Jonathan, shown above with one the LGB's rack railroad models, discussed an arrangement to assist them in providing data for future streetcar models planned by the company. An agreement, beneficial to both parties, was reached during this visit.

LGB or Lehmann Gross Bahn, is housed is a very large attractive two-story facility at 6444 Nancy Ridge Drive in San Diego, CA. When you enter the building, you are greeted by a warm reception area shown above. Our first task was to completely evaluate the New York City car with the complete sound system initially heard late last year in Las Vegas. Having ridden every one of the cars on the Saint Charles line at one time or another, we are well aware of their sounds and the LGB car sounds are "right on".

[See LGB, column 2]

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Pacific Electric Display at the Homestead Museum
***

Since 1997, the Southern California Traction Club and Custom Traxx have been demonstrating traction models operating from live overhead wires at model train shows, mostly Great American Train Shows. The reaction from the public is always one of amazement while less that enthusiastic from other model railroaders. There seems to be a real fear of hanging overhead wire and getting cars to operate from it. one can even become a Master Model Railroader (MMR) without ever hanging one inch of overhead wire.

A decision was made some time ago that demonstrations of overhead wire operation should be expanded to other than model train shows so when the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum asked for a "Red Car" display at their "Ticket To The Twenties" festival on June 5th, Custom Traxx responded with one demonstration module and a display of Pacific Electric, Los Angeles and San Francisco trolley models.

The Homestead Museum is located at 15415 East Don Julian Road in the City of Industry, California. More information is available at www.homesteadmuseum.org. The "Red Car" display was housed in a small structure called the "Tepee" because it was so shaped. The structure was built as an office for Walter Temple and was constructed along with the main house. The distinct "cone-head" shape of the structure can be seen below:

George Huckaby of Custom Traxx was on hand to explain each and every model and was attired in an authentic replica of a Pacific Electric motorman during the festivities. He is shown below at the rear of the Temple House, built in the 1920s

But what stole the show was the nine square foot operating HO scale trolley module. For most of the day a Pacific Electric (PERy) 1200 or a train of PERy 1100 suburban cars were operated. These 1100 series cars were the backbone of service from Pasadena to Los Angeles for almost 30 years.

Recently, the Homestead Museum notified Custom Traxx that they had over 2,500 visitors at the event and that the Red Car display was "sooooooooo popular", "impressive" and they had heard "..nothing but complements...". We look forward to more of these events.

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July Custom Traxx Decal Sale
***

During the month of July, Custom Traxx customers may save considerably on their decal purchases by using the coupon below:

CUSTOM TRAXX SUMMER DECAL SALE! Buy any two decals at the regular price and get a third decal set (of equal or lesser value) - FREE A COPY OF THIS COUPON MUST ACCOMPANY THE ORDER TO GET THE SALE PRICE.

This coupon allows the bearer to obtain one free Custom Traxx decal set of equal or lesser value., when they buy two Custom Traxx decal sets. The sale ends at midnight July 31, 2005 or when stocks of any decal are exhausted. This is an excellent chance to get the decals for that car you are planning to paint next year. So check their catalog at www.customtraxx.com and take advantage!
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Trolley Talk Magazine Sold

***

As reported in the East Penn Traction Club Newsletter, Trolley Talk is in process of being sold to a Cincinnati businessman with prior magazine experience. Drew Sack, former owner, cited health reasons for the decision to sell the popular traction periodical. More news in our next issue.

Queen Mary Large Scale Train Show
***

On Track Productions held their annual June large Scale Train Show on June 11-12 aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. The show was at it's usual greatness, despite missing and non-working escalators combined with a single slow elevator, all of which make traversing the three floors of the show much more difficult. Several traction items were displayed at the show.

LGB displayed their latest U.S. streetcar at the show. This is Chicago Surface Lines (CSL) 1958. The car is a representative of Chicago's Flexible Flyer 1800-1999 class built by CSL themselves, American Car Co and Southern Car Co in 1913-1914.

Since both the Chicago car shown above and the earlier released Third Avenue Transit System 1246 shown below, are really, in

fact, New Orleans 900 class cars with new paint schemes, the 1958 was a good choice as these cars are closer to the New Orleans cars in appearance than most.

