T gauge (1:450 or 1:480) is a

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

scale with a

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

of , referred from "Three-millimeter gauge" or "Third of

N scale N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...

". It was introduced at the Tokyo Toy Show in 2006 by KK Eishindo of Japan, and went on sale in 2007. It is the smallest commercial model train scale in the world (with

ZZ scale ZZ scale (1:300) is a model railroad scale with a standard gauge of . Models for the scale are produced exclusively by Bandai, and depict Japanese prototypes such as Shinkansen trains. To date, no other traditional scale railway support exists f ...

being second smallest). Since mid-2009, Railway Shop (Hong Kong) is the exclusive licensed manufacturer. Vergleich N Z Ze T

The models are powered with a battery-powered throttle (with optional AC adapter) at a maximum output of 4.5 V DC. To improve power pickup and tractive effort, the powered cars are fitted with

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

ic wheels, and the track has steel rails. The first train released is the Japanese

103 series 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

commuter train in different versions. Each standard trainset comes with two powered cars, which are located in the centre of the train. The front and rear cars are equipped with directional headlights. The tiny

pantographs A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

are made of etched stainless steel. The

Hankyu Railway , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group ...

9000 EMU Series and the Kiha 40 DMU were added to the line of available trainsets in early 2010, and feature improved mechanisms for better performance. Track is offered as flexible sections of rail and sleepers at , and as rigid sections with roadbed, and a small selection of pieces without roadbed. Rigid curved track is available with four different radii: , in 15° and 30° arc lengths; straight tracks are long. Points (switches or turnouts) are available in a single length right and left hand with manual or electric throw. Crossovers are made in 30° and 90° in 60mm length. Several miscellaneous track sections are also sold including power, isolating, and level grade crossing. The standard sectional track is "roadbed" style, with integrated ballast, or without roadbed as "fine scale". "Fine scale" track is available in Track without roadbed is available as curved sections of 90° arc length; straight tracks are long. The rail is approximately high ("Code 40"). Track pieces are connected with gold-plated metal rail joiners plus plastic clips in the roadbed. Different types of dummy catenary masts can be attached to the track. In addition to the trains and track, available accessories include a large variety of scenic items: houses and apartment buildings, figures and animals, trees, bikes, boats and more. The houses are assembled and pre-painted, with fully detailed interiors that the modeller can install. The plastic figures, etched metal bikes, and other small items have small pins to make installation on a layout easier; the modeller simply makes a hole and inserts the detail into the hole using a toolkit available from Eishindo. Road signs, traffic lights and other street furniture is available, as well as a street decoration decal sheet, which comes with a scale ruler to aid the placement of markings and details. One unusual side-effect of the magnetic wheels of the powered units is that they can climb acute grades (as steep as 45 degrees). T scale trains may be used with model aeroplanes and

model airports A model airport is a scale model of an airport. While airport models have been around, in a way, since airfields were open to the public, early model airports were basically restricted to public showcases about the airport and its surroundings to ...

in the 1:400/1:500 scale range. Eishindo has been planning to produce a modest line of aeroplanes and accessories of their own.

References

http://www.kk-eishindo.co.jp/ The manufacturer—and creator—of T Gauge

External links

www.tgauge.com
largest online vendor serving customers internationally. * {{in lang, de}

German Railway Models in T Gauge
TalkingTGauge.net
a discussion forum for T Gauge modelling, techniques and layouts Model railroad scales

See also

References

External links