04 October 2022
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80M Bus Model The Peak Tram - 5th Generation
PRICE: £53.99
REF NO: EIG CR201910
SCALE: 1/76
The Peak Tram is a funicular railway in Hong Kong, which carries both tourists and residents to the upper levels of Hong Kong Island.
Running from Garden Road Admiralty to Victoria Peak, via the Mid-Levels, it provides the most direct route and offers good views over the harbour and skyscrapers of Hong Kong.
Operated since 1888, it was the first funicular railway in Asia. Originally steam-powered, the cars were changed to electric in 1926. Overhauled again in 1956, the 4th generation cars were to a new design and were lightweight metal-bodied cars, each of which seated 62 passengers. The system was comprehensively rebuilt in 1989, by the Swiss company, Von Roll, with a new track, a computerised control system, and two new two-car trams with a capacity of 120 passengers per tram. These are the 5th generation units as modelled.
To combat the incredible levels of demand, the line has recently undergone a huge renovation, which included new, increased capacity 6th generation two-car sets. Only one of our cars has survived, but thankfully, the 5th generation has been preserved in miniature here.
With a carrying capacity of 60 passengers per carriage (the new, longer 6th generation cars can carry 105 per car), the model captures the look of the attractive, older units perfectly.
Supplied mounted on a relatively simple, but nevertheless very appealing plastic display plinth, the diecast cars are angled upwards, of course, to replicate the real thing as it climbs (or descends, depending on your perception).
It's certainly a fabulously different model and I do have a bit of a thing for trams of all ages, so this month's Editor's Choice was not a difficult one for me to make.