One of the Smallest Model Train Layouts - Micro Model Railroad in T Gauge by Richard Kříž

Published on December 7, 2023

The most popular scale of model railways in the world is HO. It is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1/87 scale. But model railroading is still possible in much smaller scales. Some railway modellers have concentrated on N scale (1/160). Modern commercially produced model trains in N scale were first launched by Arnold Company in 1962. Later, manufacturers such as Minitrix came onto the market. Some model railroaders have entered miniature worlds in Z scale (1/220) and build beautiful model rail layouts. Z scale is one of the smallest commercially available model railway scales introduced by Maerklin Company in 1972.

It is hard to imagine, but there are much smaller scales for model trains: T gauge (1/450 or 1/480) is a model railway scale with a track gauge of 3.0 mm (0.118 inch). T gauge is the smallest commercial model train scale in the world. Richard Kříž, a railway enthusiast from the Czech Republic, presents his tiny world of the smallest model trains in this video. His T gauge layout has a footprint of 2.0 x 0.5 meters only. Richard was so fascinated by this small scale that he started building his model railway layout. He also had the feeling that he would be one of the first modellers in the Czech Republic to work with this small scale. He wanted to be a pioneer and started planning his miniature world.

Since T-gauge originates from Japan, where the scale is 1/450, he had to convert the dimensions of buildings, tracks and landscapes to the European gauge, namely 1/480. Richard planned and built for more than three years. When he first presented his model railroad layout at model railway exhibitions, he won the first prize for the most beautiful model rail layout at the exhibition in the municipality of Sádek in the Příbram district of the Czech Republic in 2023.

His model railway layout depicts an archipelago of five small islands in the ocean connected by a railway line. Of course, this is pure fantasy. On the model railway layout there are two small towns, a small village with a church, a harbour with a loading crane, a cable car and even self-driving vehicles, namely a small car and a bus. There are also very interesting details, such as a playground for children, a garden railway, a lighthouse, a hotel on a cliff, a solar power station, forests and an old factory. Even the cable car cabins are equipped with seats.

Richard only bought four things for his model railway: A train set in T gauge, tracks and two magnetic rails for the self-driving vehicles. He built everything else by hand: Every tree, every house, the cable car, the harbour, the rocks, the roads - everything is handmade. He designed the buildings in a graphics programme and then printed them out on paper, cut them out and glued them together. All the buildings are illuminated and all the lamps light up at night. The lamps are controlled by a processor that ensures that each lamp lights up or goes out at a different speed - just like in reality. Even every single concrete slab that makes up the streets was handmade from cardboard and laid individually.

Some of the model trains are bought, but he designed the double-decker Czech State Railway carriages himself on the computer and etched them in sheet metal. He then bent the metal sheets and painted them. The railway carriages even have glass windows. He installed the commercially available T-gauge bogies under the railway carriages. The small blue shunting locomotive is also handmade. The self-driving miniature vehicles work by generating a magnetic field with small magnetic coils underneath the road. There are only magnets in the vehicles, which use the generated magnetic field to move. The magnets in the vehicles are 2.0 × 2.0 × 2.0 mm in size. The vehicles are made of paper.

The crane at the harbour was also made by hand. Richard designed the crane on the computer and cut it out of cardboard. As it is a large harbour crane, it has to move on rails. To do this, he took a 1/220 scale rail and glued it to the model railway layout. The wheels of the crane come from an old locomotive in N scale (1/160). The movement of the crane is also generated by magnets. The rope for the cable car was a challenge: the rope must adhere well to the drive pulley and remain taut at the same time. For this he uses a 0.5 mm thin rubber band for bracelets. This is a really cheap solution, but it works great.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE4KzNF4wNg

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