Buenos Aires tram with fender (based on an OCCRE kit)

[Philippe DUSSART]

Dear All,

Occre has been producing a tram from Buenos Aires. About 2.000 trams ran in this city (This large number is about correct) have been produced by American, Elglish and Belgian companies.

The Occre model was operated by the Lacroze company has enclosed platforms and closed windows.

I have modified the kit in order to replicate the motor car 1055 from the Anglo-Argentina company.
The body with open platforms, fender and semi-convertible windows was made in Belgium. The truck was a Bril 21e



Here are pictures, including some historical research to get the right colours, numbers, type of windows, etc

See for history and process: https://www.tramania.net/albumModeleBuenosAires/index.html

The controllers are from HKW trams, the curtains from a piece of cloth found on eBay (with the right colours end size, ...)
The front of the car, the fender and decorative brackets for the platform roof are made of etched brass.








Happy New Year, Philippe

 

[Philippe DUSSART]

Nearly finished:

A few hours are needed for the boarding steps, a cable from the trolley pole to the motor, a few paint fixes.

Regards, Philippe

 

[Paul M]

That's lovely looking model! Well done

 

[borsig1963]

View attachment 337225

ciao, your trucks are really amazing

 

[Jasper]

That's a very elaborate fender. Why did they have these?

 

[Philippe DUSSART]

Note about my Brill 21e trucks:
- the truck shown is an old version of my design: each side is made ofa "lasagna" of three laser cut plates (1mm stainless steel), in order to copy the strength of these trucks. - I have designed another (cheaper) version with a single plate
- regarding motors, I designed a compact design, with the motor axle parallel to the wheel axles. A single design for bogies and trucks, completely under the tramway body.
With this gear set-up, when power is shut, the car stops smoothly, as per "real" trams. Worm gear do not allow all these points.

I made an Istanbul tram, a Cairo tram, a couple of Belgium trams tha same way (see elsewhere on this forum)

 

[Philippe DUSSART]

That's a very elaborate fender. Why did they have these?

Jasper,

"fenders" are typical USA safety equipments, also exported to Latin America.
Early Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto tramways were also equipped with fenders

If open (see drawing below), a fender is not appropriate for hilly routes, is rattling, etc.
If "closed" (see my model,) it needs to be operated manually. Difficult, as the driver would first use his left hand to shut power, his right hand to brake and his third hand to open the fender. Even with electric brake, there is a delay to open the fender.

In Brussels, a local system of "wheel guard" wass placed under the tramway body and is "automatic", the body of the person at ground would trigger the safety net, so that the driver can focus on his brakes.

See the difference between "fender" and "wheel guard" below, as sold by the Consolidated Car Febnder Company.
Many other suppliers did make wheel guards in Europe.

Some tramways systems just used some kind of bar in front of the wheels. The issue here: the body could be squeezed between the ground and this bar.

Regards, Philippe