Anyone out there suggest any HO NYC subway cars available and other products for elevated tracks and stations. Thanks!
Life-Like makes the Proto 1000 line of NYC subway cars. They have a 4 car set in several colors. You might try a search on google or even the Walther’s site.
Bob
Mister Beasley has modeled a subway using the Life-Like set. As a native New Yorker, I think he’s captured the essence of the IRT. However, since you specified elevated structure, you might want to enter Westchester Avenue/Middletown Road, Bronx, NY into the map program of your choice, then pan southwest to get some idea of just what size and quality of bucket of worms you’re opening.
Elevated stations and tracks would be almost a total scratchbuilding exercise, but some commercial products could be used:
- Girders meant to be used as part of deck girder bridges.
- Flex track, buried in the woodwork typical of elevated structures in Da Bronx.
I don’t know if anyone manufactures the typical ‘third rail under a board’ used by the IRT at the time those cars were running, sixty years or so ago. The tin ‘white lettering on blue’ station signs could be printed on photo paper, then sealed. The girder structure of the bridgework could simply be black-painted styrene, with only the visible side (or sides) modeled with detailed girders.
About the time I was a regular rider I thought of modeling the IRT elevated structure. The reality of a high school student’s available space and finances terminated that dream, and later events turned me in a totally different direction.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Elevated track bridges and stations can be found here!
I too grew up in Da Bronx , and took the Pelham Bay #6 line into Manhattan for years. This line used the cars modelled by Life Like in the late fifties to early seventies. The elevated structures suggested by Sir Madog are typical of the Chicago elevated lines. The NYC lines didn’t use open lattice structires as did Chicago.
Google street view of Westchester Avenue in the Bronx, or Bing Bird’s Eye view might give you better views of NYC elevated construction on one of the lines on which the Life Like cars were used.
The Life-Like models are very nice. When I got back into the hobby about 7 years ago, these were the first units I bought:
Although my subways do have ramps to bring them up to the surface, the bulk of the system is truly a subway, running beneath my surface layout. There are 4 stations, 3 of which can be seen from the edges of the layout like Phoebe Vet’s station above. The fourth was going to be hidden staging, but since I have a “Train Cam” in the lead car, I put a station there, too.
I’ve got 2 sets of cars, the original silver-roof Redbirds and this slightly newer model in green:
The newer sets were made after Life-Like was bought by Walthers. They are pretty much the same, but the new ones come with end gates on the cars. For my original Redbirds, I added end gates from Images Replicas.
Walthers is showing that their subway sets are all sold out, but they are still available at www.trainworldonline.com for much better prices. Walthers periodically re-issues these sets.
This is a short video (sound included) that I made from the Train Cam in my subway system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ5OvZtI-QU
Please don’t stand too close to the edge of the platform.