From Miniature to BIG

Following on from my predilection to seek out unusual or different things, rather than be just boring, I thought I'd share some pics of some rare'ish TT:120 scale models I recently picked up off eBay.  These are 'vintage' items rather than new Hornby TT:120, made by a company caller 'Berliner' and were manufactured in the 'GDR', that is the 'German Democratic Republic' or communist east Germany for those of you too young to remember Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall

Despite their age and where they were manufactured they are neither poor quality or in bad condition, in fact for the most part they look brand new to me.  They are also exactly the same scale as Hornby's new TT:120 so should fit right in and allow me to run either models on the same track layout that I have designs on building (finally!).

Anyway here's some pics to show you what I got (I've put a standard AA battery in the pics to illustrate scale);

First up is a set that consists of a 0-8-0 tank loco and 4 matching carriages (only 1 shown)









Then I have a range of different carriages from the same company;

Firstly a 4 wheel coach in green



Then a 6 wheel coach in grey (I have 2 of these)



Finally a total of 5 green 6 wheel coaches, one of these which has the 'guards' lookout post on the back of it



and 4 of these standard green 6 wheel coaches



Personally I like them and am very impressed with the level of detail, they are also very free wheeling which is nice and again a bit surprising as older stuff is not always so well engineered.  The loco is also quite substantial weight-wise which is unexpected because of its small size, but there again not so unusual with older railway items as they often have die-cast chassis and are made to last unlike some of the more modern plastic wonders...

I've got a few more items from this maker in the post as well, including a load of brand new track which matches an included track plan (designed to go on a 5' x 3' board) complete with electric switches (points) and a couple of circuits of track.  This may well form the basis of the layout I intend to produce   I'll post pictures of it when I get it!