Why are there no HO gauge Bump and Go Trolleys or Work Cars?

Maybe no one in HO wants that kind of stuff?

With DC you just need to reverse the polarity. You can find premade boards to do this on eBay, search for "auto reversing circuit kit for HO trolley". Bachman also made a complete set with trolley, track and controller.

You mean like this. This is On30 but basically HO track. I bought this module on EBay for 20$. They make others.

The light weight of the Trolley could be a problem with lionel type bumpers.

I would just add a reversing switches to the car ends to make a "bumper style" action.

An optical sensor type switch to save bumping damage would be best, with a relay to do the reversing.

The timer based relay wired to the track would make any DC motor car a "bumper"

The stop setting on the timer would give the smaller motor time to cool also.

I think a bump and go mechanism as seen in larger scales would break pretty quickly if not made of heavy materials.

Jim McC.

HO scale modelers don’t typically go in for these kind of toy train items.

Bump and go does not work in any DC powered track, regardless of scale. The trolley would not have the ability to change the track polarity. As mentioned previously, auto reversing circuits are hooked to the track and create a much more realistic operation.

The bump and go concept will only work if the track has AC power.

@Ryan Selvius posted:

Bump and go does not work in any DC powered track, regardless of scale. The trolley would not have the ability to change the track polarity. As mentioned previously, auto reversing circuits are hooked to the track and create a much more realistic operation.

The bump and go concept will only work if the track has AC power.

Lionel made an HO bump-'n-go gang car back in ye olden days:

Reversing DC is easy, it's a matter of switching the plus and minus.  I don't know what the innards looked like, but I suspect is was a simple 3 contact strip with a wiper attached to the bumper bracket.  Something like this:

Rusty

Thanks for all of the great info guys!

I guess I'll have to look at the auto reversing circuit kits.

I'm sure many think it is heresy to mix HO units with O Gauge, but I don't mind having a small work engine or similar "maintenance" type unit on a narrower track running  back and forth in an O Gauge layout.  The trick is finding the right looking work unit (so it doesn't look like a midget car) and not having any HO sized men sitting in or on the car.

Mannyrock

Too much whiplash for little HO people to survive! 

I just realized my illustration was a bunch of hooey and a dead short.  That's what happens when I don't have my second first cup of coffee...

Here's the corrected version:

Sorry about that...

Rusty

I didn’t realize Lionel did an HO gang car that reversed. Is this the only reversing motorized unit ever done in HO?

This may be your only option straight out of the box. Bachmann makes an electric version. It is ON30 probably bigger than what your looking for.

https://www.trainworld.com/sho...-bachmann-25100.html

I agree with the fellow who said they might just be too light to activate a mechanical bump and go switch.  An involved solid state circuit with a detector that did things like detect the cars presence at the end of the line,  cut the power, wait a bit, reverse the track polarity via relays or solid state devices and send it back would work.  You could get fancy with an early detector that ramped the voltage downward to slow the trolley to a stop so the little HO people did not have to sue you for whiplash when they hit the end of the line, or again with afterburner like takeoff in the other direction.

If you really want to do this, there is no need for a mechanical mechanism to change the polarity. Use a couple of infra-red sensors and the appropriate electronic circuit, and you can do it with zero physical contact with the trolley.

I have had a homemade, back and forth like a "bump and go"  HO trolley, on my toy 027 layout since the early 1990s.  It is old school, using simple mechanics and electronics.

How I built it is on OGR link below Page 3, post 30.

https://ogrforum.com/...ra-027-layout?page=3

Here are a few details:

On my Plasticville Main Street, I like my smaller trolleys and like my toy 027 and O gauge trains to be bigger and overwhelm my building.  It is all about the trains !

The HO track was recessed in the street and an HO gauge switch was added near one end to allow two trolleys to go into an HO trolley barn.  The switch is remote controlled from the new train board control panel as well as a track selector slide switch to activate the live track section in the barn.

An HO DC transformer is used for the trolleys and is on the right of the new addition control panel.

The fun part of the trolley was figuring out how to stop and start the trolley at each end of the Main Street line and how to reverse the DC polarity on the track and the ends automatically like the bumpers reverse the Lionel O gauge Trolley.  First, I cut the one HO track rail about 7 inches from each end to give a section that would be un-powered and stop the trolley at each end of track. These end track sections also must be powered with the correct polarity to restart and reverse the trolley.

A trolley timer/controller was made from a small 1 RPM gear motor similar to those that power a micro wave oven turntable, which are easy to find in street trash on trash day.  A cam disc was sawed out of ½ inch plywood with high humps and lower sections.  Two micro roller armed single pole double throw switches were mounted together to act as an double pole double throw switch and wired in an X to switch track DC polarity when activated.  This allows the trolley to start and run to the other end of track which is dead.  The timer allows the trolley to stay there for about 30 seconds.  Then the micro DPDT switch is activated by the timer cam and that end of the track is powered up with DC that has the polarity reversed and the trolley takes off for a 5 sec run to the other end track, stops and stays there 30 seconds until it is activated with the track with reversed DC polarity and off the trolley goes again.

Charlie

Control Panel and brown HO transformer

Trolley track is in the middle with two red switch buttons and slide switch to cut off power to track

Trolley Timer Wooden Cam and Double Pole Double Throw Roller Micro Switch

Time, bottom right,  jammed inside the control panel

You need more wires...😁

Mark in Oregon

Mark

See my main  control panel below, with switches for 20 Marx switches and more track sections.  There are two relays for a pair of 2 trains on 1 track operations, in bottom, on the right, some where too!

This new smaller control panel has only 11 Marx switches and one HO switch.  They have been very reliable and easy to track wires.

Charlie

Here is photo of the main control panel with an active track diagram control system for the 20 switches, lights, accessories and homemade turntable and round house track selection.

Why would you?   Its a toy concept from the 50's and 60's .  There have been circuits  available  for all the scales for reversing a point to point operation . some even have a timer to allow the equipment to stop for a while before returning (quite realistic)  No slamming into a bumper at 50 MPH

Charlie

Your ingenuity and scrounging ability are unsurpassed!