Ho traction who does it ?

[trolleyboy]

[Hello everyone, I've been an HO "scaler" for 20 some years and have come to ome horrible realization that we have all seemed to have forgotten about our civil transportation history. About two years back I developed a perhaps not so healthy attractiion to vintage traction equipment,by joining our local streetcar museum which is of the operational non static variety.Since this 12 inch to the foot scale "modelling" has come to pass I've been on a personal quest to find the kindred spirits in the model world. i've been happy to find that Labelle hobbies is still with us and going strong with HO traction equipment but alas only Bachman's limited plastic trolly's and the few pieces Bowser still makes seem to be readilly available.I myself have started a project to bring out kits of styrene small Peter Whitt city car bodies to work on the bachman brill trolley chassis but they won't be available untill summer probably.I would like to ask the modelling masses if they know of any other good quality plastic traction equipment or if you are a traction nut and how you have coped in HO with any personal projects scratch built or otherwise. Thank you in advance I await any and all responces. Trolleyboy

[Anonymous]

well, i dont have a great interest in trolleys and such, but it seems that it would be an easy kitbash. A bachman chassis would work, but a higher quality one might be better. Perhaps the 2 trucks from a spectrum dual motor switcher. The body would take some work but no part of it would be too difficult. Good luck in your search.

[Jetrock]

There really isn't a whole lot to choose from, but there are some resources for the intrepid:

http://www.trolleyville.com (General trolley/interurban info links)
http://www.customtraxx.com (Maker of trolley decals & supplier of some parts)
http://www.eastpenn.org (East Penn Modular Traction Club, more links & info)
http://www.mrrwarehouse.com (Click on INTERURBAN for their freight motor body shell kits.)

There really isn't a whole lot to choose from off the shelf--us trolley fans are largely limited to kitbashing, hunting for old Suydam, Ken Kidder and MTS brass, and scratchbuilding (of course, there's LaBelle, but that's pretty much scratchbuilding with plans.)

I had a similar trolley epiphany about two years ago, and have since become fairly well educated on such topics (but there is still a lot to learn!) I volunteer at a nearby trolley museum occasionally (the Western Railway Museum) and get my 1:1 scale trolley fix there. When it comes to modeling, I'm still working mostly in diesel with a handful of various trolley projects in various states from semi-functional to still entirely imaginary...

[mustanggt]

I have an IHC boeing LRV that I plan to modify with a custom traxx mechanism and dcc. Once I'm done with it, I might post pics.

[Anonymous]

There is a Trolley Museum in Baltimore Md. that does a pretty good job preserving the era of Trolleys. I have to search for and find that bookmark as I am on Mozilla at the moment.

Edit- Found it... http://www.baltimoremd.com/streetcar/
I have decided that there may be a small section of track in a street that will have a trolley on it. The problem is the lack of "Fine" trolley in Plastic on the market. I see the usual Tyco and Bachmann offerings but none of these seem to fit.

Back in the day before Buses took over it was very important to the poeple to get around.

Little Rock AR recently opened it's trolley system at great expense and it is a winner! But visions of connections to nearby towns to help the commuters get to downtown is decades away.

[trolleyboy]

Hello again , thank-you for everyone who has taken the time to respond thus far, i figure that I might as well put a shamless plug in for the museum that my wif e and I belong to.Anyone who happens up to Canada next year or who is here and wants a functioning streetcar fix please come on down and ride our rails.Our museum is the Halton County Radial Railway in Milton Ontario that's just outside of Toronto on the 401 we will be back open and operating in May 2005 but here is the web sight in case anyone is interested. www.hcry.org/hcrycoll.htm Again thanks for everyone's input and hope to see some of you at our museum next year! Trolleyboy

[Jetrock]

More shameless plugs:

www.wrm.org

Western Railway Museum, Rio Vista Junction, CA, where the "Sacramento Northern" lives! There's a carbarn with static trolleys on display, but they also run regular city trolley runs around the site, as well as longer-running interurbans several miles down the line. Sounds like the museum there is pretty good--if I'm ever up that way I'll check it out!

