Going Japanese!!!

[Pauljag900]

Hi,having done a relatively small n gauge layout i decided to have a go with the tram system.I ve just recieved my first order via ebay from plazajapan,a basic oval set and a small tram.i ve spent a long time looking at other layouts and plans and i ve decided on the one i ve designed myself.IVe ordered some track and now hope it all fits together as planned.i m going to keep it simple for now with three tracks going up and down in a loop,two trams and a bus system.i wanted to have a three block layout,a japanese street,a german street, bacause i really like the detail of faller kits and i worked there for a year and a half and an english street because thats where i live.I ll concentrate on the center three tracks for now then add in the two outer ones later,the red and blue are 140 and 177 tomix tram and the orange is 103 bus track,on the outer two tracks,one will be a tram and the other a bus.I ll also add in some crossovers etc at a later date.ANy advice or help will be very much appreciated.the tram layout will be approx 6x3 overall and will form part of a layout 10x4 which will include in the main a double viadut train track running around the outside,probably katos v13 with canted curves.

I

do have one question and wonder if anyone can answer it for me,if i wanted to cross the tram track with the bus i m assuming i would stop the bus track flush with the tram track,would the bus carry on going in a straight line over the tram track and then pick up the magnet on its own track once it reach the other side of the tram track? I hope that makes sense and you lot can understand what the hell i m going on about! Ha ha,i will post more pics as it develops.

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

looks like fun! We have a club member here that only buys trains that he has ridden on and his big layout is swiss, us and japanese as those are the places he has ridden a lot of trains!

 

the bus may not make it across the tram track as it bumps across the tracks the steering may go a bit off. you may have to see about trying to embed some steel wire under the tram track for it to keep on track with. when you get your bus set, experiment! 

 

i played around quite a bit with the faller bus and it would stay pretty much straight for a while w/o the wire, but bumps would knock it off course. i just got a tomix bus to see how the steering magnet holds and how tight the steering is compared to the faller.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[brill27mcb]

Hi Paul,

 

The 37mm straight pieces you inserted in the center track would allow it to clear itself at the bottom-middle of your sketch. To have two bus lanes fit between them as well, you would need to add 2 more 37mm straight pieces at each location where you have 1 now. That will make a very wide street at that bottom-middle point! I am assuming that all curves on the center track are the same radius (140mm). On the other hand, if you want all tram track to be 140 and 177mm radius, then your bus curved sections at that middle 18-degree bend would need to be 214mm to go on the outside of them, and we'll need to re-figure how many 37mm straight pieces would be needed.

 

When you get some bus "track" look at the underside to see the ferrous wire that guides the steering. There are already grooves under the tram track where pieces of such wire can be added lengthwise, crosswise and at 45-degree angles. Hopefully a crosswise groove will line up with your needs, otherwise gouge one into the underside yourself.

 

Rich K.

Edited April 10, 2014 by brill27mcb

[Pauljag900]

Jeff,thanks mate,i thought that may be the case,and yes i plan to experiment,let me know how the tomix stands up compared to the faller.

 

Rich,thanks for the reply,the sketch is only rough to be honest mate,i m guessing it s not going to be as straight forward as i think,also i think it s not very clear on the sketch as it should be.The blue line is second radius,however on the middle curve i m going to swop the 140 and 170 over,so the second radius (140) will have the third radius(177) in the middle section and vice versa,as for the bus track i realised that the center section would be the fourth radius(214) and thats what i ordered.As for the addition of the two extra lanes at the front you confirmed my fears by saying it would be very wide,i m thinking i could maybe add in a couple of kinks as it s almost 6' long that way it may not look so bad and maybe a bit more realistic,that said i could be governed by space available and may have no choice,the overall base board size is 10'x4' and i need tto leave enough space to fit in the double viaduct track which overall i m guessing will be about 25cm(10")5""at the back and 5"at the front.It could be that i m trying to fit too much into too little space!ha ha.Ijust wanted as much activity and movement as i could possibly get,three trams,two buses and two trains should be more than enough to keep all my grand children happy! I ve got some bus track and tram track here that i bought second hand but unopened from ebay so i ll have a look at them tomorrow and see what i can do,thanks for your advice mate much appreciated,have you ever modified the tracks yourself? If so was it successfull?once again thank you for your help and advice

[brill27mcb]

No, I have not modified the the tracks myself, but I do remember someone posting a video on this forum a while back that showed someone's homemade 90-degree grade crossing. The builder did do the modification, and (if I remember right) also rigged a motorized moving under-road magnet in concert with the crossing gates, so that the bus would stop and wait for the train to pass. The bus performed very well crossing over the rails and flangeways. Anybody remember the link to this?

 

Rich K.

Edited April 11, 2014 by brill27mcb

[cteno4]

rich,

 

yes the videos are here in the forum in one of the moving bus threads. ill search for it later when i have soem time

 

jeff

[Pauljag900]

Thats brilliany mate! Thanks,i ll look forward to seeing the vids

[cteno4]

paul,

 

here are some of the moving bus threads we have had

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/2249-tomytec-car-system/

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/8351-kato-tram-layout-moving-bus/

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/6217-tomytec-bus-system/

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/7629-tomytec-painted-anything-bus-related-thread/

 

and the videos of crossings

 

 

 

 

and for a totally different kind of crossing!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drw5Oylsfgs#t=50

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9i6VwsqO50#t=103

 

and just a great bus layout

 

[Pauljag900]

At last i ve recieved my tram track from plaza-japan! I ve decided on my own layout which is probably a mix from the ones i ve seen on here and youtube.

I ve decided on a three lane tram and two lane bus layout,the baseboard measures 177cmx77cm,the last of the tram track is on its way with the first pieces of bus track,which will complete the outside lanes then all i ll need is a basic bus set to complete the middle oval.the outside track will run around the outside of the board,as i mentioned earlier this baseboard will form part of a larger layout and this circuit will run in front of where the train station will eventually be,the middle track will run up and down two loops which will be shopping streets and the small oval in the middle, which i may extend yet will be the plazza area with all high rise office buildings.the first bus lane will run along side the middle track and the second alongside the small oval.

My main concern at the moment is that along the front of the baseboard there is a long straight running from one end to the other,it is going to have a total of seven tracks running almost the full length separated by a static roadway with three lanes on one side and four on the other with a small space in between which i m thinking i could separate with a high fence or hedge grow,i m going to see how it looks when completed and may feel the need to change it.

Many thanks for the bus info,i ve watched all the videos and will try various options in due course.

[Pauljag900]

I ve just watched a video on YouTube that shows two trams being run on the same track via one controller,is this possible without causing any damage to the tram motor or controller?

[cteno4]

Sure this is fine to do. Usually you find one will run faster than the other and eventually catch up with the other!

 

Jeff

[kvp]

A common trick to running two trains on a single loop in analog is to make a small stop track that is isolated and can be controlled by a switch. This way it's possible to stop the faster train for a few seconds before it catches the slower.

[Pauljag900]

Thanks for the repies guys,not planning on doing it just yet as i have three circuits and only three trams,but the trams i have i bought via ebay for a good price so thought at least they ll get me up and running,but in the future its a thought when i finally purchase the ones i really want.

My track layout is almost complete,i m just waiting for the last of the bus track for the outside lane,i ve had to alter it slightly from my original plan due to limited space but i ve still managed three tram and two bus circuits,i ll upload some more photos soon as the bus track arrives any time soon!!!

[Pauljag900]

Having finally decided on my layout plan and recieved all my track and bus systems. I decided to re construct the base board as I had a slight bump in the middle of the old one caused by a bent baton which I had nt noticed when putting it together,classic beginners mistake! This time I ve used 12mm mdf strengthened with 12 mm ribs across the Center,slightly more robust but still light enough to handle.it measures 155cm x 85cm and was given two coats of water based emulsion to seal it.

The next step will be to lay the tracks which I m going to do this weekend.the rear of the board will eventually be where the train station will be,as I ve mentioned before this tram layout will form part of a larger layout and therefor I m going to leave all the track on the left hand side loosely fixed so I can extend it if required.hopefully,if all goes well I will post again next week with all track installed.

[Pauljag900]

Track laid out prior to fixing.I then connected the power supplies and ran a small bead of glue to the edges of the track while everything was running,I did nt want to glue it all down then find I had a bad connection or any other problems.I m going to use laminate flooring foam underlay boards to infill the rest of the board to bring it up to the same level as the track then cover it with black artists card to give me a base to start with the scenic side of things.Some of the foam is already cut and just needs glueing into place.the rest I ll cut once the track is dry.

[Bernard]

Looks great! I like what you did with the transformers, nicely hidden.

[Pauljag900]

Thanks mate,i do nt lnow about you but i hate wires showing everywhere! They make the whole layout look scruffy and untidy! I try to keep as much hidden as possible,even so sometimes its unavoidable.now the fun starts with all the scenic stuff! The bit i like best.

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

Nice design to have the transformer shelf be the support super structure. Nice to get the transformers and such hidden away. I built drawers on my layout as a kid and then a couple of friends layouts to hide thie transformers like this and then can be pulled out partway for use and all the way for wiring and such.

 

Foam and the black photo board sounds perfect. When making streets up to regular unitrak track I found that a layer of 3/8" foamcore and then the thin dense black photo board was perfect in height to track level and nice matte finish as you said. Only worry is you don't want to do the regular flooding dilute glue or acrylic medium type of scenery on then photo board, but thicker glues and even thicker acrylic paints should do ok to stick down scenery. If some is still loose you can mask off areas and spray with some hair spray to fix everything well.

 

Not sure if this would work but might experiment with a few light coats of cheap laquer spray paint on the top and edges of the photo board before you glue it down, might work well to seal it up well to take moisture better.

 

Great progress!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Thanks jeff,I ve made a start on it today,I cut the centrepieces of foam before I started fixing the track down,the outside edges I ll cut later,once the foam was cut to size I then glued the black card to it using undiluted pva wood glue,I then simply trimmed the card to the shape of the foam and glued the whole thing to the baseboard,it seems to have worked out ok.I ve then taped it down on the edges to the track overlapping onto the track by approx 2mm using a high quality very sticky silver tape to ensure nothing lifts away at a later date.This will then be covered with either pavement card or ballast depending on where it is.ITs all a bit of a mither but it was the best I could come up with.SO far it seems to have worked ok.THe pavement card is on its way as are the street lights and cars with working lights,I think I ve more or less got all I need to complete the basic layout with just the buildings to buy and construct later.

[Pauljag900]

Just a few pics showing the base board filled in between tracks using laminate floor underlay glued to the baseboard and fastened to the track with a very sticky silver tape which I overlapped onto the track by about 2mm just to hold it all down.

[Pauljag900]

Just a few pics showing the base board and scenery.Not too sure about my weathering skills! First attempt at doing it,as most of the areas will be covered by buildings and scenic stuff I m going to leave it as it is for now and rectify it later if I think I need to.

Next step is to put some wiring in place,16v for motors,12 v for building and car lights and 6v for street lights,all of which I ve now got.

It's far from perfect but for my first attempt I think it's turned out ok.

[Pauljag900]

I ve now added a few cars with lights and some static buses and cars and also the street lights.Now it's time to flip it over and do all the wiring! It could be some time till my next update!

[Densha]

Looks like an RC racing track. :P ;)

 

You're very fast with setting this up though, look at my still not having done anything even though I'm planning since years back.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Densha

[Pauljag900]

Hi mate,to be honest I wanted to try and cram as much onto it as I could but have to admit I was worried that it would look like a race track! I m just hoping that by the time all the buildings and scenery go on it that it won't look quite so bad.

I guess I m not really a true enthusiast in the terms of making it look real,but I love model making,the problem solving and then actually getting it all to work!!

It ll all slow down now,the wiring is next,ha ha

[JR 500系]

Oh! Looking good! Very nice layout!   :)