No 5 - Replacement Tram Loco & Ore Cars - Ore Car Repair Shop Details

The Tram - July 20, 2026

I ordered the O-Scale version of the electric tram locomotive back around the middle of June.  I thought the original S-Scale version seemed a little small.  The O-Scale version finally arrived after nearly a month and I think it looks about right.  The figure is S-Scale.  The original ore cars were purchased on ebay and the quality of the 3D printing was terrible.  Initially my complaint was ignored but after I published the photos along with negative feedback on ebay, the seller agreed to replace them and I agreed to revise my negative feedback once the replacements were received.  

The ore cars were designed for N-Scale trucks.  There were two problems with this arrangement.  One, the cars sat way to high when using the existing bolsters and two, the gauge was too narrow since my tram is being  built with HOn3 Code 55 flex track.  I ended up cutting the N-Scale wheels in half. cutting off the needle point on the end of the axle, and using a piece of styrene tubing to increase the gauge.   

The car was lowered by cutting away part of the bolster and filing away a portion of wheel flange so wheel set would snuggle up to the under frame.  The wheel set was glued directly to the under frame.  From a normal viewing angle, the wheel sets are almost entirely hidden by shadows.

  

The finished tram locomotive & ore cars.  The locomotive and ore cars were painted with Rust-oleum flat sprays, craft paints, and weathered with Pan Pastels.  

 

Interior Details for the ore car repair shop - July 24, 2026

Before going any further with the interior details, I decided to add all the windows, doors, and trim to the Ore House.  All of the required parts were separated from their sprues, taped to a piece of cardboard, and sprayed with Tamiya light gray primer.

The doors and windows were assembled and attached to the building along with the framing around the large door on the end of the building.  Since my tram is going to be electrified, the end door had to be modified to allow the door to close "around" the overhead wire.  My original plan was to cut the original door in half, create and small opening near the top of each door where they would come together when closed from each side.  Unfortunately the laser cut siding had a long outline cut above and to one side of the opening for the door guide.  With no way to remove or cover the outer portion of the outline, I had to come up with a single large door solution.  Not wild about the result, but its the only solution I could come up with.

The interior of the ore car repair shed is getting close.  The overhead wire for the tram still needs to be strung and the loft needs to be finished.

Finished interior July 28, 2026 - The overhead wire for the tram, the loft construction details, and the lighting are done.  Two soft white LED's and a Woodland Scenics Light Hub were used.  The Light Hub allows for the brightness of the LED's to be easily adjusted which is a really nice feature.

 Your comments, suggestions, and questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com