A Small Tram Layout

[bill937ca]

I have a partially complete small table top tram layout built using Tomix Wide Tram track. Its basically two loops with three crossovers at one end.  Minimum radius is 103mm.

 

I like the small Tomytec commercial structures for creating a colorful Japanese background.  I have placed the buildings on WS 1478 N Scale Super Sheets which can be cut to size with scissors after making a pattern with Bristol board. This raises the buildings up a bit higher against the tram track than just leaving them on the table top. Its possible I will need double thickness for parking spaces and other odd spots. The Super Sheets replaced foam board which didn't easily lend its self to cutting curves.

 

The long two lane street is modeled on sections of the Hankai Tramway and Hiroden where trams run along streets without sidewalks.

 

The tram in the photos is Tomytec Hiroden car 351 of 1958.

 

There hasn't been much time in recent months for making progress. Eventually I will add figures and more vehicles and maybe more Tomytec structures.

[KenS]

Using the WS sheets is an interesting idea.  I've used those for track roadbed in stations, and they do cut easily.  Mine had a tendency to curl.  Are you gluing them down, and if so with what?

[bill937ca]

Using the WS sheets is an interesting idea.  I've used those for track roadbed in stations, and they do cut easily.  Mine had a tendency to curl.  Are you gluing them down, and if so with what?

 

It could be the environment.  I`m in a condo.  I have some scraps that have been on the floor for months.  Nothing has curled, so I haven't even considered gluing them down.

[Bernard]

Really nice and active layout! What are the WS sheets made of? (I'm thinking that they are the dense styrofoam sheets)

[bill937ca]

I haven`t got the label now so I can`t say for sure.  But it works for me! WS does suggest using glue for roadbeds.

 

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/ST1478/page/1

[westfalen]

I'm using a similar local Australian product called Trackrite flexible track underlay as a base for the buildings on my Urusai Fumikiri modules, their HO underlay is about the same thickness as Tomix roads. I've only got a narrow strip between two parallel streets to fill so I don't need large sheets. I got the idea of using it when I was building my Santa Fe depot modules and needed something to build the station yard terrain up to the level of Unitrack and it was the closest thing I spotted while browsing the local hobby shop.

[KenS]

Really nice and active layout! What are the WS sheets made of? (I'm thinking that they are the dense styrofoam sheets)

 

Not styrofoam, it's a flexible vinyl-like foam.  I tried to find out what it was made of when I used it, and couldn't. My best guess is that it's expanded polyethylene (EPE) foam. Mine is loosely-placed in my elevated viaduct station (where the weight of the platforms and track holds it flat), but I glued it where I used it atop styrene or plaster (in both cases I used Liquid Nails; the standard formula, not one of the special ones).