San Diego MTS Preserving History!
***

In the early hours of Tuesday, March 8th, a truck with a large trailer rolled on to the property of the Orange Empire Railway Museum carrying Siemens-Duwag Car 1008.

Photos provided by Byron Brainard

This car along with its thirteen sisters in the 1001 - 1014 class started operations in 1981 in what can be called the first true new light rail line in the United States and was nicknamed the "Tijuana Trolley". The line, currently called the Blue Line, ran from the Santa Fe Railway stations in downtown San Diego to San Ysidro, just across the river from Tijuana, Mexico. These fourteen cars, designated U2, would be followed by more until there were 71 on the San Diego Trolley roster. They were purchased as follows:

1001-1014 (14 cars)	November 1980
1015-1024 (10 cars)	November 1982
1025-1030 (6 cars)	January 1986
1031-1050 (20 cars)	November 1988
1051-1071 (21 cars)	July 1989

After purchasing 52 Siemens SD-100 vehicles, series 2001-2052, in October 1993, San Diego started to experiment with low-floor technology and in October 2004 acquired eleven Siemens S70 vehicles, so designated because the cars are 70% low floor. "Low Floor" means that the floor of the car is only 14 to 16 inches above the rail head, simplifying entrance and exit for wheelchairs and bicycles as there are no steps to negotiate. San Diego was impressed with these cars, series 3001-3011. However, because of the short city blocks in downtown San Diego, a three-car train would block two intersections at once.

Enter the Siemens S70 'US' or 'Ultrashort', which eliminated this problem by reducing the length of the S70 vehicle by a little more than nine feet. After San Diego started the process of acquiring 65 of these cars, series 4001-4065, it was decided that that U2s would be surplus. The last ones ran in passenger service in January 2015 after 34 years of faithful service. Several were sold to Mendoza, Argentina and cars 1018 and 1019 were shipped to museums in Northern California and Pennsylvania. The 65 S70 'Ultrashort' cars arrived in 2012/2013.

Recognizing the historical value of these cars, the President/CEO of OERM at the time, sent an official correspondence to the Chairman of the Board, San Diego Metropolitan Transit Authority (SDMTS), Harry Mathis, requesting that one of the original fourteen cars be preserved at his museum. Both Harry and his Supervisor of LRV Maintenance at the time, Lee Summerlott, visited OERM in May 2014 and the process began. Such a process takes time but it culminated in car 1008 being shipped to the OERM, arriving on March 8 and another car 1017 being sent to the Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista, CA, and arriving on March 10.

None of this could have been possible without the professionalism of the SDMTS, especially Andy Goddard, current Superintendent of LRV Maintenance, Ed Lindstrom, LRV Project Coordinator/Analyst and their fantastic supporting staff. SDMTS has been consistently proven to be an exceptional organization.

Golden Empire Historical & Modeling Society
Model Train Show!!!
***

The Annual Golden Empire Modeling and Historical Society Model Train Show was held at the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA during the weekend of March 12-13, 2016. This annual show has been a major source of income and support for the club since the 1990s when the show was started. The Times writes about this show as it is also an "endangered species". As we have watched the many parking lot train shows and swap meets disappear in the last ten years, the major train shows along with the neighborhood hobby shop is also disappearing. We do not think this trend is reversible but we should enjoy them, as we do a sunset, knowing that each one could be the last one. So if you know of such a show in your area, send us some information and some photos and we will tell our readers about it. Maybe that show can be persuaded to last a little longer.

This show normally takes place in Massey Hall, Building 2, on Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Sunday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. There are many out-of-town vendors and visitors to the show, especially from the Greater Los Angeles area who must negotiate the Tejon Pass during their 100+ miles treks from their home bases. This is one of the reasons that the show, which was long held in January, was moved to March, to avoid those winter storms that close the pass and force serious disruptions to both vendors and visitors alike. It also avoided conflicts with some of the major train shows, such as the long defunct Great American Train Show.

Adjacent to the hall is Mac's Patio,which has been in the same location since 1952. The 'Patio' was started by Mac and Mary McCafferty. Their daughter, Sharon Parks, shown at right, now runs the business and has many different items that they rotate so to provide variety. Sharon has been working in the business since she was a teenager, still loves it and is still there every time it is opened for business. She was present during this GEHAMS show. The food was not bad and not overpriced as the case in a lot of public fairgrounds. There is even beer available.