Light Rail Products and Custom Traxx displayed five custom painted Hartland Birney Safety cars. These cars are assembled from kits supplied by Hartland and modified. The destination sign window is moved to a more prototypical location and detail parts, such as Ohio-Brass trolley catchers, Crouse-Hinds headlights, trolley pole towers and other items can be added. Finally, a prototypical paint job followed by application of authentic decals and the car is finished. Shown below is PERy 331 operating on one of the layouts at the show:

Custom painted Hartland Birney cars are available from Transquip Company in Philadelphia Rapid Transit (orange), City of Philadelphia (orange) and Philadelphia Transportation Company (dark green) schemes or from Light Rail Products in Fresno Traction Co (yellow), Pacific Electric (Electric Lines Red), Sacramento Northern (dark green), San Jose Electric Railroads (yellow), and Stockton Electric Railway Co (yellow) schemes. All cars can be ordered directly from Custom Traxx. Prices vary dependent on the number of modifications and level of detail specified by the customer. Call Transquip Company (215-822-8092), Light Rail Products (650-355-4815) or Custom Traxx (310-990-5422) for more details.

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[LGB Visit, from Column 1]

LGB spares no expense to ensure that their model trains are authentic, appealing and sturdy. They have many test tracks at the San Diego facility and excellent display modules for shows and can be counted upon for a class display. So when we listened and watched the New York car with the many authentic trolley sounds, we were again impressed.

There are the normal bell and motor sounds, but there are even fare box sounds and braking sounds, including brake release. Due to the recording of the sounds of New Orleans Car 952 in San Francisco, LGB has the right sounds for this type of streetcar. There is also a remote controller available for operating the car. We were so impressed with the car and the sounds, Trolleyville immediately obtained an LGB streetcar with sound for demonstrations at West Coast model train shows.

All American repairs for LGB trains are accomplished at this location. Most of these repairs are due to just plain "worn out" trains after many, many hours of running time due to the superior engineering that has gone into LGB trains. They keep an adequate stock of necessary parts for their repair operation. The main LGB warehouse remains in New Jersey as most of their trains are still made in Germany despite the inroads that China has made in the model railroad business.

But more important than all that we have reported so far, the main reason to visit the LGB San Diego facility is the marvelous model railroad on the second floor. Beyond a pair of curved doors is a marvelous model railroad on two 8' by 20' tables, entirely built by one craftsman in Germany and shipped to the United States. We did not count the trains running on this layout but it may has been as high as ten. We will conclude this article with some photos of that layout.

These pictures do not even attempt to capture the beauty of this layout. You must see it for yourself. So you know what to do the next time you are in San Diego!

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East Penn Traction Club Elects New President
***

from Richard Allman

On June 3, 2005, the East Penn Traction Club met to consider the state of the club and the results of the May meet and to elect new officers. The club elected David Gallagher as President. David, shown below, is the 29 year old son of John Gallagher, a long time member of the club and electric railfan.

Most East Penn members look forward to working with the dynamic new management team of President Dave Gallagher, Vice President Rich Crooks, shown below left, and elder statesman Secretary-Treasurer Charlie Long, shown below right.

David has been an East Penn member for 15 years ever since he was 14 years old. His father, John J. Gallagher, served back-to-back terms as East Penn President from 1993-1997 and is always the floor manager for the EPTC meet. John was also the immediate past Vice President. David is an avid HO modeler, having "learned at the feet" of one of the masters, the late Ed Torpey. David is custodian of Ed Torpey's well-known "Port-a-Pike II". This module was the subject of the very first issue of the Trolleyville Times in June 1998. He has acquired several of the fine HO modules of another past EPTC President, Doug Cowperthwaite, who is currently revising his layout. David has been working diligently on his modules and HO trolley models, which are largely Philadelphia area models. In addition, David is an active member of the Electric City Trolley Museum Association, where he is a regular motorman on their 5 mile heritage trolley operation. He is also a member of several other trolley museums. David lives in Cherry Hill, NJ. and works for Wire One Communications as Senior Collaboration Consultant. Among his other interests is his 1969 GM bus. One never knows where or when it will show up! He is a personable and energetic guy who is very focused on East Penn's mission. His goal is to run an open and efficient and welcoming club, with varied and enjoyable programming. He is already actively organizing the upcoming program year for 2005-6. The Steering Committee hit the ground running and met on June 21, 2005 to critique the 2005 meet and begin future plans. David is highly focused on planning for a successful EPTC Meet for 2007.