June 2008
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June 2008 |
For Visiting San Francisco F-line Trolley Fans! In the past year, we have had the opportunity to visit San Francisco three times in support of Bowser's F-line PCC project. In each case, we chose to stay at Beck's Motor Lodge. The advantages of staying at this motor lodge are many. The lodge is located right along the line at 2222 Market Street. Note the streetcar tracks in the photo below.
Beck's is located just two blocks for the 17th and Castro terminus of the F-line. This location is not only the easiest place to board the cars and get a seat but it is also a great place to get photographs of the cars. In addition, if you examine the above photo, there are several balconies and stairways in the front of the motel to get some really great photos of the cars. After we had finished enjoying the many sights of the city, photographing and watching, we obtained our dinner, bought it back to the motel, grabbed a chair on the private sundeck and just listened and watched the cars go by. The photo of 1056, shown next, was taken from the motor lodge while enjoying our dinner.
We have been fortunate each time to have been assigned a room near Market Street so we can listen to the PCC, ex-Milan Peter Witt and other vintage cars go by, each one bringing back memories of the streetcar sounds of yesterday. Each room that we stayed in had a refrigerator along with a coffee maker so we had everything that we needed. During the longer days of summer, we boarded the cars early in the day and rode to the Ferry Building where there are many photo opportunities. Then, after dinner enjoyed at the motel watching streetcars, when the sun started to set, we walked to the Castro terminal and rode the cars to Fisherman's Wharf and back just for the fun of riding. Unlike transit riders in many U.S. cities, the passengers seemed to be enjoying themselves and for the most part showed a lot of respect for the cars. Almost all of the operators are pleasant and seemed to like their jobs. We have gotten to know many of them on a first-name basis. The F-line cars are almost totally free of graffiti, which can not be said for some of the other transit vehicles that we saw. We also did some sound recording during one of our visits. So when visiting San Francisco to ride and photograph "F-line", try out the Beck's Motor Lodge. Tell Marlon that Trolleyville sent you!
__________________________________________________ Southern California Traction Club Gears Up for the National Train Show! The Southern California Traction Club, now in their thirteenth year of operation, was invited to the National Train Show in Anaheim in late January. For this show, they decided to add a new downtown trolley line with a City Hall type loop. This new loop encompasses two 2' by 4' modules and may be operated with Digital Command Control as are the subway trains under one of the two modules. Our camera caught the modules as overhead wire was being erected.
One of the cars in the above photo is the Kansas City Public Service 501-585 & 725-799 post-war class PCC body shell under development by Miniatures by Eric. These cars were being used to position overhead wire as it was being hung on the modules. Work continued feverishly on these two modules throughout the month with two to three work sessions each week. It is expected that June will see even more work accomplished. _________________________________________________ Trackless Trolley Service Resumes in Philadelphia! A bit of pleasant trolley-related news from an unlikely location!....Trackless trolley (as trolley buses are called in the City of Brotherly Love) service was re-instituted on Frankford Routes 59, 66 and 75 during April 2008 according to Jeff Marinoff. Of course, as has become customary with any SEPTA operations, there were still unresolved issues with the overhead wire at the Frankford terminal so the back-up diesel power was being used in that area. We do not have any more status of the operation at this time, but as we learn more, we will pass it on to you. Shown below are some recent photographs provided by Robert McConnell:
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More HO scale Traction Items Coming from Custom Traxx Two new HO scale traction body shells will shortly be introduced to traction modelers from Custom Traxx. These body shells will be able to be powered with the now well-proven, durable Bowser 1999 traction mechanisms. Some will use existing Bowser mechanisms with floors. Others will have custom aluminum floors developed jointly by Bowser Manufacturing Company and Custom Traxx. Custom Traxx finishing decal sets will be available for each body shell. These are not designed as "Snap-together" or "Shake-the-box" type kits. These items are intended for the discerning traction modeler with modeling skills who enjoys the satisfaction in building a working model. The first resin body shell is of the 160 Kansas City Public Service (KCPS) all-electric PCC cars. This body shell is the version of the 501-585 and 725-799 classes as operated in Kansas City. The body shells will be available about June 15th and exclusively from Custom Traxx.
This KCPS PCC body shell has two front dasher vents, dash lights, four rear taillights, no teardrop-shaped lights on the front and rear of the roof and no gauge bars, originally developed by the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC). This shell is made to fit the Bowser 125141 PCC mechanism and will be furnished with the Custom Traxx decal set, CN-750, for finishing this car. The body shell with decals is available without power for $44.95 and with power and trolley pole for $119.95.
Custom Traxx is working jointly with KND Enterprises (John Kennedy) of Chalfont, PA on a decal set for the new body shell of the Lehigh Valley Transit 1030. The resin cast LVT 1030 body shell has been made to accommodate the Bowser 125145 IRR mechanism with floor. Custom Traxx is also developing a decal set this car. The decal set, CN-1030, will allow the modeler to finish any HO scale model of the LVT 1000-1028 series lightweight interurbans. This decal set should be available by the end of this month. In another joint project, Custom Traxx is working with Miniatures by Eric (Eric Courtney) of Busby, Alberta, Canada on a decal set for the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV). The CLRV decal set, CN-4100, will be released within the next few months. As a result of another joint project between Custom Traxx and Bowser Manufacturing Co., there will be a special aluminum floor (part 125163) available specifically for the CLRV shell, which will accept the Bowser 125100 mechanism. There are two other HO scale projects in work. The first is the spin cast floor for the resin body shells of the San Francisco Municipal Railway Class K/L cars made in 2006 by Transit Classics (Australia). The floor is being made to accept the Hollywood BullAnt power and trailing trucks designed for this car with the correct 4' 10" wheelbase. The other is an aluminum floor for the Pacific Electric 5000 series double end PCC car body shells now available. It is not yet known when these floors will be available. There will limited numbers of these items available as they are designed for the modeler with skills who would like to put some of him/herself into a model and to have a model not commonly available. Each one of the kits in this series will have a Bowser floor and some type of drive available. We know there are many of you who are regretting the current emphasis on ready-to-run at the expense of the kit phase of the hobby. These kits will be priced as such. If you do want one of these, please order as soon as they are announced, as many have already been pre-ordered. Final testing and integration were still happening at press time so readers are referred to the Custom Traxx web site for more information on the body shells and floors. ___________________________________________ Muni Class B Heritage Cars San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) continues to embrace its collection of streetcars with the near future opening of the Metro East facility for its growing fleet of light rail vehicles and heritage streetcars. Forty years ago, the streetcar fleet consisted of 105 PCC cars. Today there are over 150 Breda Light Rail Vehicles plus almost 45 active streetcars in the heritage fleet, the newest of which is 50 years old. On Sunday, May 17, 2008, Muni 130 and 162 both ventured into the new world of the Metro East facility. This facility, when opened, will relieve the overcrowded conditions at Geneva and the Green facility. This meant trolley pole operation over the Third Street "lift" bridge. The next two photos, taken by Peter Ehrlich, captured each of the cars while they were visiting the new facility.
These were not the first cars to enter the facility according to Peter Ehrlich. PCC 1007 (painted for Philadelphia Suburban Transit Co) had visited the facility three weeks prior to this visit. The story concludes with more Peter Ehrlich photographs taken at 3rd St and 25th St. In the first photo, Car 130 is enroute to Metro East while in the second photo shows car 162 on the way back to Geneva.
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Aristocraft Trains recently released photos of their new Large Scale PCC car. Click here for photos! |
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