In our previous two issues, we have been examining the IHP souvenir model of the SEPTA (Philadelphia) Kawasaki Single End Light Rail Transit Vehicle that has been operating on Philadelphia's subway-surface routes 10 (Lancaster Avenue), 11 (Woodland Avenue), 13 Chester Avenue, 34 (Baltimore Avenue) and 36 (Elmwood Avenue). They have seen sporadic service over the years on surface route 15 (Girard Avenue). These 112 vehicles have all performed excellently on their over thirty year life span and all 112 are still in service, a feat only matched by the original 315 cars of the Market-Frankford Subway Elevated that were withdrawn from service in 1960. All of them had operated on the line since 1922 and some of them had operated on that line since 1906.

We have found so far that this is a excellent model with only minor points at issue. The model was designed primarily as a souvenir display piece because that market may have great potential. We noted that IHP assisted the running modeler by making a floor available for the rugged and proven Bowser 125100 traction mechanism. We found the floor with the mounted 125100 Bowser mechanism will work satisfactorily in the two-rail mode on curves as small as nine-inch radius. To be honest, nine-inch radius curves are the smallest that the Con-Cor Air-electric PCC would do despite its eight wheel drive. But Trolleyville is a site for modelers who run cars powered from live overhead wires so we have been trying to get the model to operate successfully in that arena.

We detailed our modifications to the model in the previous issues, but we are still convinced that this model has insufficient weight, 5 ounces, so we began our next round of tests by adding some more weight under the floor behind the weight we originally added and in front of the motor above the floor before we resumed testing. In the next two exhibits, the green arrows point to the added weight. We also shaved a little material from the floors. In the next two exhibits, the red arrows point to area where we removed some of the floor material to allow more truck swing. We were very conservative in this area as we did not wish to weaken what we perceive as potentially weak plastic floor.

Exhibit A, Chassis view from the top.

Exhibit B, Chassis view from the bottom.

By now the model weighed 6.1 ounces versus our desired goal of 10.0 ounces. The arrows in the next photo point to our modifications. We have also asked Train Control Systems to program a decoder for us that will allow the simulation of the alternating brake lights but have not received a response as we went to press.

We still were not able to get the model to negotiate 6" radius curves but we will continue to try both established methods and some new tricks. What is helpful is what we have learned from Volkmar Meier on one of the yahoo traction sites. His car at first gave the same results until he discovered that the power truck was hitting a part of the interior window casting.

Custom Traxx ordered a second Kawasaki Car directly from IHP and another floor from Shapeways. The floor arrived on March 21st. Immediately out of the box it appears that the opening for the Bowser power truck has been enlarged. Compare the photo below in Exhibit C with the photo of our modified first floor shown earlier in Exhibit A:

Exhibit C, Second Floor view from the bottom.

Anyway, IHP disavowed any connection with our perceived changes. In fact, we were told that "...once you finish your evaluation, if you can suggest how to improve the truck swing, send a data sheet with some measurements. I will then make whatever improvements are practical..." We will be installing a Bowser mechanism on this floor along with some weights and expect this to be completed before this article goes to press. The Bowser 125100 mechanism that we plan to use will have the older nickel silver wheels so we will be able to use the wheels covers provided by IHP with the car.

There are three variations of the Bowser traction drive that modelers may be familiar with at the current time. The first is the stock Bowser drive sans flywheel that is currently marketed in their metal bodied cars and the 1251XX mechanisms. A typical 125141 mechanism with floor for the older Bowser metal bodied PCC cars is shown in Exhibit D below:

Exhibit D , Bowser Stock 125141 Traction Drive

Then there is the more commonly used Bowser mechanism with the A-line 20040 flywheel kit. This uses a entirely different drive line which we have found to be more quiet than the baseline drive. This drive was used in our first Kawasaki LRV, SEPTA 9111 and is shown in Exhibit E below:

Exhibit E , Bowser Traction Drive with A-line 20040 Flywheel kit.

