Wide Track Tram Track??

[railsquid]

I think katoftw is referring to the "Tram rail accessories kits" (part nos 3076 and 3079) which have adapters to place on top of the small-radius points to embedd them as tram rails. 3076 is "stone look", 3079 is asphalt/concrete.

[gerryo]

OK, thank you.  But are these kato or Tomix parts??

 

gerry

[katoftw]

Tomix

[katoftw]

Example for said Tomix tram accessories kit:-

 

[gerryo]

Thank you.   Parts now ordered, and the wait begins.

[keiichi77]

Can someone post a picture of the underside of a piece of straight Unitram track?  Although I love the variety of the Tomix Wide Tram track (which I own plenty of) the 37mm track centers are very wide and command a very wide road if you have two tram track and two bus lanes like I am planing. The Kato 25mm centers appeal to me since I was going to run double track tram lines anyway. With the Kato Unitram corners and turnouts spacing at 33mm your options if you want a track at angle are to use regular Unitrack or I was thinking could the straight Unitram pieces be sliced down the middle easily ? I would then use the two pieces on the 33mm ends of the curves and turnouts and just fill in the space between them. Any ideas?  If I wait for Kato to release a 33mm center Unitram straight I will be six feet under. ;)

[Ken Ford]

Here, does this help? It's the underside of a 124mm straight:

 

[bill937ca]

Can someone post a picture of the underside of a piece of straight Unitram track?  Although I love the variety of the Tomix Wide Tram track (which I own plenty of) the 37mm track centers are very wide and command a very wide road if you have two tram track and two bus lanes like I am planing. The Kato 25mm centers appeal to me since I was going to run double track tram lines anyway. 

 

Tomix Wide Tram Track has a track center typical of narrow gauge tram lines.  If you are modeling a standard gauge tram or trolley line you may not like the look.  Prototypes are the 1067mm gauge tram lines in Japan and 900-1000 mm gauge tram lines in Europe. The Wide Tram profile also matches up with the Tomix Wide PC track profile.

 

[keiichi77]

Here, does this help? It's the underside of a 124mm straight:

 

image.jpeg

Perfect Ken, thanks.....I had an idea of using a Unitram switch but instead of matching it with a Unitram curve or using regular Unitrack I was going to cut Unitram straight sections down the middle, lay them down as single track pieces and glue a piece of styrene to fill the void....voila 33mm Unitram straight track.  It looks like it should be pretty easy to cut. I didn't want my layout to have just Unitram loops on it, if I can cut the straights then I can also have tracks/road running at 45 degree angles to the loops. We shall see anyway, I am going to order a couple Unitram curves and straights to see what I can think of.

[katoftw]

What are you trying to achieve?  I don't quite understand.  You know the unitram curves are 33mm track spacing at its middle of the curve?

Edited August 22, 2016 by katoftw

[kvp]

What are you trying to achieve?  I don't quite understand.  You know the unitram curves are 33mm track spacing at its middle of the curve?

Imho to have 45 degrees, straight unitram street tracks with 33mm spacing. Essentially you could just cut a 25mm spacing straight unitram track in half to make it wider and fill in the middle with some shurbbery.  :)

 

ps: the Tomix tram tracks have cutting idents on them, so it's possible to decrease the distance by removing the sides. The same is true for bus lanes, so you can resize them to be 50% narrower. This does not really work for curves though, unless you only have two lanes and only remove the outside edges. Also it's possible to add two independent bus lanes to a tram track, allowing for a 4 lane road with two tram tracks sharing lanes with the buses.

[keiichi77]

What are you trying to achieve?  I don't quite understand.  You know the unitram curves are 33mm track spacing at its middle of the curve?

kvp answered for me, I wanted some 45 degree streets with trams.  The Tomix stuff is just to wide and like kvp said the straights are easy to cut but the curves..not only that but I prefer the look of the Kato tram track as well, especially the closer spacing.  I own quite a bit of Wide Tram/Bus track but the joints also take away from the visual appeal, the Kato pieces are longer so less joints.  I think the Tomix stuff is great for single lane tram roads, and the selection is much better then Unitram but I am going more for the modern look. In the end I still might end up using the Tomix track and cut the outside edges off the bus lanes to make the road a little narrower.  I will figure it out after I get a couple Unitram pieces, I ordered 2 curves and a 186 straight pack just to have a better look at what I can plan with Unitram.  

[Ken Ford]

This inspired me to pick up enough Tomix tram and regular track to make a simple trapezoidal oval layout with both street and private ROW. It showed up yesterday - I like it. I don't think I'd want to use it for a modular layout because I think the Kato unijoiners are superior for that purpose, but for a simple standalone layout the Tomix track seems to be great.

 

I have a few 20" X 30" pieces of foamcore that I'd like to use for this. My curves are all R140 which should be fine for my Randen and Arakawa trams. I need to decide how to brace the underside of the foamcore, I haven't decided if I want to use 1x2 wood or cut down more foamcore into strips.

