Quarter Scale Streetcars

[swissrail]

 These models are are kind of related to Garden Railways. My Grandfather built 4 1/4 scale streetcar models (15inch gauge) over a period of about 35 years, from about 1965 to 2001. He passed away in 2007 and since then the family has been working on placing them in a new home on permanent display. Currently we in the midst of constructing a museum/display type building and hope to it completed and the models inside sometime this coming summer.

 Unfortunately not many magazines will publish articles on models this size. I did contact Model Railroader Magazine, Garden Railways Magazine (both said no) and just recently I contacted Railroad Model Craftsman (which did an article in 1977) about a week ago, but I haven't heard back yet.

 

Here are some approx. dimensions.

Birney Car #404                             7ft x 2ft4in x3ft1in
City Car #240                               11ft8in x 2ft4in x 4ft9in
Interurban #1318 (formerly 1244)     13ft2in x 2ft6in x 4ft
Freight Loco #4                               6ft ½in x 2ft1½in x 3ft6½in
Large Trailer                                    4ft 6½in x 2ft x 1ft7½in
Small Trailer                                   2ft9in x 2ft x 1ft4½in

Track Gauge                              1ft3in or 15in

Some pictures to view.

 You can also view more pictures on my website;

www.urban21.ca

 

I will keep you posted.

 

Aaron Lypkie

 

Victoria BC Canada

[Curmudgeon]

I recall an article years ago on streetcars about that size.

The builder had developed a way to reverse automotive starter motors so he could get it to back up.

Same cars?

[swissrail]

 Yep same cars. That would be the article written in Railroad Model Craftsman in July 1977. I have a copy of that article somewhere in my files.

[gbbari]

Those are fantastic models, Aaron. Also visited your website and read through a lot of your transportation project which is pretty amazing and well detailed. I understand the maps very well having just visited Victoria this past summer ('08). We saw Butchart Gardens and walked around Victoria town center for several hours. We rented an old but beautiful Daimler limo and driver who drove us around the city and provided a wonderful talk about its history and culture. The streetcars certainly fit right in. Al

[JamesP]

 

Thanks for posting this Aaron... I've never seen any traction models this size actually running under wire. The models look amazing with all the overhead in place. There are two magazines that specialize in trains this size, Live Steam & Outdoor Railroading and Large-Scale Railroading. On a related note, I know that "Grand Scale" trains aren't the focus of Model Railroader or Garden Railways, but it used to be that Model Railroader would run an occasional article on live steam or ridable trains. However, it seems that these days MR is only printing articles on inside model railroad scales.  It would be nice to see an article once in a while in either MR or GR on larger scales or other out of the ordinary trains.  Perhaps Garden Railways might consider "adopting" us modelers who work in the rideable train scales.  After all, we are still model railroaders, just in an unusual size!  So how about it GR - will you consider taking the live steam crowd under your wing with a little coverage once or twice a year?  Kalmbach covers everything from full size trains down to Z scale except the rideable sizes.  Just something to consider...

Respectfully,

James

[dwbeckett]

I agree with all of you, IT IS OUTSIDE IN THE GARDEN

Dave