January, 2002
SCTC WELCOMES FIRST FOREIGN MEMBER BACK FOR BRIEF VISIT
Model Traction Photos
George Jones -We thought that we would finish up the 2001 year with a collection of photos taken of the Southern California Traction Club at various shows throughout the year. Traction modeling is alive and well in Southern California.
The above picture is taken on a six-foot module built originally by John Podganski and donated to the club. On the module are six of George Huckaby’s Muni PCC cars customized from the Bowser PCC kit. From left to right are models of Muni 1056 (Kansas City), 1059 (Boston), 1058 (Chicago), 1057 (Cincinnati), 1061 (Pacific Electric) and 1063 (Baltimore). The large Kibri Catholic Church was obtained at the National Train Show in Saint Louis in the summer of 2001.
Here is another photo taken at the Orange Empire Railway Museum show last September on one of the clubs four corner modules. Minimum radius on these modules is 24”. Coming at you are four cars of a six-car train headed by Portland combo 1374. PE EMD switcher with trolley poles is pulling a freight train past the Palms Depot. At the extreme right is a three-car train of PERy 1100 series cars.
Directly above is one of George Huckaby’s San Francisco PCCs passing Dave Garcia's PERy steeple cab 1624 with a tank car train in tow. We close this article with a photo of one of George’s favorite cars, Philadelphia car 5263. This is a model of the last car that he saw in 1956 running on Route 31 on the last Saturday evening of operation in June 1956.
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TOSHISUKE MATSUMOTO BACK IN THE U.S.
George Huckaby - The November 2001 meeting of the Southern California Traction Club was a special one as Toshisuke Matsumoto visited the club for the first time since January 1999. “Toshi” was one of the original charter members of the club, which formed in October 1995. He had been instrumental in developing our original models, discovering the Kato Automatic coupler which is now the coupler of choice for our models of Pacific Electric steel interurbans and city cars. Toshi belongs to a club in Japan that extensively models the Pacific Electric, Los Angeles Railway and other United States electric railway equipment. Toshi visited the club from November 23rd to December 1st. He was scheduled to arrive here on September 15th and all of us know why that did not happen. Anyway, he finally got here, two months later and the first stop he made after getting off the airplane was the home of the club President, George Huckaby. He knew that there is usually a painting party at this location every Friday after Thanksgiving and this was no exception. Toshi displayed more of his models at the clubhouse on Sunday, November 25th for all of use to enjoy.
In the foreground are three PCC cars made from Bachmann shells and repowered with N-scale power units regauged to HO scale track and equipped with HO scale wheels. From left to right are San Francisco MUNI PCC 1038, Los Angeles Transit Lines PCC 3126 and Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority 3165. Lurking in the background is his North Shore Electroliner, repowered with one Suydam spring belt drive in the lead unit, and Suydam Blimp Combine 498. Both of the latter units were certified for operation on the SCTC modules on the same day. The Mantua single truck semi-convertible in the extreme rear does not b belong to Toshi.
We probably should mention here that the Southern California Traction Club will be open for new members in 2002. We have a 16’ by 16’ display that we display about five to eight times each year from Santa Barbara to San Diego and we urge any of you ‘tractioneers’ with HO scale equipment to contact us at 310-990-5422. Dues are $10 per month, paid quarterly and all you need is two piece of electric railway equipment that operates from overhead wire and meets the SCTC specifications. This has become a real fun club lately so give us a call. Happy Holidays from all the SCTC membership!
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