Great new animation for roadways

Oh my goodness!!  Tim, I love it!!  Thank you for posting!!!  I can see where more of my money is going to go!!  

Very cool.  The cars are a little bit pricey but you don't need a lot of them to create the effect.

Wow, finally in a larger scale than HO !   Just visited their site.  I see they advertise Faller wire.  I wonder if the cars are made by Faller ?

Nice, I first saw this in HO scale and am glad to see it's available for O Scale now.

Dave

Those look great.

That's really cool. I wonder if they will offer a crossing where the power to the car is interrupted while the train passes. 

I will be contacting them to see if they would like to promote/sponsor on the forum....

G-Man24 posted:

That's really cool. I wonder if they will offer a crossing where the power to the car is interrupted while the train passes. 

Yes, their logic controls have spare outputs that can control crossings via relays. 

BTW, this show is only getting better each time. I used to do this show when I had my train store. While there is a high percentage of HO and N, there is a lot of O of all periods and some Standard Gauge and G selling there. Even if you don't buy anything the sheer amount of operating layouts will take you all day to look at.

WOW!!!!!!!!  AWESOME!!!!!  Thanks for posting Tim!! 

Website with product videos and "how to":

https://automotionfx.com/

I was at the show and talked with one of the owners.  It was fantastic.  They are working on RR crossing but have to design to work with many types of track.  They hope to solve this soon.  

Art

And just when I thought  I didn't need anything else.  I absolutely love it.

This is pretty cool. I wonder what grade it can traverse. Also, how well it can work on a modular type layout 

Looking at the components and how it works it would not be difficult to make your own cars. Many models come with steerable wheels. The motor with rear axle is reasonably priced.

Pete 

hello

I ordered this today but he was out of the roads when I get it running I will let you know what I think I spoke with jay and he was very nice and answered all my questions

kevin

I might look into getting this for my layout, because it looks really cool. I would think about getting and using it my own vehicles. 

This is indeed very cool. However, when I imagine owning this system, the fatal flaw appears to be charging the cars. After the novelty wore off, I can't imagine bothering except when a special guest was coming.

Maybe it will eventually be possible to use wireless cell-phone charging technology to allow the cars to charge automatically when parked.

Very neat system and a long-time coming. From the short video I can see that the vehicles are quiet and the road has no rails or grooves. I have SuperStreets now and will follow how this new system pans out. 

 That is fantastic  !!

Art Lites posted:

...They are working on RR crossing but have to design to work with many types of track.  They hope to solve this soon.  

Having cars automatically stopping at grade crossings will be a head-turner.  Having multiple cars queue up at grade crossings without fender benders will be a jaw-dropper.  

If any hard-core DIY'er can't wait, and wants to be a trailblazer in the O-gauge world to solve the grade-crossing "problem", please post as such in the Electrical Forum and let the games begin!    

from the site

Neat. 

Any idea how long it takes to charge a car and how much run time you get on that charge?

I am so glad I am building a new layout. This will for sure make it to my new home and layout.

Thanks bunches for posting this.

hello

i have begun to build my automotions road system so far i have the gas station stop set up and working correctly. i had it running almost 2.5hrs not stop it it works great. next i will be adding the 2nd lane and a side road going through the middle i will post a video soon. the battery's last a long time and the charge time, i do not know have not timed it. the 2.5 hr running last night they didn't need a charge and did not slow down. Jay at automotions is great to work with. he will answer your questions and do what he can to help. i recommend this system to anyone that wants to have moving cars on there trains. i have yet to run the trains my only concern will it effect the cars if there is two much vibration. i have it set up with standard gauge trams and o gauge trains. will update when i run the trains.

kevin

Kevin, Sounds great!  Do you have a photograph or video you can show us?

I will try remember under construction 

What happened at the very end???

Dave

the gto did not pull out need a nuge

Very nice!  Thank you!

you are welcome Mark 

And with a camera to boot!

Dave

At $100 per car and about $5.00 (avg) for track, it could get pricy. It is very cool and especially so that it's in our scale. Unfortunately, they can't negotiate a 90 degree city street intersection. And of course those are the kinds on my layout. I have some real estate that open and could support a highway… You could get a decent set up for the price of an MTH diesel locomotive.

That is so cool. But they are sure gas guzzlers!  What is that cute red roadster parked in front of the gas station? And what is with the forest of Pepsi cans? Were you using them for weights?

Sweet! Especially for those who are in the beginning stages of building a layout. Not sure how practical this could be for those who have a "completed" layout or are in the final stages of major scenery and detail. But then again, if you like the journey more than the destination this would be great.

This could easily turn into a model vehicle layout with a train running through. There are some that already do this with slot cars but now a new age and added realism, like the Faller system, in model vehicle layouts. As if I don't already have enough projects to do on the layout, lol.

Dave

But the little people are still frozen in place! 

Put the little people in the cars - then they will move !!!     Trainman2001 - did you watch the video posted by Engineer-Joe ?  Some of the turns made by the car were pretty tight I thought. 

I have some of the cars I got from the same people (very nice by the way) so I just ran downstairs to see how tight a circle I could get and have the cars run reliably.  I did a circle with a 11.5 inch diameter and they ran perfect.  Then I did a circle with a 10 inch diameter which is the smallest the steering would allow and the car would leave the circuit.  My circle might not have been perfect as I quickly threw it together for the run. 

That brings me to the next item.  You don't have to use the pre-made track which can get costly with a large layout.  They do sell special wire that comes in 33 foot lengths and you can free form your roadway like I just did and that costs like .50 a foot.  The wire sells for $18.00 for a 33 ft roll.  I purchased it from the same people.  You are supposed to cut a small groove in your surface ( and yes they sell a special tool that cuts that groove) and you only cover it with paint. 

You can also add magnets and reed switch sensors on certain cars only to make events happen which really puts it over the edge - similar to what Lionel is doing.  OK - time to stop rambling.  Give them a try - its fun !       JP

JPLoco, That's some great information that you can buy the wire and use it on your own roadway.  I'll have to give this some thought when I layout my two towns.  

Has anyone tried this on any uphill or downhill grades?  I'm assuming it would be a problem is very steep, but might work on slight grades with differences in speed.  Just wondering.