Neighborhood Trolley

Ding ding! If you're a fan of Daniel Tiger or Mister Rogers (calling all aunts, uncles, moms, dads and grandpères), you've probably thought about printing up a trolley.

First off, I want to semi-apologize for the Body file that's 64 MiB. I generally enjoy churning out high resolution models for my prints, where I don't see curves in 10-degree steps. Unfortunately for the body object this wound up making it rather huge, and I do not recommend attempting to use Thingiview on the high-resolution model (if somehow the preview is re-generated by the website). The "normal" res model file was saved using SolidWorks' "Fine" settings, and is about 1/16th of the resultant filesize.

For this project, I wanted to make a trolley that was relatively close to the original and good-sized. I wanted most of it to be snap-fit, and after long periods of staring at old pictures, I realized that I liked the rustic feel of the screws that held the side platforms onto the trolley.

The original trolley has all sorts of details, from the curved seat ends, to the caps covering the supports, to the slight overhang of the top roof, and I wanted to fit as much in as I could without going overboard on the number of objects that would need snapping together.

The four cylindrical posts in the engineer compartments tended to be fragile when I had them at 2.5mm, so they're a full 3mm in this version, and I think it still looks good. The rest of it has generally survived** playtime with a four-year-old, so I left it alone.

I intend to continue making little improvements, tweaking it a little to allow me to add LED lamps on the ends, perhaps. Maybe getting info on model train track motorized wheel modules or creating a variant with room for a small motor and gearbox? Open to ideas if you have any.

Oh yeah, and you'll want to print two of the side platforms and two of the cow catchers.

** Aside from a minor crack on the side platform after falling to the floor, but it did not break off so I'm sticking with this story.