Vendors that feature traction items such as A-Line/Proto Power West (Joe D'Elia), Custom Traxx (George Huckaby), Holland Traction Supply (Guy "Mitch" Holland) and Railway /Traction Miniatures (Ken Dively) are usually present at this show. There are other small vendors such as Green Steam Products (Mike & Theresa Bruno) that produce many of those nice little electronic items that make layouts so much more interesting. There are usually five to six large layouts present for enjoyment including one that features a large naval base complete with large ships and trains pulled by double-headed Southern Pacific Cab Forward articulated steam locomotives.

Custom Traxx has four HO scale models of the San Diego S70 partial low floor Light Rail Vehicles on display as shown in the next photograph. From left to right are models of San Diego 4053, with two Bowser drives, and San Diegon4012 and 4034, each with a single Bowser drive. The unpainted car at right will be sent to a supplier for a production cost quote later this year. That car has the changeable ends which allow the modeling of the San Diego car with couplers, the Minneapolis car with couplers and plow and the Atlanta version with no couplers.

For an area with no urban electric transit, the interest in the models was surprisingly high, including a few "...I want one..." and "...How can I get one?..." type comments.

The club holds raffles and gives door prizes during the show, some of which are extremely nice. This year, the Southern California Traction Club donated a new "creeper" to the GEHAMS for use under their N-scale layout. Custom Traxx also donated three door prizes.

One of the major features of this show is the Open House that the GEH&MS conducts an Open House at it's downtown Bakersfield facility ever Saturday evening during the show. This clubhouse is located in a former department store on 19th Street. The second floor contains a huge N-scale layout and meeting area for the club while the third floor contains the HO scale layout. Our Trolleyville webmaster has been a member of the GEH&MS for many years and always brings some of his DCC-Equipped model trains to run on these Saturday night sessions. This year is was his Broadway Limited PRR Centipedes 5821 & 5833 along with B60B baggage cars 9181, 9231 and 9234; BM70 RPO-Baggage cars 6510 & 6529; BM60 RPO-Baggage cars 9250 and 5842 plus M70B RPO 6544 and B70 baggage car 5685. Unfortunately, the 9181 has a missing coupler spring and the 6544 had a low level short so only the remaining seven cars could be operated that night.

The Latest in Light Rail Happenings!
***

by Edward Havens

A crossing gate problem was discovered after the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority [LACMTA] opened its Pasadena to Azusa Gold Line light rail extension March 5, the Pasadena Star-News reported. The $1 billion extension has 14 grade crossings and gates remained down for a few minutes after LRVs had come and gone. Siemens blamed a faulty control mechanism part and promised a free replacement.

Motorists Waiting to Cross Gold Line Tracks at Duarte Rd.

The Charlotte Observer reported in March that a restored streetcar from the North Carolina city's first generation street railway was relocated to a museum at Spencer, 39 miles northeast of the state's largest city. No. 85, which had operated on a tourist-oriented line at Charlotte before it was converted to Lynx light rail, was sent to North Carolina Transportation Museum. The city's Gold Line streetcar in Uptown uses Gomaco-built double truck Birney replicas.

Former Charlotte City Car 85.

In Australia, Gold Coast Bulletin disclosed that construction of an extension of starter light rail at the Pacific Coast seashore resort city is due to start in April. The 4.5 mile extension will link the existing trackage to a passenger railway station. The Queensland state transport minister said the possibility of an early federal election in Australia would not put the LRT project on hold. The federal contribution is expected to be USD $71.9 million. Gold Coast LRT uses Bombardier Seven Section Flexity 2 LRVs equipped to carry surfboards as shown in the next photograph.

Harrisburg, a busy arterial street east of downtown Houston, closed over a three-block section March 13 to allow construction of a light rail overpass atop freight railroad tracks in the Texas city. The Houston Chronicle reported the closure would last 90 days. The Metro transit Green Line LRT currently stops short of its eventual terminal at Magnolia Transit Center.

Phoenix Trolley Museum in Arizona's state capital city is being evicted by the city from Hance Park just north of downtown to make way for a skateboard park that the city plans to build, public radio station KJZZ reported. The museum which has a carbarn and a short stretch of operating trackage on the site must vacate by September 2016. The prize of the collection is restored American Car Co. double truck Birney No. 116 built in 1928 and a survivor of the municipal street railway that was bused in 1948 after a disastrous carbarn fire in late 1947 destroyed most of the trolley fleet.

