The best 'Streets vehicle ever made . . .

Hi Lee:

Isn’t it ironic that the vehicle you rank as the best “Streets” vehicle actually predates the introduction of Superstreets by a few years?  I have the PRR version of that van, #2629-01 (the one shown in the bottom right corner of your link) which I purchased in 2003.  I believe that was 2 years before the introduction of Superstreets.

I agree that it runs very well – at least on non-insulated rail Superstreets track sections. 

Bill

I'm sure a resourceful guy like you can find a model car with wheels/tires of the appropriate size to cut the faces off of and attach to the metal wheels to look "right."

Yes, it is ironic.  The initial K-Line ads for this vehicle show it running on track, not streets, of course, and some of the photos on Western Depot's site still do . . . 

I have the original K-Line catalog that introduced 'Streets.  The Vans were in there of course.  It is interesting what else was in there that never made it into production: a '96 Camaro - I would dearly love to have one, and a Ford F-150 pickup, and D-12 road curves: they were supposed to nest inside the D-16 curves.  I imagine they had trouble fitting the motors inside the Camaro and pickup, and I know why they had to suspend the D-12: the cars would not power around them smoothly.

Yes: doing that is rather difficult actually: cutting and gluing the tire is very simple, but getting it perfectly aligned, so that once the wheel is turning the "tire " does not wobble visibly, is actually rather an intricate operation.  I 've done it a couple of times.

   But normally that will not work anyway, because there is not enough fender clearance, side to side, for anything thicker than tape to be glued or attached on the the outside of the wheel.  So I paint the wheel rubber with a wheel hub & hubcap, etc, and leave it at that. 

Lee, I'm a little confused. In the description of the car it says 27" minimum curve. What does that translate to in "streets"?

Spence - all six of mine run well on D-21 and D-16 curves.  I'm fairly certain the ones left on Western Depot's site will, too.  

 Basically, when these things were released (two years before Superstreets was offered) they were intended as track inspection vehicles and shown in catalogs, etc., running on track, the K-Line write up listed O-27 because that was the tightest diameter track at the time - their write up was basically telling folks wit would run on any radius available at the time.  

Mine are the best runners I have on my 'Streets roads.

Lee, have you tried any manufacturer's trolleys/streetcars on Super/EZ streets? I am looking for one that navigates both D16 and D21 curves and runs as slow as possible without stalling.

Paul:

As I recall Lee’s not into trolleys but I can share my limited experience.  I have run MTH Railking PCC's and MTH Bump-and-go streetcar/trolleys on Superstreets.  The PCC’s run very well on D-16 and D-21 curves at realistic speeds. 

There has been some difference of opinion posted in earlier threads on this Forum regarding the Bump-and-go model’s ability to run on D-16 curves.  Yes they will physically navigate D-16 curves.  But they slow down so much that you have to have the voltage turned up very high so that they don’t stall and come to a complete stop in the D-16 curves.  Then as they complete the curve and get back on the straight away they take off at rocket speed!  So unless you’re going to sit there and manually adjust the voltage each time it enters and leaves a D-16 curve or have separate voltage feeders to each curve, in my opinion they will not run REALISTICALLY on D-16 curves.

I realize there are many other current production trolleys out there which I don’t have so I don’t have any other operating experience to share with you.

HTH,

Bill

The only 4-wheel trolley I've seen that does okay on D16 curves is the K-Line version. It had a shorter wheelbase than the MTH and Lionel versions. At least until Lionel started using the same tooling for their 4-wheeler.

Bill and Len, thanks for the details on the trolleys.

I've seen the K-line vans at the hobby shop. I've always passed on them because they're semi-modern looking, and I was trying to keep the layout "vintage" and retro-looking.

While I only have the K-Line by Lionel old-time trucks and the new WBB sedan vehicles to compare, I am pleased thus far with the sedans performance on my Supersteets - they have decent realistic speed performance. I am going to see if I can take the chassis off to install some seated figures.