Tomytec TM-TR01 Tram Drive

After a long delay I’ve been trying out my new Tomytec TM-TR01 tram drive.

It has good weight to it (much more than a Kato 11-105), gracefully negotiates the C103 S-curve on my tram layout which my four wheel Bandai 1 and Kato 11-103 drives with their 28mm wheel centers have been unable to handle. Without a body on it cruises along a relatively quick pace.

Wheels are 9.2mm apart which is why at slower speeds it may have issues with crossovers or switches. At slow speed it did stall on the 9mm N gauge 90 degree crossovers with wheels spinning and the motor humming madly, although this was an old Tomix 3076 track cover crossover which means there is a chance of raised track covers interfering with the wheels.

Tomix TM TR-01 tram truck

This drive is just barely wider than N gauge track which makes it much narrower than the Kato Pocket line drives at 15.3mm for the 11-105, 11-106 and 11-107 or the 11-103 and 11-104 drives at 18mm.

End view of the TM-TR01 power chassis.

The TM-TR01 is just barely wider than the 9mm N gauge track.

There are already two Tomytec tram bodies for this drive and 3 more Tomytec tram bodies have recently been announced.

The good news is that the long seemingly unusable Greenmax tram bodies from Economy Assortment 802 and Greenmax kit 46-1 now have a power drive that fits inside their bodies. (More on this in a later post).

The TM-TR01 drive comes with KL11, FS78 side frames and a third side frame which I can’t identify. The drive is adjustable to truck centers of 36mm, 38.6mm and 41.2mm. I haven’t experimented with this feature yet.

A note to railroaders looking for locomotive drives. As a tram drive there are no couplers or coupler pockets on the TM-TR01 drive.

Running the TM-TR01 on the layout for the first time has been a real pleasure. The TM-TR01 is very much the superior N gauge tram drive. A second release is set for September 2011. I hope to add more of these drives soon.

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