The Faller Car System

[loathar]

I wunder () how hard it would be to take the drive system out of the Faller cars and put it in a Malibu car?

[SteamFreak]

I read somewhere else that the speed can be controlled by embedding additional magnets, but the trucks do make jack-rabbit starts and stops. This would also make grade crossing accidents a very real danger, unless there's a way to make the vehicles recognize the signal activation.

[loathar]

If I remember right, it's a magnet system that goes under the layout and the cars have little magnets under their noses that pull them along. That HUGE German layout that everybody bashes all the time has it installed. (Wunderland or something like that??) They show it on their web site.

Edit http://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/data/cms/en/000/

 

[gmcrail]

As I understand it, Nelson, the Faller system uses a steel wire imbedded in the road surface, and the vehicles are battery-powered. The vehicles are steered by a tiny magnet between the front wheels, which follows the imbedded wire.  You don't have any control over the vehicles once placed on the layout, but if set up properly, the system can be a very effective scenic attraction.   I've seen it used on a module of a local modular train club. The guy had the traffic going both ways, looping back on the other lane out of sight.  Worked pretty well.

[SteamFreak]

I had no idea that something like this existed, but Faller of Germany has developed a revolutionary system for automating vehicles in HO scale. It's the first time I've seen the trains take a back seat to the vehicles on a layout. My German is a little rusty, so if anyone out there can translate some of the finer points, feel free. It's a shame they have no models of US prototypes.

Faller Car System