 

I'm thinking a high level station on the back side private ROW. I might add a point to the left side leading into a two track carbarn inside the loop.

 

[Tyler B]

Has anyone any information on the new Tomix tram track being released? From what I've seen on a facebook post (which I've now lost), they are bringing out cobblestone surfaced tram track (ready assembled rather than the inlays), and also grass covered track too, would love more information if anyone has it? Unfortunately I expect they are still not bringing out pointwork, but we can't have everything...

[katoftw]

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/91084.htm

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/1789.htm

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/1794.htm

 

use google as website browser to translate it.

Edited November 14, 2016 by katoftw

[bill937ca]

Has anyone any information on the new Tomix tram track being released? From what I've seen on a facebook post (which I've now lost), they are bringing out cobblestone surfaced tram track (ready assembled rather than the inlays), and also grass covered track too, would love more information if anyone has it? Unfortunately I expect they are still not bringing out pointwork, but we can't have everything...

 

Hobby Search lists all 3 for November release (probably late November).

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10421248

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10421247

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10421246

[brill27mcb]

Hobby Search Japan is now showing the grass and block/pavement straight track pieces in stock and for sale.

 

Rich K.

[Paroan24]

Today I received the wide tram track that looks like grass and the new cobblestone look.  The grass is not like it looks on the box but once in place looks pretty good.  I just laid it over current track to take the picture.

[velotrain]

Yeah - they both seem to be just printed on, without any attempt at a 3D effect.

 

I have to think that Tomix could have done better - not to mention the average modeler.

 

As I recall, their cobble inserts do have 3D texture - don't know if these are still available.

[Paroan24]

Actually, once in place they look pretty darn good.

[cteno4]

Well to be fair the brickwork detail at n scale would be about 0.1-0.2mm wide (and less deep) at most and grass detail like 1mm high. From the pictures it looks good.

 

Jeff

[gavino200]

On 5/30/2015 at 9:58 AM, kvp said:

The tram track has a road surface between the rails, so the wheels run in a gap between the rails and the inner surface. If this gap is not wide enough or the wheels are too thick, then the back of the wheels can rub on the plastic of the road. Generally R140 is tought to be the safe minimum for trams that is are not from Tomix.

 

That's interesting. So it's not an issue with the actual rail geometry, but with the plastic in the center between the rails. So theoretically you could file the center plastic a little to make the 103R track compatible with non Tomix/Tomytec brands? 

 

I've never actually seen any of this track in person. I'm just looking in the Tomix catalog. Do you think filing down the center plastic would work?

[gavino200]

On 5/9/2015 at 12:21 PM, kvp said:

I tink you wanted to say 37 mm. This is the track to track distance of the Tomix track system and since these tracks can be used (together with moving bus 'tracks') to make streets, the width has to be 37 mm. The lengths are based on the 7 cm rule, so basic track sizes are 18.5, 70, 140 and 280 mm. Basic curve radiuses are centered around the 140 and 280 mm curves. (140 for trams, 280 for large trains) The Tomix track system is completly mix and match, meaning you can use tram track pieces as railroad grade crossings on normal lines or move the bus routes across the tracks. There are two types of tram tracks, the off the self type and the kit version for covering normal tracks, from which there is an old style stone pavement variant. From turnouts, you have the R140 mini ones, the R280 standard ones and the R541 long ones. Most trams from all manufacturers can run on R140, but only a select few (mostly Tomytec ones) can run on smaller curves, so it's a good idea to limit tram curves and turnouts to R140.

 

 

I'm assuming that the "Track radius" is the radius of a median line, rather than the inside or outside diameter?

 

So for example taking a 140R track

Outside diameter would be 140 + (37/2)

Inside diameter would be 140 - (37/2)

 

Track length is measured along the median line? The 140R line.

 

Is this right? I want to make cardboard cutouts, so I can mock up a track and decide what I need to buy.

 

Edit: Nevermimd. I'm going to work it out on Anyrail.

Edited February 13, 2018 by gavino200

[Peter]

Hi, new to this forum. This thread is old but hopefully someone can help. We're adding a tram layout to our set and using the Tomix/Tomytec wide tram track. I like the versatility but the drawback is it isn't as attractive as the Kato tram track. We ordered track from Japan but what we didn't include in our order is side trim pieces. , I can't figure it out from the Tomix or other sites what the correct item is. I think item #3079 parts kit 2 for road surface is it but I am not sure.

 

What I'd like to do is cover up the sides with smooth finish similar to the Kato track.  Does anyone know the correct parts for this?  In some spots the track will sit within grey foam board, but in other areas it will be exposed and I'd like to give it a finished look.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

 

[bill937ca]

Tomix 3079 is used only with stock Tomix rail. It requires assembly and sometimes some fine cutting.  Whereas Wide Tram Rail comes with rails molded into the structure. First photo is 3079 track covers on an early layout. The second photo is Wide Tram Track a few years later.