Long Island MP54

Long Island MP54, N scale 

Making Tomytec TM19 or TM21 drives DCC ready [part 1]

Tomytec drives are the basic motorisation set for the N scale Traction modeler. They are good running, inexpensive and available in several dimensions, there is one single downside: they are not DCC ready. 

But making them ready for a decoder is not as complicated. It basically consists in separating the wheel contact strips from the motor. We show here how it works for a Tomytec TM19 or 21 drive, both are technical identical, they have only different truck centre bases. The best decoders are wired decoders, you can directly solder the wires to the contact stripes and the motor. 

First of all, take some tools: tweezers, a small screwdriver, some wooden toothpicks. Do the work on a place where parts can not "run away". Do not force, all parts are held by clipping noses, you have mostly to widen the part opposite to the noses. Its starts with removing the white two metal weights.

Then pull out the truck opposite to the flywheel, spacing the frame a little. Remove the small transverse bar - on the side opposite to the flywheel -  spacing the frame again. Then remove the motor cradle. Don't lose the cardan shaft. At every step, keep in mind how the drive is assembled, don't hesitate to make photos to remember. 

The motor cradle holds the contact stripes. When you open the motor cradle, two contact stripes will fall out.

Of the contact stripes, you have to cut the small parts going up to the motor contacts. Cut following the red lines. Now, the direct contact between wheels and motor will be interrupted. 

 

Next part is wiring. Before soldering, you must decide where to locate the decoder. We place them usually over the metal weights, or over the trucks. Take care to cut the wires the right length - not too short, not too long (if you doubt, a little bit longer). Now, solder the black and red wires of the decoder to the wheel contact stripes. Red is usually on the "right" side. Do not solder to the end of the contact stripes, and make only small dots of soldering wire.

Then you can solder the grey and the orange wire to the motor. Don't care about + or - , you can invert the motor direction later with CV programming. But before soldering, look how to take the wires out of the motor cradle. 

Then you can start remounting of the drive. There is one small part you can set aside, before, it was used to press the contact strip firmly to the motor contact, under the motor cradle. But since this connection is cut, you can forget the small black part below:

Remounting order is 1/ putting the wired motor into the cradle, clipping the cradle together 2/ place the contact stripes in the floor 3/ insert the little transverse bar 4/ clip the full motor cradle into the floor. Then you can mount the cardan shaft and push the truck back in the floor. Your drive is basically assembled. 

Before mounting the metal weights, check if they can touch contact stripes, or any bare wire, this would make a "short". We place some tape on sensible parts, to avoid it. 

Usually, you won't use the rectangular metal weight on the top, as the cables pass there. Now you can fix the wires and the decoder with some tape. and the drive is ready for testing.

Next episode is about modifying some CV values, as Tomytec drives have 6V motors. When testing, don't go full throttle, but you can already run DCC now. 

Mounting the Cincinnati Wooden Combine on a Tomytec TM-21 drive

This Interurban baggage-passenger Combine was delivered in 1908 by the Cincinnati Car Co. to the Oneonta & Mohawk Valley Interurban Line in Upstate New York. Some cars were later sold to Iowa.

N scale resin printed car body with additional parts: a fine pilot, rear doorsteps and 2 dummy trolley poles. The car is designed for motorization with a Tomytec TM-21 drive (truck centers 56.6 mm).

This Tomytec drive is nearly symmetrical, but it goes better into the carbody with the flywheel in front. The flywheel is hidden under a ballast block, but still visible

The rear platform and the pilot plug into the Tomytec frame, into the small holes in front and back.

Sometimes, the two holes in the Tomytec drive are to small, due to production tolerances, do not force them in. It is better to widen the holes with a 1.5 or 1.6 mm drill, and fix the pilot and the rear steps with a dot of glue.

There are several truck frames coming with Tomytec drive, two types are going very well for this car. On the rear truck, small parts of the truck side frame must be cut away on one side, to allow free swing of trucks under the door steps







Once the frame completed, the body will snap over the drive, and you can plug the two trolley poles into the holes. You can bend the rear pole up.














Painting: The cars were originally probably painted dark green, later some were painted orange. The roof were dark grey or brown, the under body parts black.

We recommend Valejo acrylic paints.

Tomytec Drive for Cincinnati Curved Side Cars

How to adapt a Tomytec TM-TR04 drive for Cincinnati Curved Side cars ( Speedrail, Dayton & Troy, ...)

Available here: https://interurban-models.myshopify.com/collections/n-scale-interurban-cars

1/ Modify the elongation of the drive to the maximum of 49 mm truck centers

2/ Select the short platform (S) extensions from the Tomytec add-ons

3/ Glue the pilot to one platform, put a weight in the second platform

4/ Clip the platforms into the drive, motor truck on rear.

5/ Choose truck frames KS45L or Brill (none is prototypical, but you wont detect it ...)

6/ Bend the dummy trolley pole up and plug it into the hole in the roof (diameter 1.2 mm)

7/ Clip the body over the drive.

When transporting, hold your hand under the car, the drive can sometimes fall out

Protect from heat and excessive sunlight

#160-4130 Septa N5 ABB car

Modern stainless steel cars built 1991-93 by ABB Traction for the SEPTA Norristown High Speed line. The model snaps over a Tomytec TM12R drive. Please order also truck sideframes #160-8130 . The window glasses are actually not part of this kit, they will be produced separately and may be available soon, please look for announcements here on https://interurbanmodels.blogspot.com

Lowering the TomytecTM-TR01 drive for Electromobiles

Tomytec TM-TR drives

Remove the black plastic cover

Some N scale streetcar bodies are too low for Tomytec TM-TR drives (TR01, 04, 05 ...) There is an easy and non-destructive way to lower them one millimeter, enough to place an Electromobile or also a GHB PCC shell. No need for soldering, the drive remains mainly unaltered. 

In front, the unmodified drive

In the middle, the lowered drive

Step 1: remove the black plastic covering the metal contact strips, with a screwdriver or simply with your nails

Step 2: Glue the contact strips with some cyano - few drops are enough. 

Step 3: with a cutting knife, cut down the pins overlooking the contact strips

Glue the contact strips

Cut down the small pins holding the contacts

Liberty Bell Limited in N scale available @Shapewa...