So you want to try Tomix FineTrack?

[Madsing]

Jeff,

Oups, my mistake. You are right, it was between Braintree and Boston, not in DC.

Thanks,

Marc

[Cat]

We are not MRC around here.  Used to be Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA, as in "Get Charlie off the" and to cause confusion with NYC), in more recent times its now Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) or usually just "the T".

Red Line from Braintree inbound to the city.
 

 

[cteno4]

Doh! my bad for some reason i had MRC in my head! old brain fart!

 

jeff

[Clayton]

On 1/23/2021 at 1:11 PM, roadstar_na6 said:

tbh if you‘re going DCC you‘d best be off with just soldering wires to the rails from below 😉

 

I did wind up and doing this.

[Clayton]

On 1/25/2021 at 7:31 PM, Cat said:

We are not MRC around here.  Used to be Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA, as in "Get Charlie off the" and to cause confusion with NYC), in more recent times its now Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) or usually just "the T".

Red Line from Braintree inbound to the city.
 

 

Oh how I miss living near Beantown!

[Clayton]

On 1/24/2021 at 6:50 AM, Madsing said:

I have tried several times but I have never been able to reliably solder wires to Tomix rails. I have a good soldering iron with temperature control. I have tried different types of solder (with and without lead). I have tried adding flux. I managed to do it a couple of times but this has always been long (with the risk of melting the track) and difficult. What am I doing wrong?

Marc

I did have more issues with the brown track because I believe the of material is different . Also with the solder not tacking right to the rail I had to let the solder surface on the outside of rail so I could add some extra solder to clamp to the rail. Yes, I see the issue you had also. Some time especially with the brown track I melted some unwanted holes in the track underside.

[cteno4]

I’m wondering if the little contact ball bearing is the issue, perhaps something with its alloy. We’re you soldering to the track or to the contact ball bearing?

 

jeff

[chadbag]

I haven't tried soldering on FineTrack but I have used H&N super flux to solder things that would not otherwise solder (including with other standard flux)

 

https://www.hnflux.com

 

 

[cteno4]

They make great flux and also their tip tinner is great. I use it at the begging and end of each soldering session, keeps tips smooth and clean!

 

jeff

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, chadbag said:

I haven't tried soldering on FineTrack but I have used H&N super flux to solder things that would not otherwise solder (including with other standard flux)

 

https://www.hnflux.com

 

 

 

I'll second this. That stuff is amazing. I only used it for the toughest jobs though. 

[Peter Osborne]

I’ve decided to use Tomix for my layout , although KATO is pretty readily available here in the UK and TOMIX isn’t I will get my supply in bulk via DHL from Japan , I’ve started to use ROKKO as the service there is simply superb, my layout is U shaped with a spiral at each end , I might try the ones by cosmic as they are for the TOMIX system and very reasonably priced. My layout room available is about 275cm then 295cm and 275cm I could go all the around with a lift section and may go this way yet.

 

A few questions if I may.

1) I’m going to use a DCC system not sure as to what yet , most of my rosta is 80% KATO (20 sets) with only 2 TOMIX 2micro Ace and 2 Green Max, I’m no electrical engineer so I’m slowly getting my stock converted by an outsourced specialist , are the TOMIX points DCC friendly ? and u

if so what system are you using?

 

2) I’m thinking about purchasing anyrail to

do my designing what are the 2 least radi curves to use at the corners for a double track I don’t want to have the high speed super elevated ones, please can you give me the stock numbers?

Thanks in advance 

[roadstar_na6]

For DCCing Fine Track @Martijn Meerts is probably our expert here 😄

 

Regarding AnyRail there is a free trial version available and you can choose to show the Art.-No. to be shown in the track selection tab.

Smallest radii would be C243 and C270 for regular track and C103 and C140 for mini track, although the latter is something for trams only 😉

Edited February 13, 2021 by roadstar_na6

[Madsing]

55 minutes ago, Peter Osborne said:

what system are you using?

I am using the 1-DEC-DC from Littfinski DatenTechnik (LDT). One box controls four Tomix switches, I have six of them. 

https://www.ldt-infocenter.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=en:1-dec-dc

 

[Martijn Meerts]

For the old Tomix layout we had, we used Selectrix, so I can't be of that much help 🙂 For the turnouts I had to build a small bit of electronics to convert the Selectrix  3-wire turnouts control to the 2-wires the Tomix turnouts needed. 

