So in an effort to relive some of my childhood I'm thinking of adding a short trolley line to my layout. As I was ageing (not necessarily growing up) PCC cars were still common in my neighborhood and I rode plenty of them.
I've seen the ads for the Bachmann and Bowser/Stewart PCC cars and while the better units have more detail and better appearance I really can't justify the expense of 8 or 10. The Bachman units will suffice except for the extreme height and undetermined drive. So a couple questions:
1 Do the Bachman units use the same plastic cased pancake motor as the trainset loco's? Meaning they can be converted to DCC.
2 Any idea if the ride height can be modified? From the ads it appears to be about a 5 foot jump to the first step (yikes!) The prototypes were only about 2 foot, or less, above the railheads. Perhaps the shell can be lowered on the chassis?
I know I'm asking about cheap stuff and will get the advise to spring for the better models but thats not in the budget.
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
For heaven´s sake - go for the better Bowser or Con-Cor PCC cars. The Bachmann cars are cheapish toys you will most likely ban from your layout in short order. Go to your LHS and have a look at them - how can a renowned company put anything like this on the market, I will not understand!
How about getting only 4 of the better ones instead of 8 - 10 Bachmann toys?
A Bachann bashing answer does no good.
I have one of the St Louis streetcars that was DCC equipped. It runs well. I can't answer your question about lowering it or what type of drive it has, because I have not had any need to ever open it up.
Whether it would be prototypical to a rivet counter I cannot say because the last time I ever rode a St Louis streetcar was in 1962 and I don't remember what they looked like. The St. Louis Car Company made them, so they may not have been to PCC design.
I don't think Bachmann even markets it as a "PCC car," but as a streetcar. The Bowser model would certainly be more accurate if you want a PCC.
I have one of the Bachmann Peter Witt trolleys. This is certainly a cut above their PCC cars. It's really a very high-quality model, and it's given me no trouble at all. It comes with DCC already installed. I added a sound decoder to mine. The unit has a speaker well for a 1/2 inch speaker already built in. This is an alternative to the higher-priced PCC cars, if your plans don't require a PCC.
You're not going to find other trolleys for the price of the low-end Bachmann PCC, though. In MSRP terms, you can't find much of any kind of motive power for under $100 and expect much quality.
Unless you are planning to run an automated operation, it seems to me that 8-10 trolleys will be an awful lot. Unless the new Bowsers are different, none of these comes with couplers or drawbars, so they're not designed for running in consists. I would also go with a few good-quality units rather than a bunch of lower-quality ones.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I grew up in Shaker Heights and PCC type cars (including St Louis and Pullman) were in use into the late 80's, the Witt style were long gone by then. I was planning on running em in 2 unit consists with a drawbar (which wouldn't too hard to add) so only 4 trains at a time over about a 100' run. I'm perfectly willing to sacraifce fine detail for price since I am a bit ham fisted. Details don't last long for me and supporting a family and house doesn't leave a lot of extra for toys, I know I'm not the only one.