[orsonroy]

Don't forget that Bowser makes several traction models, and that BLI and Bachmann have both supported the heavy electric scene recently. And the owner of AMB is a big fan of the PE and ITC, and occasionally comes out with limited run details and complete kits (look for AMB's two "hidden" websites for the trolley stuff).

Since I'm modeling central Illinois circa 1945-1950, I do plan on having some IT lines represented on my layout. I've got one one-foot-long section down now (crossing the P&PU and TP&W in Peoria) , and plan on scratchbuilding their Bloomington depot (and include about ten feet of track). I've got a few currently unplanned corners on my layout, and my father (a big Chicago-area traction fan) is trying to get me to model Mackinaw in one of them!

Unfortunately, traction IS an underground prt of the hobby. Except for museums, boring modern light rail, and the South Shore, there's basically no one around anymore who actually remembers "real" traction. Most of it died out in the 1930s, making it much harder to find anyone around who actually remembers it. I think traction will pretty much always remain the realm of brass, resin kits and scratchbuilders.

[douginut]

Boring modern Traction?
BORING!
We are seeing the greatest variety of traction equipment since the PCC tried to standardize.
And from all over the world too!
For the most part successful too!
Yeah Team!
I certainly would love to be able to buy reasonably priced plastic traction of all kinds but am for the moment a strictly BACHMANN operation

Doug, in Utah

[Anonymous]

There's a few Corgi diecast Briti***rams (streetcars) out there in OO scale - close to HO and uses the same track. These are static models but can be motorised - take a look at the Feltham trams and motorising kit at www.ehattons.com - they also have other trams including some kits. Not sure if you want to include non-US equipment but if you do these are well worth a look - hope this is of help!

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by douginut

Boring modern Traction?
BORING!
We are seeing the greatest variety of traction equipment since the PCC tried to standardize.
And from all over the world too!
For the most part successful too!
Yeah Team!
IDoug, in Utah

Yes, boring. Boring in the sense that a modern American traction system does one thing: move people around in a big loop, using one type of car, on a fairly weak schedule. In the good old days in Chicago, for example, you had basically SEVEN lines (South Shore, North Shore, IT, CA&E, Chicago Surface Lines, Chicago elevated, and the IC electric), using dozens of types of equipment, hauling passengers AND freight all over the place, on a dizzying schedule, on several different . Modern traction is like watching modern railroading in general: BORING.

[Jetrock]

Maybe where you live...there are places where traction action definitely exists!

San Francisco has BART, modern LRV's and the Market Street line, where you can ride PCC's and Peter Witts.

Portland has three light rail lines: a heavier-weight one for the suburbs, a lighter-weight one for closer-in neighborhoods, and a downtown historic trolley line.

Chicago still has a variety of people-carriers--subways, "el" trains, and Metra diesel pushers (while not electric, their job is much the same.)

Sacramento only has one system, but it has supplemented its old Siemens U2's with brand-new CAF equipment and is in the process of refurbishing a set of older (mid-80's) cars purchased from other cities. The RT Metro trains are practically an interurban in their own right--construction is expanding to nearby cities and before long will reach the airport and other regional destinations, in addition to connections to the new intermodal facility at the oldSP station downtown! There is also a plan to re-introduce a classic trolley line to carry people from historic Old Sacramento to the ballpark in West Sacramento. I got a chance to tour Siemens' LRV plant in Sacramento and found it a great kick--the new S70 LRV's are very sharp-looking! Now if only I can get in on the plan to help restore the old trolleys for street use!

So, while I'll admit it's not quite as lively as the days when Market Street had four sets of trolley tracks running down it (Pennsy wasn't the only one to have a four-track mainline!) or when Sacramento had three trolley companies carting folks around, in a dizzying array of bumbling single-truck Birneys, glorious wooden Jewett and Niles cars, sleek PCC's and rugged Holman cars, there are places where there is action in traction!

And, quite frankly, just the fact that people are getting around on trolleys once again has started to stimulate a new wave of interest in the historic breed. True, to modern eyes the new stuff doesn't have the "charm" of the old, but I'm sure that 50-70 years ago, the new stainless-steel lightweight cars, diesels and other streamliners turned off those who preferred the "charm" of wooden cars and steam engines.

