A Surprise Source of a Nice Traction Model!
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During the May 14th meeting of the Southern California Traction Club, one of the members arrived with a Con-Cor PCC box. It contained a model of the San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) 501-528 series pre-war air-electric PCC cars but what was surprising is that although the car was painted, it had no markings at all, neither lettering nor destination signs.
But that was the first of many surprises so let's talk about them in order. Included with the car was the five page instructions that we had seen with most of the other Con-Cor PCC cars. But the SCTC club member, Dave Lyman, told us that a large brown envelope was also included, in the package when he bought the car via mail order. The brown envelope contained a very thorough complete decal set, which he sort of expected after seeing the unmarked car, but also a very detailed 17 page document, written by John M. Fiscella explaining the differences among the 28 cars. The document was written in 2011 suggesting that this car may have been available for some time. Contained in this document are color diagrams showing (1) the Standard paint scheme for the cars, (2) modified paint scheme for cars 502 and 517 and another modified paint scheme for cars 505, 506, 512 and 516. There was also a sheet of posters that had been placed on the cars from 1939 to 1949.
The model had been purchased from the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park (San Diego) forr $150 plus CA sales tax and shipping. But the project was accomplished by the San Diego Model Railroad Association of which John is a member.
Notes:
The prototype cars had been purchased by the SDERY in two orders from the Saint Louis Car Company:
Cars 501-525, 25 cars, ordered in 1936, delivered in 1937, operated until 1949!*
Cars 526-528, 3 additional cars, ordered in 1937, delivered in 1938, operated until 1949!
*In 1950, 17 of the 28 cars were sold to El Paso City Lines: Cars 502, 503, 504, 506, 509, 511, 512, 513, 514, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 523, 524 and 525 where they were renumbered, respectively, 1500, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1504, 1505, 1506, 1507, 1508, 1509, 1510, 1511, 1512, 1513, 1514, and 1516.
In 1952, 3 more the of the cars were sold to El Paso City Lines: Cars 501, 507 and 521, where they were numbered, respectively, 1517, 1518 and 1519.
508 and 528 currently reside at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA!
Note: [All Data on the San Diego PCC cars is from "PCC Cars of North America", Harold E. Cox 1963"]
