# Do you have slot cars built in to your layout?



## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

I've been thinking about it. I'd love to see some photos if you guys have any


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Model Motoring*



santafealltheway said:


> I've been thinking about it. I'd love to see some photos if you guys have any


santafealltheway;

I had them long ago. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Aurora Model Motoring slot car sets. They were supposedly HO scale, though the car bodies needed to be oversize to fit over the mechanism. That mechanism, was pretty basic. The cars ran on AC current. A small electromagnet coil attracted a spring-loaded metal plate for 1/2 the AC cycle, then let it spring back up, on the other 1/2 cycle. The plate had a tooth at the back end that operated a gear, on the rear axle, ratchet style. The cars had one direction, forward, and two speeds 120mph and stop! The company made an HO grade crossing where these little cars and your HO trains could hit each other. There was no protection built in. The car, or train had to be stopped by the operator. Great fun for young boys who liked to crash things, but as for realistic auto traffic, forget it. The set could only control two cars at a time, one eastbound, and the other west. 
Later I switched to N scale and never looked back. If you want to simulate moving auto traffic on your model railroad, there are better ways than slot cars. There is an earlier thread that discussed this idea at length. Check back a bit on the "General model railroad discussion" and HO scale sections of this forum.

good luck;

Traction Fan


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

I was sort of thinking of using the bachman dcc controller and some tiny decoders.

I may also like to leave the 'racing' part of it in tact. something else to do while trains are running.

could be fun to race between trains. especially 10 of them.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Here are a couple.

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=45090


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*DCC autos*



santafealltheway said:


> I was sort of thinking of using the bachman dcc controller and some tiny decoders.
> 
> I may also like to leave the 'racing' part of it in tact. something else to do while trains are running.
> 
> could be fun to race between trains. especially 10 of them.


santafealltheway;

It depends on what you want. DCC controlled cars would certainly allow you to control more vehicles, on the same road. Using DCC though, wouldn't eliminate any grade crossing crashes. Running ten cars at once would increase the number of such crashes. So if that's what you want, go for it. Wouldn't ten DCC autos need ten "drivers", in addition to however many "engineers" were needed to operate the trains?

Traction Fan


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## nearboston (Dec 19, 2013)

*If you have the cash*

Have you seen the Faller Car System? Very cool but pricey. 

http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.17.109/lg.en/Car-System.html

It is used extensively in that huge layout in Germany.


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

traction fan said:


> santafealltheway;
> 
> It depends on what you want. DCC controlled cars would certainly allow you to control more vehicles, on the same road. Using DCC though, wouldn't eliminate any grade crossing crashes. Running ten cars at once would increase the number of such crashes. So if that's what you want, go for it. Wouldn't ten DCC autos need ten "drivers", in addition to however many "engineers" were needed to operate the trains?
> 
> Traction Fan


Meh. I don't see it being that difficult.


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

nearboston said:


> Have you seen the Faller Car System? Very cool but pricey.
> 
> http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.17.109/lg.en/Car-System.html
> 
> It is used extensively in that huge layout in Germany.


i wish i could afford that stuff. but alas. no


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## bonez (Feb 2, 2014)

I am in the process of laying out my slot car track first then integrating railroad around it. 

Platform is two sections (10x20 and 12x18) joined at 30-degrees.


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## Freightliner (Jul 30, 2016)

Interesting subject. I do wanna add a train to a Tyco US1 layout. Several companies sold a slot/train crossing track piece. The Tyco one is rare. Aurora can be had and Life Like sold one recently. If I were to do a slot/trains combo, I'd run AFZ track. Good quality and lots of track selection.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

bonez said:


> I am in the process of laying out my slot car track first then integrating railroad around it.
> 
> Platform is two sections (10x20 and 12x18) joined at 30-degrees.


That table is impressive Bonez.
Do you have any cars to run on the car track?!:thumbsup:

I love the display shelves you built in it.:smilie_daumenpos:

How is the train track going to cross the road?


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## bonez (Feb 2, 2014)

Oh yes - many cars. I have been collecting HO and 1:32 scale cars and equipment over the last twenty years or so.

The large platform is for HO and the other 1:32. The HO will have the railroad integrated with the slot cars but not crossing the tracks. I will incorporate a passenger station for fan drop off.

The display cabinets came out very well. I installed LED strip lights to the sides and top so that I get even lighting throughout the shelves.

I also designed the overhead lighting as well. I used Cree Troffer LED fixtures that are dimmable. Very nice lighting with minimal shadows.

The room is 1700 sqft and is my toy room. All the folks who worked on my house want to see the room when it is completed. They never saw anything like this.


