I saw a model railroad on youtube that had not only the usual moving trains but also moving cars and trucks on adjacent roads. Has anyone else seen anything like that? The HO scale model vehicles were behaving just as in real life...changing lanes, passing, evening signalling... very impressive. How is this done?
It's most likely the Faller Car System. http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.17.109/lg.en/Car-System.html
A steel wire is embedded in the center of the travel land of the roadway. The cars are battery powered. There is a small magnet that guides the front wheels along the wire. There is a stop-start switch, again magnetically activated, on the underside of the car which may be used by control devices to stop the car at grade crossings, traffic lights, etc.
It's a well-executed but fundamentally simple system. It's also pretty expensive.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I assume this is the miniature wonderland in Germany. It is a huge layout representing different countries around the world. They even have a working airport where planes take off and landing. There is a huge tank of water thatsimulates tides, and they run RC ship in it. They have a huge computer that controls the cars and will create different scenes, ex: in the US part, there is a wildfire and firetrucks are directed there, while the traffic passes in the left lane. It can create accidents, and sends emergency vehicles, and creates traffic jams. I remember hearing most of the chassis are scratch built. They contain a battery and small motor. However, there are commercial systems available.
Back in the 70s when model car racing (or 'slot cars' as they were called) was alot more popular than today, much like our hobby, some strived to make it more realistic. Thus "TCR" or Total Control Racing was invented. Oh man it was the monkeys bananna compared to the instantly out of date slotted cars.
You could change lanes with the flick of a button. And all this was due to removing the slot, and adding 3 little steel rails in place of it. Noticable, but hardly so. What you saw on youtube was undoubtedly a similar version. Albeit today we have all these fancy shmancy ways of digitally controlling things which now puts working turn signals, headlights, etc. on "TCR" type cars.
Yesteryear, model trains were only DC controlled. Now we marvel at DCC and the bells and whistles associated with it. All you saw was todays version of a somewhat long gone hobby using cars instead of trains. Its not hard to fathom these tiny cars are a product of todays smaller electronics. The suprise isnt what you saw, the suprise is why arent more and more folks using this on their layouts? I can only summize the answer is the same I would give if asked..... I model trains - not cars.
The techy answer is, it is all done with micro dc voltage, and digital command control. Just like we control model trains now. Except this is probably run by pre-programming instead of alot of hand held controls. Not uncommon to public displays like you saw.
PM,
I'm not familiar with TCR. However, Mr. B is right if it's video from the Hamburg display RR. It's the Faller Road System there.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
To clarify: TCR has been long gone. Not suprising few have heard of it. And if you have, Jimmy Carter was your president then. I can remember wanting to take the control rails out of the plastic trackway and mount them in my HO scale roads. Never did it. Modifying the cars for low speed was beyond my abilities at that time - I was a kid. The expense too, was beyond my allowence. It was all ear marked for trains anyways!
My reply was to explain the theory. Be it Faller, or a custom made system, it is not a new idea. Just today, we can enhance the old concept with todays technology. Et voila! Besides, he asked how its done, not who did it.
PS: Ive seen the exhibit, quite impressive. Would love to see it in real life. Even the working airport.
PM Railfan Back in the 70s when model car racing (or 'slot cars' as they were called) was alot more popular than today, much like our hobby, some strived to make it more realistic. Thus "TCR" or Total Control Racing was invented. Oh man it was the monkeys bananna compared to the instantly out of date slotted cars. You could change lanes with the flick of a button. And all this was due to removing the slot, and adding 3 little steel rails in place of it. Noticable, but hardly so. What you saw on youtube was undoubtedly a similar version. Albeit today we have all these fancy shmancy ways of digitally controlling things which now puts working turn signals, headlights, etc. on "TCR" type cars. Yesteryear, model trains were only DC controlled. Now we marvel at DCC and the bells and whistles associated with it. All you saw was todays version of a somewhat long gone hobby using cars instead of trains. Its not hard to fathom these tiny cars are a product of todays smaller electronics. The suprise isnt what you saw, the suprise is why arent more and more folks using this on their layouts? I can only summize the answer is the same I would give if asked..... I model trains - not cars. The techy answer is, it is all done with micro dc voltage, and digital command control. Just like we control model trains now. Except this is probably run by pre-programming instead of alot of hand held controls. Not uncommon to public displays like you saw.
http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.18.39.48/lg.en/ecm.p/car-system.html
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Another method that was used at the Smithsonian some years ago, IIRC, was one in which the road was a moving belt with the automobiles attached to the belt. The belt was continuious and when the belt was moving the cars could be seen moving along as if they were self propelled. But I believe the viewing angle for the museum visitor was from the side or the road was far enough away that the viewer could not see the road move. And the areas where the vehicles would go under the layout or come back up were hidden.
But I believe there was another twist in that the top and bottom sides of the layout were both sceniced and the sides could be flipped to show a different scene altogether. Of course, the road and the vehicles did not change. It was quite ingenious for the time.
Victor A. Baird
www.erstwhilepublications.com
For a time when I was a kid, I tried using zip-zaps (mini-RC cars that are close to S scale) but they were way too fast for model railroading.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.