1920's bi-directional trolley (Peter Witt streetcar) with figure - real life MOC

[Murdoch17]

This elongated 6 wide Peter Witt streetcar was first built in 2011 and based on the work of Brickshelf user J-2 and his vintage 2003 model of the Mister Rodgers' Neighborhood Trolley. (link to it here )

I modified that users' model into a Birney safety Car which had enclosed sides, anda reduced the width from 8 studs to 6. Then I extended the model to be a double truck model instead of my original two wheel version. This means the model has double the seats, plus I added shrouded wheels inspired by a table-scrap build from James Mathis from 2002, as seen in this link. More recently, I added center double doors for exit from the car, (the single doors at either end are for the passengers to pay the driver and enter the car) and changed the light bluish gray stripes to tan to more accurately represent the St. Louis Public Service Company colors. These changes transformed the trolley from a Birney into a Peter Witt, which were built from 1915 to the mid-1930's when President's Conference Committee (also known as PCC) type started production.

The  LDD file includes the street car and a motor man figure, which is available at the bottom of this post.

This trolley is also build-able in other colors, such as black instead of red.

The wheels are shrouded in panels (original idea by James Mathis as seen here) so they looks like a real streetcar, which would not have them exposed. This shrouding does not affect the car when turning, as seen above. Also, the magnetic couplings located on the ends of the car allows for the car to be doubled up with a second streetcar. Now, in the real world this second car (called a trailer) would not have a independent motor or trolley pole and would draw any power needed for doors and brakes from the leading streetcar via cables, but this is Lego so anything goes. you could even pull a small freight car or two for interurban service, though as far as I know no Peter Witt or Birney Safety Car did that. 

As before, the model is supposed to feature printed number tiles on the board above the windscreens, such as 07 or 66, but these parts are not in LDD so the car is blank. Speaking of LDD, here is the LDD file so you can modify the model or build it yourself, as I will be doing probably sometime next week.

Here is a Bachmann H0 model of the same streetcar (single ended car is shown, though mine is bi-directional) and Saint Louis railway color-scheme. I took some creative liberties in my version (I swear shrouded wheels were on some of them in service!) but the heart and soul is the same.

As usual, Comments, Questions, & complaints are always welcome!

Edited March 6, 2017 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

"Clang, clang, clang, went the trolley..." - Judy Garland's "Trolley song" in the famous film "Meet me in Saint Louis!"

Updated to included new pics and new ldd file. Real life pictures should be coming next week, if not the one after that.

[ericb]

Very nice, and thank you for he ldd file!  I may try to make this for my city.

[Murdoch17]

On 2/25/2017 at 10:01 AM, ericb said:

Very nice, and thank you for he ldd file!  I may try to make this for my city.

Awesome, please post pictures if you do!

(real life pictures added to main post!)

[M_slug357]

 I like the idea of trolleys, trams, and lrv's for a lego city! Maybe it's just my eyes, but your model looks a bit on the "chubby" side and I can't quite tell as to why...

I think it's missing some of the undercarriage shaping that can be seen on the HO model?

 

[Murdoch17]

22 hours ago, M_slug357 said:

 I like the idea of trolleys, trams, and lrv's for a lego city! Maybe it's just my eyes, but your model looks a bit on the "chubby" side and I can't quite tell as to why...

I think it's missing some of the undercarriage shaping that can be seen on the HO model?

 

Thank you! It may look that way because normally trains don't have skirting, and this one does, making it look more chubby. Thanks for stopping by!