Animated highway ideas?


weekendrailroader

weekendrailroader

Guy with the Green Hat
Most of all model railroads have moving trains, but not as many have animated highways/ roads. I'd like to have moving cars on my layout's roads.

I've recently ended up with a good deal of HO slot car track...

Disclaimer: Okay, I know that "HO" slot cars" are not HO scale. However, I'm the kind of guy who runs Tyco equipment right alongside my Athearn Bluebox units on my brass and steel track. DCC, Genesis units, and even plastic handrails are nowhere to be found. Out-of-scale cars don't really bother me :D

Okay, with that said, I'm thinking of installing a loop of slotcar track on the layout. It will be used to model a two-lane highway. I plan to power the track with two AA batteries (3 volts as opposed to the usual 12 - 24 volts). The power will be routed through an Atlas reverser (built to handle DC voltage). That way, the two batteries will power two cars, and will allow them to move in different directions. There will be no speed control, only on/off, which is all I need. Since there's so little power going to the track, the cars will drive at more realistic speeds (and won't fly off the track and into my trains).

The track would be painted and lined so as to better model a highway, rather than a racetrack.

Do you think it'll work? Is there something I'm missing? Has anyone else done something similar? Is there an easier (and cheaper) solution?

Remember, this is my basement layout, not Miniature Wunderland.:D
Thanks.:)
 
Oh yeah, you bet I've seen that! :D It's all over Youtube.
I'd love to have that system on my layout, but the funds for that do not exist, nor will they exist for quite a few years.

I'm just hoping that I can cobble something good together from older, unused technology.
 
Oh yeah I'm positive that you could incorporate slot cars into ur layout. As a matter of fact, I was at a store called Uncle Joes Woodshed recently (don't kno how many of those stores are around!) and there is a slotcar/ho train crossover there. You can run trains across the slotcar track w/ it as the name implies :D it looked pretty cool but i didnt buy it since a. i dont have slotcars and b. i do sorta care about at least having correct sizes on my layout :) I'm not EXTREMELY particular but those slotcars are just a bit too big for me.
 
Active highway

Here's an idea I had but I haven't built one yet, so Take it for what it's worth. I got the idea by watching how an animated Fisher-Price "aquarium" for babies was laid out. In fact, after my kids broke it, I kept the mechanism out of it. Basically if you can picture how a belt sander is built, that's the concept. Build a longer version of a belt sander, but run it in slow motion to simulate the scale speed of the cars, with the belt being asphalt colored and the cars affixed to the belt with a drop of silicone,like RTV gasket maker. One belt runs in one direction, another belt being the opposite lanes running the other direction. The top of the belt is flush with your layout deck. The highway can only be a straight section, with view blocks on each end so you don't see the cars "fall off the end of the earth" when they go around the roller under the table for the return trip around. I was gonna do it with a fairly large roller, say 10 or 12 inches, but you should be able to do it with any roller size, provided the cars were only attached in a small spot to allow them to go around the roller without breaking. A semi truck would have to be a rigid one with only the cab attached, if you can visualize that. In my idea, two 3 inch wide belts would make a nice 4 lane highway with cars attached at random intervals like highway traffic. Does my description make sense? I can see it clearly in my mind, I just hope I have been able to describe it. Always wanted to build this, but heck, my layout is 1200 square feet-I can't ever finish laying track!
 
southerncoastline,

When I was in college -- many, many years ago, before video games -- one of the local malls had an arcade that managed to grab a lot of my spare change. There was a particular game I just loved to play. Unfortunately, I don't recall the name of it, but it operated on the system that you've mentioned. The premise was that you were the nose gunner in an airplane that was flying low over enemy territory, shooting up all the targets that you could. There was a small black light that illuminated the targets, which had been painted with black light paint. After playing the game for a while, I got to where I knew which targets were coming up next, and could aim my guns in the proper direction (I ended up having several of the high scores on that game!) It took a little while for the belt to complete its loop, so it must have looped around quite a bit in the machine. I absolutely LOVED that game -- never did quite master the "nudging" on a pinball machine...

Until I read your post, I'd not thought of using that technology in our model railroad world. But that technology worked pretty well, 35-40 years ago; the game was rarely out of service. Thinking of applying that belt method... I would guess that fairly lightweight vehicles would need to be used -- no Classic Metal Works products -- so that they would stay affixed to the belt through its turns from right-side-up to upside-down while the belt moved. Other issues come to mind, such as the size of the rollers -- the smaller the diameter, the more the roadway would flex as it moved over said rollers. But given enough room for your moving roadway and its mechanisms -- I don't see why it wouldn't work.

If you ever do anything like this, you've GOT to post pictures and tell us how you did it!

Regards,
Tom Stockton
 
Most "HO scale" slot cars today are a huge 1/64 scale or even larger, and they don't look very realistic. But, in the 60's the Aurora Thunderjet slot cars were a more manageable 1/76 scale and were alot closer to HO scale. Many of those Aurora Thunderjet slot cars were also pretty accurately proportioned and trimed.
Auto World reproduces a few of the original cars and has a few new ones as well.
http://www.autoworldhobby.com/products/thunderjet/
They also have some trucks too so you can have both cars and trucks on your highway.
http://www.autoworldhobby.com/products/racing-rigs/
Model Motoring also had a few cars using the original Aurora Thunderjet chassis. Some were reproductions like the 65 Mustangs, and some were new body molds like the 67 Plymouth GTX.
http://www.modelmho.com/hocars.html
These cars will run on standard Tyco, Aurora or Lifelike slot car track, but since they don't have magnets to keep them glued to the track, you would probably want to add a rear guide pin. There probably isn't much available thats more modern than about 1971 though. Once you have a few of the inexpensive new Thunderjet slot cars (Torinos, Cougars, El Caminos,GTOs, 50's Chevys etc), you may get addicted to collecting the original discontinued models as well (Galaxies, Country Squire wagons, Thunderbirds, Falcons etc).

