Bump-n-Go + Command Control

Probably not.  You could rig something that would allow it to be active with a reversing switch on the bumper switches.  If you did that, you'd just set a speed with the TMCC and then when the switches were activated, it would flip the polarity to the motor and go the other way.  That would be extra work, but it can be done.

Aaron-

I looked at the exploded parts view of a bump and go trolley, and it seems the mechanism consists of two sprung bumpers and a DPDT toggle switch. My guess is when the trolley hits a track bumper, the sprung bumper compresses enough to push the toggle switch to the other throw, which in turn causes the motor to reverse (the unit has a DC motor, so reversing the wires will reverse the direction of the motor).

You can add TMCC to the unit, but you would lose the bump and go mechanism.

-John

You don't have to lose the bump-n-go, if you just wire the motors through the DPDT switch to reverse them, you can still have the command operation.

I have the same idea about incorporating my Lionel trolley.  I am going to leave the trolley as manufactured and run it on a separate loop with a Lionel transformer, as it always ran, conventionally.  

AcelaNYC,

    John if Guns says he can do it then I believe he can make it happen, in fact I have been wanting a Pennsy Bumper Fire Car or my Pittsburgh,Pa Red Bumper Street Car up graded in just this manner with ERR, but did not know if it was possible, because of the actual size of these bumper cars.  Guns did a great job getting the ERR into my 249 engines Tender, and it maybe even smaller than the bumper cars.

PCRR/Dave

Size is a whole different issue, though the ERR Mini Commander II would probably fit in most any small car, I have crammed them into stuff like my customized RMT speeder.

On the Fort Pitt Highrailer layout we had limited success with bump and go trolleys. Just didn't hold up to the all day back and forth.  Trolleys with electronic reversers, Forward/neutral/reverse, worked well with a Dallee system designed for Back and Forth.

 Installation instructions.  We did get this to work well at 8 ft of track.  Recommended total track length, I believe is 12 ft.  

Trolley.  

The bump-n-go trolley gets a lot of abuse as it hits the bumpers at each end, small wonder that it beats itself up.

Last bump and go I used on a display layout would get wonky after running a while.

I think the key is that it would hit the bumper and the the car would bounce a bit.  Likely some weight would help.

The bump-n-go mechanism (sliding bar driving a mechanical DPDT switch) requires a minimum speed to reliably activate on each reversing crash.  One advantage of command control would be you can "precisely" set the speed above the minimum determined speed.  This was difficult to do using conventional control due to starting torque voltage requirements when reversing...causing the speed to typically be way above the minimum bump speed.   But still lots of wear-and-tear from repeated collisions.

If modifying and adding control module anyway, one idea is to replace the mechanical sliding bar DPDT switch with a DPDT latching relay.  The relay would be activated by magnets/reed switches on each end of travel.  So the trolley would not have to smash into the bumper or whatever.  Instead you'd install a 25 cent magnet on the track near each end of travel.  The magnets would trigger 50 cent reed switches in the trolley which would trip the DPDT relay (replacing the DPDT mechanical switch).  So maybe $5 in additional parts but would eliminate wear-and-tear from collisions.  This would also allow the trolley to go quite slowly under command control and still reverse by itself.

I think the major issue is indeed the constant collisions with the bumpers.  I like the idea of reversing it before it hits anything, I suspect that would do wonders for the lifespan.  Speed control would be nice as well, you could run at a slower speed and not worry about stalling.

Industrial Rail then Atlas had a reverse unit in the bump and go, how did they do that?

IDR had a push button switch and a simple electronic reverse board.  I had one, but I decided to sell it some time back.  It was a crash and reverse unit, just like most others.

They also had a electronic reverse unit in them and the bump mechinism did work at very low speed. I have 3 Atlas trolleys and 2 IR that were custon painted by PHM for PRT which no longer run.

Correct, they have a simple pushbutton that activates the electronic reverse.  They did have the full reverse unit, but that was both a blessing and a curse, occasionally it would drop into neutral and the trolley would park.

If you will be running the trolley on a dedicated track with bumper...then use a TPC 300?400 to control it. You will address that track as an engine and run it conventionally through your CAB 1.  You can adjust the speed via the red wheel. I have used this approach on my bump and go trolley with no problems.