My Tomytec Portram Low Floor Streetcar arrived late last week just as I had to go on several trips. It wasn’t until Tuesday night that I got to really look into this item.
The Low Floor Streetcar comes in two boxes, one for the Tomytec TLR0604 streetcar model and one for the Tomytec TM-LRT01 drive.
Assembly into an N gauge operating model is easy. The articulated body lifts off the static chassis in two sections and then fits onto the power chassis and snaps into place. On inserting the drive you do loose the interior. This could be over come by modeling window shades which many Japanese trams have.
I have created a base for a small tram layout still in the planning stages. The base is a 2 inch thick piece of Woodland Scenics Styrofoam, 12 inches wide by 24 inches long.
On that base I have an oval of Tomix Mini Fine Track and Super Mini Fine Track set up with most curves being C103 (103mm) curves. There is a short siding, just long enough for one streetcar.

Test layout with Tomytec Railway Collection controller.
To run the Portram, I decided to use the Tomytec Railway Collection battery powered controller as there wouldn’t be any wires across the living room. The Tomytec Railway Collection controller uses four AA batteries so the car will be running on 6 volts instead of the typical 12 volts.
Portram Tram Background
This streetcar is based on cars built for the Toyama Light Rail Company in Toyama, Japan. Like most Japanese railways it has a nickname, Portram, which is a contraction of “Port” and “tram”. The Portram line serves the port area of Toyama unlike the existing Toyama District Railway tram line which connects the JR station with South Toyama. Portram which opened in the spring of 2006, runs both on city streets and on a former JR branch line railway right of way. The street portion is licensed under the Tram Act and the railway line under the Railway Business Act. Legally LRT does not exist in Japan.
The seven Portram cars were built in 2005 and 2006 by Niigata Transportation under license from Bombardier. Low floor cars are generally known in Japan as a “super low floor” cars.
Tomytec Model

Tomytec Portram Super Low Floor car.
The Portram car is essentially two single truck cars linked by an articulated section. The trucks are closer to normal double truck car truck length than other single truck trams like Kato’s 14-070 Hiroshima single trucker. Okayama Electric Tramway 12 m 7400s have truck center of 1600 mm and the Portram 18.4 m super low floor car has a truck center of 1850 mm.
Electrical gear found underneath all previous generations of streetcars is now found on the roof of low floor streetcars. This explains why there are so many details on the roof.
The body has all the typical Japanese tram markings including center entrance and front exit, Portram logo and car number (TLR0604).

Portram has typical Japanese tram body markings including front exit.
I tested the Portram model on a small 12 x 24″ layout. The track was built out of the spare track box and most of the curves are C103. There also is a small siding. Power comes from a Tomytec Railway Collection battery powered controller.
At full power (6V) the car runs like a bat out of hell. Imagine what it will do on 12V! It has no trouble navigating the C103 curves. There is a bit of overhang on curves, but that is a characteristic of prototype too.

Overhang on a curve.
At reduced speed it ran quite nicely and eventually I settled on running the car on third notch of five notches on Tomytec controller. It runs around the oval and through the siding without stalling. There is a bit of humming noise, but it is not too noisy.
Overall it is an authentic Japanese super low floor car with good running characteristics on 6V. I purchased through Hobby World Japan and with SAL shipping this a very nice car at an affordable price.
Further Info
For more information on Portram and maps see this web site.