Topcat and P-Henny

[Brew Man]

I notice TC and Paul seem to have disappeared since the new forum emerged. Anyone know what's happened to them? It would be a pity if they have gone, as they brought some valuable electrical knowledge to the forum.

[Yelrow]

BM, a lot of good people have disappeared since the new forum, which has become mainly TT,  has emerged. Twas the same, when it changed from the Happy friendly forum, previously.    T here were some awfully knowledgeable 00, and 3 rail guys on here, before.  For what its worth, i think the new forum, is a mistake, and have taken a step back, myself.  The last thing i want  to read about is what is happening in the TT world.  Sorry Guys, but it was better   controlled in old forum.

[Moccasin]

I’m sorry it seems that way. I think the TT content is just because there’s more happening in that gauge right now and there’re a few of us who’re every engaged in its growth. It will no doubt change when OO releases come through. There was a lot of OO chat when the P2s arrived and there’s a steady flow of posts on DCC, HM7000 & OO, it’s just that TT120 modellers probably feel more at home here  

[Rallymatt]

TT:120 is mainly confined to the TT:120 section and maybe some on HM DCC. Lack of activity elsewhere is purely down to members not being active.
In terms of Paul and TC, hope they are not far away as their knowledge and helpful advice is a valuable resource. 

[What About The Bee]

I agree @Rallymatt

I would be interested in TT120, but there are no LMR models in TT120.  Because, clearly,  the OO LMR models simply are not tiny enough.  Therefore, I have unchecked the TT120 forum.  I go look there from time to time, but in general, leave you lads to your fun.  I rarely see any TT120 as a result.  

@YelrowHi! 👋.   Near the top of the forum, there is a line that says "Showing topics from [some number] forums".  That is a drop down menu.  Click on it.  UNCHECK TT120 and you too, sir, will rarely, if ever, see TT120 again.

Bee

[Rallymatt]

You are always welcome Bee, to pop by…. And who knows if TT:120 Era 1 stock will ever become a reality 😁

Another useful navigation feature, that has been mentioned before, on the main forum directory, tap on the Hornby sub title and you can check/uncheck every section. You can then check on the sections you want to be updated on. 
I mainly reside in the TT:120 section but I like model railways so I am interested in what is going on in other parts of forum and it’s amazing what you can learn from others 😁

[ntpntpntp]

I always advise new railway modellers not to get too blinkered in their interests and what they read online.  There's so much you can learn from what's happening in other scales, other modelling eras, other branches of modelling such as military modelling.  I'd rather see summaries of all the recent activity and then choose whether or not to delve into the detail.   
I don't usually follow Scalextric, but the Airfix side of things does throw up interesting posts from time to time, and I certainly wouldn't de-select any of the model railway sub-categories.  N gauge is my main interest and you don't see much at all of that on here, neither for the Arnold product range nor harking back to the days of Hornby Minitrix. It was the launch of TT:120 which brought me here in the first place. We have a smattering of TT:120 and OO in the household so I like to keep up with what's going on 🙂 

Edited April 6 by ntpntpntp

[LTSR_NSE]

3 hours ago, What About The Bee said:

Because, clearly,  the OO LMR models simply are not tiny enough.

Just imagine… Rocket or the Chaldrons in TT:120! 😱

…a flippin’ magnifier would be required to even find them! 🤦‍♂️😂

[ntpntpntp]

2 hours ago, LTSR_NSE said:

Just imagine… Rocket or the Chaldrons in TT:120! 😱

I've always fancied The Rocket in N gauge - there is (or at least was) an unpowered kit on Shapeways.  

Edited April 6 by ntpntpntp

[LTSR_NSE]

@ntpntpntp Where on earth is the motor/mechanism in those minuscule machines?

[ntpntpntp]

@LTSR_NSE   in one of the coaches.  With the Minitrix models the whole rake of coaches have pickups and are wired together through the drawbars to ensure good continuity.   IIRC the Adler coach is driven on both axles but Saxonia's coach only on 1 axle.  It's enough though.

[ntpntpntp]

@LTSR_NSE

 

The Adler model dates from 1984.   Saxonia was 1994.

