Kato or Tomix Platforms for my subway?

[The_Ghan]

Gentlemen,

 

I need to build the platforms for my subway.  I'm running Peco track on cork, I can build up the platforms separately, if required but the level seems about rright for a small Tomix station that I already own.  I need to make two island platforms and one single-sided platform.  Each must be long enough for a 10-car train - a bit over 1.4m or 5'. Should I go Tomix or Kato? 

 

I've looked at the catalogs and there certainly doesn't seem to be a cheap solution to this.  Most importantly, I can't really work out from the catalogs exactly how to do this.  I don't want any end ramps, as both ends of the station have tunnels.  I don't need any roof pieces as this is a subway.

 

Option 1 - Tomix: 12 x 4059 + 6 x 4032.  Do these come with the accessories shown on p307 and p309 of the catalog?  I don't need the roofs of 4032.  Can I ditch these or is there an alternative that I'm not seeing in the catalog?

 

Option 2 - Kato: 14 x 23-106 on p164 + what for the single-sided platform?  As above, I don't need roofs.

 

Also, how should I do the stairs and escalators?  I'd rather not scratch-build.  I plan to build a floor or two of basement food court / shopping mall above the subway, but below ground.  It would be good to include the station ticket office etc. in there.  But first, the subway platforms.

 

Experienced advice really needed before I pin my track.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[KenS]

I can't speak to the Kato vs Tomix aspect, as I only have experience with Kato.  In terms of which Kato platforms to use, the first choice to make is whether you want a flat (concrete/asphalt) platform surface or a tiled one.  Kato makes two sets of platforms, the older ones with a flat dark-gray surface and the newer ones with a yellow tiled surface.

 

For the older ones, there are square-ended side platforms without roof structures (23-112, 23-113), however the only difference of those from the square-ended island platform end (23-102) is that the island end has no holes in the upper surface for putting a railing along the back (and no railing to put there).  You can get an intermediate platform without a roof (Island Platform Type D, 23-106), but there's no roofless intermediate side platform.  You would need to use the Type A (23-110), and remove the roof and plug the holes in the platform, as it doesn't have stairs down molded in the way the Type B (23-111) does, or use the 23-106 island platform.  In either case you'd need to put your own railing on the back. Note that the surface snaps out of all of the older platforms, so it could be spray-painted separately from the sides (which include about 4mm around the edges).

 

The newer style has roofless ends (23-117, which contains both side platform ends, and 23-109 for the island platform ends), but I don't own any of these so I don't know details beyond what's online.  Also, while HS doesn't say that 109 and 117 include 2 ends, Kato's descriptions do say this. For the intermediate platforms, there's no roofless version, so again you'd need to remove the roof (it just snaps in) and patch the post-holes (harder due to the tile surface).  Again you're probably want to get the ones without stairs leading down (the "Type A", 23-114 for the side, 23-107 for the island). With these, it appears that the entire upper surface could be removed from the pedestel for painting (although I haven't done that), but the surface includes the tiled middle and the edge detail and yellow warning stripe, all of which is molded into a single piece.

 

The platform accessory set (23-118) includes an elevator kiosk, although you'd have to disguise the top since it appears to model an elevator that only goes down from the platform. It also has tabs that match holes only in the new "Type B" platform (I think; I haven't checked all of them) which would need to be cut off.  I'm thinking of doing that with my elevated station, which will have a surface-level platform (likely scratchbuilt due to some support columns I need to incorporate into it) below the elevated one.

 

Note that all of Kato's intermediate platforms are 248mm long (to match their track lengths), but the older ends are 200mm long and only 180mm is the platform (the rest is the employee-only steps down to the ground), and you really lose the last 4mm to the guardrail. I don't have any of the new ends to know their size.

 

I think you'd need to scratch-build stairs going up.  I'm not aware of any detail kit suitable for that.

 

Update: fixed a typo.

[The_Ghan]

Thanks KenS

 

Great explanation and easy to understand.  I'm just running through the exercise of scratch building the subway platforms.  It might be the best way.

 

Can anyone give me a similar explanation for Tomix?

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan