Streetcars in Wrocław / Breslau (2)

The backbone of the streetcar system in Wroclaw are still the Konstal 105N cars. They can not hide their relationship with PCC cars. The Polish manufacturer Konstal copied many PCC features, even if he was not licensed as the CKD Tatra of Prague was.

In Wroclaw, they ride in two-car trains, with the second car mostly "downgraded" as a motor trailer without controls.

A number of the Konstal 105N were rebuilt and recieved new doors and new front and rear ends made of plastic with rectangular headlights.

Streetcars in Wrocław / Breslau (1)

During a summer trip to Poland, I made a stop in Wrocław / Breslau. This town hosts an extensive standard gauge streetcar system.

The newest cars in Wrocław are Skoda 16T (uni-directional) or 19T (bi-directional).

They are far cousins of the Portland Inekons with five-carbody-sections and streamlined ends developped by the design center of the carbuilder Porsche.

NWSL Stanton Drive for H0 Traction Models

Some month ago, I bought a pair of Tenshodo "SPUD" WB24.5 motor bogies and build a resin printed truck frame around. This trucks are fairly ok, but have some weak points as they are speedy, a little noisy and have fragile gears.

Corrected version of the drawing : The centerpin is not centered

NorthWest Shore Line (NWSL) has developped a similar drive called "Stanton". I purchased and examined a pair of them. On any point of view, they can be considered as a "better SPUD" : the use of more improved materials and some refinements on the construction make them a good running motor bogie.

Only one or two dark points remain: the current capture is sometimes "hesitating", at least on new unused models. I recommend always use of a pair with full current capture. The second dark point is the high price ... But some extravagant details like the motor fuse may prevent you to buy replacements :-)

The basic dimensions of the Stanton with 7' wheelbase and 36" wheels are nearly identical to the Tenshodo SPUD WB24.5 version. His low construction permits also a virtually unlimited rotation of the truck under the car.

NWSL offers the Stanton in many versions and even custom built. For the traction modeler, the type 1210 with a wheelbase of 6'6" or 7' and a wheel diameters of 33" and 36" covers nearly all of the existing bogie trucks of heavy and medium-weight Interurbans. With only small and probably invisble compromises, any truck with a prototypical wheelbase from 6'3" to 7' and wheel diameters from 32" to 37" could be built.

As NWSL don't deliver a blueprint with this truck, I draw it of my own and it is for download here as a pdf file. For the moment, only for version with 7' wheelbase and 36" wheels.

My existing resin print frame of a Standard C80P truck cannot be used without some sanding of the inside distance blocks. But I will modify this 3D model soon, so it could match with the Stanton drive. All my future developments of resin print bogie frames will be adapyted for the NWSL Stanton drives.

Download pdf diagram

Truss Rods for the Ohio Electric Box Car

The four truss rods under this car cannot be printed with the resin shell or the resin printed underframe.

You can make them by bending small wire and glueing them into the prepared holes. The truss rod supports are printed solid with the frame.

Bending, fixing and glueing the wires is a little tricky.

Interurban Wooden Combine project

Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company, wooden combine

In 1907, the Cincinnati Car Company built a number of wooden combine Interurban cars for the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company.

This cars, built to the classic midewstern 61'6"diagram, were considered as the nec plus ultra of wooden Interurban construction.

Similar cars went to several Ohio lines. The Northern Indiana Railway recieved eight cars with only a slightly different side window arrangement.

This classic wooden combine will be the subject of my next drawing session.