Remote Thomas Question...

I've played with this a little so I may be able to offer some help.

First, the remote range should be fine. I have used it when I was almost 20-feet away from the layout where Thomas was and it still worked fine.

As for the power feeders, I wouldn't worry about them. A track running the perimeter of a 12' x 14' room with only a light current draw should work just fine with only a single power feed.

If you find the engine slows down when far from the feed, you can run a couple of wires to the track for an additional feeder. Just run wires from the track near the lockon to the track on the far side of the room. In this sense there is no difference between the remote Thomas set and any other set.

At home, I too was able to run Thomas from quite a distance away...even while I was in another room in my home.

Track power to a layout in a 12x14 room should/would be fine without any additional feeders to the track.

This new Thomas set is a fine intro to the hobby for any child who expresses an interest in trains, and especially for those youngsters who already have a liking for Thomas and his friends.

Does this new Thomas only work with that hand held?

(It is not TMCC correct?)

Yes, Remote Thomas works only with the hand held.

I ran mine with only one feed to a loop that was 140 feet around.  It was Atlas track, which conducts electricity a bit better than Fastrack, but with just 60 feet of Fastrack, you should be fine.

I tested the remote's control distance and it is more than adequate.  It would run the train from anywhere in the house - as far as 50 feet away and through two or three walls and one floor. 

BTW - the power pack actually puts out DC.  Thomas will run (contrloled only by the remote) on AC or DC.

Yes, it works only with its assigned/provided handheld.  It is not a full TMCC thing.

 Same here, Thomas will only work with his remote. Also I put Thomas on my main layout which is in a 25 x 30 room and he ran all around my whole layout in and out of large tunnels, he also was able to handle some grades on my layout, without any trouble. Very strong engine, great job Lionel.

Alex

Thanks to everyone for the speedy, complete response.  This sounds like a slam-dunk for the customer's situation

Allan...I feel really stupid about the multiple feeds!  Of course you could do it as you suggested...gave myself a DiNozzo!  Duh.

KD

I ran my Thomas at the club layout sd3r.org that can be seen at the link when open.

no problems.