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## mjrfd99 (Jan 5, 2016)

Slots and trains here. My scale is not spot on but the fun has been since my first track and slots build in 84. The kids of friends and family grew up racing and railing and my kids learned all kinds of trades. Carpentry-electric etc.... building the last 2 layouts My friend called them "the best babysitter in the world" -they were glued for hours.
This is our 3rd:


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## phillyreading (Aug 25, 2015)

traction fan said:


> santafealltheway;
> 
> I had them long ago. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Aurora Model Motoring slot car sets. They were supposedly HO scale, though the car bodies needed to be oversize to fit over the mechanism. That mechanism, was pretty basic. The cars ran on AC current. A small electromagnet coil attracted a spring-loaded metal plate for 1/2 the AC cycle, then let it spring back up, on the other 1/2 cycle. The plate had a tooth at the back end that operated a gear, on the rear axle, ratchet style. The cars had one direction, forward, and two speeds 120mph and stop! The company made an HO grade crossing where these little cars and your HO trains could hit each other. There was no protection built in. The car, or train had to be stopped by the operator. Great fun for young boys who liked to crash things, but as for realistic auto traffic, forget it. The set could only control two cars at a time, one eastbound, and the other west.
> Later I switched to N scale and never looked back. If you want to simulate moving auto traffic on your model railroad, there are better ways than slot cars. There is an earlier thread that discussed this idea at length. Check back a bit on the "General model railroad discussion" and HO scale sections of this forum.
> ...


The Aurora H.O. cars that ran on AC power were only made for about 2 years, around 1963 & 64. After that Aurora changed over to DC power or more commonly known as Thunderjet 500's(aka TJ 500's), I have 6 TJ 500's that still run. Also there were some reproduction TJ 500's by Johnny Lightning company and they look a whole lot like the original TJ 500's, one of 2 differences is the style of screws used to hold the shell in place, Aurora used flat tip and Johnny Lightning used phillips head, and Aurora used copper colored pick-up shoes as Johnny Lightning used silver colored pick-up shoes and plates.
I have about 8 or 9 AFX cars by Aurora that still run and about 7 Tyco cars too, even a Tyco 440-X.
In my new layout I am thinking about putting H.O. race cars and H.O. trains together on one layout.

Lee Fritz


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## phillyreading (Aug 25, 2015)

Freightliner said:


> Interesting subject. I do wanna add a train to a Tyco US1 layout. Several companies sold a slot/train crossing track piece. The Tyco one is rare. Aurora can be had and Life Like sold one recently. If I were to do a slot/trains combo, I'd run AFZ track. Good quality and lots of track selection.


I have the Tyco grade crossing with H.O. scale train tracks in it.
Have not seen any other crossings that have been made except for the original Aurora crossing many years ago. 
Anybody remember the old 'steering wheel' controls from Aurora? They used a small steering wheel and had a brake control with the more expensive version, as there was 2 versions; one with the brake and one without the brake. The brake was in effect sending either 2 common or 2 hot wire signals to the track instead of both the common and hot.

For H.O. race car parts and track try this site; www.HOSlotCarRacing.com


Lee Fritz


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Say, this brings up a question maybe someone can answer for me... The slot in a slot track is pretty wide, and in crossings there is obviously a similar slot cut across the train track. So for an HO train, what is the widest gap you can have in a rail without causing constant problems in the locos or rolling stock?

(Yeah I realize this question is subjective, but it would be nice to have a general idea)


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## mjrfd99 (Jan 5, 2016)

I had the Aurora RR xing in our first layout. Some rail cars did not like that big gap. Our last 2 had tunnels and bridges and no RR xing. Keeps the cars that do 600 scale MPH from smashing a big dollar HO train. The kids did that a few times and that was the end of the xings

PS I have a RR/road and a road/road xing for sale with original rough box but track like new. Plenty of other track too.
PM if interested


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## OceanRailroader (Jul 26, 2016)

There is a model kit made by Faller I think that has raods and self driving cars on HO scale train sets that don't need tracks but a metal wire embedded in the street for the car to drive on.


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## tiger (Dec 16, 2015)

phillyreading said:


> The Aurora H.O. cars that ran on AC power were only made for about 2 years, around 1963 & 64. After that Aurora changed over to DC power or more commonly known as Thunderjet 500's(aka TJ 500's), I have 6 TJ 500's that still run.


I got three four-lane sets over three X-mases in the early 1960's (after the divorce, my father I guess kept forgetting what he got me the previous year or even what I looked like for that matter). The first year was the "vibrator motor" cars and the 2nd and 3rd were the rotary pancake motors, much better. What sticks in my mind was the picture of Stirling Moss on the box, had never heard from him again (I was 6 years old, gimme a break). The pancake motors were much better, and the rheostat control changed from a hard-to-manipulate steering wheel (but probably OK for steady-rate running integrated with a train set) to a thumb plunger - easier to control but with a return spring I swear was a valve spring from a nailhead Buick. That hurt after a long session of racing.

I don't think I'd bother adding slot cars to our train arrangement.


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## Chip (Feb 11, 2016)

Was looking at the German system with the wires under the road for "moving scenery" in the form of traffic on the roads but ran out of $ before I got done buying trains and track.


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## Stretch (Aug 10, 2016)

I made an attempt a few years ago at a combination train/slotcar layout. It was supposed to be set in outer space.


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

Stretch said:


> I made an attempt a few years ago at a combination train/slotcar layout. It was supposed to be set in outer space.


Welcome to the forum, You will enjoy yourself here.
I've seen pictures of your layout somewhere else lately? Looks nice.


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## Chip (Feb 11, 2016)

A most excellent layout! Love the blue countryside, you got where you wanted to go, outer space is exactly the "feel" well done Sir!


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## Stretch (Aug 10, 2016)

Thanks Chip! I never did quite finish the layout but I was happy with the progress.

Timewarp, I think I've seen you over on the TycoForums. I use the track on this layout to pose trains for pictures sometimes.


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