Trolleys and Streetcars

I have a couple Western Hobbycraft trolleys that are really nicely detailed but just basic controls.  I have long thought about adding a separate third party sound module to it.  I do have the Z-Stuff trolley control that I intend to implement for automatic Stop/Run operation.

The Williams Peter Witt streetcar was one the nicer O scale offerings out there.  Not command controlled, but nicely detailed.  The challenge with streetcars is getting the electronics inside them and still providing the illusion that they are completely open for passengers since all the electrical equipment was mounted below the car.  A lot of scale O trolleys and interurbans utilize some form of the "magic carpet" drive where the power trucks are a self-contained unit.

You see scale streetcars on the auction sites frequently in brass that are beautiful renditions of the prototype.  However, they command a premium these days and they still need to be completed and upgraded.

As for newly tooled cars, that seems less and less likely in the O scale world in general.

I added some lights and passengers to a Williams by Bachmann Peter Witt Street Trolley.  But strictly conventional control with only a "ding-ding" sound when activating either the bell or horn button.

John

That is a very nice Streetcar and mods you have, thanks for sharing.

Another aspect I liked about the MTH Trolleys/Streetcars with PS2 or PS3 was that they could be programmed according to station stops, the same as their Subway sets. And with this feature, I am pretty sure you could start and accelerate according to the speed notches in those command systems, so with real nice slow starts and gradual deceleration. To me that's what's really cool...just like a scale locomotive.

The Williams street car is nicely detailed. I have one to run occasionally. I picked up another and took the body off and built up a really old resin interurban kit and placed it on the powered frame it looks and runs well.

I guess you could also use the MTH street cars to place custom resin bodies on.

I would like to see some of the Electric engines that were used to pull several freight cars on the electric interurban railways. But would need something in a compact package that had some pulling power to pull a freight train. 

Agree with the above comments on PS3/2.

I have as many street cars, trolleys, RDC, doodlebugs and subways as I do train engines.

So yes I would buy a command street car or a conventional trolley with upgraded sounds.

I would suggest just making them in different colors and then contracting with a decal maker so the modeler could make it whatever city/line they want. That way we’re not restricted to just one model that fits our layout.

Chicago had every paint design imaginable for streetcars. I’m sure other cities were the same.

I really enjoy my MTH PCC street cars.  I have one with PS1 and one with PS3.  When the WTIU is up to the task someday I intend to personalize the Transit Announcement Sounds of my PS3 version.  But actually my favorite is my PS1 PCC street car which is “Route 64 E. Pgh, Wilkinsburg” (MTH 30-2505-1) and features the voice of Lou Redman.  Especially being from Pittsburgh this version of MTH’s PCC car just warms my heart listening to Lou’s TAS announcements :-).  Like Steve, I’d welcome the ability to configure the city/line so that I could recreate the line that Mom used to take me and my two siblings to “dahntahn” Pittsburgh back in the day.

@Craftech posted:

I added some lights and passengers to a Williams by Bachmann Peter Witt Street Trolley.  But strictly conventional control with only a "ding-ding" sound when activating either the bell or horn button.

John

Fantastic, well done…………love the detail added sets of the whole thing.

I have one of the Peter Witt trolleys, I intend to give it command capability at some point.

@ThatGuy posted:

Fantastic, well done…………love the detail added sets of the whole thing.

Thanks,

John

Some of you may know or recognize the name Tom Piccirillo, and his fantastic Somerset Traction o scale layout. Right now, I cannot remember the video's name where I saw his layout. His hand-made trolleys are geared so well that he can make them crawl and start prototypically - and his layout is top shelf, and he very well may be a master moder RR'er. If anyone is interested, I'll hunt around my DVD collection and see if I can find his featured layout.

Since we're on the subject of trolleys...After living in the Astoria Oregon area for 20+ years, I'd like to see if I could find a trolley that I could make into Old #300. If any of you have a thought on this style of trolley, please let me know. It was at one time an electric street car trolley, and is now powered by a diesel generator attached to it.
Thanks

astoria oregon old #300 trolley - Search Images

@Jayhawk500 posted:

Since we're on the subject of trolleys...After living in the Astoria Oregon area for 20+ years, I'd like to see if I could find a trolley that I could make into Old #300. If any of you have a thought on this style of trolley, please let me know. It was at one time an electric street car trolley, and is now powered by a diesel generator attached to it.
Thanks

astoria oregon old #300 trolley - Search Images

A pretty clever way to operate a trolley.  Great story on the path it traveled to eventual restoration and use.

EBAY LINK REMOVED per TOS

I’d love to see a light rail trolley set. Even if it was 2 rail as I’d run it independently through a city loop.   Something like these in San Diego.

Count me in. A series that covers all of the F line streetcars in San Francisco would be top on my list.

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Just an FYI:

• With MTH Proto-3 streetcars (or other cars with DCC decoders added), you can use an NCE 'DCC Programmable Controller' to AUTOMATICALLY control MULTIPLE streetcars on the same track -- running either "point to point" -- or on a continuous loop -- see 2 enclosed images (links to these videos are in the DCC forum).

• As you probably know, DCC is the NMRA-standard, open-source control system -- that is used by just about ALL Z-scale, N-scale, HO-scale, S-scale, and Largescale manufacturers.
• It also works in O-gauge -- if you have MTH Proto-3 -- which will run on DCC -- or if you have added a DCC decoder to your loco (as described by others in numerous posts in the DCC Forum).