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

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.
Richard Kříž on KZbin
/ @richardkriz5776
Pilentum Television
www.pilentum.de

[@pilentum]

I have seen that there is a very large selection of products for “T Gauge” on eBay. Please, have a look at ebay.us/yM1uW3 (ebay.com), at ebay.us/SaQJhI (ebay.co.uk), at ebay.us/Lcb3Ny (ebay.ca) and ebay.us/wEy5Pj (ebay.de). Furthermore, here are more than 50 pictures of Richard’s T Gauge model train layout: www.pilentum.org/one-of-the-smallest-model-train-layouts-micro-model-railroad-in-t-gauge-by-richard-kriz

[@survivingworldsteam]

Here on KZbin there is a T Scalr model of the Firth of Fourth Railway bridge. T Scale is the only scale small enough to model such a huge structure in a reasonable amount of space.

[@Gavs_rc_hobbies]

That is amazing. I've seen T gauge before, but just simply track set up on a table. This is the first ever T gauge layout I've ever seen. The detail is fantastic.

[@whitedovetail]

I have never seen that small scale of trains. Simply amazing! Thanks for sharing this with us!!😃👍👍

[@pilentum]

Thanks for watching!

[@hadespaganism2405]

I remember when I got my N gauge, and that was the smallest trains 40 years ago ! Thanks for the video 📹

[@pilentum]

...and today? What's about your N gauge? Does a layout still exist?

[@cloudwind23]

Märklin Z appeared 52 years ago

[@speezer]

Just beautiful. I can watch this for hours. Brings out the kid in me! Thanks for your talent in building this layout and sharing it with everyone via the internet!

[@pilentum]

Thanks!

[@stevenkarnisky411]

Excellent work, both camera and modeler. T guage seems to be advancing very nicely!

[@pilentum]

But everything is so small, you can hardly film it.

[@paulusthegrey]

Excellent piece, remarkable detail for such a small scale.

[@jhhenio]

Oglądałem ten film kilka razy i nie mogę wyjść z podziwu że wszystko zostało w taki sposób dobrane, dopasowane i wykonane. Wyrazy uznania dla pomysłodawcy, konstruktora i wykonawcy. 👍 (h).

[@pilentum]

Dziękuję bardzo za ten miły komentarz. Czy skala 1/480 jest znana również w Polsce?

[@jhhenio]

@@pilentum Jak na razie nie spotkałem się z modelami w takiej skali. Pozdrawiam Serdecznie. (h).

[@OthmarsVlog]

amazing and well done 👍🍀💯

[@easycretor]

Absolutely outstanding work.

[@pilentum]

Yes!

[@susannestoffel2534]

Very beautiful!

[@onemercilessming1342]

And to think, in the 1950s, my family thought they were pioneers in the annual Christmas layout under the tree with OS gauge and Plasticville village pieces.

[@JamesGordon-rz7nr]

Thank you, that's great.😊

[@andyfiala7500]

Excellent!👍🚉

[@cv643d]

Really nice, wish T-gauge took off and became as popular as H0

[@pilentum]

The problem is that there is still too little choice of rolling stock on the market. Many people have to build their own trains - this is a barrier to market entry for T-Gauge compared to HO scale.

[@cv643d]

@@pilentum Yes that is true unfortunately. Would be a nice alternative for us living in an apartment though. Even a Z scale layout can take up a lot of space.

[@BAKU2K2]

4:29 A model railway within a model railway.

[@MineJulRBX]

This layout is inspiring! I am too working on tgauge, would love to have the same details!

[@timothykeinard8085]

NICE LAYOUT

[@PierreMAILLET-gs6xm]

C'est fascinant, merci.

[@easycretor]

That is freaking amazing!!

[@shazam6274]

Amazing!

[@andrii-k]

Загальні види макета це щось новеньке. Цікаво побачити весь макет, всю схему, як автор все організував, як весь макет працює.

[@pilentum]

Дякуємо за цей коментар. Будь ласка, відвідайте мій веб-сайт. Там ви знайдете ще багато фотографій макета залізниці = www.pilentum.org/one-of-the-smallest-model-train-layouts-micro-model-railroad-in-t-gauge-by-richard-kriz

[@THEFORBIDDENMAN-lk7of]

I LOVE IT JUST GOT TO FIND SOME WERE IN LONDON WERE I CAN GET MY HANDS ON THEM

[@anotherfreediver3639]

I wonder if you can get T-scale people for such a layout? You can certainly get brass-etched 1/700 scale sailors for warship models, so this scale should be possible.

