This is what it looks like.
View attachment 91709
It looks like the start of the bend forming the flange is what keeps the wheel well behaved.
Oh cheers! That makes sense now.
When at college we used to have a ride up and down the Bury line before it was relaid to scare ourselves.
Bahahahhaha, sounds like fun.
Can anyone recommend lively parts of the network to visit for some adrenaline?
T68s did indeed have a running mode selector switch which had three positions;
-street
-street without steps
-segregated.
In street/street without steps speed was limited to 30mph amongst other things.
M5000s do not have a mode selector switch, and their suspension is not as sophisticated.
It’s worth noting that since the M5000 hunting issues of a few years ago, they now have a slightly more conical wheel profile than most trams due to the amount of segregated running that we do
Oh nice, strange how sometimes things go backwards...
I've not lived in Manchester long enough to have experienced the T68's, so the M5000's are my experience of the Metrolink system... I mean they're not as bad as Pacers lol.
Knowing a bit more about tram-train operations, I think that it could be capable of longer distances, without being too badly speed limited. However, operationally, I still think Metrolink would be better to have a heavy rail tunnel and divert some local stuff, (e.g Glossop, Wigan, Bolton, Hazel Grove) through it.
The city centre bits are pretty much full now, especially once service on Trafford Park ramps up post-covid. I've noticed loadings are generally pretty consistent, even in lockdown.
So all of this is to say, we probably can run comparable service using tram trains (in terms of speed), but maybe we shouldn't, because of other constraints on the system.