I would like to introduce myself and my passion and work I have done in a Scale which originally came from the US.
In 1945 the US company H.P. Products (Indiana) came out with the first models on a scale of 1/120 and named it TT => Table Top, because you were able to fit a little layout on a table top.
With the end of the second world war the scale made it over to Germany and the company ROKAL got the leading manufacturer for TT models in West Germany.
East Germany followed a little later with the “Zeuke & Wegwerth KG” which got later the “Berliner TT Bahnen (BTTB)” to establish this scale as the leading scale in East Germany.
After the German re-union the company “TILLIG” assumed the BTTB production lines and rights and continues with tradition and production of great TT scale models till today. Other model railroading companies in German like ROCO or PIKO put their own TT Scale models on the market to sell into this growing market segment.
While I was born in East Germany, I’m fascinated by model railroading in 1/120 since my early childhood. Now about 8 years ago, I picked up my passion for model railroading again and started to plan and build a TT Scale Layout in segment. At that time we were living in Japan and I wanted to be flexible in terms of moving the new layout to any eventual location around the world.
Our time living in Japan and now in Seattle here in the US, influenced me and my model railroading. I was amazed and honored to meet TT Scale model railroader in Japan and here in the US.
After talking to many American Railroader who had never seen any TT Scale layout or thought that this scale is already extinguished I decided to attend “Great Train Expo (GTE)” in Puyallup in December last year.
I had always been interested in TT. However, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything offered in TT for sale at any hobby shops I’ve visited in my 55 plus years of visitation to hobby shops. TT was always sort of in the back ground, some people would mention it and you would get this idea that eventually it would catch on. This never seemed to happen here in the US. I also remember actually seeing Treble O being available in the late 1950s early 1960s. It fell “By the boards” also.
TT scale never really got off the ground in the western part of Germany. Rokal introduced its first train set in 1949 and slowly extended the range. Right from the beginning, Rokal trains were known for serious quality issues and toy-like appearance, having virtually no chance against the strong brands Marklin, Trix and Fleischmann. In 1960, Arnold introduced N scale, and the slow death of Rokal began.
As Knuddelfisch stated, TT scale made a completely different development in eastern Germany, taking the place that N scale had in western Germany. Piko was the only source of N scale there, but they soon gave up in favor of BTTB´s TT scale range.
TT scale is now enjoying a growing market share in the united Germany, with many new manufacturers marketing nicely detailed products.
In the UK, there are a few modelers building layouts in 3mm to the foot scale, which equals just about TT scale. There is no mainstream supplier, just a few kitchen counter businesses offering kits.
Which gives you a kind of starting point to setup a small layout, but it is still far away from being complete and easy to build a larger layout of the shelf.
Interesting was to see the Japanese Models in TT-9 narrow gauge, as they are the most detailed: