Added trains to my expanded layout

[AMH1955]

The Tyco Force is Strong.
The model railroad accessories that look like US-1 stations with their colorful plastic and sculpted simulated rocks lured me over to the dark force of model railroading. I swear I won't make my layout bigger. I also swore I'd never mix trains and US-1, bad things happen at railroad crossings. US-1 vehicles have the right to run free in the USA without getting demolished by a train, I think it's in the Constitution? I have that all figured out thanks to the interwebs, just have to order the hardware, all model railroad stuff. The trucks will stop at the railroad crossing then go once the train clears it , crossing lights and all that. I did brake section testing today , all zeroed in with fastest trucks, they take longer to stop when the power is cut than you would think with those rear pick-ups. The accessories are the fun part, they're different for sure, I like the gigantinormous piggyback trailer loader-unloader forklift, it was trashed but I got it going and cleaned up, now to get some piggyback trailers. It's all out of scale to US-1 but who cares, US-1 is out of scale within itself. The airport airplane is an amusement park ride in HO scale for kiddieland.

I'm going to motorize that crane, the hand crank don't do it for me, the glow in the dark pipes are cool.

 

[suprb6970]

I bought the crane as well. But I can't get it to work. Its bent or warped. It won't pick up the pipe, it just knocks them over. I thought about just modifying a US1 crane to pick up the glow in the dark pipes. Just use the red crane part and trash the rest.

I all so want to motorize the crank as well. Maybe put a guard shack over the motor to hide it?

 

[AMH1955]

That crane is brand new, it was sealed in a crunched box, and it did the same thing. It took me some time and a lot of frustration but by bending the wire just right I got it to work. A can motor flange will fit snugly right into that opening for the crank, a couple of brackets fabricated and attach it to the gear and it should fly. The guard shack sound like a plan, has to be round to look right and have a spire roof though. How about a lighthouse? They're round and it would be big enough for HO size people.

 

[SimpleB]

The rail crossing with the Bachmann EZ-Track looks very clean. Did you do that in-house? Been thinking about doing something similar, but I noticed that the EZ-Track sits slightly higher than the Tyco track segments. Did you plane that down with a belt sander, or did you have to use a dremel and files? Or did you just sort of sit the Tyco track on top of the E-Track after cutting out the space for the train rails?

 

[AMH1955]

The rail crossing with the Bachmann EZ-Track looks very clean. Did you do that in-house? Been thinking about doing something similar, but I noticed that the EZ-Track sits slightly higher than the Tyco track segments. Did you plane that down with a belt sander, or did you have to use a dremel and files? Or did you just sort of sit the Tyco track on top of the E-Track after cutting out the space for the train rails?

The track is older Life-Like black Power-loc steel track. The Bachmann E-Z track looks sort of the same but has totally different connections. Walthers bought life-like or something because they have the Power-loc track under their name now in gray plastic. The crossing is a Tyco Road and Rail, I just painted it gray and fixed a couple of broken tabs and the rails were all loose and had to be secured. The Power-loc track is about 3/16" higher than the US-1 track, not enough to worry about, look how much thicker some of the station bases are than the track, you back uphill into them. I used the 3" Power-Loc to regular track adapters to connect to the crossing. I have a piece of foam board underneath the crossing to make up the difference and keep stress off those connections when the heavy locomotive crosses. That crossing could be made but by the time you figure it out and put all the, time, money, and energy into it you're better off buying one IMO. There are close tolerances and some tricks, like how the power carries through the track rails with a gap in them, there is some little piece in there somewhere? Rails thinned or made that way and bent in a "U" down to clear the guide pins. Everything has to be just right, track height has to be perfect or the coupler steel brake line deals will hit the slot rails and decouple but the rail has to be high enough for the trucks, truck pins will hit the train rail if it isn't back enough, all kinds of stuff. Even with the Tyco track it takes some fine tuning to get it right. The crossing works good but is really noisy when the train crosses, especially with steel wheels on the cars. Those wheels running sound just like the sound a rain shower makes in my backyard when the rain drops hit the tree leaves in the Summertime. It almost puts me to sleep at the throttle, I'll have to put in a dead man switch.








have

 

[AMH1955]

I did the crossing and it works! Lights flash, trucks stop then go. Now I have to put in a bell to drive me nuts., figure out a building to cover the flasher and relay units.

 

[Petvet]

Nicely done. Can you share the electrical and how it automatically stops the vehicles at the crossing?

 

[AMH1955]

Nicely done. Can you share the electrical and how it automatically stops the vehicles at the crossing?

Thank you. I started a new thread with the details.

 

[Softball]

I did the crossing and it works! Lights flash, trucks stop then go. Now I have to put in a bell to drive me nuts., figure out a building to cover the flasher and relay units.

How could I get with you to find out what materials I need to configure the stop and go at Railroad crossings like your video shows. Thanks for sharing, Rich

 

[AMH1955]

How could I get with you to find out what materials I need to configure the stop and go at Railroad crossings like your video shows. Thanks for sharing, Rich

Hey, I posted another thread with all the details and materials needed.

 

[SimpleB]

After losing a series of auctions for rail crossing track, I finally managed to acquire some Aurora Model Motoring track segments at a local model train and hobby show last weekend. I similarly acquired some lock-and-joiner/quick-lok adapters, which can then be connected to modern TOMY track (adapters en route via Slot Car Central), and finally from TOMY to Tyco.

However, I'm thinking I can economize on space if I kibosh the L&J/Quick-lok adapter, pass those on to someone who needs them more, and make a transition from Aurora to Tomy to Tyco by just screwing the Aurora track and quick-lok/TOMY adapters into a slab of bass-wood after cutting off the quick-lok tab and butting up the tracks to make a good connection. The lane spacing at the crossings will be a bit narrower than stock Tyco, but I'll have three (3) at-grade crossings to make use of for less than $100 USD. It's a bit tedious of a workaround, but at least I won't have to mutilate any OEM track with a dremel and soldering iron.

These cutie pies have a date with a bath of evaporust.

 

[SimpleB]

Ugh, so much work just to run a train with our slots. Did you try to find any black road/rail Tyco track? I’m not sure what those sell for, but I’d hope not the weight in platinum of the US-1 ones.

I’ve been trying to get two more US-1 road/rail tracks, but IBD if I’m going to spend $150+ on them. I just wanna be able to add the Joe train set into my US-1 Joe set. I was **** lucky to get a very nice 3235 set so I have two already. But the pricing is just not worth it to me.

If you could, what about cutting the ends from some US-1 track and attaching it to the Aurora crossings? Without using all those adapters. I’m thinking like how most stuff is attached by means of melting pins, ie the truck grills and side chrome. Maybe some initial glue and then “welding” them together on the underside.

Also to keep it in spec to the 9” of the real ones, so there isn’t a weird distance creating stress on the track, you could measure back enough to remove the plastic track and then use the rails to help hold the US-1 quick-clic ends..

Jeeze, thinking about all this makes that $150/piece track seem not so bad after all.. ??

Tyco road and rail segments were nowhere to be found. I heard guys discussing their mere existence and cost over my shoulder at times, but it was a rail-centric show and I was on on the prowl way harder than anyone else where slots where concerned.

I'm already sort of cheating by physically modifying the AFX Speed-Lok to TOMY adapters, but I figure that's the least awful way of going about it. In a perfect world, I'd like to avoid physically modifying hard-to-find OEM rail-crossing track segments in a way that can't be reversed. This stuff is becoming harder to find, increasingly expensive, and someday I'd like to think my kids will carelessly sell it for less than it's worth to someone who can take it apart and do what they will with the various segments.

I guess Life-Like made an HO crossing, but it's even harder to find than Tyco segments. Also, some German manufacturers made at-grade crossings, but I don't even want to think of what it would take to join that to Tyco track. This way, at least, I can do it with parts that mate for a total length of 15"; same as the long Tyco straightaway lengths.

Additionally, there's the guy on ebay selling 3D printed repros for the same cost as OEM parts, but I'll take a CAD course, model my own and sell them for half the price before I entertain that nonsense. Hell, one could sell the .STL files with a non-commercial license for 1/4 the cost and still clean up. Ridiculous business practice in [current year]; it's just a matter of time before someone with the requite modeling skills gets annoyed by the mark-up and decides to offer it cheaper.

 

[SimpleB]

Makes complete sense, I didn’t consider that…

the bane of all collectible hobbies.. I’ve seen so much home built stuff more and more the last couple years. I refuse to buy any of it. It feels like IP theft and counterfeiting to me..

I don't mind reproduction pieces, personally, so long as they're honest about what the product is and price it accordingly. For instance, the guys selling replacement Peterbilt grilles or Kenworth exhausts for like $6? They're doing the lords work, imo, preventing me from having to tear apart OEM product to source missing pieces for my own collection. The Shapeways reproduction kit is the only way I'll realistically own a wrecker (I'll pull the trigger on that some time in the next few weeks, methinks). Likewise, I enjoy being able to order a Dodge Van body in resin for $7 to paint to my liking instead of shelling out for old-stock TCR bodies to "customize".

