turntable trouble...
The old small turntable... only a single engine can get on...
the large turntable and 'roundhouse' engine sheds
... in close-up
The small red/yellow turntable has seven connections of the standard type.
The problem is that the new large turntable has only four standard connections... at N.S.E.W.
the remaining six connections are of an entirely new diamond shape. If you buy the full set with the engine sheds then you will get a few of the straight rails with this type of connection at one end, but not enough for all six places to connect to the turntable. If you lose any of these special pieces then there seems to be nowhere to find replacements.
I have noticed in ebay some sellers selling the turntable in a used condition, and often without any or all of these rails. Also, there appears to have been a special extra large set of Tomy Thomas and Friends for sale called the 'Ultimate' set. Exactly where it has been on sale I don't know, it certainly looks to be a bargain. I think it probably went on sale for about GBP.100 in the UK and US$ 100 in the USA. I have seen a couple on sale, new and unused on ebay in the last month. What I have also noticed is that some sellers have obviously got hold of these Ultimate sets and broken them up, for sale in smaller lots, and at a good profit. The trouble is that this Ultimate set has the new turntable, but none of the special diamond-ended rails, so the sellers are selling the turntable as new and unused, but on its own. Unsuspecting buyers will find themselves frustrated when they try to find the special rails needed.
I wrote to Tomy.co.uk about the problem, suggesting they contact Tomy and ask for special short adapter rails to be made available. Unfortunately they either did not read my message properly or just misunderstood it. Anyway they sent me some ordinary straight rails (two boxes of four each), which was very nice of them, but it didn't solve the problem. I f I write to Tomy Japan, they will see I am English and just refer my message to Tomy UK...... :-(
UPDATE... I got onto Tomy UK again and directed them to this post to see if they understood the problem....they replied that the 'diamond' shaped rails are available from them, so contact their careline.
posted by fred at 8:32 AM
2 Comments:
Got one of those turntables too. Have tried and was able to fit the (protruding end of the) normal tracks into the diamond shape connections. Requires a bit of force / effort to push the ends in. There is a small gap though, but does not seem to affect movement of engines.
I have had one of these turntables for years. Bought it used in my local market on Craig's list I believe. I took 4 of the normal half straight tracks, and took and exacto blade to them and cut the tips into diamond bits. Then filled them in with a glue gun on both sides so they are more snug when put into the round table. This solved the odd dilemma.
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