Takara Tomy actually makes a 1/87 scale "Micro" slot car set http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYlOZTjnNxk
but its difficult to find in the US and there are only 3 or 4 different Japanese car models made for the set.

I have seen layouts with the belt driven system for the roads. They can only go in a straight line. It does appear that its difficult to make the flexible road surface look real, so it seems best used towards the rear of the layout unless the road surface can be hidden from view by a low wall, guard rail or shubbery. The nice thing is that you can have multiple lanes going in the same direction or different directions at different speeds. The drawbacks are that its difficult to hide the edge of the moving lane, and its obvious that the roadway is moving and the vehicles are not since the wheels aren't rolling.
I had assumed that the Futurama Highways of 1960 display at the 1939 Worlds Fair would have used some variation of the moving lanes with cars attached, but after viewing this video showing the moving traffic on the highways, it looks like there are moving vehicles on curven exit ramps as well. Look towards the end of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei3fzdIEJcw
Heres another video showing a close up of the moving highway at the 39 Worlds Fair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNlgfkE9nWA&feature=related


Another possibility is getting an old Matchbox Motorway off E-bay. These allowed one way or two way traffic of non-powered Matchbox cars. Matchbox cars were mostly 1/64 scale, but since you are just attaching the non powered toy cars to a chain drive of some kind under the road surface, I would assume you could use 1/87 scale diecast cars and trucks just as easilly. The one disadvantage to this system is that I suspect that it could be noisy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nSq1GX1Z8Q

I too have looked at the Faller car system, but the expense and lack of 50's and 60's American cars for the system has kept me from seriously considering it. But it is very impressive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV5yp_pqG_c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqa_iskjADc&feature=related

In the 60's Triang Minic made "Motorways" that they marketed to go along with their trains. Again, the cars were really a bit large for HO scale and were likly somewhere between 1/72 scale and 1/64 scale, but the motorways allowed for vehicles to automatically stop at intersections and rail crossings. The second video shows vehicles stopping for the train. I believe there was even a flat car and loading ramp so that you could drive the slot cars or trucks right onto a flat car to load them on your train. I believe Faller had a similar system back in the 60's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8SeiMkkEVQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbC9oW9sPzw&feature=related

Heres a video of the old Faller slot car track (notice the ramp leading up to the end of a spur for driving the slot cars onto a flat car and the slot cars on the flat car in the second video and actually driving onto the flat car in the 3rd video). But I don't know if the Faller slot car system allowed for automated stops and starts at rail crossings and intersections. Again, the Faller slot cars a a bit large for HO scale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFYh9fG69i8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHJZsN1yzg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB_hjddYLKQ&feature=related

Heres a site that tells the history of the early Aurora HO slot cars telling how they were designed to be used along with model trains and why the originals were slightly larger than HO scale. http://www.hoslotcarracing.com/History.html

Now assuming you do get traffic moving on your roads. Then the trains are moving, the cars and trucks are moving, but the people aren't moving. Then what will you do? Where will it end?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K694gnf2lms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5adv8PgrJww&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLF3CB69D086069015
 
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Of course, the entire thing hinges on just how "realistic", or convincing, you wish to have your layout look, both to you and in any visitor's opinion. Slot cars, no matter how they are made to look and operate, appear absolutely toy-like when used in conjunction with any otherwise realistically depicted scale model train scenes.

If indeed your tastes run toward operating the somewhat more whimsical Tyco cars and trains and you take a more open view of the hobby then some today, then what choice you make in this situation is probably going to be OK with you. But to be honest, I would caution not to expect most other model railroaders these days, when accuracy and realism has become "the" thing, to take the layout in any serious manner.

I've seen attempts at employing miniature vehicles on a number of displays and layouts, even several professional animated dioramas such as are found in public exhibits. In every case they failed to look either realistic, or in the least bit convincing. The only exception to this has been the Faller system, which does come much closer to looking as real as the trains when in operation. However and obviously, expending a few thousand dollars on such a system necessitates that one must really be more interested in road vehicle traffic than in model railroading.

NYW&B
 
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So did your 3V battery idea work? It can be difficult to find a fixed voltage that keeps stock cars running at constant slow speed. If this applies try a geared motor which will improve slow speed operation at a fixed voltage. I’d guess this would add $10-20 per car. It will be a chore to track down one that retro-fits but here’s a starting point site.

compare2.jpg


Another method for improved slow speed operation is an electronic speed controller in the car. I realize you don’t use DCC but you need the speed control portion of a DCC decoder. I only mention DCC decoder to illustrate such a device can fit and should be reasonably priced. Like a DCC decoder, it would have 2 wires powering it from the slot and 2 wires driving the motor. I don’t know if anyone sells such a widget. Obviously there would be no controller to send commands so it would have an on-board adjustment to set the fixed cruise-control speed. Or the cruise-control speed could be proportional to slot voltage to vary car speed as it goes around curves for example. If you can’t find one off-the-shelf, it would be a serious DIY undertaking though the component costs would be only $5-10 per car.
 
This one is a little different. I've never seen anything like this before. The cars look like actual 1/87 scale bodies likely from Wiking or Anguplas (Eko), and the car bodies apear to be closer to a realistic height off the ground unlike many slot cars that the bodies sit way high on the chassis. This one also looks like it draws power from within the slot, so that metal rails aren't needed on either side of the slot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCYFYWv510Q&feature=related
 
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