[trolleyboy]

hello everyone again merry Christmas from Canada EH! Sorry just a Canadian thing, any way slightly off topic but the juice is starting to come back elseware in Canada as well,Toronto of course still runs four downtown lines on very reg. heavy service you can still charter small Whit 2766 and their two remaining PCC's for excursions as well! Ottawa has announced that their city "o" train is being converted to aa electric light rail service by 2006 and Kitchener/Waterloo are starting work on an intercity electric commuter as well for start up around 2008. calgary out west has also purchased more lrv's to expand their city srevice as well with talk of eventually joining Edmonton"S lrv servive as well. a sort of return of the modern interurban.So electric isn't dead it's just been on vacation for a while hopefully since more cities are comming back to the light maybe some more of the model manufacturers will turn the "bulb" back on! [:D][:D] tolleyboy

[BR60103]

There are also a few English manufacturers, I think Tower Trams, making plastic unpowered kits. I have a few in my to do box. Also an article in the January Railway Modeller om the Keil Kraft Edinburgh tram.
Trolleyboy: I've been to Rockwood a lot. was first there before they had the overhead up.
Who currently makes trolley poles? I haven't bought any for decades.

[Jetrock]

Bowser (link above) sells them, but the shoe is fairly crude (just a disc bent into a V shape and soldered to the pole) but if one can get aftermarket O or HO trolley wheel or shoe castings, they look better.

CustomTraxx (link above also) sells trolley poles, as well as Richard Orr girder rail.

If you mean the poles that go in the ground, Alpine Dviision sells them: www.alpinemodels.com

[jrbarney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BR60103

Who currently makes trolley poles? . . . .

Dave,
Precision Scale Co., Inc. makes them:
http://www.precisionscaleco.com
The bare pole is item 31563, pole with shoe is item 31564, and pole with wheel (non-operating, I think) is item 31565. They also have pole bushings and coil springs. They even list fully operating PRR GG-1 pantographs as item 421 at $ 45.00. As always, you might want to send an Email to check availability.
Bob
NMRA life 0543

[trolleyboy]

Hi again folks,I trust everyone has survived the Christmas experience. I have also noticed that Marklin is making overhead as well I've seen it set up at a few of the local train shows it's fairly pricey but it appears to be pre-wired in that it fits into push in sockets not unlike male female stereo jacksprobably the euro-prototype stores will carry it. David: you probably will be impressed next time your at Rockwood the new track 37 is in as well as the yard lead and most of the yard tracks for yard 4. We will likely be starting on the Sir Adam Beck building hopefully next spring and with fingers crossed the overhead for the barn and yard four will be in by next fall! The track work looks very good! Trolleyboy

[jrbernier]

As noted, HO traction has really fallen on hard times in the past 30 years or so. Back in the 60's, Suydam(sp??) imported a lot of nice brass trolley cars(Pacific Electric for one). Suydam also had parts for overhead, as well as Orr, Walthers, and Paul Moore had quite a line 'strathmore' side trolley kits. I built two of the Paul Moore kits, one of which used an Athearn 'Hi-F' chassis with RDC trucks for the drive.
I think traction sort of lost interest as the real interurbans died in the depression era, save for a few lines, and most of the city lines died off in the 50's. Not a lot of prototype action to view anymore, so modelers seem to model other stuff.
I have thought of adding a small trolley line to my existing layout, but having to 'kit-bash' everything from cars to overhead always has me looking at easier projects.

Jim Bernier

[trolleyboy]

Has anyone used or knows about the Orr product line. I would love to have proper girder rail and such but I've had no luck tracking the product down up here in the great white north, any of the Canadian members do you know where this product could be found I'm still lery about ordering stuff onlineas I have had bad luck in the past. Rob

[jrbarney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy

Has anyone used or knows about the Orr product line. I would love to have proper girder rail and such but I've had no luck tracking the product down up here in the great white north, any of the Canadian members do you know where this product could be found I'm still lery about ordering stuff onlineas I have had bad luck in the past. Rob

Rob,
Custom Traxx took over the Orr line when Mr. Orr died. There's a nice description of Mr. Orr and his work at Trolleyville:
http://www.trolleyville.com
I haven't ordered from them, but if you use a credit card, that offers a degree of protection when ordering from anyone. Custom Traxx's URL is:
http://www.customtraxx.com
Hope this helps.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

If your interested in it Tony Koester often talks about it.

