. Could still end up being a lifetime project to do it all properly. 

[skinner75]

2 hours ago, Horsetan said:

Probably not. If you're increasing the track gauge by a scale 7½", what does that work out at in 1:450 scale?

A couple of Planck lengths! 

[LNERW1]

12 hours ago, Galteemore said:

But has anyone produced anything to scale 5’3”? In all seriousness, would be a great way to tackle some of the set piece scenic features of the Irish system such as the Valencia Road viaducts, with an emphasis on sweep of vista rather than the stock 

As @Horsetan said, the gauge difference would be imperceptible. At that point you're putting in far too much work just for the sake of doing it right. And yeah, the point of T gauge is to focus more on the scenery than the trains.

[Galteemore]

Sorry @LNERW1 and @Horsetan, I should have added an irony emoji!! I find it hard enough to model 5’3” clearances in 7mm never mind T…..As I hinted in my original post, T is the perfect scale for impressionist rather than perfectionist modelling ….

Edited August 22 by Galteemore

[Broithe]

2 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Sorry @LNERW1 and @Horsetan, I should have added an irony emoji!! 

I'm glad I didn't suggest that the speakers would sound a bit tinny now....

[LNERW1]

Dcc sound in T would be VERY interesting... but you're right about tinny.

[Horsetan]

19 minutes ago, Broithe said:

I'm glad I didn't suggest that the speakers would sound a bit tinny now....

....as opposed to goldy or bronzey?

I wonder if anyone's considered putting a massive subwoofer under their layout to overcome the tinniness? Would be a gas at shows...

Edited August 22 by Horsetan

[Broithe]

You can get issues caused by damp from subwoofers.

[Galteemore]

Opinion is certainly Polaris-ed on the matter. Some people have gone ballistic over it.

Edited August 23 by Galteemore

[LNERW1]

Here lads, this may be in letting off steam but can we keep it just slightly on topic? Love the pic though.

[DJ Dangerous]

15 hours ago, Broithe said:

You can get issues caused by damp from subwoofers.

 

Bold @Broithe "torpedo-ing" the thread...

And he fell off!

 

 

[irishmail]

4 hours ago, LNERW1 said:

Here lads, this may be in letting off steam but can we keep it just slightly on topic? Love the pic though.

Its called 'Thread Drift'  happens on all forums and topics,  you should see what goes on over on RMweb.  lol   

[DJ Dangerous]

11 minutes ago, irishmail said:

Its called 'Thread Drift'  happens on all forums and topics,  you should see what goes on over on RMweb.  lol   

 

While on the topic of dogs and drifting:

 

 

[DJ Dangerous]

Just for @LNERW1...

A Hornby LNER W1!

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/hornby-r30352ss-w1-class-4-6-4-lner-hush-hush-no-10000-with-steam-generator-steam-locomotive

Edited August 28 by DJ Dangerous
EDIT: Added reference screenshots

[LNERW1]

Thanks DJ, but that’s still a good bit outside my budget. I suspect Hornby’s TXS/Smoke W1 may cause a flood of cheap, barely-used non smoke, non Triplex W1s, so I could get a bargain on a fairly new one. Still quite good for such a “cutting-edge” model though.

[DJ Dangerous]

3 hours ago, LNERW1 said:

Thanks DJ, but that’s still a good bit outside my budget. I suspect Hornby’s TXS/Smoke W1 may cause a flood of cheap, barely-used non smoke, non Triplex W1s, so I could get a bargain on a fairly new one. Still quite good for such a “cutting-edge” model though.

 

The price seemed a little high but I'm not up to speed on live-steam. My fear would be the condensation. Surely most people will be running them indoors, so whatever it burns for smoke, water based, oil based, whatever, is going to coat the track area?

[LNERW1]

It’s not live steam DJ, Hornby are fitting smoke generators to some new RTR models. Probably just meant to drive up the price point honestly. 

Edited September 1 by LNERW1

[DJ Dangerous]

33 minutes ago, LNERW1 said:

It’s not live steam DJ, Hornby are fitting smoke generators to some new RTR models. Probably just meant to drive up the price point honestly. 

Ah, live-steam / steam-generator / live-steam-generator, all the same to me, specially from the perspective of running them indoors.

Circling back, if you had a few hundred quid, instead of a W1, you could probably set up a nice T-Gauge layout with a classic HST:

https://www.tgauge.com/product/109/br-hst-inter-city-125

Lots of other T Gauge stuff listed, but that'd be the one to capture my attention the most.