streetcar poll

[trolleyboy]

[#welcome] most of you who have seen some of my other topics know that I am a large HO streetcar nut/modeller I'm just wondering that if in a perfect world where streetcar products were as plentifull as railroad models what your preferences might be? myself I'm currently working on a small whit project and will build many I would also like to see some desent work equipment line cars sweepers etc. I one to one scale at a local street railway museum so therefore this is an extra push for me to build some wierd and wonderfull street railway critters.[8D] Rob

[willy6]

The only thing I know about about street cars is that many years ago there was one named "Desire" and "Rice-a-Roni" is a big advertiser on the ones in San Francisco.

[mustanggt]

I want to see at least a brass model of Boston's Type 7 cars. I would also like to see Bachmann produce a spectrum PCC car. And if it runs as well as their GE E33 and their acela then they could have a real winner.[8D]

[Jetrock]

willy6: Those are cable cars--not the same as trolleys. They're pretty interesting, although mentioning "Streetcar named Desire" or Rice-a-Roni to a trolley fan is kind of like when people ask steam nuts about their "choo-choo trains."

Personally I'm a sucker for single-truck Birneys, thanks largely to Sacramento Northern #62 at the WRM.

I have a couple of brass single-truckers in desperate need of remotoring and a pair of Ken Kidder plastic-body dual-truck Birneys (also in fairly desperate need of remotoring.)

Most of the things I don't have but would like to see are fairly one-of-a-kind homebrewed jobs from here in Sacramento. Fortunately they are fairly close to the Bachmann Brill, although for one I plan on hacking apart a pair of those cheap cable-car kits and sticking on two of my old Walthers trolley ends, and gluing them together end to end to represent a PG&E California car...

[Anonymous]

My father many many years ago had an ho scale pcc set up in the background of his Lionel layout. I allways liked watching it come and go in the background.I don't have one on my layout ,but everytime i see one on someone else"s I allways think about incorporating one on mine.My layout has grown into a monster and after three years of work building it, have begun to tear it down i think this time there will be a trolly line.

[willy6]

Jetrock,
I did not mean to be insulting to the Streetcar modelers. I apologize. Now ,today after I posted ,I remembered I had a box of (2) street cars in HO scale and I found them .I got no idea,or cannot remember where I got them from. One is green and numbered #463 and has "Desire St." on it.,the other one has "San Francisco Municipal Railway" printed on it and "Powell and Mason Sta."
I don't have any use for them.

[trolleyboy]

Jetrock: those are nice photo's, i've been meaning to thank-you fot your advice it's all been helpfull and is why I haunt these forums [xx(] I'm guessing those shots are from the museum you've attached yourself to I've not hit the sight yet but I intend to.[:D] trolleyboy

[trolleyboy]

Willy6 those cars sren't the best but make for good kitbashing material I've turned some of them into trolley work flats cranes etc. You see quite a few of them on ebay try your luck if you don't want them somebody probably does. take care [:D] trolleyboy

[Jetrock]

willy6: Those are the non-powered ones, right? I think Reader's Digest or someone like that gave away zillions of those--the green one is a Brill trolley and the other one is a San Francisco cable car. Bachmann does a powered version of the Brill, and I think there is even a powered cable car model out there, although the prototype runs on 3'6" gauge track instead of standard gauge.

I'm not sure if there is a Desire St. anywhere but there was a Tennessee Williams play called "Streetcar named Desire" which is where the reference comes from.

trolleyboy: The upper photo is of SN 62 which is at the Western Railway Museum. It's fun to ride, although I imagine taking it to work every day might get one sick of its rocking & rolling motion!

The other is a former PG&E Sacramento car that is currently stored in Sacramento's Light Rail service facility and is the only restored one of five ex-Sacramento trolleys (the rest are stored at some industrial facility in Sacramento) that might someday be the nucleus of a Sacramento historic-trolley line. I haven't hooked up with that bunch yet but I intend to...

I also volunteer at the California State Railroad Museum, which is a lot closer to where I live (less than five miles instead of 60 or so) so I get down there a lot more often although they really aren't trolley-oriented. But I like diesels and steam too...

Oh yeah, speaking of things I'd like to see in plastic: A plastic Niles interurban carbody, so I don't have to fork out $200-300 for one on eBay!!

[Jetrock]

Oh yeah, one other thing I'd like to see: More modern LRV models--like maybe a Siemens S70:



I got to see some under construction at the Siemens plant in Sacramento--very slick.

A lot of modelers who model the present day might like to have such sleek beasts sliding out of their passenger terminals or through their city streets. And since the current generation of young folks and adults ride them to school and work in many cities, they're again in the public eye...

