Add Faller’s Car System

Dave Lowery steers you through the process of adding moving vehicles to your layout.

Dave Lowery steers you through adding moving vehicles to your layout.

I’ve admired Faller’s Car System for many years now. I even included it on the layout I built for my book Build A Model Railway Layout. Nothing can match it as a way to add an extra dimension to your layout. Things have moved on since I last used Car System and you can now get working traffic lights, bus stops, lighting systems and even a moving house boat. You really should consider adding it to your layout. The main UK importer of Car System is Gaugemaster. It kindly supplied us with what I call the ‘White Van Man’ starter set, thanks to its white Mercedes Benz Sprinter van (a Herpa model with the Car System chassis) as well as the working traffic lights set. This is a really simple system: the vehicles are battery powered and follow a wire under the road surface, thanks to a small magnet. Gaugemaster offers excellent roadway sections that complement the Faller system. They are laser-cut to accommodate the central steel guide wire. These can be arranged and designed into a suitable roadway formation. However, there is an alternative to buying the pre-made road sections – the Car System Groove Cutter. You’ll need to buy it separately, but it cuts a groove in the baseboard for the steel guide wire. This is better suited to modellers who have already built their layout and want to add Car System retrospectively. Gaugemaster’s sections will work better if you’re still building your layout. The beauty of Car System is that it’s really easy to use. I drew my roadway onto a piece of MDF board, including the edges of the pavements, and cut the groove using the cutter. I had my white van moving after a couple of hours’ work. If only I had the space for a much bigger system!