July 2012
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July 2012 |
Custom Traxx Delays Development of Proposed HO Scale Model! The Times learned just before publication of this issue that Custom Traxx and Miniatures by Eric have delayed the development and production of the San Francisco 1101-1170 series PCC HO scale model until September 2012. When we talked to Custom Traxx' George Huckaby, he told us that he placed initial notices about the possible production of this car on the Custom Traxx web site. The Trolleyville Times also ran a banner on the car during the display of both the May and June 2012 issues. He also said they received less than five responses to asking about the model. This seems in line with the trend in the hobby today. At this point it appears that models seem to be preferred in a ready-to-run state and completely finished. The R-T-R Toronto PCCs last imported by Bowser were sold out at the manufacturer before they arrived in the United States. PCC cars (1936-1952 vintage) are now very old cars and the differences between them seem to have become insignificant with the majority of current modelers. Con-Cor proved that with their air-electric (pre-war) PCC cars promoted not only in paint schemes only used on the later all-electric (post-war) cars but also in railroad liveries that never had them. We were also told that Custom Traxx will most likely be phasing out a lot of their decal line as stocks are exhausted. If there are 25 modelers who wish this model and state so with a email to Custom Traxx by July 31, 2012, the project may be developed and completed, otherwise the project will be cancelled. ________________________________________________ Model Train Collection Consultants! In the last ten years, it is rare that you can go to a model train show or swap meet without encountering an "estate" sale. Most of us expect at least one of these at every show. A lot of the items are really old and some of us always wondered how the value of these items is determined. Finally on June 2nd, we came across a company that is in business to do exactly that. Because we have known the owner, Brian Brooks, since 1976, he invited Trolleyville to his ONE-DAY-ONLY Sale.
Brian has a depth of knowledge in model trains. From 1976 to 2009, he was directly involved in one of the most successful model train stores in California. In 2010, he decided that this knowledge and experience would be best served if he opened his own business, so Rail Resource Express was founded in April of that year. This is an internet business but he has a warehouse and business office at 1212 South 5th Avenue, Unit 'L' on Monrovia, CA. It was there that he held his Grand Opening ONE-DAY-ONLY sale from 9AM to 3PM on June 2nd. We noted new trains, older trains and very old trains in all scales in Large Scale, O, S, HO and N. The Big Train Show was being held in Ontario, CA at the Ontario Convention Center on the same weekend so the model railroaders were already in their cars, so why not stop there also. The warehouse opened at 9:00 AM and was full of shoppers by 9:15AM.
The prices were too good to resist. We walked out with one Walthers Cornerstone Railroad YMCA Bunkhouse (933-2951) structure and an IMEX Super Market (6110), both of which we hope will have honored positions on one of the city modules of the Southern California Traction Club currently under development. So keep their email, phone and fax numbers number handy. You will not regret it. We know both Brian and his integrity well! ________________________________________________ San Francisco "Torpedo" Status! Four of the 1948-built double-end PCC cars, known affectionately as "Torpedos' are at Brookville Mining & Equipment Company in Brookville, PA for total rebuilding. 1006 and 1008 are to return in Muni 1950s livery matching 1040 and 1050. 1009 will be in Dallas Railway and Light colors and the 1011 will be in Market Street Railway dress. As of mid-June, 1006 and 1008 were expected back in San Francisco in July/August. 1009 should be returned by September/October and 1011 late this year, early 2013. Here is a mid-June photo of 1008 at Brookville.