 

For DCC, there are options, like the 1-DEC-DC that Madsing mentioned. There are also some other DCC manufacturers that have Tomix compatible accessory decoders.

[Peter Osborne]

Hi can anyone tell me please the item number for the small straight piece of track  to use after a point for the TOMIX island platforms please to give the required clearance 

thanks 

[katoftw]

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/nyumon/tomixrail-develop.html

 

S72.5 is the 15 degree S70.

 

55.5mm is the need separation between parrallel tracks.

[chadbag]

Here is an article about Tomix points and switches.   It mentions DCC and that your DCC switch accessory should support LGB 

 

https://raicho.home.xs4all.nl/model/control/tomixctl/turnout.htm

 

[Polluxx66]

For those of you wiring to DCC I plan to feed from the 2 incoming rails. Do you isolate the 4 exiting rails?  

[Madsing]

No, I don’t, unless of course it is a current sensing section. 
The Tomix switches are power routing, this means that there is connection from the incoming two rails towards two of the four exiting rails only. I don’t use that function, though, and usually tries to connect all three sides to a feeder for safety. 

[Polluxx66]

12 hours ago, Madsing said:

No, I don’t, unless of course it is a current sensing section. 
The Tomix switches are power routing, this means that there is connection from the incoming two rails towards two of the four exiting rails only. I don’t use that function, though, and usually tries to connect all three sides to a feeder for safety. 

Thanks so much. It is what I suspected looking at the turnouts. Now I need to figure out how to wire it up to a DS64 decider. 

[bill937ca]

Examples of what runs on R103.

 

 

[bill937ca]

Tomix has examples of track plans as are found on their track set packaging online.  There are nine PDF documents of simple track plans most focusing various ovals. Click on the link and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Text is in Japanese, but track diagrams use Western characters.

 

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/nyumon/tomixrail-develop.html

Edited April 9, 2021 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

TOMIX N-Gauge TCS Power Unit N-DU101-CL 5517 review. No narration, English sub-titles. Video by Nihon Densha (thread here: https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/18247-my-review-of-the-tomix-n-gauge-tcs-power-unit-n-du101-cl-5517/?tab=comments#comment-224946)

 

 

This is the contemporary one handle style of train or tram controller. Personally, I find this is a good high speed power control. By its nature it is not really suitable for low speed running.

 

The Power Unit N-DU101-CL can be purchased alone or as pat of the Tomix 90950 basic track starter set.  https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10411285

 

Not sure how the new Kato streetcars would run on this controller. My N-DU101-CL is packed away. I may try it some time. Tomix tram controllers like the N-400 are typically 9 volts max. Trams typically start running at about 3V. Would  dual lighting units on the Kato Hiroshima Electric Railway articulated trams drain the power supply? There is a  simpler Tomix tram version of the N-DU101-CL controller, the FG-17,  sold with the 90099 basic track set.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10531136

 

The FG-17 is a replacement for the N-400.

 

The FG-17 power pack for low power demands is also available with the 90098 Model Railway Operation Set (Mini Fine Track) set which comes with R140 stock rail curves. Good for Modermo interurbans and some smaller Kato issues.  https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10531135

 

Because the FG-17 is a 9V controller, it is listed as "fasted speed is suppressed" by Tomix.  It is a beginners power pack.

 

Further information on Tomix power packs is on the old Sumida Crossing website.

 

http://www.sumidacrossing.org/LayoutElectricity/ModelTrainPower/PowerPackTesting/

Edited April 10, 2021 by disturbman
added link to thread

[mannybrown1]

Not sure if I should start a brand new topic but here we go

 

I have a kato unitrack layout in the US, but am interested in converting one of my passenger terminals (patterned off Reading Terminal in Philly) to Tomix due to the wider variety of turnouts avaible which would allow me to more closely match the look and operation of the real terminal; namely, the double slip switches. 

 

1.    I know the track spacing is wider for tomix,  how have any of you transitioned to the tomix spacing from Kato? Is there a particular set of track that does the transition well, or do you just "fudge" the track to make it work?
2. Does the double slip switch play well with some of the longer and more temperamental passenger cars? (looking at you kato daylight articulated cars!) 

Edited August 29, 2022 by mannybrown1
grammer

[Wolf]

Heya,

check Kato 20-045 track. Its literally the conversion piece to transfer from Kato to Tomix (amongst other) track. So if you wanna do something Tomix, just slap one of these in beetween and you good.
 

Random Video as I dont own Tomix track to show.