Tram stations for single-line track?

[scott]

Sounds like an interesting idea--I hadn't thought of anything like that, but it would be a way to make a single line more interesting.

 

But I'll probably start simple and think about working up to that.

 

Sorry for the clutter on the track plan--I missed a few floating extra bits, and forgot to add a missing piece back in.

[cteno4]

Bob Tomasko, one of the jrm members, has ... 14 or 15 lines

 

I need to see pics. Does this guy post on the forum?

 

Nope bob is not on the forum and doubt he will. ill see if he is cool with me posting some of pictures i took of his layout over the years. its an interesting layout as he does the japanese style of more perceived scenery and all unitrak w/o attaching it so it can be changed and evolved easily (which he has done over the years). its also interesting as he is into both european and japanese trains so one end of the large G shaped layout is kyoto and the other i believe is zurich! there is even a tad of Philadelphia in the center (where he is from). bob also only collects trains he has ridden on, but since he has traveled extensively for work and pleasure in both japan and europe so he has a wide ranging collection!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Scott - You could animate this line with 3 trams running. As 1st Tram came into the station, a light sensor would trip the switch and send the 2nd tram on the line down the tram, when that tram came to it's final destination, it would also trip the turnout sending the 3rd tram down the line. It would keep on going in a cycle.

I'm not sure what this would involve, definitely light sensors in the track (or the Kato signal switch) but it could be costly.

 

Or you could use the RU1-1 or RU2-1 auto reverse units.

It looks like an eye catcher on the layout the new tram line.

 

there are some PIC circuits out there to build this sort of system, but its one of those projects that you have to either already be a good propeller head (ie electronics and some computer programming background) or be willing to spend some time to learn it. all in how much time you want to devote to these kinds of automation.

 

the tomix automation system does let you do some of these kinds of automation, but they can be frustrating to get working from all i have heard and nothing is in english for the instructions!

 

the tomix super mini points are great for doing some fun things like this though as they have spring loaded points and so you can have a car always roll onto the diverging track when coming at the point, but the trams that come out of the point come from the straight thru track. this lets you have a single line have a 'passing' station. likes like enoshima line.

 

fun stuff you can do. i have been knoodling if something fun could be done with two trams on a single line point to point with the miniatronics ru21 but have yet to come up with something interesting.

 

Joe Price (a ttrak guy in texas http://wtexjoe.blogspot.com/2009/03/easy-trolley-ttrak-n-design-progress.html), the guy who brought the ru21 to my attention, has a fun thing he wants to do with it with the above passing station idea and two trams that have diodes installed in them to let them run only in one direction and in different directions. this will have the trams popping out to the front of his module from different directions, alternating from different directions. quite fun and cleaver approach.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Manyosen is another line that is single track for most of its length.  It starts at a JR station and ends near a ferrry dock.  At one time the line continued on as an interurban Toyama and was part of the system at Toyama.  That is why the older cars are identicial to Toyama's streetcars.

 

http://www.atw.ne.jp/~suwa_h/MANYO/ENSEN.html

 

When you click on the Kanji on the map at a station, it will take you to a page of photos of the station.

 

Here's a couple of stations:

 

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/N_SINMINATO/N_SINMINATO.html

 

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/IMIZUSICHO/IMIZUSICHO.html

 

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/KAIOUMARU/KAIOUMARU.html

 

Downtown single track stop.

 

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/SUEHIRO/SUEHIRO.html

 

JR station terminal

 

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/TAKAOKAEKIMAE/TAKAOKAEKIMAE.html

 

Outer terminal

 

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/KOSINOKATA/KOSINOKATA.html

[scott]

Thanks, Bill--lots of great stuff there.

 

Anders liked the cat-faced tram on that last page. :-)

[bill937ca]

http://moon.otto.to/~suwa_h/EKI/KOSINOKATA/KOSINOKATA.html

 

Incidentally, if I'm not mistaken those pillars shown in the link above will carry a Shinkansen extension over the harbor and on to Toyama.

[marknewton]

Mark - Now you have me thinking, do any of the tram lines use a turntable?

 

None that I know of in recent times, ie post-WW2. A few of the narrow-gauge steam tramways used turntables at their terminal stations, but once they electrified the need for them disappeared.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[marknewton]

Hey Mark, you do realize Sayonara Streetcar says there has never been a streetcar loop in Japan?

 

Yes, Bill, I do, but I disagree. Or then again we may be at cross-purposes. I presume Mr Forty was referring to a North American-style balloon loop, which I agree there were no examples of in Japan. But, and here's where we differ, some old track diagrams and postcards show that the tramways I mentioned all had trackage that formed a loop, albeit in some cases one that encompassed several city blocks. And operationally, cars entered the loop, ran around it, and exited in the oppposite direction, usually headed to their point of origin. That being the case, I thought they were worth mentioning, as that mode of operation would work well in a modelling context.

 

(Although I'd be the first to admit, a stub terminus and a reversing module would be a simpler way of achieving the same result!  )

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[marknewton]

Manyosen is another line that is single track for most of its length.  It starts at a JR station and ends near a ferrry dock.  At one time the line continued on as an interurban Toyama and was part of the system at Toyama.

 

Good on yer, Bill, and thanks for putting this up! I hadn't seen this site before, it has some great recent views of the terminus at Koshinokata.

 

Before its name was changed this line, a Chitetsu subsidiary, was known as the Katesuno railway. Some other webpages featuring the line:

 

http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~mako-zou/tetudou/manyosen/manyosen0.html

http://www.manyosen.net/navi/map_24.php

http://wakouji.at.infoseek.co.jp/manyo.htm

http://www.uraken.net/rail/chiho/manyo.html

http://www1.tcnet.ne.jp/shima/manyo.htm

http://www1.coralnet.or.jp/manyosen/

http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/railroad/hokuriku/kaetsuno/man_yo.html

http://gauss0jp.hp.infoseek.co.jp/romend0.htm

http://homepage.mac.com/akira8100/sl/sub3.html

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[marknewton]

Here's another double platform on single track, Shimminato Shiyakushomae on the Manyosen in Takaoka.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[scott]

Thanks, Mark.

 

But if I show that picture to the kid, he's going to want a model of that tram.