Tram

[Dublo]

Hello all
I'm thinking about building a "shelf " street scene with a tramway. Does anybody know the minimum radius curve a OO Tram is able to run on ?
Thanks

[Mountain]

I guess it depends on the tram. Tram wize, have you considered a 7mm narrow gauge tram which uses 00 gauge chassis? The reason why I mention this is that they can turn very sharp curves and for a shelf project being a larger scale they will be more visible. Take a look at the trams in the Smallbrook Studio 0e range. (7mm narrow gauge).
They may not be what you are looking for, but I thought I'd mention them as they may be ideal.

[Dublo]

Hi Mountain
The idea I have here is actually to concentrate on the buildings. Which I shall be casting using Linka so the scale is OO by default as that is the scale moulds that I have. The Tram itself will be to add some movement to the scene. Many thanks for your idea, I would otherwise consider a change of scale. Let's see what the future may hold.

[Mountain]

I don't know if there are any ready to run British trams available, but Bachmann do make trams in H0. There are two versions of electric trams and then they do the San Francisco cable cars. I have a cable car. From standard they are not made to negotiate curves, but I have worked on mine and it will go round first radius curves, though second radius would be better. To adapt the cable car (Which looks the best of the three models in my oppinion) you need to adapt the trailing bogie so it has sideways play and can turn. I believe I also eased the power bogie so it had a little play to it. It does involve a little careful thought but can be done.

[Bufferstop]

I've just spotted your comment in your layout thread. What trams would you want to run on it? A couple of years ago I picked up a diecast Opporto single decker from an odds and ends sale. My interest in it was to see if I could make a working bow collector and if it would reverse by friction when the tram reversed. Looking to motorise it I doubted I could get an 00 bogie under it as it was a metre gauge prototype in HO scale.. After a bit of thinking and browsing, and printing some stone setts with lines on them to look like tram tracks, I came to the conclusion that the gauge wouldn't matter much. You wouldn't see much of the undercarriage and the tram looks as though it progresses along a strip paved in setts. So I mounted it on an N gauge chassis, as fitted under the 4 wheeled coach that pushes along the N gauge Thomas. The bow collector worked faultlessly even though I built it from straightened paper clips using a pair of torsion springs that I hand wound from some springy tungsten wire. It made me think that if I was contemplating an old style street tramway I'd go for one of the many 3'6" systems that existed but use N gauge track and chassis to get very low drives and short wheelbase bogies, with some really tight turns. There's usually a good selection of 4 wheel and bogie chassis from Plazajapan on eBay.

[Dublo]

Hi Mountain and Bufferstop.
Thank you both very much for your input on this project which is certainly in its infancy at the moment. My original thought was to have a Feltham car (this is because the factory was just around the corner), Bec make a kit they also produce a motorising bogie and an unpowered one.

[Bufferstop]

If it's a bogie tram the limit on how tight a corner it will turn is just the degree to which the bogie can swing underneath it. Peco once claimed to have got Streamline working down to 6" radius, that was when they only did code 100, as long as your bogies will run on code 75 six inches should be no struggle. The bigger section rail puts up a bit of a fight when you get down to really tight curves. As it's a London tram you don't even have to put up the wires, just paint in a big black groove down the middle of the track and say it's running on the plough!

[Dublo]

I thought about running it as a conduit powered car. But I thought that with the centre pick up I would be mirroring Little Weldon a bit to much. So it's going to have to be overhead wires.

[Dublo]

Hello all
I have just found out if anyone is interested that if I use the Bec motorising units in the Tower models kit, it will negotiate curves down to a radius of 7 1/4 inches. This would make tram way modelling ideal for those short of space.

[RAF96]

I have a Bec trucked Atlas Feltham tram running on a back and forth shuttle around Hornby/Peco radius 1 curves, no problem at all.

[Bufferstop]

First radius? PD Hancock built a four wheeled open top tram that went around four and a half inch radius curves. It ran along the road at the back of the layout to a 3 way point straight ahead went into the tram shed, the left hand route went around the back of the shed and back down the other side.

[glencairn]

Here is a tram at Beamish Museum picture taken yesterday

and in model form. (sorry about the picture. It is quite old.)

Glencairn

[Chops]

Brilliant stuff.