Urban Commuter / Light Rail / Modern Streetcar News!
***

by Edward Havens

ATLANTA, GA - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that downtown modern streetcar service in Georgia's largest city would be periodically disrupted on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. because of construction at the Equitable Building from December 7th to 15th. That was because of helicopter delivery of construction materials to the roof of the building. The streetcar is barred from operating when the helicopter is overhead.

CHAPEL HILL-DURHAM, NC - The planned $2.48 billion light rail line stretching almost 18 miles from Durham to Chapel Hlll in North Carolina's Triangle metro area has chosen a car barn site at Durham, the Railway Track & Structures website reported December 6. The location along Farrington Road was selected over four other sites. The facility will house administrative headquarters, and LRV maintenance and storage facilities. The line is expected to start construction in 2020 and open to service in 2928.

EL PASO, TX -The El Paso PCC heritage streetcar line was giving out hang on the tree holiday ornaments in December to promote ridership on the 4.8-mile car line, KTSM-TV reported. It uses two loops -- downtown to the state university (UTEP) and downtown to just north of the border with Juarez, Mexico. This line opened during November 2018 and uses Six original ex-El Paso City Lines PCCs rebuilt and modernized by Brookville.

KANSAS CITY, MO - The Kansas City modern streetcar line was shut down temporarily December 2nd after a crash with a motor vehicle, the Kansas City Star reported A hole was ripped in the streetcar bumper but there were no serious injuries. The crash occurred at Main Street and Truman Road, the newspaper's website said.

The streetcar line planned to offer on-board holiday musical entertainment on several dates in December, the Northeast News website reported. The car line's ridership has been an overwhelming success - far higher than planners had predicted. It runs from River Market downtown to Union Station with two extensions planned on both ends. 

MILWAUKEE, WI - Milwaukee TV station CBS 58 reports that the Wisconsin city's modern streetcar line on Woodward Avenue claims to be prepared to deal with frigid weather. Officials have consulted with Detroit and Toronto where streetcars  must operated in cold weather. Both Milwaukee and Detroit have Brookville Liberty cars. Kansas City and Cincinnati have had snow and ice trouble with C.A.F.. Urbos cars.

More than 75,000 people hitched a ride on The Hop during the Milwaukee streetcar service's first month in operation, Hop officials announced on December 18th. The 76,125 total rides included the 16,409 riders who participated in the service's Nov. 2-4 opening weekend. Excluding those first three days, the Hop's average daily ridership was 2,297, officials said. The Hop's initial 2-mile route starts at the Amtrak-served Milwaukee Intermodal Station, and operates in and around the downtown. Streetcars operate every 15 minutes, depending on traffic and ridership, according to The Hop's website. The system is open until midnight every day except Sunday, when it closes at 10 p.m. The city contracted Kiewit Infrastructure to build the infrastructure and a maintenance facility.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - The Oklahoma City modern streetcar line downtown got top billing the first week of December in the "News OK" website preview of local news items fore the week ahead. The streetcar line using Brookville Liberty cars was due to start modeling its schedule (Running the complete schedule without passengers but simulating all stops.) without passengers on Friday, December 7. The grand opening ceremony was set for December 14th.

SAINT LOUIS, MO - The Delmar Loop heritage streetcar line at the University City suburb west of St. Louis suffered a breakdown of one of its two Gomaco-built replica semi-convertibles purchased from Portland, Oregon, where they ran downtown. An undescribed "technical issue" caused the breakdown of car 001 Sunday afternoon December 9, TV station Fox 2 reported. The car had the problem at Missouri History Museum and had to be towed to the car barn leaving 18 passengers stranded at the east end of the two-mile route. Officials said car 001 was expected back in service by Thursday, December 13, with car 002 remaining in operation.

TUCSON, AZ - Tucson Sun Link modern streetcar line was to be split into two sections during the 4th Avemnue Winter Street Fair the first weekend of December, KOLD television reported. A shuttle bus bridge on nearby streets would link the two rail segments. Booths line 4th Avenue during the fair from 9th Street to University Boulevard precluding rail operation over that section. 

