Hi all. :)

The current style of track that Tomy makes....what year did that first appear? I ran across a set that said it was from 1995 but wasn't sure when the current style started being produced.

Thanks.

Tomy track came in the mid '80s when they bought out Aurora's Afx brand. A shame they didn't keep making the magnatraction chassis, though. The track is the same as old Rokar track from the 70's & early 80's.

Thankfully JL came along.

Wow! That old? Okay. Thanks!

dlw,
thats not quite right. Rokar track is the former Cox track, which was Eldon before. Rokar was then bought by LifeLike who is selling the track until today. And rokar was from the mid 80's, bought out in the early 90's.
In between Cox and Rokar, Amrac was producing the cars in the early 80's, but never sold the track nor sets. The Amrac chassis was the same as the Cox chassis, which was designed by Philippe de Lespinay in the mid 70's, while the LifeLike M-car was the chassis designed from Jim Russell owning the Rokar brand....
Well, was anybody interested in all that :confused:

Michael

That's weird, 'cause the Tomy track looks like Rokar track. Lifelike could've really cleaned up by using the track side of Rokar.

Coleco owned AFX brand just before Tomy. The design was a Coleco design "Tomy Track" 'circa 1985-1986 and remains the same design today. Tomy "absorbed" the Coleco toy company. How many of you remember Coleco/Tomy from the Mid '80's?? Remember " Cabbage Patch Kids " ? Anyway...
The track design has been marketed for nearly twenty years now.
Rocky

Aurora Plastics/Products Corp.
Nabisco
Louis Marx & Co.
Canadian Aurora
Tomy
Coleco
(Receivership back to)
Tomy

dlw,
thats not quite right. Rokar track is the former Cox track, which was Eldon before. Rokar was then bought by LifeLike who is selling the track until today. And rokar was from the mid 80's, bought out in the early 90's.
In between Cox and Rokar, Amrac was producing the cars in the early 80's, but never sold the track nor sets. The Amrac chassis was the same as the Cox chassis, which was designed by Philippe de Lespinay in the mid 70's, while the LifeLike M-car was the chassis designed from Jim Russell owning the Rokar brand....
Well, was anybody interested in all that :confused:

Michael
I was! :D I love this history stuff. I have the Aurora book that outlines what Rocky said in a previous post, and I'm pretty sure there's a good Tyco book out (is that by Dan Esposito?) but there's little printed history on other brands...

--rick

Rick,
you were right here, Aurora was covered properly from the first to their last second. The book from Dan on Tyco is more a collectors guide, with all the cars shown and the rarity, and on the inside cover a small history lesson on Tyco, but rather the time frame.
What I like is the information for example, that Derek Brand, the man from Vibe and T-Jet, for example invented the Tyco 440 chassis. He also did most of the Tyco US1 stuff.
On most other brands information is hard to come by. I am trying this now for years, and got some nice contacts over the time, where I could get lots together. Some were published on our homepage slotcar.info, lots of other material is still in the archives, to be written together and published also.

So, if you have any questions, I will surely try to answer them! :thumbsup:

Michael

Tomy track is actually the most popular, most widely used plastic track. Tyco/Mattel has been around in its current form longer but it is not so nearly as popular. Now with the advent of aftermarket 6' and 15"/18" turns on the horizon...it will be interesting to see if Tyco track catches up to Tomy in popularity. I personally don't think it will.
Has anybody noticed that the current AFX packaged poly bagged track is different in texture and "brittleness" ? When i need track, I buy only set track (new sets or used sets) or NOS old pieces in the blister card. For some reason, the poly bagged track pieces are brittle IMO.

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Tomy track is getting worse? :( Just when I want to build my dream track!

Let me ask you guys this...how would you guys personally feel about mixing the old snap track from the 70's with the newer stuff using the adapter pieces? I've got quite a bit of the old stuff which would save me some money but I thought it would be best going the "all new" route.

You guys are a wealth of info!

Tomy track is actually the most popular, most widely used plastic track. Tyco/Mattel has been around in its current form longer but it is not so nearly as popular. Now with the advent of aftermarket 6' and 15"/18" turns on the horizon...it will be interesting to see if Tyco track catches up to Tomy in popularity. I personally don't think it will.
Has anybody noticed that the current AFX packaged poly bagged track is different in texture and "brittleness" ? When i need track, I buy only set track (new sets or used sets) or NOS old pieces in the blister card. For some reason, the poly bagged track pieces are brittle IMO.

Most popular... do you mean among serious hobbyists or just mass-market Christmas sets that get yard-saled after a year or two? I have a big load of Tyco/Mattel track I got that way and from thrift stores and flea markets, but I've only ever found Tomy stuff once or twice. Now, that may be simply because people who buy track to get serious in the hobby get Tomy because it's the "hobby-quality stuff" and then they tend to keep it. Some folks don't like Tyco, but I think it's great for running Tjets on... maybe I've just had good luck. My permanent layout is old Atlas and Lionel track, which I think is better than Tomy or Tyco, but that's getting harder to come by... I use the Tyco stuff for temporary layouts and other diddling like that.

my $.02...

--rick

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It is the most popular among serious enthusiasts and the casual hobbiest. You don't see it much at flea markets and thrift shops because people tend to hold onto the sets. It still has the "aurora mystique" and the quality is very, very good for plastic track. Our clubs only complaint is the later "polybagged" track being noticeably more "brittle" .
Interestingly enough....the new "Super Coupes" set is available with the "new" blue angular Tomy logo. (not the older red logo) I wonder if the "brittle" track is contained inside??

Rocky

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That's some good stuff there. Thanks!

Has anyone ever found track where the rails are too low? Or is too low not really a problem as the shoes might still make adequate contact?

Has anyone ever found track where the rails are too low? Or is too low not really a problem as the shoes might still make adequate contact?

I don't think you can have rails too low. (although some of the more learned here may know better than me) It's just a matter of how you adjust the shoes and springs. The problem is when you get track where the rail height is erratic from piece to piece - then you have to tap it all out to make it even. That's hard on shoes, and is the main reason for the clickety clacking.

I've had my complaints with the batch of Tomy track that I bought, but rail height isn't one of them. I've found them to be pretty consistent in that way.

Other than one badly warped terminal track, the only complaints I had were 15 inch straights that are a little "hilly" in the middle, and some 9 inch turns that weren't quite right. The 15's are solved with an extra screwhole like AFXToo mentioned. (now if I can find something the right size to back up the middle hole with) With the 9's there's not much to be done, except not use em. (I just bought a whack of 18 and 15 inch turns)

I do understand, from posts elsewhere, that Racemasters is pretty good for replacing malformed Tomy track pieces. Take that for what its worth...I've never tried to contact them myself.

One more note as a PS. I read somewhere that you can't solder the rails on the aftermarket Tomy turns, cuz solder won't stick to whatever they're made of. Anyone else heard of that?

Trev

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When I started doing research on the current state of HO racing (after deciding to dive back in) one of the very first sites I came across was Braun's. I couldn't believe how much knowledge and advice this guy was freely giving. It was absolutely what I was looking for about track building.

A couple things I'm definitely doing that he talks about is the sound dampening and powering the track. Soldering the rails I might do but it won't be the thing that keeps me up at night.