Our final photo shows 1006 and 1009 in rebuilding at Brookville:
Things may get real exciting in San Francisco by the end of this year. Stay tuned!! |
Another look at the Con-Cor PCC! When the Con-Cor 1936 All-Electric PCC was introduced to traction fans a few years ago, everyone immediately noticed the errors in the front and rear ends. Anyone knowledgeable in PCC car operation knew that the brake light function was not close to representing prototype operation. On top of that, Con-Cor made the following ridiculous statement about their brake light function in the instructions provided with the cars: "When you slow the car down and it comes to a full "stop" the rear Stop lights will come on brightly for a few seconds and slowly fade out, to represent the motorman pushing on the brake pedal and then releasing the brakes when he is ready to start to move forward again. Pretty neat, don't you think? This was a feature designed by one of our engineers to be a nice feature of this Con-Cor model, we see one of our competitors attempting to copy our idea. Very flattering, hope theirs will work as well as ours does!...." We always felt that the latter part of the comment was aimed to the Bowser All-electric PCC. But the brake light function in the Bowser PCC was provided by the TCS M4T decoder. Both Bowser and TCS had long decided that the correct PCC brake light function could not be reproduced in the DC arena. DCC could reproduce the function perfectly. The PCC car Stop light operates exactly as an automobile. The light illuminates as soon as the brake pedal is depressed and stays illuminated as long as the pedal is depressed. The Con-Cor stop light operation as delivered is totally incorrect. Charles Long of the East Penn Traction Club (EPTC) devised a method to get full functionality from the TCS M4T decoder, which would allow the PCC stop lights to function as the prototype. We expect that this procedure would work for the T6X and the newer KAC line of decoders. We published that procedure in the October 2010 edition of the Trolleyville Times. For the procedure, click here! Another thing that irritated some of us, especially those in the Southern California Traction Club (SCTC) was the fact that despite the great numbers of photos provided to Con-Cor of the LARy 3001, preserved at the Orange Empire Railway Museum, Con-Cor missed two ENTER FRONT signs around the front door, two EXIT signs adjacent to the center doors, two EXIT signs around the center door, a side destination sign, distinctive rubber moldings around the doors and numbers on the left side. In both Exhibit 1 and 2 below, the red arrows point to all the detail added that the manufacturer omitted:
The SCTC placed their model of LARy 3001 in storage, concentrating on other items until last month when it was taken from the shelf, disassembled for addition of an M4T decoder, conversion of the trolley pole to SCTC standards and correction of all the finish discrepancies. Using some Custom Traxx and Microscale decals, all of the missing details were added last month. The car was also equipped with the SCTC1/Bowser 12508 trolley pole pivot base. The car has all eight wheels driven but weights only 3.5 ounces. In two-rail operation, this is adequate. Add the drag and upward thrust of an operational trolley pole and there is a tendency of the front axle to occasionally lift and derail. To counter that problem we recommend adding as much weight under the front platform as possible. We took one of the 1.0 ounce truck weights we normally used for PCC cars and trimmed it to the shape of the area under the front platform, painted it flat black and secured it in the proper area. Figure 3 shows, from left to right, an original 1.0 ounce weight, the cardboard pattern used to develop the final shape of the weight and the final 0.5 ounce weight itself.
When the weight was finally painted and installed under the front platform of the PCC car, it appeared as shown in Exhibit 5 below with the red arrow pointing to the weight itself:
The addition of this specially shaped weight brought the car total weight to 4.1 ounces. In the previous Con-Cor PCC DCC Decoder installation, we used a standard 2.5 ounce weight in the same location and only brought the total vehicle weight up to 3.8 ounces. Testing was accomplished on the SCTC test track and was considered successful. If any of our readers have come up with a modification to the Con-Cor PCC that would enable it to negotiate 6" radius curves, we would appreciate hearing from you. __________________________________________ Southern California Traction Club Displays at Orange Empire Railway Museum For the past five years, the SCTC is invited to set up their 16' by 26' display at the Town Hall of the Orange Empire Railway Museum. This year was no exception. Continuing the tradition, the club set-up their display on Friday, June 15th and displayed for the entire weekend. Since the railroad is set-up for overhead wire operation, nothing can run unless it has a trolley pole to collect current. This makes running a diesel or steam locomotive a real challenge. This time a very long train was operated behind Southern Pacific 2-6-6-2 3936. To operate this engine, there had to be an auxiliary tender attached with a trolley pole mounted on it. The train ran flawlessly for the entire show.
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If you look carefully, you can see the trolley pole base on the center of the auxiliary tender. This pole provides power to the locomotive. 
