All posts by JohnM

June’18 Layout

Layout

This layout does something I’ve always wanted to do: create a Figure 8 for the Sky Train. It took two complete Sky Train starter sets to pull off, and incorporates all of the Sky Train accessories.

The #33931 Clock Station and #33926 Loading Station are actually fairly restrictive in how they can be used. If you want to have a train passing under them using the lower track piece then they need to be placed along curves in the Sky Train loop, and it helps to have the yellow struts on the inside. The Sky Train Support bases are large and this is the easiest way to ensure the lower track clears them properly. BRIO illustrates this, more or less, in their 2004 Sky Train foldout.

In this layout, I also did something new: I used squares of textured scrapbook paper to represent land cover for the whole base. There are four shades of green, two shades of brown and two shades of grey. This time I chose not to laminate (unlike my previous experiments with papers) since the textured surface provides more friction for the track.

From dollhouses to the BRIO World Village

History
BRIO World Village photo from BRIO.

The BRIO World Village theme, with it’s modular, open back designs that include furniture, is not entirely new territory for BRIO: back in the 60’s and 70’s, BRIO made doll houses.

This scan is from a 1970 Scanditoy catalog. Scanditoy is a toy wholesaler in the Nordic market that was under BRIO’s holding company, BRIO AB.

The Shopping Sherpa has some nice close-up photos of her 1960’s and 1970’s BRIO dollhouses and you can find more photos of the furniture and accessories they offered on Annette Jensen’s Pinterest Board.

Of course, the BRIO World Village products are more in the style of Playmobil than true dollhouses, but that’s appropriate for toys that are targeted at young children. Still, it’s a return to some of BRIO’s roots in a way, and it brings something truly new to the Wooden Railway line.

Where to find A3 track (updated 12/4/19)

Track

The most elusive of BRIO’s track pieces, A3 showed up in catalogs from 1998 to 2000 as BRIO 33323 Middle Straight, but I have never seen a packaged set even in international markets. Individual track pieces do pop up occasionally as part of other sets, but I only know of a few sources.

BRIO 33105 Cargo Deluxe Set

There’s a single piece of A3 track, shown in the image above (the left-most of the two straights; the one on the right is a piece of A1). This starter set comes with a couple of other interesting pieces, such as the D-sized hump and a mechanical switch. You can find it on eBay periodically.

BRIO Network 33294 Track Pack

Another source is the BRIO Network line. The BRIO #33294 Track Pack, a track expansion pack with the Network paint, includes one A3 piece. The paint actually makes A3 track easy to identify: each track piece has its own paint scheme, and the A3 piece depicts a simple email (letter) icon in the center.

In the photo below, the A3 piece is the second straight from the left.

Alas, this track pack is hard to find since it wasn’t widely sold. More common are the various BRIO network starter sets, some of which were non-catalog items. These tend to come with one or two A3 pieces. The easy way to spot them is, again, to look at the paint on the pieces in the set.

BRIO Network Play Table

There were different incarnations of the BRIO network play table, and at least one of these is comes with one A3 track.

BRIO 33284 Network Educational Set

This set comes with two. It did not appear in catalogs

BRIO 33008 Zoo Garden Set

Many thanks to Kenny for this addition. The #33008 Zoo Garden Set includes a single piece of A3 track, which you can see next to the dolphin tank in the layout image.

It appeared in catalogs in 2007 and 2008, and is a bit more rare than the #33053 Wooden Zoo Set (which has a similar layout but does not include A3).

BRIO 33051 Track & Stack City Set

Thanks to use u/Yiroon on Reddit for this addition. The #33051 Track & Stack City Set includes one piece of A3 track, shown to the left of the switch track in the layout photo.

Two more sources of A3 that come from u/Fred_Pelhay on Reddit:

BRIO 33123 Record and Play Engineer’s Set

This came from u/Fred_Pelhay on Reddit. The is a blue treasure chest set that was sold in the mid-late 2000’s and contains two pieces of A3.

BRIO 33149 Battery-Powered Engine with Exciting Crossing

Also from u/Fred_Pelhay on Reddit. This set may have been exclusive to Germany. It has one piece of A3.

BRIO 33147 Engineer’s Play Set

Courtesy of u/Yiroon on reddit, this green treasure chest set was sold from 1999 through the very early 2000’s and came with a whipping five pieces of A3.

More Stacking Track Support layout options

Layout

Last time, I wrote about how to make multi-layered tracks with the #33253 Stacking Track Supports, but what if you want to make a crisscross arrangement to have the track pass through the support perpendicular to the elevated track? The supports are specifically made for this: the undersides are machined to provide the cross direction just a little more height in order to accommodate some of the taller engines.

So what are some layout options that give you a decent fit for a crisscross arrangement? I show two options below.

The first one uses a loop to double back behind the main line and cross under the support. It assumes you are using a descending N track, and you are passing under the “last” Stacking Track Support in the run. It uses an A2 on the diagonal of the loop to get the distances almost perfect (they are off by about 3mm, which the vario system can easily handle).

You can also make a branch that crosses under the track ahead of you instead of behind, like so:

These supports are expensive, but a great deal of fun if you have the space in your layout. The loop constructs shown above are a good way to make a visually interesting corner or tee in a multi-table setup.

Easy layout options for stacking track supports

Layout

The #33253 Stacking Track Supports and older style #33557 Bridge Supports are fun pieces because you can get multi-layer track configurations, assuming you are using low-height engines and rolling stock, of course. An easy configuration for getting track layered on top of one another is shown below.

The top configuration is for Stacking Track Supports, and the lower is for Bridge Supports. Here’s the former in 3-D to help visualize it.

The idea is, you use a switch to branch off the main line, place an ascending track on the main, and then curve the branch back underneath it. This keeps the two branches almost exactly even, enough that the vario system can fill the gaps. To merge the two lines back, you simply mirror the arrangement on the other end.

 

A look inside Smart Track

Disassembly

With Smart Tech products out in Europe and soon to be released in the U.S., I thought it might be fun to take a close look at BRIO’s previous generation of this technology: Smart Track.

A disassembled Smart Track piece, showing the RFID tag and the protective plastic cap.

The RFID tag is not cemented down, but grooves in the translucent cover hold it in place. Two screws with tamper-proof triangle heads prevent children from (easily) taking it apart.

The RFID tag itself is a passive style, which means it gathers its power from the electromagnetic waves emitted by the scanner.

The RFID chip on the tag is covered with a ball of epoxy, which is kind of a bummer since that means we can’t really look at it without destroying it. However, there are eight electrical contacts exposed, which implies it’s got an 8-bit programming interface. Learning how to interact with that is an exercise for the reader.

The RFID tag manufacturer helpfully prints the date on the tag. My Smart Track tag was created on April 27th, 2004.

Smart Tech, in contrast to Smart Track, places the tags inside the “tunnels” that span the track. Depending on how those are made, it may be a bit harder to get at the RFID tag inside but I am sure someone, somewhere, will try. If it’s you that does it, drop me a line!