Tomix ND552 shunter

[Anvalo]

Recently i bought this lovely little ND522 shunter (Tomix 8612).

I am building a small Inglenook puzzle layout and this engine will do all the hard work for me.

 

After running in for a while on a small oval track it's time for some tests.

For this i used an adjustable dc power supply.

The little engine begins to move slowly on 2,3v and the lights are not on.

On 4v it runs quite fast and with the leds on.

Made a video of the slow running shunter.

In part one and two it runs on 2,3v and part three is on 4v.

An old 30 to 100hz PWM controller is used in part 4.

With this controller the engine can crawl very slowly and we get a free lightshow as a bonus😀.

The pickups on this loco are also very good, it can run slowly over de turnouts without stalling.

 

I already fitted a dcc-decoder in this tiny shunter.

For this i had to find a suitable place so i took the whole thing apart and made some pictures during this proces.

In the next post i shall show how the decoder was installed.

 

André

[miyakoji]

I didn't know there are models of Meirin engines.  Looks awesome.  I am more into prototypes and don't have a layout.  Based on some searching, an inglenook layout is a small one, modeling some defined operation, not a specific geographic location right?  Will the layout have anything to do with Nagoya?  There may be an actual piece of Meirin that would be perfect for a small layout.

[DD13]

20 minutes ago, miyakoji said:

I didn't know there are models of Meirin engines.  Looks awesome.  I am more into prototypes and don't have a layout.  Based on some searching, an inglenook layout is a small one, modeling some defined operation, not a specific geographic location right?  Will the layout have anything to do with Nagoya?  There may be an actual piece of Meirin that would be perfect for a small layout.

 

What are you thinking of?. What operation? 

[miyakoji]

The Nagoya Rinkai Railway, which operates the ND552 locomotives.  They interchange with JR at Kasadera and serve a number of industries west of the Tokaido Line in that area.   Their actual network may have a little section which would be great for a inglenook layout (at least as I understand the term).

 

 

Here is a video showing their network around 1975

 

 

 

Some info from my Nagoya Freight Lines post:

 

Quote

The Nagoya Rinkai Railway operates a freight network that interchanges with JR at Kasadera, and also has a physical connection with the Nagoya Railway (Meitetsu) via their Chikko Line.  The current Meirin company only dates from January 1965, but parts of the system were prefectural lines dating back to the 1930s.  Some parts of their network do not currently see active service, but the company designates these as suspended, not abandoned.  The company provides service in the large industrial area of southern Nagoya City, which stretches down through the cities of Tokai and Chita.  Additionally, they are involved with switching operations at Nagoya Port, West Nagoya Port, Tajimi, Kasugai, and Yokkaichi.  They also own some automobile parking (some of the suspended lines are paved over), have scrapped retired railcars and locomotives for JNR, and grew kiwis at one point.

 

English Wikpedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagoya_Rinkai_Railway

 

My Nagoya Freight Lines post:

 

[Khaul]

On 4/7/2025 at 12:10 AM, Anvalo said:

Recently i bought this lovely little ND522 shunter (Tomix 8612).

I am building a small Inglenook puzzle layout and this engine will do all the hard work for me.

 

After running in for a while on a small oval track it's time for some tests.

For this i used an adjustable dc power supply.

The little engine begins to move slowly on 2,3v and the lights are not on.

On 4v it runs quite fast and with the leds on.

Made a video of the slow running shunter.

In part one and two it runs on 2,3v and part three is on 4v.

An old 30 to 100hz PWM controller is used in part 4.

With this controller the engine can crawl very slowly and we get a free lightshow as a bonus😀.

The pickups on this loco are also very good, it can run slowly over de turnouts without stalling.

 

I already fitted a dcc-decoder in this tiny shunter.

For this i had to find a suitable place so i took the whole thing apart and made some pictures during this proces.

In the next post i shall show how the decoder was installed.

 

André

Nice! What are you planning in regards to uncoupling?

[Anvalo]

Hi,

I am about to make a new topic about the finished Inglenook puzzle layout with some info on the uncouplers.

 

This lovely tiny shunter now runs on dcc with working lights on front and rear.

One of the video's above show the disassemly of this engine.

 

This is a nice place for the decoder.

 

With the use of Dremel, a file and some elbow grease a space was created for the decoder.

I also had to remove some off the chassis near the motor connections.

 

Chassis is only 10mm wide so it's a tight fit.

The decoder wires are cut to the correct length.

 

The front and rear light units has to be modified a bit.

Made this picture as an example, there are of course only 2 pieces in real life🙂.

The light unit has two clips, one for each side of the split chassis.

I removed the little black diode and desoldered the left clips (seen from the top) on both units and the colours show the right connections for the decoder.

Made a complete set of the decoder, motor and light units.

First test to make sure everything works properly before installing it.

 

 

Job done,

The decoder and lights are placed.

Here you can also see the space created for the motor connections.

 

 

And here's the little shunter running without any trouble over the turnouts.

 

André

[Kingmeow]

Beautiful work and documenting it for others!