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What people are asking us at ModelMotorist.Com.
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Question:
Hello,
I was browsing your site, and it contains a lot of interesting information.
With reference to the Aurora steering wheel controllers with forward/reverse and brake, you note: ** Warning **
This is a reversing controller and requires an isloated ground terminal track. Using a reversing controller on a
layout with a common groung (typo (corrected)) terminal track will cause damage to your controllers and/or
transformer. I have never noticed a difference in terminal tracks. How can I identify a common ground terminal
track?
Answer:
Hi
If you look on the bottom side of the terminal tracks shown in these links:
http://modelmotorist.com/web-content/tj9t2ctl.jsp
This terminal track has three screws on the top and one of the connecting straps on the bottom connects to two rail (common ground).
The way this track was made one lane would go the opposite direction as the other, unless the magnets in one car are installed in the opposite direction.
http://modelmotorist.com/web-content/tj9t2itl.jsp
This track has four screws and there are four straps on the bottom, one for each rail (isolated ground).
The screw count on the top is unreliable, always look at the bottom.
Some of the terminal tracks Aurora made had four screws but three straps on the bottom.
Some of the clip on terminals from Aurora also had four screws and three straps.
Jerome A Lepinski
Response:
Jerome,
Thank you very much for responding to my query. It all makes sense, I guess my only terminal track experience has been with the
isolated types. have a good weekend and I appreciate the knowledge.
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Question:
Hello there,
I'm from England and I'm trying to accumulate a large tcr track. I've been buying the original Ideal tcr track and want to know if it's possible to incorporate the large banked corner from the Tyco tcr series. Like you I'm very good at working with plastics and adhesives, particularly polystyrene sheet, and was wondering if anything could be done to match the two up. Even better would be if you could provide some adapted sections.
I gather from your website that this simply is not possible, but however I am hopeful that possibly something could be done. Any advice would be most welcomed.
Many thanks indeed.
Answer:
Hi Dave
Is this the Ideal TCR connection you have?
http://modelmotorist.com/web-content/idtc2lel.jsp
The connection Tyco TCR High Bank uses is this one.
http://modelmotorist.com/web-content/tytc2lel.jsp
The Tyco TCR High Bank track is what I refer to as a "Dead Track", meaning
it does not conduct electricity from the incoming side to the outgoing side.
So if you cut both ends of the Tyco High Bank flat and the ends of two pieces of
Ideal TCR long straight tracks flat, then you can glue them directly together.
Be sure to add something to the bottom of the connection to reduce the
chance of breakage from bending.
Because the High Bank is a "Dead Track" only 1 can be used in a layout
without additional terminal tracks being wired into the layout.
Try to place the Terminal track as close to the opposite side of the layout
to balance the power fading around the layout.
Adding additional terminal tracks is a good idea as the layout gets larger,
but is not as simple as it should be to do.
I have not done an example of adding terminal tracks to a Slotless Layouts.
I will do that in the future, since it is not quite the same as Slot Layout wiring.
If you want to use the rest of the track that comes with the High Bank curve set,
you will want to do something similar to the custom adapter example below.
http://modelmotorist.com/web-content/cusadapl.jsp
Hope this is helpful.
Response:
Wow,
Yes, this helps a lot, and I understand what you mean by dead track. I'm also not too bad with a soldering iron, so I may just simply connect the two ends together with wire around the banked curve to allow electricity to flow better throughout the whole length of track.
Brilliant, many many thanks indeed, and well done for a great website..
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Question:
I have some track sections with no names or numbers on them, how do I find out who made these
sections of track?
Answer:
The first step is to look through the
Identifications: Connection Style / Brand
pages to find what brand the track is. Then go to the
Identifications: Track pages
and select the brand to find out what section of track you have.
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Question:
I have an old Atlas track layout and would like to expand it, do I have to find more Atlas tracks to
expand it?
Answer:
There is no easy answer to this question. The simplest thing to do
is stay with the same brand of tracks. The next simplest method is to go to
Compatibilities: Track to Track and see what brands of tracks connect
directly and what adapters tracks are available. The other option is to create
Custom Adapters to the brand of track that offers the selection of tracks
you want to use.
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Question:
Do you have any idea whether the HO cars available in the US mostly e.g.
Tomy, Tyco, Life Like will run on the Micro Scalextric (Hornby) track sold in the UK?
It doesn't appear to be any different from their tracks, but I have been told that the 'rails'
might be too high.
Answer:
The rail height of Microscalextric tracks are reasonable close to the same
height as everyone else tracks, the only cars you will have a problem with are Matchbox's slot cars.
Matchbox cars use a narrower standard for their rails so their pick-up shoes miss the
rails on everyone elses tracks.
The rail height of Microscalextric tracks is approximately 0.005 Inches
higher than Life-Like tracks or 0.1 Millimeter. Stock Aurora - Tyco - Life-Like vehicles
should not be a problem. A highly modified "Super Racer" may be a problem but I doubt it.
Rail height is not maintained to a critical tolerance meaning the height of the rails in
the same brand of track can vary significantly. If you do come across a vehicle that
drags on the rails, you can increase the tire size to compensate for the difference.
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And you get 12 Tips to extend the life and improve the performance of your valuable slot cars!
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You also get Scale Distance Charts for all of the common Tracks available from most manufacturers.
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