October 2008
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October 2008 |
New Line of Resin Traction Carbodies from Custom Traxx! *** After considerable study last year, Custom Traxx decided to enter the resin shell market. First of all, the HO scale brass traction market has virtually dried up and even when a new brass model becomes available, it is usually expensive. Parts are hard to find and if found are usually beyond the ability of the ordinary modeler to replace. A resin body shell coupled with the ubiquitous Bowser drive seems to be an ideal solution to this situation. Trolley modelers are my nature fleet owners as each trolley is an engine onto itself. Very seldom are trolley barns made for one or two trolleys. Most trolley lines had at least half a dozen cars so trolley barns had many tracks and modelers like to fill them. Filling them with operable cars is desired and at this time traction kits with resin body shells are a good solution. Until recently, there has not been enough traction interest perceived by model railroad manufacturers to justify the expense of injection molding. Right now, Custom Traxx has two resin shells on the market, and soon a third, each from a different era of the traction industry. Each model has a distinct history and has had such an effect on the industry that no HO scale traction modeler should be without one on his model empire. The first shell, Kansas City Public Service PCC is from the PCC Era, the second, the San Francisco "Milano" Peter Witt, is from the Conventional Steel Car Era. The third resin shell will be introduced within weeks and it will be the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV). It represents the current Light Rail Vehicle Era. Custom Traxx arranges the traction industry into five eras for marketing purposes: Era 1-Four Wheel Wood Car Era (1880-1925) Custom Traxx told us that their purpose is to ensure that the buyer of any of their resin body shells has immediate access to a quality drive system and finishing decals when they purchase the body shell. Any Custom Traxx body shell will either fit current Bowser traction floors or will have custom made aluminum floors that are designed for the Bowser mechanism or another well-known and respected drive system. So it is their policy to make finishing decals available for any shell that they sell and to provide shells ready for finishing. All body shells should be received ready to clean, prime and paint without excessive flash removal. It is the aim of Custom Traxx to make very small runs of many different carbodies. So order when you read about them before they are exhausted. Over half of the initial run of the TS-19 Kansas City Car PCC kits have already been sold. Instructions will be provided with all body shell kits and if there are questions, Custom Traxx states that it is never too busy to field legitimate questions from customers. Another HO scale Traction Model *** The PCC car was to completely vanish from Philadelphia in 1992 if the local transit authority had its way. They even promised (with their fingers crossed behind their backs) to get new cars for the lines. However, the mayor of Philadelphia at the time the promises were made turned out to be the Governor of Pennsylvania when those promises were scheduled to be kept. So with great reluctance on the part of the transit agency, the decision was made to return trolley service to Route 15, Girard Avenue. The facilities for servicing routes 23 and 56 had been conveniently dispositioned by that time. The transit agency, considered as "America's Worst" in some circles, chose 18 PCC cars from those built in 1947 (14) & 1948 (4) which had been spared from the 1975 Woodland Car Barn fire and had been seriously overhauled and rewired in the 1980s and sent them to Brookville, PA for the rebuilding. Only the body shell was kept. the windows were sealed. Air-conditioning was added and an entire new state of the art propulsion system was added. The following cars were rebuilt and below is a list of their original and current numbers:
In September 2005, the cars went into service on Route 15 as shown below:
[See PCC-II, Column II] |
NorthWest Short Line Sold! Early this month the Times learned that NorthWest Short Line had been sold to David and Lynda Rygmyr of Hamilton, Montana, effective September 1, 2008. David & Linda are also owners of OSO Publishing Company and Evergreen Hills Design. In conversations with the new owners, the Times was told that their intention is to restore NWSL fully, bringing all products (excluding brass locomotives, which is where NWSL began) back on line and available. Founders and former owners Raoul and Sheryl Martin had been purposefully letting inventory levels and product availability wane because they were seeking retirement and were unsure as to the future of NWSL. New owners David and Lynda Rygmyr simply did not want to see a hobby icon line NWSL just go away, so they purchased the company in its entirety and have moved NWSL's operation to their existing facility in Hamilton, Montana. There will be a few weeks of moving, setup, etc., but all existing inventory is stocked and ready for shipment. Backordered and out of stock items will emerge as our manufacturing capabilities go on line. There are also some expansion plans starting in 2009, and during the next several months you'll see a revamping of NWSL's catalog and web site. Above all, it is NWSL's firm intention to keep its manufacturing in-house to assure quality control and to continue to offer the entire product range including obscure and rare replacement parts for model locomotives and related products that haven't been manufactured in decades. Their web site currently states:
____________________________________________________ Progress in San Diego! Car 529, formerly San Francisco 1122, was moved to the paint shop early this month for a complete exterior repainting. Shown below is car 1122 being towed by one of the "wrapped" U-2s, posed beside one of the 52 SD-100s and after all the MUNI orange had been removed.
With any luck, we may be soon able to add San Diego to the list of enlightened cities that have returned to the Time of the Trolley. ____________________________________________________ [PCC-II continued, from Column I] Imperial Hobby Productions of Wynnewood, PA, a Philadelphia suburb, has been producing models of these cars for almost two years now. The car consists of a finely detailed unpainted and unlettered cast resin body shell mounted on the proven durable, smooth running Bowser traction mechanism. Models have been completed, painted, lettered and operated on the modules of the Southern California Traction Club. Completed HO scale models of the PCC-II are shown below:
Three members of the Southern California Traction Club (SCTC) have obtained these kits in both the unpowered and powered versions. As you can see, the model is a good representative of the prototype when accurately painted and lettered. One SCTC member has been operating one of these models for over a year now and the Trolleyville Times just received a review of this kit from the SCTC. To read the complete review, please click here. |
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