What to start and with what?

hlfritz · 2017-10-30T09:11:39+00:00

Hello, I am a beginning model railroder with a desire to set up a Christmas layout. I have been looking at/working on gathering components for an On30 layou...

PopGoesOldOllie

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U-mkaOxKR-E

This video is a great comparison of the old and the new.

hlfritz

Thx all! A lot of good info. A couple of things I noticed and I should also add.

The older Trackmaster trains seem to make a lot of noise compared to the new version. Do they all make that "buzzing" sound? Do the Plarail trains make that same noise?
We do want remote control to emulate real trains. Does that exist with old Trackmaster? Plarail? New Trackmaster? if it does, can the engines and controller be puchased separately? Are there mods to add RC and/or sound?
It does look like the older trains can run on the newer track in looking at the leokim video. Is that correct? And it seems not the other way around? I.e. no new trains on the old track.

Thx again. I have a couple questions related to other plastic track, but will post a new topic for that.

Super

#1. A lot of the original Trackmaster and some Plarail/Tomy trains use what we call 'Flat Drives' and yes, they can be noisy. Other trains that don't use the flat drives are quieter. The one thing that Trackmaster did right with the new version is that they are quiet and this must be due, in my opinion, to fewer gears from motor to wheel.

#2. Others here know much more than I do about this subject.

#3. All these trains can run on any tracks whether they be Plarail, Tomy, Trackmaster, Wooden or Trackmaster II as they are about the same gauge. The question would be how well they run. In my opinion, not based on my own trials but from watching and hearing about others, is that even though the original Trackmaster and Tomy/Playail can ride the rails of Trackmaster II the traction is not very good and they can't maneuver the gimmick hills of the Trackmaster II tracks. The Trackmaster II tracks have the open slots that fit the cogged wheels of their engines they have making the original Tomy/Trackmaster/Plarail engine wheels slip. The same can be said in the opposite as the cogged wheels of the Trackmaster II engines slip and lose traction on the original Plarail/Tomy/Trackmaster tracks.

Off The Rails

Here on the OTR family line, we primarily use Trackmaster 2 track and it works fine with Plarail and Trackmaster 1 engines except for things like stop tracks. Lighter trains can sometimes have trouble with the switch points/turn outs but that's a sporadic issue.

PopGoesOldOllie

Remote control engines exist for mainly trackmaster old and new, not so much plarail. The RC Thomas for TM2 is included with the "Mad Dash On Sodor" set and there are various variations of RC engines for TM1. (3 speed Thomas, RC Flip Face Thomas/Hiro, 3 Speed James, etc.) All of them make sounds except for the TM2 RC engines. Hope I was able to help! 🙂

Super

Off The Rails wrote
Here on the OTR family line, we primarily use Trackmaster 2 track and it works fine with Plarail and Trackmaster 1 engines

Really OTR, they have no trouble with any of the hills or pulling many train cars? I stand corrected.

Off The Rails

Super wrote
Really OTR, they have no trouble with any of the hills or pulling many train cars? I stand corrected.

No operational issues that are out of the ordinary. It may be just my particular layout conditions and building preferences. Chief among these are that we don’t have a dedicated train room or play area and that my kids have A LOT of TM2 engines and track. It’s easier to run Plarail and TM1 engines on TM2 track than vice-versa. TM2 engines run OK-ish on TM1 track and are notoriously wonky on Plarail track without modification.

Generally, I don’t use any of the extreme “roller coaster ride” features. Most of my hills and bridges are built with as gentle a grade as possible. My track work is laid out to run either in large, room sized loops or long, straight runs through the house. Most of the “action” involves multiple sidings, at least one multi-track yard, curves to avoid obstacles and walkways and return loops or wyes at both ends. A typical train for me would be 3-4 passenger coaches or up to 6 freight cars, depending on the size of the cars and overall length of the train. Because of the long single track runs, freight is usually given priority over passenger service in multi-train operation.

This only applies to me. My kids are gleefully indifferent to any rules!😃

hlfritz

OTR,
do you operate locos with RC?

seems interesting if you do not. 🙂

Tramp

If you are using a loco with a c sized battery you can use a ‘Mr Motorman’ to remotely control your train, I bought one of these but I found it to be more hassle than it was worth - it’s rarely used now. We just set them off and watch,

I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet but plarail trains and Trackmaster 1 trains can both run on the old Trackmaster 1 track and the plarail blue track. in my opinion the Trackmaster 1 track is the best looking track, although the plarail blue track works better, is most versatile and has more options regarding points & other ‘special’ track features like tunnels, elevations, auto-change points & levelcrossings. I have no experience with the Trackmaster 2 track but it looks a bit flimsy/flexible to me,

As for noisy trains, I find that the plarail locos are much quieter than their Trackmaster 1 counterparts. Trackmaster 2 trains are quiet too but don’t get good traction on the old track so the amount of rolling stock they can pull is much reduced. They are also faster. For me personally the best locos are plarail engines

Plarail/Trackmaster are great for kids my kids play with them and don’t look after them! The amount of times I’ve found a train stalled against a skirting board! Another good thing about the Trackmaster 1 / plarail is that when the loco is switched off the drive is disengaged meaning the kids can push them along. They are designed primarily for children so they are hardy!

Off The Rails

hlfritz wrote
OTR,
do you operate locos with RC?

seems interesting if you do not. 🙂

No. My son has a few R/C engines but even those don’t get used very often. I have considered a Mr Motorman but they’re out of stock at all the retailers I buy from and honestly, their operation is a bit clunky anyway. The track layouts I build aren’t especially complicated, being mostly large loops or long point to point runs, so R/C isn’t really necessary. I keep in mind that these are toy trains bought mostly for the amusement of my kids and I’m comfortable with those limitations.

On a bit of a tangent, my son and I repaired our track today so that he could run his new TM2 Lexi I gave him yesterday. (Poor kid is having a rough week; out of school with a chronic tonsil and sinus infection that’ll require a tonsillectomy in December. So yeah, I’ve been spoiling him a bit.) Lexi wasn’t operating well on the two sections of TM1 track I had put in, so we rebuilt those with TM2 track. He eventually had her running well and pulling about 10 empty gondolas but she was sticking, bogging down and even derailing at a wye and a couple of switch points, although the entire line is TM2 track. While I’m having a bit of trouble on that particular wye anyway, even with a couple of my Plarail C battery engines, I’ve noticed a general tendency for the TM2 engines to be finicky about the track and track conditions they run on. He eventually cut 4 cars off the train but Lexi was still having some problems.

Super

Poor little guy but believe me, its best for him to have a tonsillectomy at a very early age than to have one in the teens or adult as its much worse.

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