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Bandai Mini Mini Rail Rail & Accessories
Bandai produced and sold the Mini Mini Rail (ミニミニレール) series of train toys in Japan from 1975 until around 1982. The trains are about the same size as N scale trains and run on rails 10.5mm apart, slightly wider than N scale's 9mm.
Mini Mini Rail trains and sets are covered on the main Mini Mini Rail page. Several scans from the 1976 Mini Mini Rail catalogue are used on this page.
Rail
Mini Mini Rail track has a gauge measuring around 10.5mm, slightly wider than the 9mm track used for N gauge trains. Earlier track was a simple grey but when the range was all converted over to AAA-powered Action Series trains the track changed to a blue plastic with grey painted rail.
801 Long Straight Rail
The "standard" straight rail, measuring about 217mm long. Sold individually on carded backing in packs of four.
803 Short Straight Rail
A straight rail measuring 154mm.
804 Short Straight Rail
A straight rail measuring about 135mm.
805 Short Straight Rail
A straight rail measuring about 108mm, half of an 801 straight rail.
The Short Straight Rail A Set included two each 803, 804, and 805 straight rails. Several other lengths, 802, 810, 809, and 806 were also produced and sold in the Short Straight Rail B Set. 802 rails are the shortest in the range and make up the difference between 803 and 804 rails (about 20mm), 806 rails are one quarter the length of an 801 straight (about 54mm), 809 one fifth of an 801 straight (about 43mm), and 810 one sixth the length (~36mm).
Here is a relationship chart between different straight rail lengths, relative to the span of two 819 slope rails which are the length of five 810 straights - about 1085mm. A few other rail types were introduced after this catalogue like the 827 Small Curve Rail.
807 Long Curved Rail
Eight-to-a-curve "standard" curve rail with a radius of about 280mm, equal to a long straight rail and a quarter. Sold individually in packs of four.
808 Short Curved Rail
16-to-a-curve curve rail with a radius of but half the length of the regular 807 curve. Two of these curves in an S bend forms the standard for running parallel Mini Mini Rail tracks.
811 Points (Right)
Mini Mini Rail points were produced in both a "Fixed" style that always sends a train straight through and a "Manual" version with a switch that actuates the decider section of the rail bed. You can see how the base tooling is the same and then it either has the static insert piece riveted in place or the lever, actuator arm, and decider rails installed.
The curved branch is the same length as the 808 Short Curve Rail and placing two together matches the parallel track width used on the 822 Double Curve Rail.
812 Points (Left)
Left points, also produced in fixed and switchable versions.
The static version that always sends an incoming train straight through in the older grey and newer dark blue styles.
The turnouts were sold in packs containing one manual and one straight-through point of opposite handedness as well as two 808 short curve rails.
815 Stop Rail
This straight-rail length section has a raising platform that will press on two pegs under the power car of a passing Action Series train and disconnect power to the motor, stopping it. Usually, its stops towards where the switch is located, as that side gets lifted up higher.
Flipping the lever lowers the platform and lets the train carry on. The original non-reversing trains lack the pegs hanging down that cut off the battery switch. These rails and the reversing rails below were sold on cards with two of the same type of action rail and four 805 straight rails with two buffers to integrate them into a layout.
818 Forward/Reverse Switch Rail
This 801-length straight rail has two flip-up cross-head posts on either side of the track that will trigger the reversing lever on the side of an Action Series train. The posts can be flipped down to let trains pass.
Like the stop rail and most of the regular rails, this Action Series track was first produced in grey and later dark blue with painted grey rails.
The Action Series rails are neat and let you control the trains a little bit more like model trains. There was only one Mini Mini Rail set with an automatic coupling feature but you can make the regular Action Series locomotives drop a train off in a siding.
822 Double Curved Rail
Parallel double-track curved section with inner radius matching the regular curve rail and second set of rails displaced over 43mm, the same difference as a short-curve or turnout S bend. The outer radius is about 323mm. These first debuted as individual pairs of curves in the later grey-track era, around the time of the original Action Series.
827 Small Curved Rail
Introduced later in the range's life in the early 1980s was the smaller radius 827 Small Curved Rail. These were only produced in the blue and grey style and were probably at least partially introduce to help make sets slightly cheaper to manufacture.
Their radius is about 195mm, tighter than the other Mini Mini Rail curves. This is not 43mm less (the difference formed by two connected points or half curve rails) but they are about 86mm less of the standard curve, so they can be reached by doing this translation twice.
Accessories
Mini Mini Rail sets from their inception included small trackside accessories that fit into slots in the roadbed.
Accessories include single and double track overhead wire holders, signals, and buffer stops.
Both semaphore and light-type signals were produced. Between different production eras, the colors on the semaphore signal switched around.
Buffers, signals, and poles all slot into holes in the roadbed besides the tracks.
At least three different types of trees appeared in different sets at different times, the two on the left earlier on and the one to the right later.
Larger individual accessories like stations and crossings, sometimes with sound or other features, were released in boxes starting fairly early on.
Tunnel
An earlier more elaborately painted, curved tunnel was released early on in Mini Mini Rail's life. It was vacuformed and somewhat fragile, losing its covering over time. It is probably only unused examples that have survived.
Later, a flimsier, smaller and less detailed tunnel was included in some sets.
Horn Crossing
Released in the later 1970s from what I can tell, this neat railroad crossing with signalbox produces a "horn" (really more of a whistle) when a train passes. It has two pressure pads in the track to activate an air-powered whistling mechanism inside when trains pass.
It takes two AA batteries housed under the roof of the signalbox. Inside a motor drives a fan inside an enclosure that blows through two whistles, one on either side, with the intake vent on the front and an exit out of either side wall. There is a white and blue version of the crossing that was sold alongside the country station as an accessory pack.
Click for video with sound!
It was also included in the No. 3 EF71 Electric Locomotive Horn Set.