new layout

[mr bachmann]

planning to build a new layout combining bus tram and train , small mainline rail station with tourist railway served by tram and bus , the tourist line will be street running out from the station , but no plans yet on paper . for now here is some recent trams from Plaza ...

 

the Bachmann Durango and Silverton set will traverse Tomix tram track as long as truck mount couplers are used the open stock has body mounts and runs well on the outer track .

 

 

 

 

[mr bachmann]

question for all , has or is there a road/rail crossing for Tomix track to enable the moving bus to cross rail lines , or has any modeler converted track pieces to suite ?

 

 

 

 

[brill27mcb]

I think you have to do it yourself, as your photo shows. You could add bits of iron wire on each side of the track piece to help guide the bus across better, but I have seen videos where buses seem to cross reliably without such additions.

 

Rich K.

[mr bachmann]

Thanks for the idea , I’ll try hiding the wire in the join as it’s a ‘’double’ straight . 

[cteno4]

Yes there are a number of examples out there of folks doing this with faller/Tomytec buses crossing tracks. There’s a nice YouTube somewhere on the forum of a nice system of having crossing lights, gates and bus pause all wired together.

 

if you put some good iron wire under the track piece it should let the bus follow it. Experiment some. First you need to find some very good iron wire. Use a magnet to see if it sticks well or loosely. Only use stuff that magnets stick very well to. I’ve found some cheap floral wires to be good. Also use like 18g wire. First just tape some pieces under the side of the track along the piece to see if the bus will track on it. You may have to carefully make a notch into the underside of the track base to get the wire closer to the surface for better tracking by the bus magnet. Also cut a notch in the edge of the track piece so the wire can go out all the way to the edge of the track piece to mate up with the wire in the oncoming bus road section.

 

I was able to mock up a road crossing rail with the old faller bus (cruder mechanism so Tomytec can do it I’m sure). I had styrene sheet on either side of the rails with wires leading up to the rail crossing in either side. Then a piece of styrene between the rails with just enough spacing for a flangeway and a small bit of wire going across. Bus did fine like 97% of the time. Once in a while hitting the flange way would cause the bus tires to swerve off the guide wire. But I did not ever try to really optimize the whole thing it was just a quick taper up mock up and the old faller ran faster so really jumped on any bumps. The faller had a much weaker steering magnet and my few experiments with Tomytec bus mech they tended to stay on track better, but I never tried the track crossing with them, but I really think the results would be better. I did first try the faller doing a track crossing straight across and no guide wire on the piece between the track an id say 80-90% of the time it went across fine, so perhaps the Tomytec may not need it between the tracks but my guess is to make it close to 100% you will need it. It’s a bit if a bump.

 

its fun to roll your own roads like this, I played a lot way back with all the fun things you could do with a piece of wire under a hunk of 020 sheet of stryene. Means you then need to draw/print/decal your own roadways but can make more customs and unique routes. Mess around with it some, it’s fun to play with.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Its been done.

 

 

 

 

Kato Unitram

 

Moving Bus

 

[Madsing]

I’ve done that on my layout. 
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