In 2007, Custom Traxx recorded the sounds in San Francisco. Sounds were recorded from 1007, 1059 and 1063 along with 1859.

It took years to convince any of the DCC/sound manufacturers to even talk to us about a sound decoder for a trolley. But perseverance always pays off and in late 2010, Soundtraxx was persuaded to develop a unit for the Bowser HO scale PCC.

The first test units did not arrive until the last of the Bowser F-line cars had already been fabricated and sold.

One of the concerns that we had was the behavior of a DCC/sound decoder when the car was operating on overhead wire. The Southern California Traction Club (SCTC) had demonstrated that DCC worked remarkably well on their City Streetcar line using the Train Control Systems M4T and T6XT decoders.

The first test unit arrived at the Custom Traxx facility in January 2011, originally in an S. F. Muni F-line Baltimore 1063 shell. The shell was removed and replaced with an S. F. Muni F-line Philadelphia 1055 since it would be demonstrated at the East Penn Meet. It worked well but there were timing issues and function mapping issues. This was the first trolley with sound so we had to come up wit the best way to map functions. There would be light functions for the headlights, taillights, brake lights and interior lights. There would be an automatic stop function with passenger signal, brake light activation and controlled deceleration along with an automatic start function with the brake lights going out, two gongs and acceleration.

Just before the East Penn Traction Club Meet, the second and third units arrived on May 5th and immediately it was discovered that all of our concerns had been accommodated. The unit was operated at the Meet and worked perfectly except for one peculiarity. We operated the unit with our new Digitrax Zephyr Extra (DCS51). We did query the technical staff at Soundtraxx and were give several tests to run. The peculiarity did not disappear until we tried an older Digitrax Zephyr (DCS50). We operated the unit on the SCTC/Custom Traxx display module 970 and the club test track. Only when controlled by the Digitrax Zephyr Extra did the peculiar operation appear.
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National Train Show, Sacramento, CA!
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Over 19,000 ardent model train fans visited the Sacramento Convention Center under clear blue skies during the weekend of July 8-9-10 and most of them left impressed and happy. Athearn, Bachmann, Bowser, Con-Cor, Digitrax, MTH, Soundtraxx, Walthers and others were on hand demonstrating their latest offerings.

Figure 1 - Electroliners from Con-Cor

Bowser has announced plans for more PCC cars in SEPTA GOH, Cleveland, Toronto, Detroit. Los Angeles Transit, Shaker Heights, Birmingham, and Boston Elevated Railway along with re-runs of F-line cars 1050 (San Francisco) and 1058 (Chicago in the Corydon Cream/Colorado Spruce Green/Swamp Holly Orange scheme released earlier this year by Muni for service). Interested modelers need to let Bowser know of their desires!

Those of you who stopped by the Bowser booth also got to hear the first prototype of the new Tsunami Sound unit that will soon be available on the HO scale Bowser PCC trolleys.
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Los Angeles MTA PCC 3072 Arrives at Orange Empire Railway Museum
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In our last issue, we mentioned the desire of the Orange Empire Railway Museum (OERM) to acquire this almost perfectly preserved PCC car which had been found in Inyokern, CA. Well due to the efforts of many and the generosity of many more, the car arrived at OERM on Friday, July 22, 2011 and was placed in front of Barn 1 for all to see. So it appears that this valuable find will be preserved after all!

As most of you know, OERM have been trying for the last three years to bring home what is believed to be THE very last Los Angeles streetcar which was not in a museum. An individual, Jack Richer, bought PCC car 3072 when the streetcar system closed in 1963 by bidding $1550 (outbidding Cairo, Egypt by $50). Jack was an aerospace engineer who was fascinated by 1930's technology, and bought what is believed to be one of the last cars to have received a major overhaul before the end of service. (Another car, 3087, was also privately sold, but it was vandalized and destroyed sometime in the late 60's or early 70's.)

He moved the car to his mobile home community in Norco, but it was not appreciated there by the neighbors. He then moved it to the Owens Valley, in a little community called "Dunmovin" north of Ridgecrest, California. He built a shelter and about 150 feet of track and ran it occasionally on batteries somehow, which kept it serviceable. "Cadillac Jack", known for his other hobby of collecting old Cadillacs, passed away in 1999 or 2000. His family gave the car to one Matt Boggs, who had it moved to his parent's rural backyard in Inyokern, where it was placed on a short stretch of track. Matt and his family began to primer the back end in prep for painting it, but never completed the project.

In 2008, with the help of John Smatlak, Gary Starre discovered the car and looked at it on a vacation trip. The owners were interested in donating it to the museum, but things moved slowly. In late 2009, Dave Garcia, John Smatlak and I did a second survey trip and were impressed by the good condition of the car.

Finally, with the help of Phil Palmieri, Rex Atwell, Ray Ballash, Warren Buchanan, and Ryan Keck, all of us arrived at the Boggs house on Thursday, July 21, 2011. First, we tied down the trolley pole and secured all the loose items. The truck arrived from Santa Fe Springs about 11:00 AM, and then promptly got stuck in soft sand, unable to move. The entire neighborhood turned out with shovels and a couple of tractors, and 2 hours later, the rig was freed, and the PCC 3072 finally loaded.

We anticipated an uneventful 2 1/2 hour drive back to the Museum. It was but only for those of us in cars. The truck got stopped at the CHP scales on Cajon Summit. It was discovered that there was a paperwork error on the permit obtained by the truckers. The CHP would not let the truck and our streetcar pass until the paperwork was cleared up, so our streetcar was "arrested" and spent the night at the scales on the Summit. The driver slept in the rig, and we had ample CHP police protection all around.

Finally, the paperwork got cleared on Friday, and the load arrived on Friday about 2:00 p.m. The car was unloaded by Warren Buchanan, Danny Giles, and others and placed on its temporary home, the stub on Broadway, so that it would not block Saturday's regular loop operations.

On Saturday, new member Bob Morris and Gray Starre began cleaning out 50 years of dirt and grime, and gave the car its first bath in a half century. It now needs to go over the pit to be surveyed and to check its operational condition. Of course, its batteries are long dead, but the expectation is that the car is in operable condition. Originally sought after as a source of parts, this car is far too intact not to be preserved as an example of a streetcar in 1963 when service ended and made completely operable.

Many thanks to those mentioned above, and also to members Byron Brainard, Mel Miller, and others of whom we may not yet be aware, who have donated generously to pay for its move, and will provide funds needed to help it be restored and also the Yellow Car Fund.