[jabrown1971]

Trolleybus anyone?

[trolleyboy]

Jetrock the birney looks fun and I'm sure like all single trucker's it is a bit of a vomit rocket[:P] our museum has two birney bodies one from the guelph street railway the other from the Windsor Sandwich & Exeter the latter is restoreable the other well it was omeones's porch possibly spare part potential! Our pride in joy is Toronto Railway Company 327 a single truck open bencher dating to 1893 we run it everyday and it's a handbrake car to boot, we also have three 1917 wood body closed Preston Car Shop cars from the Toronto Civic Railway system two were converted to rail grinders which is how we've left them the other #55 we restored back to it's DE passenger former glory it's also a handbrake car and it's big and heavy!!! All work so if your up herre ever come ride em. Cheers trolleyboy

[Jetrock]

jabrown1971: I got an Eheim trolleybus set with a bunch of things I picked up at a yard sale, it's kind of interesting but a little too toylike and I don't think many other folks made trolley-bus models. I've been meaning to sell it on eBay for a while...

[jabrown1971]

Does it run?

[Jetrock]

jabrown: Indeed it does--I tested it out by clipping leads from a DC powerpack to the powered trolleybus and it runs quite nicely.

[trolleyboy]

One thought I've noticed several of you would like to see a nice double truck Birney I have been told that Ken Kidder used to make one but I've not been able to find info at best you get blank stares when you ask people about them. Do any of you folks out there hve one or have an opinion on their merrits or demerrits also are they still being made if so how does one get one's hand on one? Thankx Trolleyboy

[TurboOne]

I would like to see the San Diego Trolley. I am returning to the train world and don't know what kind it is, but the look great. I have only seen paper ones made out of cardboard when they first opened the trolley out to my city. El Cajon. Maybe someday they will start on the modern world of trolleys and then we will see.

Also my first ebay buy was the Readers Digest trolleys. I use them as static displays on my layout. Maybe the start of a model trolley museum.

Tim

[BNSFGP38]

A 50 tonner like this, just for shits and giggles to have on my desk. And YES,I am the engineer in this photo and yes I do have a tie on.
I was conducting that day and the short handed shop crew needed someone who knew how to operate 300 to shove the crane up the line.[8D]

http://home.gwi.net/trolley/collection/locomotives/300.html

[trolleyboy]

BNSFGP38 is that loco the former NS&T unit ? I'm a St Catharines boy originally and it's looking like home I had two great uncles tthat worked for NS&t one in the shops and one an engineer,nice to see a loco working anyway all of ours at the HCRR are still static only but if the parts fairies smile upon us we may see our Grand River Railway 90 ton 335 working again someday it'll give our linecar a break on pushing and pulling the heavy stuff around the museum property. Regards Rob By the way those 50 tonners may already be in production check out the minatures by eric web sight he makes a very similar resin kit to work on nwsl trucks![8D][8D]

[BNSFGP38]

No TB that is from Osawa street railway, Oshawa Ontario.

Then again, a model is nothing compared to my hand on the controller.
It must have been nice in the winter, but its a whore in the summer cause the resistor banks are a foor behind you,especially when you dont make it out of notch 1 or 2.[xx(] Also got to watch out for that live 600v govenor in the cab.[:0]

[trolleyboy]

BNSF Thanks for the info do you guys still have the NS&T unit? Also I here you about the heat , I'm not sure if you have been to our museum or not but if you run our snowplow TP-11 it's cab mounted resisters keep you toasty year round we haven't nicknamed it the beast for nothing[:D][:D]sTB

[Jetrock]

trolleyboy: I have two Ken Kidder double-truck Birneys with plastic bodies. The body detail is amazing, the trolley poles are cheap fakes and the motor is an absolutely dreadful open-frame thing that has two speeds--stationary and flat-out. Definitely a candidate for repowering!

I also have two brass Birneys--also with dreadful motors. I need to break down and order some Sagami can motors with worm gears from NWSL and just repower them...

Oh yeah, AMB Laser-Kit is contemplating releasing a double-truck Birney based on the Ken Kidder design. Here's a link:

http://www.rgspemkt.com/DTBirney-1.html

[trolleyboy]

Jetrock thanks for the link I'm drooling already, looks like I'm going to need to increase the budget again this year! TB

[BNSFGP38]

TB, I am not sure what NS&T stands for?[:0]. But you can vist us at http://www.trolleymuseum.org/ and check out our roster.

Better yet, just vist us!