[Jetrock]

Orr track is interesting stuff--you need a special bending tool to work with it. George Huckaby of www.customtraxx.com has a nice tutorial on how to use Orr girder rail at www.trolleyville.com in the library section.

The only problem with the European catenary/pole kits is that they aren't really anything like American-pattern trolley poles--simple trolley wire (wire simply hung from poles without a catenary to keep it straight) was used in cities or any place where slow speeds were the rule, and it isn't all that hard to hang. The Euro catenary I have seen also always looks way too thick.

[trolleyboy]

thank you for everyone's Orr line input I have gone a head and spent my xmas loot [;)] to order some rail the tool and a couple of switches for a trial run on the layout.Actually even though the bench works been done for a couple of years this will be the first laid track [swg] and since the wife is a huge traction fan expanding this track work ergo budget will be simple and won't require me having to sleep in tha basement with the cat!! [}:] If anyone wants some CP diesels I may be getting rid of themsince it seems the trolly's are winning out! Rob]

[SP4449]

[2c] This is slightly off topic but jbarney mentioned the death of Mr Orr. Unless Richard (***) Orr died in the last week, he is still alive but not as active as he would like to be. Several small strokes this year have robbed him of most of his speech ability. And, he celebrated a birthday on Dec 18. [bday] I have known *** since 1974 and have great respect for the man and the product even though I am not a trolley modeler. [bow]

Just thought you might like to know.

[jrbarney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SP4449

[2c] This is slightly off topic but jbarney mentioned the death of Mr Orr. Unless Richard (***) Orr died in the last week, he is still alive but not as active as he would like to be. Several small strokes this year have robbed him of most of his speech ability. And, he celebrated a birthday on Dec 18. [bday] I have known *** since 1974 and have great respect for the man and the product even though I am not a trolley modeler. [bow]

Just thought you might like to know.

Many, many thanks for the correction. In my memory, I think his bout with Guillain-Barre syndrome got crossed with Mr. Carl Hehl's unfortunate demise. Totally my error, for which I apologize.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

I think traction is a fascinating part of the railroading world. I remember riding PCC cars while I was a college student in Philadelphia in the mid 1980's - way cool. Although I don't have a traction layout, I am planning a short trolley line in the urban section as well as some interurban action (MP54's and electric MU's that will be bashed from Athearn RDC's). Also currently working on a subway station.

If any of this comes to fruition I'll post results - unless they are just too hideous! lol

[trolleyboy]

nothing you try to kitbash or recreate can be truly hideous. our first Peter whitt attempt was a little off but not unlike Dr Frankenstein we keep trying. [xx)] i've also put together some box motors and some work flats which were a bit unusual but if they get to out of hand they tend to get remanufactured ie give up their best bits for something else I figure that I keep minitures by eric and bowser in business by buying their trolly detail parts. Traction modelling is the stuff of crativity and scratch building so have fun keep creating and hopefully some of the big manufacturers will come by and come up with some real light street rail gems. Rob

[Anonymous]

If you will just go to Trolleyville on the web, and to EPTC as well, you will find that HO traction is ANYTHING but dead. In fact it is growing. If you will keep up with the news in TRAINS magazine, you will find that prototype traction is enjoying a remarkable expansion as well.
Don Lewis
Lamedeer Light Railway[:)]

[Supermicha]

I´m not sure, does traction also include electric locomotives??? Thats my favourite collection theme...

[Anonymous]

trolleyboy, I do appreciate your comment that nothing I try to sratchbuild or kitbash could be truly hideous, but you haven't seen some of my disasters!! lol. Of course that is the fun of the hobby. I will get it right someday!