A Couple of Small Tram Layouts

[bill937ca]

My original interest in Tomix track and Japanese N gauge trains was in modeling streetcars with tight curves, easy street track, power routing switches which can also be used as spring switches and modernized rolling stock.  Since I started buying Japanese trains I have accumulated a collection of over 25 streetcars and interurbans.

In early 2009 I set out to create a small portable stand-alone tram layout apart from my train layout. The base is a Mahogany finish 19 7/8 x 13 ¾ servicing tray purchased at the mall during a post-Christmas sale.  A piece of pink foam donated by the LHS provides the base inside the tray.

Originally I had a fairly elaborate track plan, but that never really went anywhere past laying out track and some foam pavement.

Last fall I created a simple loop.  It uses Tomix track covered with Tomix 3076 Tram Rail Accessories Kit with C103 curves as standard and allows one tram to run in an endless loop.  At this time the layout has no permanent structures or other details.  These will go to a second larger layout.  Power is usually supplied by a Tomytec battery powered Tetsudou Collection Tram Type Controller. Its a little rough around the edges, but it makes a good place to test new trams and it can travel around my place from the coffee table to the dining room table to storage or to on top of the bulletin board base for my new layout where it sits now.

Later in 2010 the serving tray layout will be upgraded with Tomix Wide Tram Rail.

Later my plans for a larger layout...

[bill937ca]

When photos of the Tomix Wide Tram Rail appeared earlier this year it didn’t take me long to decide to create a new tram layout.

For this layout the base is a 36” x 24” cork bulletin board sitting on a desktop.  There will be two loops that meet in a three track terminal at one end of the layout, like where trams run along paved PRW adjacent to parallel roadways such as at Hiroden stations at Nishi-Hiroshima and JR Hiroshima.

Trams will also run along narrow four lane streets with reserved streetcar tracks.  There will be both sections without sidewalks (like Hiroden stop M14 and on the Hankai Tramway and the Okayama Electric Railway) and sections with sidewalks and reserved tracks (like Hiroden stops U12, U13, U14, U15).

My rolling stock will be typical of streetcars found on Japanese trams systems and on street running sections of Enoden, Fukui Railway, Keihan Keishin lines or the abandoned Meitetsu 600V Gifu interurban lines.  But C103 curves are too tight for most Modemo articulated cars, so most cars will be four axle or two-car non articulated trains—which is fine by me.

[bill937ca]

Another photo from the temporary layout.  Still waiting for my stuff so I can get to work on the new layout.