Does anyone know if either MTH or Lionel has modeled "early" subway/El trains from the turn of the century?
What is the oldest one modeled so far?
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As far as the the turn of the century, we are out of luck Chipset. MTH made a "Chicago" 6000 series set in cream and green which dates back to September 1948 when the order was first placed. Just 65 two car sets, with a total of 770 cars between 1950-1960. It sure would be nice if they or 3rail or even Lionel could make a 4000 series Chicago rail car. Bruce
I think the Q Types offered by MTH were made in the 1930s from old 1200 and 1400 series trains from the early 1900s (1903).
That might be my only choice.
The closest matches based on build dates would be the IRT Lo-V cars (1915-1938) or the BMT "Standard" 2500 series (1914-1924) cars from MTH. However you may want to consider the BMT Q-Type set from MTH too. The Q-Type car was technically built in the late 30s, but in reality the BMT converted then-30 year old elevated cars from the former BRT into Q-types. So even though the Q-types were "new" in the 30s, in reality the cars retained the aesthetics of the turn of the century BRT El cars.
-John
When Boston's Tremont subway opened 1897 it was trolley only. In 1899 it was converted to rapid transit, but later was converted back. Subways opened in New York in 1904 and Philadelphia in 1908. The first Low-Vs appeared in 1915 on IRT lines. I think those are the oldest. No subway in Chicago until 1938.