For our second LRV, SEPTA 9000, we will be using the drive line and flywheel from a RTR Bowser PCC fabricated in China. Each flywheel-motor combination is dynamically balanced at the supplied prior to being used. Note the difference in the flywheel and the drive train. This drive, including the balanced motor-flywheel combination will eventually be used in all the Bowser traction mechanisms when the current supply of motors is exhausted. See Exhibit F below:

Exhibit F , Bowser RTR Traction Drive

With the Bowser drive installed on the floor, the complete assembly weighed 2.7 ounces so we added 1.5 ounces of weight under the motor and another .3 ounces on top of the floor in front of the power truck similar to what we did with the first Shapeways floor. We replaced the brass worm axle bearings, Bowser part 1257, with some Delrin bearings that are slated to replace the brass bearings in future mechanisms, pending the results of our testing. With the ability of the Southern California Traction Club to run items for hours at a time at shows using very sharp curves, the club is a great test bed for Bowser Manufacturing. Volkmar Meier reported earlier that he felt that the power truck was striking the window plastic preventing the negotiation of sharp (6" radius) curves. So in Exhibit G, you can see the Delrin bearings and the beveled corners on the gear tower.

Exhibit G , Bowser Traction Mechanism Power Truck.

We hope to be able to report the results of the tests on these bearings in a later issue. We then installed the wheel covers supplied with the car and the Custom Traxx SCTC-3 brake assemblies. Our final chassis looked as shown in Exhibit H just before we installed it in the SEPTA 9000 shell.

Exhibit H , SEPTA 9000 completed Bowser RTR powered chassis.

We added a Bowser 12600 trolley pole, installed and the pivot in the shell, connected the shell to the chassis with a Miniatronics mini plug. While we are currently running both cars in the Analog/DC mode, we intend to install the ESU decoders being designed for these cars as soon as they become available.

We have also learned that there is a Halling drive and a floor being developed for these cars. We would love to obtain one of these for testing. Meanwhile, our two cars, shown below as Exhibit J returned to the SCTC Test Track on Thursday, March 27th. More in a later issue!

Just in! Matt Herman of ESU LokSound has offered to configure and install a sound decoder in one of our test cars so we are sending him car 9111 this week. The decoder will operate the two front headlights, two rear taillights, alternate flashing stop/brake lights, turn signals and possibly the front subway light (above the destination sign) and the rear back-up light (above the rear window.) We will also get a bell and some other sounds. Stay tuned!

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The Bowser/Custom Traxx Team Returns to China
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By now, most readers know that the Bowser HO scale Ready-to-run (RTR) trolleys are being made in the Guangdong province in Southern China. Guangdong is located on the South China Seacoast of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is also know as Canton or Kwangtung province. It surpassed Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in mainland China in January 2005, registering over 79,000,000 permanent residents and 31,000,000 migrant workers. The total population by the 2010 census was over 104,000,000 accounting for almost 8% of the total mainland Chinese population.

The current Bowser HO scale trolley program began with the San Francisco F-line PCC cars. The entire program, started in 2007, was sparked by a thirty-one page Powerpoint presentation made by Custom Traxx to the CEO of Bowser Manufacturing, Lee K. English. The presentation was made in the lobby of the local Hampton Inn in Williamsport, PA. Bowser accepted the proposal and work started. Custom Traxx' responsibility was the paint schemes, destination signs exterior configurations and recording sound. This was reasonable since Custom Traxx (George Huckaby) was originally from Philadelphia and rode most of the F-line cars to High School when they were assigned to Route 15. Also no one a Bowser had even even seen a "live" PCC car at that time. The first team visit to China was made April 4-12, 2008 to evaluate suppliers and to select one for the then new F-line PCC project. The success of this project would depend on the ability of the supplier to design and produce what we wanted at a cost that the market could support. We also wanted to choose a supplier that had growth potential and would keep up with the changes in technology that keep coming. We would visit more than one supplier on the initial trip. We rejected one outright and chose one that met our current and future requirements.

The first San Francisco's F-line PCC cars were available to the public in both powered and souvenir versions by the end of 2009. Subsequent modifications to the cars such as simulated super resilient wheels, windshield wipers, B-2 truck details, operational trolley poles and sound were added over the years and the Bowser/Custom Traxx (BCT) team has made it a practice to visit their supplier every two years to review both the past and the future. So after the initial visit, the team has traveled to the supplier facility in May 2010 and April 2012. These subsequent visits are to see how the supplier has adapted to technology. Since we first visited the supplier, he has added buildings, machinery, tooling and employees and seems to have kept up with the times. We have been very successful in dealing with our China suppliers because of some things that we have done and things we do not do.

The first thing we discovered is that the Chinese, just like minorities in our own country, can pick out people with prejudice against them or their country. If any company has people who have those feelings, do not send them to China. The Chinese will not say anything but it could cost you in the end. Leave the bigotry at home. There are some Americans with very strong feelings about Asian people so we strongly suggest that they stay away.

[See China, column 2]
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