All aboard :) Tram review finally!
The presentation is just wow, still today. I'm not a train or vehicle fan really, couldn't tell you the first thing about a car. However the design is so intricate and thoughtful here. Similar to the more recent cars not having a hood, one side of the tram is completely open, allowing for play and display.
The accessories are packed with so much care, although the text is too small to read for the most part. The plastic itself is very nice, but it feels slightly cheaper when things like railing or doors clearly would have improved with paint. It's intended for play, so I would rather there be less details to worry about getting damaged. Although, the doors...boy the doors. They love to get stuck. And it could come down to manufacturing luck but I needed force to push them close on quite a few occasions.
There are wheels that roll behind the faux-wheels- I didn't photograph it particularly though. I remember this rolled rather poorly on my tables, so this may be better on a carpet. My tram is noisy at least.
The pamphlets and tickets are things that seem easy to lose, for children I would just omit them and leave them in a bag for later. The hat too seems like it'll get lost. However the seats...I love the seats. There's quite a few arrangement options for the tram, although it may make the doors sort of decorative in some positions. You can even place them on top of your tram if you'd like. They pop into certain slots fairly firm, but not so tight a kid wouldn't be able to remove them.
At the time of these photos, I did not have the Maple cats! But I think in canon, the Maple cat father drives the tram around the town. The hats fit everyone! It's felt which I do not really like to see, it doesn't feel very nice but it looks nice. The hat looks very prone to lint as much sylvanian felt fabric and flocking is. I regret that I never photographed the driver section- there's a spot near the front for the tram driver to stand at. It's very cute! I'll have to do another shoot of this one day.
My very old photo of my display...sighs. kind of nostalgic! I am a huge fan of this tram and can't recommend it enough, for those looking for a good piece or toy. I would be careful around the doors for kids, some pinching may happen. Otherwise very good quality and I feel like it's was worth the 20-30 USD price tag. Believe it or not, this was on a severe discount/clearance on Amazon for the longest time. I got mine for 12 bucks with free shipping. Good luck finding one below 50 now on Amazon or eBay, or anywhere. I think if you buy this second hand, just try and get a seat (or both seats if you can). The tram without seats is still good but you can use the seats for other things. The smaller goodies are nice...but I would save your second hand money troubles for better sylvanian sets. This is like a solid 5/5, but not a must have. I would argue smaller furniture sets are must haves :) at least ... In this second hand market.
^^^From the official Sylvanian website
Apparently- super modular! Would have loved to pick multiple trams up if I had the space. Looks like you can add shops to the open side of the tram to make food carts/wagons. The tram comes with a hook to connect multiple trams with, or other vehicles, so in theory you could have quite a few of them! Having one is enough for me, I also do not like much of the Town Shop stuff personally. I assume this is super fun though for kids or just fans who like modular design.
