N gauge

[malang66]

Wish hornby did more with N gauge as i've had to get rid of my 00 gauge layout as spare room now needed for grandkids, So going to opted for an N gauge layout instead and would love to stick with hornby for this but they don't do much in british locos...

[LCDR]

Hornby don't do any British outline 'N' at all yet.

 

The problem is that up to present Hornby has no experience with 'N' and there are already two other manufacturers well established in British outline 'N'.

 

Hornby through one of their European

 

acquisitions are putting their toe in the water with a 'Brighton Belle' set in 'N' and no doubt will gauge the popularity of that scale based upon the sales performance of that model.

 

Personally I would like to see Hornby break into British outline

 

'OO9' instead. This is a vast untapped area.

 

malang66 said:

 

Wish hornby did more with N gauge as i've had to get rid of my 00 gauge layout as spare room now needed for grandkids, So going to opted for an N gauge layout instead and would

 

love to stick with hornby for this but they don't do much in british locos...

[Jeremiah]

malang66 said:

Wish hornby did more with N gauge as i've had to get rid of my 00 gauge layout as spare room now needed for grandkids, So going to opted for an N gauge layout instead and would love to stick with hornby for this but they don't

do much in british locos...

Even I'd like to see Hornby go into N gauge. Atlease EMUs, DMUs and a few wagons. Most of the other well know locomotives are already done. The GF Class 47 can be updated even more and the Class 60 too with those

awful huge grills :( Hornby can also do there lovely Class 08/09 also in N gauge.

[The son of Triangman]

I am tempted by N gauge, just bought a trade box of coaches from the blue box company. The detailing on them is superb. Very tempting, wish Hornby would do N gauge in the main range.

[Ozwarrior]

If the Brighton Belle is successful I am sure they will up to a limited extent. Market share is still way smaller than 00 and with two manufacturers already there they would probably stick to items like the Javelin and Pendolino. I have a couple of N trains

 

to support our N group at my club and to support Hornby I have pre-ordered the Belle.

I wonder what demand there would be for TT now that Corgi are doing static models? To my mind this is the ideal scale but the horse has probably bolted.

[The son of Triangman]

I doubt if Hornby will venture into working TT scale models, Tri-ang went for it big time and threw a heap of money at it years ago, they had good sales for two years before demand slowly dropped off. financially TT was a disaster for Tri-ang. The TT moulds

 

were thought to have been cut up when Hornby left UK production to make stuff in China, so even the old moulds won't be useable as they most likely don't exist now.

 

It would mean massive re-tooling now to produce any sort of working TT range and with

 

an express loco mould costing around £100K with all costs included I doubt Hornby will go there anytime soon.

 

N gauge is a more attractive proposition than TT as there is already a good established market for it.

[The son of Triangman]

TT is the ideal scale alas for todays modern UK homes but has never really caught on in the UK. It's smaller than OO but doesn't have the watchmaking of tiny N scale. It's a shame TT wasn't adopted by the old Hornby company and produced in the 1930's onwards

 

as Hornby-TT instead of Hornby-Dublo, we would have been looking at a main range of TT scale models most likely today.

[LCDR]

I have been surprised at the quantity of second hand Triang TT that is turning up at toy fairs of late, and at reasonable prices, even I was seriously contemplating buying some, but restrained myself!

[LCDR]

Hornby Dublo is reputed to have considered 'S' gauge in 1957, and even went as far as to make a test model of a corridor carriage. 'S' was popular in the US many years ago using a track gauge of 7/8 inch, mid-way between OO and O. The success of Triang

 

TT is also reputed to have forced Meccano to abandon this project.

[Jeremiah]

Indeed... TT seems to be the perfect size in today's world. It would have been so nice to see Hornby make a few models in TT scale.... Some nice steam locos like the BR Std 7, GWR King Class, LNER A3 and A4 and for the modern image some lovely Class 60s,

 

HSTS, 66s, 67s, and the list just goes on... :P

[The son of Triangman]

I agree in an ideal world TT would be perfect for todays smaller homes. not too big and not too small. You can build a decent sized layout in a fairly small space but don't need an eyeglass and the permanent squint you develop with N gauge. It's a pity

 

no one at the old Hornby company saw the need for a smaller scale as homes were starting to get smaller even in the 1930's, if they had TT would most likely have been the main system.

 

Sadly Hornby-Dublo went for the inaccurate OO gauge in the 1930's

 

and the die was cast, we are stuck with OO gauge as the main system in the UK. Tri-ang gave TT a really good shot and it did well for two years, it almost threatened to take over from OO in that two year period but OO won through as it was already established

 

and market dominant and sales slowly dwindled away.

 

If you want to get into TT look out for Tri-ang TT models, as LC&DR rightly says there's plenty of the old Tri-ang TT models about and it's getting collectable.

[The son of Triangman]

I doubt if Hornby would risk such a major investment with so much capital tied up in OO scale. Tri-ang did TT well, but failed mainly due to the dominance of OO, other makers have tried and failed too. TT will most likely be confined as a system of the

 

past or a minority scale, and to mainly static display models in the UK.

 

I think I saw the Hornby-Doublo S gauge prototype model in the early 1970's at an exhibiton in Newark-on-Trent, it was a pretty impressive model, wonder where it is now?

 

[Graskie]

"The die was cast", Sot. Is that why they also produced die-cast products? (lol)

[LCDR]

The problem with TT was that it was restricted to one major company, (Tri-ang) and although supported by G. E. Mellor with a range of kits the range remained fairly small and weak at the time when 'OOO' / 'N' provided an even more compact solution to the

 

space issue. I swapped my TT stuff with a school friend for a Tri-ang EMU, and a battered R50 Princess in OO which gave up its chassis to be combined with a Kitmaster 'Biggin Hill' superstructure to make a Battle of Britain Pacific.

 

I agree with SoT,

 

it is unlikely that TT will ever be revived, especially now that 'N' gauge is so good and widely available. It will remain a minority specialist interest.

 

The son of Triangman said:

 

I doubt if Hornby would risk such a major investment

 

with so much capital tied up in OO scale. Tri-ang did TT well, but failed mainly due to the dominance of OO, other makers have tried and failed too. TT will most likely be confined as a system of the past or a minority scale, and to mainly static display models

 

in the UK.

 

I think I saw the Hornby-Doublo S gauge prototype model in the early 1970's at an exhibiton in Newark-on-Trent, it was a pretty impressive model, wonder where it is now?