Phoenix Car 116

The Dorchester Reporter in a story released on March 12 stated that 10 state legislators and Boston City Council members urged a state board to appropriate $3 million to keep the PCC-operated Mattapan-Ashmont shuttle in operation pending a study of its future. They want to shuttle to remain rail operated and reject an alternate proposal to pave the right of way for bus rapid transit. Another option is to replace the aging PCCs with Green Line system LRVs but Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority [MBTA] presumably would have to convert the overhead to pantograph use. The problem is that parts to keep PCCs running are hard to obtain and some even have been contributed at times by Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.

MBTA Car 3263 on the Mattapan-Ashmont Line.

Scranton Transit Company Electromobile 507!
***

by Richard Allman

Scranton Transit Company car 507 has entered operation on my Main Line Transit. Scranton car 501 has simultaneously entered operation on Bob Dietrich’s Southwestern Pennsylvania prototype layout. Bob and I built our cars in tandem which for me was an essential pairing of energies.

Richard Allman's Car 507

Bob Dietrich's Car 501

About the Prototypes!

The prototypes were built by Osgood Bradley in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1929. They were designated as "Electromobiles". These smaller, compact lightweight cars were heralded as efficient, economical, modern and perfectly suited to smaller city operations. They lacked the speed and power of typical suburban cars but were adaptable to the hilly terrain and street operation that characterized Scranton.

A total of 28 Electromobiles would be built: 12 for Union Street Railway of New Bedford, Massachusetts, 10 for Scranton and 6 for the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway. The Scranton and Altoona systems shared common corporate ownership. The Scranton Electromobiles became a part of a relatively large system with more than 100 track miles and more than 100 cars in what was a bustling coal and railroad city in the first half of the twentieth century. Although the Scranton system lacked the scenic suburban right-of-way of its neighbor to the southwest, Wilkes Barre Railway, Scranton was a fan favorite for its hilly terrain, passing sidings and downtown street loops and the sometimes-wild imagination of its paint shop crew. By the time there was a sizeable community of trolley fans, Scranton’s more rural suburban lines were abandoned. Scranton had a rich array of different classes of cars, which not surprisingly were quite similar to the rosters in Altoona due to the common corporate ownership.

Until the late 1920’s, Scranton trolleys hauled huge numbers of people. The Great Depression and the increase in private automobile ownership greatly impacted ridership. By the post-World War 2 era the system and the city were in full decline. The last trolleys in Scranton ran in December, 1954. All that remained were 8 of the 10 Electromobiles on the last surviving route. Scranton was the last surviving system in Northeast Pennsylvania, which long had been a trolley fan magnet with the Wilkes Barre and Scranton city operations and the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad, better known as the Laurel Line which connected Scranton and Wilkes Barre until 1952. Wilkes Barre Railway trolley service had ended in October, 1950.

A disputed claim asserts that the first electric trolley operation in the United States was in Scranton in 1886, although Richmond, Virginia makes a similar claim. Suffice it to say that Scranton was a pioneering operation. Scranton Transit deserved credit for attempting to modernize their fleet on the eve of the Great Depression. Osgood Bradley thought they were onto the next best thing in trolley design, but the fact that only 28 Electromobiles were built speaks volumes about the state of the industry in the late 1920’s. The Scranton and Altoona cars were nearly identical except for a large marker light to the left of the destination signs on the Altoona cars. Scranton cars were painted blue with white trim while the Altoona cars were orange with cream above the belt rails. The New Bedford cars were slightly longer and had larger doors and longer end platforms than the Scranton and Altoona Electromobiles. Service ended in New Bedford in 1947. Seven New Bedford Electromobiles were sold to the Queensborough Bridge Railway company in New York City in 1949 were they ran from the west end of the bridge at 59th Street and the East River in Manhattan across the bridge to Queens Plaza at the east end of the bridge in Queens with a stop at Welfare Island in the East River. That stop was the principal reason for existence of the Queensborough Bridge line, a paltry remnant of the once-vast Steinway system. The line was little more than one mile in each direction but allowed the Electromobiles to continue in operation until 1957 when the Electromobiles of the Queensborough Bridge line became the last to operate anywhere in revenue service; Scranton and Altoona had ended their Electromobile operations in 1954. Further, they were the last trolleys to operate in New York State. One Electromobile body survives: Scranton car 505 which is at the Electric City Trolley Museum Association at Scranton. Hopefully it eventually can be restored to operating condition.

