{"id":1898,"date":"2022-01-01T13:53:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-01T13:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/?page_id=1898"},"modified":"2022-01-01T14:08:55","modified_gmt":"2022-01-01T14:08:55","slug":"project-714gaugetram","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/project-714gaugetram\/","title":{"rendered":"project-714gaugetram"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1640460574481{border-top-width: 10px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;background-color: #004c7f !important;border-left-color: #d3de66 !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #d3de66 !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #d3de66 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #d3de66 !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 30px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1640460971395{margin-top: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-radius: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”24″]\n

7 1\/4\u2033 Gauge Tram or Brake van<\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

This project developed from a desire to have instantly available motive power for my garden railway and it was conceived as a quick build to take place whilst my partner was away on holiday for two weeks.<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

An outline of this project was subsequently published in Model Engineer.<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

The wheelchair components cost \u00a350, the wheels were \u00a320. I also bought gears and chain, bearings, wood around chassis, chequer plate and varnish. The rest I had already hoarded. Total cost about \u00a3120 and nearly as much again for the authentic pieces of railwayana that I used to give it some ornamentation. Note the Southern Railway ashtray on the rear left pillar.<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

I know the GWR lamps aren\u2019t genuine!<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1900″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_caption=”The completed vehicle”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

The design criteria were that it should be large enough for adults to sit in, have a short wheel base to negotiate tight curves and be heavy towards the rear so that when an adult stepped on the footplate it didn\u2019t lift off the track.<\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

Factors contributing to the final design, were:-<\/h3>\n

1. The 2\u2033 square tubing I had in stock from an abandoned kit car project.<\/h3>\n

2.\u00a0 A load of very nice Parana Pine board recovered from the local swimming pool ceiling<\/h3>\n

3. The acquisition of the electrical parts from a motorised wheelchair from my favourite auction site. A bonus was that the motors had electric braking and manual clutches, so that they could be disengaged and the tram could be pushed or pulled.<\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

As the resulting chassis could be pulled along easily, I based the final design on a brake van designed by Arthur Heywood, intending that it could be used as rolling stock behind a steam locomotive.<\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1903″ alignment=”center” img_caption=”The completed vehicle”][vc_single_image image=”1904″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_caption=”The completed chassis. Joystick controller plugs into the 8 way connector” css=”.vc_custom_1641045799331{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”]\n

The Chassis is welded from 2\u2033 square and 2\u2033 angle iron. The axles are mounted in take up bearings that have springs from from an old MG cylinder head.<\/h3>\n

A piece of tube extends the manual clutches on the motors so that they can be operated easily. This is the disc shown behind the LH wheel.<\/h3>\n

The motors are mounted vertically and have chain drives to the axles. All these components and batteries fit beneath the central seat.<\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1907″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_caption=”Body being built around the chassis” css=”.vc_custom_1641045953729{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1908″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_caption=”The uprights and the horizontal rails were routed to support the parana pine boards” css=”.vc_custom_1641046001323{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1909″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_caption=”Cut down hinges seemed the easiest way to fit the roof” css=”.vc_custom_1641046047555{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1910″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_caption=”Early test run. The roof has been covered with canvas and a piece of thin plywood would be used as a veneer on the roof ends.” css=”.vc_custom_1641046105159{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1640460574481{border-top-width: 10px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;background-color: #004c7f !important;border-left-color: #d3de66 !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #d3de66 !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #d3de66 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #d3de66 !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 30px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1640460971395{margin-top: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-radius: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”24″] 7 1\/4\u2033 Gauge Tram or Brake van [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”16″ text_align=”center”] This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1898","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry","no-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1898\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}