I was thinking about buying a trolley. Looked at the Lionel catalog and E-Bay for ideas. A lot of different ones! What is your favorite (excluding the holiday ones) and what “particulars” should I be looking for in making a decision? As always, thanks.
It depends what you are looking for but I really like the MTH Brill trolly and MTH PCC car, also the lionel bump and go are a good choice.
As you said, there are myriad choices - both new and old: there’s reproductions of the #60; you really can’t go wrong from anything offered by Lionel or MTH.
If this is your ‘first’ trolley, I would recommend the new #1651 Lionel 3rd Ave one. You can see more details at http://www.lionel.com/
I like the construction, the feel, the charm of the Bowser all metal trolleys. There’s room in them for electronics if you wish, they have a good high-torque DC motor with good worm gear reduction.
Rob
Those corgie trollys look great too.
There is only one original:
Who can beat a #60 Trolley on tubular track?[;)][8D][tup] way to go Frank![;)][:D] Take Care.
I have some power to the track now and was running the Trolley last night - just back and fourth on the 35 or so feet that I have down before having to turn it around. I was racing from one end to the other to hit the bumper before the trolley went over the edge - but what a great little runner.
Say it ain’t so Frank? Hope your #60 is all right. What a way to go! Not even Mr.Rogers had mishaps like that.[:O][;)] Looks like we’ll have to send you to rehab at the local Trolley School operated by a franchise of Doug Murphy in the proper operation of Trolleys & Streetcars.[;)][:)][:o)][:o)][:o)] Take Care.
Frank, I’ve signed you up for Motorman’s Training beginning next week. This is a special class covering only postwar electric traction.
Speaking of Corgi Trolleys - another option is to get one of 'em, then power it - my choice is the Bowser motor - cost about $40 for a trolley and $60 for the motor. It’s a five minute job to install. Really. And it’s a very cool little Birney…
THANKS GUYS! After reading the posts, I believe I’m past the “thinking” stage and have moved into the “dive-into-the-cookie-jar” stage. Again, thanks for your assistance.
Check out on the forum or do a search here KOOLJOCK did a great review of the new Lionel trolley. I have one and its fantastic.
laz57
I guess I have O gauge trolleys from just about everyone: Lionel (postwar and modern), MTH, Bowser, Industrial Rail, Corgi, etc. But the very best O gauge trolleys are, in my opinion, the ones formerly made by Western Hobbycraft. If you can find one of those in the secondary market, that’s sure the one I would go for.
Laz 57: Thanks for the KOOLJOCKS review. Question: I read the review and looked at the Lionel catalog. Kooljocks review showed ‘protection grates over the windows’ while the catalog did not. Would you know if the grates are included or was that an upgrade? Thanks, again.
LOL! - Nope it never came close to going over the edge - I was still speedy enough to make it from end to end to hit the bumper in time. I’m sure when I was a kid it took a few “swanee’s” off teh edge of the table, but it’s still in great shape and runs like a sonofagun.
Traindaddy1,
It comes with the grates as shown in my pictures. The catalog photo is a pre-production sample.
Jon [8D]
Here is a link to some Pittsburgh trains by MTH…
I like the Steeler trolley myself!!!
I have a #60 Trolley and love it. I bought it at a trainshow about 8 years ago and recently took it to be cleaned and serviced. The LHS sent it to a guy in Indiana to have the armature and field rewired… it runs like new or better now! Before I had to apply at least 12 volts to the track for it to move, now if I apply more than 10 it moves too fast and reverses as low as 6 volts… pretty good if you ask me.
That being said, I want to run a dual trolley line on my new layout and will be buying one of the new Lionel Trolleys as well. I like the PostWar stuff and the Modern stuff and I don’t have a problem mixing old with new… IMHO it is a good representation of the hobby… we have TMCCMAN and Chief…
Thanks Jon AND again, thanks to all.