About The Models:

The car shell is manufactured by Shapeways, the 3-D printing company that has provided so many of the newest products that appeal to the small but avid fraternity of trolley modelers. Shapeways has both the Scranton and Altoona versions available. The essential CAD drawings for the models were crafted by Volkmar Meier of Paris. He was the vital moving force, engineer and risk taker behind these models. Volkmar has also enabled the production of other outstanding 3-D HO scale trolley models including the Chicago Sedan cars which I have previously completed. As this is written, Volkmar is working collaboratively on some new and exciting projects which hopefully will appeal to a new generation of modelers. He has been working with Custom Traxx to develop and produce HO scale models of Siemens S70 light rail vehicles currently operating in San Diego, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Norfolk, Charlotte, Portland, and Atlanta.

The power drive used was manufactured by Leopold Halling, an Austrian manufacturer of excellently-crafted models of European prototypes of tram and light rail vehicles. The drive is a peppy, smooth-running 8-wheel under-floor drive. The floor is well designed by Volkmar; it has seats and snaps into place above the drive. Installation of the drive involved a fair amount of soldering of very fine wires to some very delicate tabs. Connecting all the wheels to a terminal of the motor was a challenge but we got it done. I am using a trolley pole from Rich Eaton which tracks nicely on my overhead. Choosing between doing the Scranton versus the Altoona car was a tough call. I really like traction orange trolleys but ultimately chose the Scranton car because of my long friendship with my wonderful late friend Ed Miller, who was the premier photographer and historian of trolleys in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre region and also because of my hope that car 505 can be restored successfully. Preparing the 3-D printed shells requires soaking overnight in dish detergent, a bath in isopropyl alcohol and then another detergent bath. The shells are translucent until after the wax is removed when they lose their translucency. This is an essential step before painting. The blue we chose to use on the car was CSX blue. We used a generic Reefer White and a mid-gray for the roof with some minimal red overspray on the roof. This created a nice appearance for what was almost certainly waste dust from coal mining accumulating on the car roof. The decals were provided by Paul Mayer. Paul has retired from the decal manufacturing business but still has a stash of the Scranton and Altoona decals for prospective modelers of these cars. His decal set is very complete, including logos, numerals and the WATCH SWING OF CAR signs on the ends. A hazard of lettering any car with white decals is cutting them out-seeing white decal letters and numbers on white decal backing paper is challenging. This is not Paul’s or anyone else’s fault, but is an issue that requires care and patience. My original intention was to model car 505 but the challenge with cutting out the numeral decals made me fearful of running out of “5” numerals! The shell still has some slightly annoying grooves which result from the 3-D printing process. The process continues to improve but it currently is still a minor problem. My car is running well as is Bob’s since his recent completion a delayed repair on a turnout on his layout. Seeing Scranton cars pass through the model of Pittsburgh’s South Hills Junction is surprising!

As always I acknowledge those whose assistance and support were essential to completing any car project:

1. First and foremost is Volkmar Meier, who undertook the project with Shapeways. Providing a model of a car for which there were so few prototypes is a heroic undertaking. Volkmar also helped us acquire the power drives;

2. Leopold Halling who made the power drives;

3. Rich Eaton who supplied the trolley poles;

4. Edward S. Miller, whose photographs were invaluable. Ed passed away at the age of 90 in 2010. I miss the camaraderie, knowledge and enthusiasm of this wonderful and generous friend. Ed was the unanimously acknowledged authority on all things related to trolleys and railroads and mining history in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I hope we nailed the colors for Ed-he would have enjoyed seeing the finished products;

5. The books that were excellent references for the car building and for this narrative, which included the book on Scranton trolleys by the late Ben Rohrbeck, and the Bill Volkmer color books published by Morning Sun that included many of Ed Miller’s great color photos of Scranton trolleys;

6. Bob Dietrich, whose hospitality and companion work as we worked together on our cars expedited the task and allowed us to correct any problems as we went. Just hanging out together added to the enjoyment of this project. Bob also fabricated the distinctive pole hooks. Bob provided his view on assembling this model and you can view it here.

My next project will diverge from Bob’s. He is working on a Pittsburgh double-deck car. I am about to finish my Hagerstown and Frederick Combine, a 3-D printed car engineered by Greg King of Australia. Down the road will be another of Greg’s cars, a Chicago Odd 17 car. I have found some photos of cars in that series that did not have what seem like miles of one inch striping! I welcome feedback and presume that Bob feels the same, although I am reluctant to speak for him.

Trolleyville | Trolleyville Times | School | Library | Clubhouse

Copyright 2016 Custom Traxx