[trolleyboy]

Sorry BNSF the NS&T stood for the Niagara St Catharines and Toronto it was city/. interurban in the Niagara peninsula with steamboat connections for Toronto it was one of the last to go in ontario it shut down passenger service in 1959. Our museums Oshawa Railway linecar #45 was built by the NS&T shops for Oshawa and is the only living NS&T piece left this side of the boarder. My mistake NS&T #18 is in the Connecticut museum not with yours my bad[oops] I was just wondering if it was still alive and well that's all.TB BTW if your in Milton come see us too[8D]

[jrbernier]

I might go for an 'interurban' car like a nice Niles/Jewett type of combine. Actually I have thought about adding some overhead wire and something like a small center cab motor.....just too many other neat projects!

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jetrock

willy6: Those are the non-powered ones, right? I think Reader's Digest or someone like that gave away zillions of those--the green one is a Brill trolley and the other one is a San Francisco cable car. Bachmann does a powered version of the Brill, and I think there is even a powered cable car model out there, although the prototype runs on 3'6" gauge track instead of standard gauge.

I'm not sure if there is a Desire St. anywhere but there was a Tennessee Williams play called "Streetcar named Desire" which is where the reference comes from.

trolleyboy: The upper photo is of SN 62 which is at the Western Railway Museum. It's fun to ride, although I imagine taking it to work every day might get one sick of its rocking & rolling motion!

1. If the green one is authentic, it's a New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI) car built in about 1923 by what was then the Perley Thomas car company. Today, that company is Thomas-Built Buses, and they build a huge number of school buses. Many of the NOPSI cars are still in service on the St. Charles line, which is broad gauge (5' 2-1/2", same as Pennsylvania Broad Gauge), several were retrucked for the Riverfront line (std gage), and the new Canal Street line uses a fleet of homebuilt replicas of the Perley Thomas NOPSI cars (more like charicatures) that are air-conditioned and ADA-compliant (St. Charles doesn't have to be--it's a historic monument and is exempt on historical grounds). BTW, once St. Charles gets out of downtown, it runs on a completely restored and reworked ROW in the median through the Garden District and by Tulane University out to the Carrollton Ave. shops. Beautiful ride.

2. The Desire Street line was also in New Orleans, and it is on the list of lines they'd like to put back in, for obvious tourist draw. The actual NOPSI car used in the 1950's movie is at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum outside Pittsburgh.

3. An operating, restored Birney single-trucker in actual non-museum revenue service (!) is on the M-line (McKinney Ave Transit Authority) in Dallas. If you like teeter totters, you'll love that little jewel! It's an ex-Dallas Railway & Terminal car, so it's right at home. Saw it a couple of times last week, in service with the Melbourne car (equipped for ADA). Also a nice ride down the street from the Arts District to the West Side Marketplace (an upscale mixed-use "new urbanism" development, not to be confused with Dallas's West End) with tons of good restaurants and nightlife on the route.

[C):-)]

[trolleyboy]

Jim hi thanks for participating in the poll.Depending on your preferences the Bowser Jewett is a nice looking kit in my estimation and the AMB laser cut windows and stained glass kits would help make this an even better kit. I'm not sure if I've ever scene a Niles car model if ever likely MTS brass. I have a book at home on the Toronto Civic railway (this is one of the TTC'S) predessesor's which shows their 1916 Niles cars and there are some good plans in the book as well I've pften thought of attempting one but it's on the backbburner the book is a good read with some wonderfull photo's it's out of print but I've met the author as he's a member at our museum we still have several copies in hard and soft back for sale in our giftshop if you were interested hit the museums web sight www.hcry.org/hcrycoll.htm Happy training. Rob

[Jetrock]

There are some nice Niles SN-prototype cars floating about, but they're brass and mucho expensive ($200-250 is a screamin' eBay deal.)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TurboOne

I would like to see the San Diego Trolley. I am returning to the train world and don't know what kind it is, but the look great. I have only seen paper ones made out of cardboard when they first opened the trolley out to my city. El Cajon. Maybe someday they will start on the modern world of trolleys and then we will see.

Also my first ebay buy was the Readers Digest trolleys. I use them as static displays on my layout. Maybe the start of a model trolley museum.

Tim

Tim, San Diego Trolley uses (In order of age)

Siemens U2s: http://server3.uploadit.org/files/andref-newpics006.jpg
Siemens SD100s: http://server3.uploadit.org/files/andref-Siemenssd100.jpg
and Siemens S70s: http://server2.uploadit.org/files/andref-f66d9c260.jpg

However, I think this thread is focusing on heritage street cars, not LRVs. I know LRVs are sold if anyone wants them :-P Just look around, I've seen them before.