I have even smaller mechanisms than this one 🙂

Edited April 6 by ntpntpntp

[ModelerXYZ]

I haven't got the TT120 tickbox ticked, but I often see posts from it. TT doesn't interest me, I work in 00. The new forums are clunky and hard to manage, some people may not bother. Tis a pity, but I think they did go backwards with the last update. XYZ

[Brew Man]

I thought this thread was about what happened to Topcat and P-Henny 🤔

[Yelrow]

Don’t say it’s been Allowed to go off piste.  I never am.

[SteveM6]

1 hour ago, Brew Man said:

I thought this thread was about what happened to Topcat and P-Henny 🤔

They'll find their way back if they think it's worthwhile.

I took have no interest in TT and have deselected that section to no effect. It feels that TT is growing (great for Hornby in general) but at the expense of OO developments. By that I mean the paucity of new items announced in the OO catalogue compared with the TT announcement last week.

HM7000 development seems to have slowed as well.

Is TT sucking funds from the Hornby pot?

[Rallymatt]

As it’s already been driven off topic, can I just ask exactly what TT:120 threads @Yelrow and @ModelerXYZ are seeing when they don’t have the TT:120 section checked on the thread selections menu?
I usually only check the TT:120 option but will change my selection to see other content, I find it easier doing them section by section. 

[SteveM6]

While waiting for a previous post to be cleared by mods (apparently the forum dislikes the King's English 🤐) I'll post a couple of screenshots. One shows the selected/deselected sections while the other shows that the deselected sections still clutter things up.

And I still get unwanted drops from the Scalextric and Airfix sections.

 

[Rallymatt]

I don’t get anything like that at all. I am on iOS, so through Safari, I wonder if that makes any difference? 

[Moccasin]

1 hour ago, SteveM6 said:

They'll find their way back if they think it's worthwhile.

I took have no interest in TT and have deselected that section to no effect. It feels that TT is growing (great for Hornby in general) but at the expense of OO developments. By that I mean the paucity of new items announced in the OO catalogue compared with the TT announcement last week.

HM7000 development seems to have slowed as well.

Is TT sucking funds from the Hornby pot?

I hope they do come back as I always found their contribution helpful.

The TT120 announcement last week was the first since October 2022 and only one brand new tooling was announced (the J50). The wagons are Arnold models, while the 37 is still up to 18 months away and was originally announced in 2022, since when OO has had two annual announcements with new toolings on top of the backlog of pre-orders.

…and back to topic (I should point out that none of the TT120 regulars originally brought it up!)

[96RAF]

57 minutes ago, Moccasin said:

I hope they do come back as I always found their contribution helpful.

Send them a direct message. That's what the system is for.

[LTSR_NSE]

The (de)selection of topics filter only functions on the ‘forum’* view - it has no effect on the ‘recent activity’ view (newspaper button.)

*forum view - click on preferred forum (Hornby/Scalextric/Airfix) -> select preferred topics ->(if you select all topics) choose page 2 & scroll approx half-way down (to skip pinned threads) -> you will then see all the new additions to only the topics that interest you.

Edited April 7 by LTSR_NSE

[Rallymatt]

@LTSR_NSE Thanks, that’s just the bit I was thinking of, there is the ability to either see or not see ‘recent activity’ irrespective of different sections. I found that good to turn off or it’s just becomes overwhelming 😳

Edited April 7 by Rallymatt
Spalling errur

[SteveM6]

10 hours ago, LTSR_NSE said:

The (de)selection of topics filter only functions on the ‘forum’* view - it has no effect on the ‘recent activity’ view (newspaper button.)

Wouldn't it be good to have the newspaper view available only for the selected sections within each brand rather than the clutter of unwanted threads?

[LTSR_NSE]

16 minutes ago, SteveM6 said:

Wouldn't it be good to have the newspaper view available only for the selected sections within each brand rather than the clutter of unwanted threads?

I don’t use that view, as I found it too different (to old forum) & too cluttered to be at all enjoyable.  So that question is better directed at anyone who does actually use it!

However from a website navigation/interface design perspective, personally I would have expected a ‘recent activity’ option to track where in the navigation structure/tree the user is & show recent activity relative to that.

So if you click it at the root/main page, you would see new stuff for all 3 fora.
Or if you click it after selecting a forum, (e.g. Hornby) you would see all new train stuff.
Or if you click it after making topic selections, you would see all new stuff within just those topics.