San Pedro Trolley Open House

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            The Port of Los Angeles held their fourth Open House at what is now known as the Wilmington Red Car Works. Now scheduled for the first Saturday of each month, these sessions give the public the opportunity to view progress on the three Pacific Electric trolleys that will once again polish the rails in San Pedro by next fall. Car 1058 exterior is virtually complete.

The body of Car 501 was poised over its trucks as it appears that mating the two is imminent. Below is a photo of one of the trucks with the traction motors installed.

            As has become the norm at these events, the Southern California Traction Club was on hand with five of their members and four of their modules so visitors got to view model traction in operation.

            This time one of the major improvements to the event was outside of the facility. Since the nearest food establishments are miles away, it was the best place for that California tradition, the lunch truck.

This one has been operated by Benito & Rosa of Bell Gardens. CA since 1981. The open house visitors who patronized Rosa's Foods stated that food was great. The next open house is scheduled for May 4^th  (1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.) and now a good snack and a cold drink are not very far away.

Randy Bachmann starts new model structures business

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                George Huckaby - Randy Bachmann, formerly of the Great American Train Show, LTD has decided to use his great love for module railroading and start a business, which is marketing a line of laser cut wood structures from the 1950's. These will go well with the line of vehicles from that era made popular by Classic Metal Works in the last few years but most of all the structures will be perfect for the average traction layout. Trolleyville will be visiting him this month and will get more details concerning his line of structures.

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Southern California Traction Club Display

At South Coast Botanic Garden

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George Huckaby - The Southern California Traction Club returned to its roots on April 20-21, 2002. This is the location where the club made its initial showing in April 1997.

The club demonstrated operational traction with 11 modules encompassing a 16' by 16' display in the recently renovated SCBG facility.

                At one point in the show, the downtown terminal really looked like San Francisco as a plethora of Muni PCC cars gathered in that location, while a PERy freight train passed.

                Meanwhile, on another portion of the layout, NOPSI (New Orleans) car 920 awaited its next call to duty.

                Next club display will be at the Victorville, CA GATS (San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, 14800 Seventh Street) on August 17-18, 2002. If you are in the area, stop in and enjoy the show and the model trolley cars. If you can't make that one, the club will also be at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA on November 9 & 10, 2002.