What grinds my gears is when merchants are selling reproduction parts for OEM prices and not being honest about the provenance of the piece. Likewise, the guy selling custom rail crossings for an exorbitant markup just feels predatory to me; taking advantage of older folks in the hobby who might not realize just how stupid simple it is to produce 3D printed product once you've got your CAD files ready to go. Granted, someone had to draw those models, and I'm sure there was a bit of trial-and-error in hammering out the production process, but not to the tune of selling it for the same price as OEM product. It's the same guy selling 3D printed Shell garages and phone booths for OEM prices; the model for which is available to use for free on a non-commercial license! Now that is theft. Charging for use of the machine and materials is one thing, but to take someone elses work, add the billboard and pass it off as original work with an exorbitant markup? I hope someone eats his lunch.

If Mattell cared about the US1 IP they'd do literally anything about the various reproduction .STLs available online, but the dude who drew the garage and phone booth gave it to the world for free, and it seems gross for the ebay seller to profit off of that while simultaneously hiding their own overpriced designs behind a walled garden.

 

[AMH1955]

I got a nice black Tyco Road and Rail rail crossing on eBay last week for twenty bucks.
I found a building to cover the electronics, built it and installed it. Walthers Cornerstone Express Freight Lines, a new competitor for Red Line Trucking.

 

[SimpleB]

I should complain about not being able to afford specific pieces more often. Every time I resign myself to defeat I run across a listing for the item I want at a price I can stomach a few days later. Going to spend today day re-working the layout to integrate these beauties. If my local store has an Autoworld intersection in-stock I might just be able to settle on a finalized layout design. If that ends up being the case I'll post about it in a separate thread. Still going to work on converting the Tyco 5752s and the Model Motoring segments and post documentation of that process once it's said and done, since I've identified most of the challenges there and have been working on solutions.

 

[Tyco Trucking]

View attachment 763

I should complain about not being able to afford specific pieces more often. Every time I resign myself to defeat I run across a listing for the item I want at a price I can stomach a few days later. Going to spend today day re-working the layout to integrate these beauties. If my local store has an Autoworld intersection in-stock I might just be able to settle on a finalized layout design. If that ends up being the case I'll post about it in a separate thread. Still going to work on converting the Tyco 5752s and the Model Motoring segments and post documentation of that process once it's said and done, since I've identified most of the challenges there and have been working on solutions.

Nooooooice! I actually got on eBay last night, first time in a while, and saw the multitude of crossings that sold the last couple months. Kinda pissed me off cause I’ve been looking to get a couple of them. Took a hiatus and that’s what I get.. I’m glad you were able to secure a few!

 

[AMH1955]

I saw all those crossings on my auction spotter app, some good deals but I have enough of them. I have three waiting but only have room for one in a 5 x 10 layout with all the stations unless I go bigger and the couches and TV have to stay in my subterranean fortress of solitude, me and the dogs crash down there. I already take up half the basement with my Carrera track, it's a work in progress too. Both aren't finished, Carrera was complete with a Carnival at one time, keep redoing them both but that's the fun part, lol.

 

[SimpleB]

Nooooooice! I actually got on eBay last night, first time in a while, and saw the multitude of crossings that sold the last couple months. Kinda pissed me off cause I’ve been looking to get a couple of them. Took a hiatus and that’s what I get.. I’m glad you were able to secure a few!

Yeah, I got super lucky with these. Checked ebay on a lark after getting home from work late at night last weekend, and spotted a seller offering all three of these in separate listings, so I pounced on them. I've bought a lot of good stuff from sellers in Pennsylvania, in particular. There seems to be an abundance of US1 stuff there (vintage slot cars in general), and it tends to be priced much more affordably than similar items from sellers in the Midwest.

I saw all those crossings on my auction spotter app, some good deals but I have enough of them. I have three waiting but only have room for one in a 5 x 10 layout with all the stations unless I go bigger and the couches and TV have to stay in my subterranean fortress of solitude, me and the dogs crash down there. I already take up half the basement with my Carrera track, it's a work in progress too. Both aren't finished, Carrera was complete with a Carnival at one time, keep redoing them both but that's the fun part, lol.

View attachment 765View attachment 764

Those are both great layouts, thank-you for sharing. I'm thinking I might have to fire up the printer and print up some more supports so I can crib that half-figure-eight overpass; I really like how you're able to economize on space with that. At present I've only got a small overpass loop to accommodate an elevated gravel loader, but I managed to find a log loader in operable condition for a fair price rather unexpectedly two weeks ago, so I have to find a spot to squeeze that in. I also need to get some tables and throw out a bunch of junk in the basement so I've got space for a permanent setup.

Biddle's story about the attack of the killer roomba makes me feel way better about not being the only guy with a semi-permanent layout taking up most of a bedroom floor.