A New Year for TT Scale

Well a new year is here and hopefully it will be better than the last two (!) I think it will. The layout is progressing albeit at a slower pace then desired. Am extending the stub end storage track around to connect with scenicked side. Needed a staging connection on the North end. On the work bench I have a new project! Scratchbuild ing Trailer Train 89 foot piggyback car. The underframe is from several cut down HO frames, which I like to do. NEXT: Some roster shots and some scenery! Happy New Year and Keep'em Rollin!'

  September 24th 2020.

Its been a tough year with everything going on. Am working on the layout again. Have to wire all the jumpers on the turnouts as I installed them thinking they were directional through the rails. Tillig s
witches  have a tab  you must solder. I am doing this without taking them out as the linkages were very delicate to install. So far so good! I'm glad I had decades of experience in other scales before I started TT! 

This is a photo of a Maiesto Caboose repainted in my Rio Lobo scheme. The trucks are Microtrains Hon3 Bettendorfs with HP wheels. I used Bachmann EZ Mate Couplers. The decals are K4 TT decals from EBay. Behind it is an N Scale  Atlas 57 foot tank car converted to a 40 foot TT car. It was a prototype. For the next one I would build completely new bolsters.  So I've just been working on cars and locos and finishing up the trackwork... 

Decals, Flatcars and a Whole lot of Foam

     This week has been very productive. I opened by glueing down a good portion of the upper level  roadbed with Woodland Scenics foam risers (2" with an underlay of 1" foam sheets.)  I also finished the basic construction of the 3 flatcars I was working on. I narrowed 3 Gilbert/ AF 40' flats to TT Scale. Two had the pockets still on, one did not. There are 14 stake pockets and they make a good representation in TT. You just have to square them off with a file.  I built new underframes for those two and used an shortened Train Minature box car frame for the 3rd one. I used some Grandt Stake pockets I had laying around from some undetermined HOn3 project. (Rule 1 of TT; Buy it when you see it!) The first two received Widened Kadee 726's and the third TT Scale rollerbearing trucks.
      I received my decals for wheel dots and ACI labels this week (A must have for the seventies!) and decaled a Christoph car and a Gold Coast Boxcar. I also added some Consolidated Lube Stencils from an N Scale Conrail Boxcar set.
     Tonight I built a short 50' thru girder bridge from an Atlas HO base and Central Valley girders. The girders are a bit smaller than the Atlas and work fine for TT scale. The Testors Liquid cement didn't hold so I used some Zap-A-Gap to finish the job. Well back to the foam...

Tracks are in!

It has been a while since I posted. Still working on the layout. Most of the main tracks are in, for the TT,  with the exception of a few spurs that I will hand lay. Had an issue with the turnouts as Iam using Caboose Industries hand throws and they didn't mate up with the Tillig turnouts very well. Had to build styrene linkages and use tiny screws to connect them, that along with a guide base to support the linkage for each turnout. Wiring is done, just need to build a control panel. Put up the double-sided backdrop as well. I cut the plywood for the Hon3 side and supports for that. Haven't installed that yet as I made a few changes (improvements?) to the Hon3 side. I have all the cars and locos for the Narrow Gauge side, but have spent a lot of my time in the last year building TT rolling stock. Still need to paint and decal a bunch of stuff.  I am taking a break from building 3f flatcars from HO Gilbert 40ft cars. They make a nice 57 ft General service flat when narrowed. Heres a few pics of various stuff. Hope to start doing scenery once I do a few roadbed supports for the high line on the TT side.

 PROGRESS AT LAST! Been a while since I posted. Got the move done. The layout is finally up, no major changes, just minor adjustments to the curve centers on inner loops. The Tillig track is great, very smooth and bends easy. I just finished laying out all the tracks on the TT side and then I will finish the backdrop., which is removable, which is good, coz I'm moving again! This time I'm gonna stay put for a while... Here are some photos. First photo is the Lemon Heights yard. It is looking Railroad west. Packing plant will be on the left of the near curve. Note in second photo the caboose in front is TT, the one in the back is back is N scale

TT Multi Scale Layout

I am working the design for the new layout as I am moving. My current layout is an HOn3 that was to built in three sections. The radius was to be 16 1/2' for the loop part, which would have been too tight for my locomotive (MDC 2-8-0). I enjoy narrow gauge but TTn42 is so close in  gauge (1.5mm) that it wasn't worth it to me when a reasonable amount of stuff is available in HOn3. But I love TT scale and well, even HO is too big to do what I want. So..., what to do? Eureka! I have decided to model a multi scale layout! One half will be TT and the other half of the 4x8 will be HOn3. The HOn3 will be higher in elevation. The TT side will have a staging yard under the HOn3 half and the HOn3 tracks will be in the back of the TT section. They are a mm and a half smaller and will offer a bit of forced perspective. I just won't operate them at the same time. I am building the continuos loop first and not just the yard like my previous layout. Just looking at the preliminary design I can see you fit a lot in in 1/120 scale. I was so used to the constant compromise in HO. Every time I got an idea I would have  to adjust. TT is great,  as I can "fit" stuff in and it is a good feeling. I have one other thing going  for the layout as I built the track layout in HO in the 80's/90's and I know what will work. That layout was an eleven foot shelf layout. I just have to bend it slightly at each end then use curved turnouts on one end and add an oil refinery (partially on the backdrop) and it's good to go. I want to get a quick start on the layout, so I am going to use commercial track (Tillig. It looks great!), then relay it later with code 55 hand laid track and Fast Tracks kits. N Scale cork roadbed works well in HOn3 so I think I'll use it for the TT. Of course, because of the design I'll have to scratch build the structures, but I  have to do that in TT Scale anyway and the HO buildings were heavily kit bashed from DPM kits.  Although Walthers has a nice N Scale Printers building that can be "raised" with a concrete foundation and scale doors. Although it seems to be easier to  "cut-down" HO buildings.

Sept 15, 2017
 
      Well it's been a while since I posted. The reason, I must admit is as an unsuccessful foray into N scale. I gave up as it's just too small to any kitbashing for me. And since I don't have the room for HO, TT it is. I decided to build a smaller layout then I had previsously envisioned. Actually I am going to start with sectional code 80 track to get a quick start. I was setback by the cost of fastrak switches and the time involved, which I don't have...! That plus the TT layout I was going to build was a switching/shelf layout. I have had an epiphany since then when I came to realize that everyone of the successful layouts I have had was a continous run layout. I have to get the trains running or I lose interest too fast.  So I will be building with a quick start option and upgrading to handlaid code 55 track later.
      I kept my TT stuff,  borrowing the trucks I had built for a bulkhead flat (HP kit with rebuilt styrene sides.) I used the trucks (precision scale 4'9" vulcan with roundhouse Hon3 re-gauged wheels) for an HP chemical tankcar kit. I plan to build at least one train before I break ground on the new layout. (Which will be 6 months or so as I am planning another 500 mile move) I will use the legs from my current Hon3 layout with a new board for the new layout.  But mostly I just want to have fun and I find TT scale to a lot of fun...