A Birney Trolley Dilemna

Could get a Q-car under the floor drive?  A bit pricey, but a good drive costs what it's worth.

You might have to replace the 2-rail wheels, or maybe not depending on what your track is and whether it interacts/intercanges with anything else. 

Might also be able to use NWSL magic Carpet drives, too...

As for the traction tire - why does it even need one?  Not enough power or weight to drive itself about??

Been looking forward to this myself since I have an old Adams (?) body in aluminum to power.  I seem to recall picking up an under the floor drive for that but I keep experiencing a variant ofthe Pauli exclusion principle where I can only locate the body or the drive, but not both at the same time,

Thanks! I was hoping for a holy grail but once again I am left wondering why there is so tille interest in trolleys & interurbans. As of now I am leaning toward repainting a modern Lionel model but they are not inexpensive and lack the potential for interior decorating. What surprises me is that you see the modern Lionel Birneys go for 2-3 times there original list prices and so few around.

Just a minority area within a minority modeling scale....  And since the market is so small, there's been very little interest in producing anything much at all over the past couple of decades other than a few token items.  Really a craftsman area that has a smattering of old kits floating around, a lot of older brass that keeps changing hands, and some better items that might as well be carved out of that rare element, unaffordium..... 

Exactly! I was looking at Saint Petersburg Tram Red Arrow West Chester trolleys. To add power & lighting made them out of reach. Although there is a part of me that thinks 3rd Rail might have success making some in brass if packaged/marketed correctly. The current economy will probably not help that cause.

3rd Rail did bring in the Silverliners and Greenliners and I sort of wish I had gotten a set of one.....but they really just did not fit with my modeling era, area, and interests vs. costs.
 

I do drool just about every time I see a CA&E 315 from Car Works, and then after adding up the time and cost of adding an interior, drives, and painting it I'm well over the budget...