West Midlands Metro CAF Urbos 5 segment tram

[Mike Harvey]

As well as putting this in the Tramways forum, I thought it worth including it here seeing as it shares the roads in several places across the West Midlands.

 

This model has appeared in the TT trams Shapeways shop, following a dialogue I had with the designer a couple of months back. I have purchased one for evaluation for use on my modern N Grand Central layout. I seem to recall that commercial producers have struggled to get a 5 car "snake" with only 3 bogies to work convincingly in a straight line, so I may be looking for some engineering input to get it rolling. Right now I am thinking of separate centre conduit made of magnetic material to pick up on magnets on the articulation points. No catenary will be needed for my route which assumes that the trams operate on battery power as the real ones do on on the Birmingham New Street - Centenary Square extension just opened.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/DC4GARRS5/west-midlands-urbos?li=ostatus&optionId=134739381

Picture from Flickr of a real one in the new current blue livery.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Mike Harvey
corrected link

[Mike Harvey]

The CAF Urbos 3 West Midlands arrived from Shapeways yesterday. With a warm garage I could clean it and give it a light primer coat. A very small amount of sanding needed on the tapered cab nose. I think I will be trying to power the centre car with a Tsugawa TU-7T which will be a snug fit, with a rigid two axle chassis created for each of the end cars relying on the articulation to facilitate curving. Also need to think about the inter-car bellows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Harvey]

Other follow ups on this model are in the Tramway Modelling Forum.