[#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
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.
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]
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…
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.
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.
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
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
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!!
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…
Trolleybus anyone?
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
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…
Does it run?
jabrown: Indeed it does–I tested it out by clipping leads from a DC powerpack to the powered trolleybus and it runs quite nicely.
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
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
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]
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]
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]