[@emdB67]

You certainly can. I started working in "T-gauge" in October 2008 when a sample package was sent to me from Japan. It included two trains, two starter track packs (inner and outer ovals - which were even pre-assembled in the packs), trees, building packs, cars and trucks, bicycles, Road signs and traffic signals, grass mats, boats, and yes, scale figures including animals.

[@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO]

Or one could purchase any scale people figures and use a 3D printer to scale down to 0.61mm to 1'ft scale, which would make a figure based on average height to 3.5mm tall

[@simranmardi5242]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@mlalbaitero]

Is it a big piece of glass for the water? Very resourceful

[@richardkriz5776]

Hi! I´m the author of the layout 🙂 Thank you! Yes, there are two glass panels... I thought for a long time about how to create such a large body of water so that it would not ruin me financially. Model water (gel) is quite expensive. But one day when I went to take out the trash to the bins, two glass panels taken out of an old door were leaning there. The glass panels had a great 3D texture of miniature ripples. I immediately took them away. Subsequently, I had them cut to the exact size by a glazier, and the base of the water was ready. Then I spray painted the glasses to differentiate between shallow and deep water and it was done! Simple, cheap, fast and at the same time, it looks pretty good 🙂 More info on my YT channel. Have a nice day, Richard Kříž.

[@mlalbaitero]

@@richardkriz5776 thanks so much for the reply, I've seen glass on some tables before that looked like it would be great as water for models/dioramas

[@richardkriz5776]

And you was right! 🙂@@mlalbaitero

[@PCrailfan3790]

How do the cars work?

[@Gavs_rc_hobbies]

There's a small magnet that runs on a track under the road, and there's a small magnet under the cars, so as the track moves under the road with the magnet it drags the car along on top.

[@richardkriz5776]

Hi! I´m the author of the layout. 🙂 Car system works like this: The roads work by having small magnetic coils from underneath the road that generate a magnetic field in steps. So no magnet runs under the road. There are only magnets in the vehicles that copy the generated magnetic field. The only moving parts are the vehicles themselves. However, the magnets in the vehicles are not original. Because I covered the roads with several layers of paint, the ability of the magnetic road to drag the rather weak original magnets over it was reduced. That's why I purchased some of the strongest and smallest neodymium magnets on the market. The magnets are 2.0 x 2.0 x 2.0 mm and one will lift 400g! With these mega strong magnets, the roads already work properly. The vehicles are made only of paper and most of their weight is made up of magnets. More info on my YT channel. Have a nice day, Richard Kříž 🙂@@Gavs_rc_hobbies

[@PCrailfan3790]

@@richardkriz5776 that’s cool

[@paxtonfettel7268]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@rustinpieces]

Trains run way, way too fast. But perhaps it's almost impossible to run them at lower speeds, due to the microscopic scale. I really liked the set-up though!

[@richardkriz5776]

Hi! I´m the author of this layout 🙂 Yes, it´s a very small scale, but still it can move pretty slow, when you want. It can reach a speed of walk in model scale without a problems. Inside those tiny locomotives are a 5 poles micro electric motors and a lots of gears. But this video vas filmed during a exhibition, so I had to speed trains up because people just don´t want to wait all that long time for train from other side of the layout. So thats it 🙂 Have a nice day! Richard kříž.

[@jhonny1392]

Hi, do you know for chance if it is possible to purchase those 5 pole electric motors and the gears you mention as a spare parts somewhere ?. Thanks in advance and greetings from Santiago de Chile, South America. This is John.@@richardkriz5776

[@emdB67]

Search for videos on "Orbost 1:500" (Australian T gauge layout). Paul manages to get these tiny mechs down to a scale crawl. But as Richard Kříž says, at an exhibition, the general public viewing the layout from normal distance (not close up like Pilentum's camera here) will find it too slow. Even a scale 60km/h in this size looks too slow from a couple of metres away. It can also increase the risk of stalling. ;-)

[@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO]

@@richardkriz5776I have a T Scale layout with a T Scale live steam Flying Scotsman.

[@pilentum]

Thanks, Richard!

[@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO]

I have a T-Gauge layout with a live steam Flying Scotsman.

[@pilentum]

Show me your layout = www.pilentum.org/submit-video