 

MODELING INFORMATION:

Maintenance of way and rolling stock:
Not always fun but essential and time well spent!
***

Richard L. Allman, MD

The fun of traction modeling is operating, car building, sometimes repowering with new and improved drives, building structures and improving scenery, and occasionally layout expansion. I have done some of all these activities in the past year with my HO-scale layout, and they have been enormously satisfying and enjoyable. A less pleasurable but essential part of the traction modeling enterprise is cleaning and upkeep of the layout and car fleet. I run my layout almost every day and it can be the highlight of days that sometimes are frustrating with the whole business of life. Watching my varied collection of rolling stock smoothly perform is such a diversion from whatever is happening in the world, both my world and the wider world. When things are running well, with minimal stalls or dewirements, the temptation to delay maintenance to motivate me to do the necessary clean-up. Too often it takes a malfunction of some sort to temptation to delay maintenance can be overwhelming. Sometimes it takes the approach of hosting a club meeting or open house to motivate me to do the necessary clean-up. Too often it takes a malfunction of some sort to shake me into action and do the necessary and delayed tune-up and clean-up. But if we try to adhere to a reasonably regular schedule for maintenance, in the long run, there will be more time for operation.

MAINTENANCE OF WAY:

Overhead Wire...

The rails and overhead should be cleaned on a regular schedule. I find that if I do it at least 3 or 4 times annually, things will run better. Different modelers and clubs have their own modus operandi for this, so simply be sure to do something that works. I clean the overhead with electronic cleaner aerosol or absolute alcohol on a Q-tip or even better, a piece of lint-free cloth held by a hemostat. After the overhead wire is clean, I apply a thin application of Lock-Ease, a graphite solution which is an excellent electrical conductor. A small amount goes a long way, and I have seen some guys pour it on like ketchup, creating a totally avoidable but genuine mess. Previously, I used a very thin application of Vaseline which worked but was too easy to overdo. Some people use DW-40 oil and some use clipper oil, both of which are messy and less useful than the Lock-Ease. I learned about Lock-Ease from the members of the Bay State Model Railroad Museum, a huge O-scale club layout in Boston that runs beautifully. Charlie Pitts of BSMRM has informed me: “We found that Lock-Ease is essential for DCC operation because in addition to power loss to the motor on dirty wire the control portion of the DCC decoder also drops out/shuts down instantaneously upon loss of control signal due to loss of contact which also stops the car.

Figure 1 - Lock-Ease - readily available in hardware stores. The DCC drop outs happen many more times than DC loss of contact on dirty wire”. One other advantage to the walk-around and overhead clean-up is that along the way, I can identify hangers that have come unsoldered from the wire and simultaneously make needed minor repairs.

Rail Cleaning...

Rail cleaning is at least a two-step process. Woodland Scenics makes a cleaning pad on a stick that is useful for cleaning under the overhead. Some electronic cleaner can be applied and then the pad pressed firmly on the rails. Check on the street rails to be sure the electronic cleaner does not remove color from the street surface, but worse cases, it can be touched up. Prototypic streets are always patched and never uniform except when recently repaved! Classic teaching is to avoid use of abrasives such as Bright Boys, which can groove the rail and enable dirt to pocket in the grooves. Occasionally I admit that in stubborn areas I have used the Bright Boy, but afterwards, I always feel just a tad guilty! I bought a cleaning car with a Bright Boy-like roller and weight on it. It was pulled around the layout with a box motor. The idea sounded plausible but, it did not do much cleaning. Using the Woodland Scenics cleaning pad and stick (Woodland Scenics Rail Tidy Tracker Cleaning kit - TT4550) requires care to avoid inadvertent damage to the overhead.

Running a finger over the rail will provide a useful indication that the rail is clean or needs further cleaning. While focusing on the rail cleaning, after the direct buffing, the next step is to inspect the layout for loose turf and ballast, both of which are mortal enemies of traction gears and drives. My practice is that after I have cleaned the rails, I use some small hobby vacuum attachments that are readily available. I attach this to my Shop Vac (an essential tool) and go around the full layout. This will clean up any loose turf or ballast. I can carefully vacuum my full layout in 10-15 minutes, time very well invested!

MAINTENANCE OF FLEET:

Most operational problems, especially those involving stalling are caused by dirt, either dirty wheels, dirt rails, dirty overhead or dirty sliders or wheels on running poles. I keep small pieces of 400-grit or higher sandpaper all around my layout for frequent cleaning of the running shoes. The brass in the collector groove should shine. Wheel cleaning is arduous but essential. My practice, and there might be others that are equally effective or better, is to spray electronic cleaner onto a non-bristled pipe cleaner. Be sure to spray away from the car when applying the electronic cleaner to the pipe cleaner-the last thing you’ll want to do is damage the paint on the car body! The car is then turned over and powered and the pipe cleaner placed on the wheel tread. The dirt removal is immediate and dramatic, and the tread will sparkle. I sometimes feel like kicking myself for delaying this tedious but important task when the car is returned to the rails and runs so smoothly! I use short lengths of pipe cleaner (4 inches) because it involves so many wheels on so many cars. Cleaning the trailing wheels is the same process, except it is necessary to manually rotate the wheels while cleaning. This too admittedly is tedium taken to a new level. Caution is needed with removing the electronic cleaning spray from hands before handing the painted car at the end of the wheel cleaning. I keep a damp towel nearby and then use a dry towel for keeping my hands clean. While the wheels are being cleaned provides a moment to see if tiny bits of turf have been drawn into the gears.

Figure 3 - Electronic Cleaner, available in hardware stores and computer stores on-line. I keep some pointed forceps nearby to fish out any accumulated gunk. Finding pipe cleaners is harder than a generation ago because there are fewer pipe smokers and tobacconists (happily!), but places like AC Moore and Michael’s sell larger pipe cleaners that are perfectly OK for this task. Before using them, pull off any loose fiber or fluff. Some modelers, including my close friend, Bob Dietrich, feel strongly that we should find the less fluffy non-bristled pipe cleaners available at remaining tobacconists.

Lubrication of motor bearings and gears is an area where there is some lack of unanimity (including between our host publisher, Custom Traxx and myself!). Where there is agreement is to periodically apply a drop of oil to the drive shafts at each end. Any model railroad oil will work. The key is not to get any into the motor. A toothpick with the point sanded flat can be dipped into the oil and then applied to the motor drive shaft, which is all that is necessary. Metal gears if dry should receive a drop of model railroad oil. Almost immediately, the drive will run quieter. The area where there is lack of total accord (really, very friendly disagreement!) relates to the plastic gears, notably those found on the Bowser drives and the Bachmann Spectrum Peter Witt drives. I have used occasional applications of Gear Grease with excellent operation. I know that Custom Traxx asserts that the delrin gears are friction-free and all usually that is needed is a run-in to work off any micro-burrs on the gears. I guess a head-to-head experiment of Custom Traxx' way and mine might settle the controversy! Of note, the Bachmann Spectrum drives have some almost Vaseline-type lubricant in them. My practice with them has been to be attentive to how avidly that gelatinous stuff picks up bits of turf. Some cleaning with electronic solution or alcohol is sometimes needed, along with some manual plucking of accumulated junk with forceps.

As stated at the beginning, none of this is fun, but keeping on top of these chores will enable many more hours of enjoyable operation and proud display of the layouts and cars on which we have labored for so long! Not all car maintenance needs to be done at the same time. Blocking out some time on a regular basis to service a few cars will keep the fleet running well and is a prototypical standard.

Notice to our readers: The Trolleyville mission is to support the electric railway modeling hobby by presenting how-to items and data on products! If you see something you do not like or want something that you do not see, please let us know your feelings!

Trolleyville | Trolleyville Times | School | Library | Clubhouse

Copyright 2019 Custom Traxx