Garden Railway Forum

I decided to have a go at designing and printing a "Toby" type tram from the old Wisbech and Upwell line. I know it's been kitted a few times before, but not by me and I too stingy to buy a kit when I have free CAD software and a 3D printer.

Anyway, my first thing was to try and design and print the cow catcher, needs a bit of modifying, but looks like it is possible to do.

That doesn't look too bad at all.

I've often thought about doing a tram loco but never got around to it, so will follow this closely.

philipy wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:58 pm That doesn't look too bad at all.

I've often thought about doing a tram loco but never got around to it, so will follow this closely.

That was my thoughts exactly before I started it. Spent too many years wanting one and no time to build one. I had the plans half done many years ago,well more like started them rather than half done, lol.

Well I have the main body, skirts and cow catchers all done in CAD, just have to work on all the accessories now like bell, hand rails etc now.

Very nice! As a great fan of the Great Eastern, I thoroughly approve .....

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:55 pm Very nice! As a great fan of the Great Eastern, I thoroughly approve .....

Rik

Awesome

I did reach the limits of Tinkercad on this one, a "circle" can only have 64 sides max and once at that kind of size it's noticeable. It has come out rather hexacontatetragon shape so in this case you can see the sides about every 10mm. Not a problem, this particular tram had a wood roof and that happens to be the exact size that as the planks of wood originally used, lol. (Well that's my excuse and I am sticking to it).

I have started printing the various bits, but it says it will take around 2 days (plus stoppage time overnight) to print them all

Looking good. How many print parts are there? i.e stl's

What are you doing about chassis etc? I assume you'll build your own frames but what about motor, gears etc?

philipy wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:41 pm Looking good. How many print parts are there? i.e stl's

What are you doing about chassis etc? I assume you'll build your own frames but what about motor, gears etc?

The chassis will be the same ones as I usually do. In design similar to the GRS and the Essel ones, though all the dimensions differ between all 3 as do the materials as I love the weight of brass Generally my chassis are so heavy that it doesn't matter how light the body is, it still has immense pulling power. I use the Como Drills motors with the built in gearboxes, usually the 15:1 for speed and 30:1 for a more realistic line speed. I use standard 4mm bore nylon bevel gears, but drill one of them out and then make a brass insert that reduces the width of the gear enabling me to set the wheel gauge to either 32mm or 45mm. GRS sell one very similar but they use the gears as standard and therefore have to have different wheels for 32mm and 45mm and therefore sell you either a 32mm chassis or a 45mm chassis. Essel I think cut their own smaller gears from brass enabling them to do a dual gauge chassis. Actually thinking about it, I have a spare Essel chassi kicking around so I might just use that and add some weight.

Thanks. I guessed it would be something along those lines.

I have finally finished the design and the accessories, just have to wait and how it all prints off and any changes required.

Well I managed to get all of the main panels printed and put together. I also managed to dig out an old essel chassis and make some plates up to attach it to the chassis. I made a couple of brass stations to go from the floor to hold the roof on, threaded top and bottom for screws and happy with the result so far.

underside and inside at the moment

That looks excellent Steve.

Fabulous Steve, that does look good. Wish I had your skills in CAD, but alas....

Very nice! I've got a soft spot for the GER trams too - I've got one in OO that my Dad built from a kit.

As I recall, when The Fat Controller acquired Toby he decided the BR livery was a little drab - does he end up with blue skirts? I'll be interested to see what livery you go for Steve - and whether Henrietta's next?!

And don't worry Rod, you'll get there - you've not had your printer a month yet, practice makes perfect!

Andrew.

A bit of an update, still got the weathering to do, some windows to do, the bell wire and maybe outline the window frames in white, not sure yet, but happy with it so far.

Superb.

Impressive!

Rik

That looks a lot like Anne's Perfect World Tram. Nice...

Well I am nearly finished, just needs some handrails and a coat or two of varnish. Had it on a test run this morning